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As I write this, I have the blessing of knowing Jack Shalinsky in my heart. A long-time member of Kolot Mayim, Jack and Sharon both were so committed to our shul, to the larger Victoria Jewish community and especially, with great heart, to Israel. As you will know by now, Jack died in the early […]

The entrance to the JCC along Shelbourne will be blocked for some time to come. Somehow it seems fitting that the planners for Saanich decided that Shabbat Bo was the week the entrance to our kehillah would be blocked. In Bo we continue to encounter the hard heart of Pharaoh, his blocking the departure of […]

Blessed is the one who frees the captive: Three woman came home this week; Romi, Emily and Doron, welcomed by the IDF and their families and friends back in Israel, welcomed with tremendous joy and relief. We continue to pray for the many souls who have “not yet” returned, praying with all our might for their […]

This week we begin to read the Book of Shemot, or Exodus. Shemot is full of stories we are familiar with from our Pesach Seders – the plagues, the resistance on the part of Pharaoh, and the final leaving of Mitzrayim, that place of constriction and narrowness, to begin the return to the homeland of […]

Vayechi is the last parashah in Bereshit/Genesis. “(Jacob) and he lived. Of course, in true Torah fashion we will read of the death of Jacob and of his son Joseph. We read about Jacob’s ‘ethical’ will, his eulogy, the seven days of shiva – all manner of mourning practices we hold to this day. Jacob […]

My d’var this past Shabbat re Chanukah: D’var Miketz: Light. Chag Urim Hannukah, Bring light into the world. Be a Maccabee. We are probably all familiar with the Talmudic story of the small vial of oil that the Jews used to dedicate the Temple after it had been desecrated by the Assyrian-Greeks, and then cleansed. A small […]

This week, in Vayeshev, we read that Jacob finally settles, he rests in the Land. All the comings and goings that have marked his life until now have ended, and he now simply dwells in the Land. But even as this word implies a settling in, his life quickly and tragically becomes unsettled with the drama of the […]

Vayetze is such a special parashah for me – and has been for decades. But even I could not have anticipated what this past week brought to us. We have been needing a second Sefer Torah – for holidays, Rosh Chodesh – all manner of occasions need a second Torah set and ready for reading. This […]

As I work in my office I often eavesdrop on conversations at the front desk: people new to Victoria being welcomed (Hi, Sharon), old friends whose voices I may recognize, all manner of welcomes that make our home at the JCC feel so right. Latke Madness begins in December so just a heads up – […]

We are in a month of celebrations – this past week Asher Russell was called to Torah on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah and this coming Shabbat, Milo Mateer will be called to Torah as Bat Mitzvah. Not only do our young people lead us in prayer, and read from Torah, they give us […]