Journey in togetherness
b our readers and advertisers:
4
God's decision whether or not we will Ix; wi-itten in the Book of Lile gives us as individuals an opportunity to step back ajid make serious eviJuations of our past year.
As publisher, I go through that same exercise for the Jewish Bulletin.
I want to thank you for your support and your patience. It is our hope and prayer the ties that bind the Jewish Bulletin with our community grow and strengthen in the coming years. Wliile we celebrate with you the upcoming year, we also know this is an important time for forgiveness as well. With growth sometimes ajmes pain. It is our hope if the Jewish Bulletin was the source of any hurt in your life during 5756, tliat you accept our apology and join with us in a common goal of giowtli for our wonderful community.
I am extremely proud that, as we begin 5757, we cm bring you 50 percent more news because your paper is 50-])ercent laiger. Thanks to key strategic partnerships, twice as many B.C. households are reading the paj)er. That maltes your paper the fastest growing Jewish publication, not only in Canada but in all of North America.
We say with pride that we don't refer to this publication as the paper or our paper. It is clearly yow/-paper, the Jewish community's source of information.
We are proud of the role we are playing in our community. Last year, the Jewish Bulletin declared 5756 the Year of the Young Adult without the exclusion of our children, our elderly or any other group. Several organizations took us up on our pledge to offer programming to our young adults. We co-sponsored very successful Chanukah and Purim parties with the Young Associates of Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University. We assisted the Jewi.sh Federation of Greater Vancouver in the very successful launching of a young adults' division - YAD.
That was part of the story. Beyond the deeds, our reporting staff shed some light on the pressing issues facing our community: Who will care for our elderly? Who will fund Jewish education when government spending is being cut? How does Jewish Vancouver take care of the uncomfortably large segment of
Jews living below the poverty line?
In addition, we brought you timely coverage of the tumultuous year in Israel. Our Rabin assassination issue won a B.C. Newspaper Foundation award.
Just like you, the Jewish Bulletin is setting goals on how to become an even greater publication in 5757. We have an advantage: our readers and our advertisers. You constantly tell us how we are doing. For that, we are grateful. Please continue to do so.
You have asked for more and better Israeli news and we are making arrangements to furnish it. You have asked to be kept better informed about what our friends and famihes are doing east of the Cascade Moxin-tains and we will do so.
The year 5757 should be a year of health, happiness and prosperity for the local Jewish community and for Jews in Israel and all over the world.
May we grow together so that next year we can surely look back and say, "Look at the exciting places we're going together. And look at where we've been." No matter the journey, the key word is "together."
May God Bless You With A Sweet Year.
Di 4^
Andrew A. Buerger (7 Publisher
We grew- and how
ARIELA FRIEDMANN EDITOR
Shana Toval A Happy New Year to you, our dear readers and friends, as we celebrate the transition of 5756 to 5757.
As I reflect over the past year, I keep going back to last year's Rosh Hashanah edition. There, gracing the Jewish Bulletin cover, is a beautiful original work by
artist Giora Carmi. The illustration is of a Jewish family in a flower, watering the growth of a new year as the leaves of the old year fall away. The front>page caption proclaims: May You Grow And Prosper in 5756.
A weighty message full of goodwill and hope. So, what kind of year has it been?
For us at the Bulletin, it has indeed been a year of growth and prosperity, reflected in the paper's larger editions, bringing you more features, more news, more community information. Our dedication to serving you — and your commitment to helping us with your loyalty and feedback—has resulted in unprecedented growth in the editorial department. We've developed a top-qual-
ity reporting staff and added correspondents in Richmond, White Rock, Surrey and Kelowna to meet our growing community's needs. We also have three of the area's best freelance photographers bringing the community to you through their lenses.
So it's no surprise other Jewish-Canadian papers have been calling us wanting to reprint our articles and features. Our success is your success. Truly, the Jewish Bulletin — with your assistance — has grown and prospered in 5756.
How's it been for the community? Have we grown and prospered? We celebrated a simcha on the North Shore as Congregation Har-El turned the sod for a new synagogue and centre. We cheered the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver as it opened its doors after undergoing a multimillion dollar renovation and expansion. We congratulated our schools as they expanded, hired new principals and staff to meet our community's growing needs.
We welcomed several new rabbis and cantors as they began new lives in the area.
We held our breath with Jevmh Federation of Greater Vancouver as it tested out its 'Plus" campaign strategy trying to raise the funds needed to help our communal agencies. And we knew the community listened when the campaign reached its target — though the needs, too, have grown.
In Israel, growth and maturity were painful as the nation bravely faced the tragic assassination of its prime minister and then showed the world what true democ-
racy is all about when the people voted in a new leader.
Despite divisions, bumps and potholes in the road to peace, just last week Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reached out and shook the hand of Palestine Authority head Yasser Arafat.
It was an act of courage and faith in mankind. It was the act of a leader.
And so too, Israel has prospered with fewer of her sons and daughters dying fighting for peace, her economy booming, her land swelling with the pregnancy of newcomers who bring growth to the land.
As you read this 92-page Rosh Hashanah edition, take the time to read our local year-in-review as we share our community's highlights. Look through tiie pictorial essay reflecting the year-in-review from an international perspective.
Share in the stories of some newcomers who are celebrating their first Rosh Hashanah in B.C. Do you remember yours? Maybe you'll share your memories v^dth us through a letter to the editor. And chuckle along with some of our area's cantors as they recall their favorite High Holiday mishaps.
Join us in welcoming a new weekly cartoon, Jordan Gorfinkel's The Promised Land (see page 8). And enjoy our array of New Year's features as we bring you the Jewish voice fix)m around the world.
But most importantly, please share with us your voice. As we enter a new year, please keep voicing your thoughts and opinions, for you are as much a part of taking the Bulletin on a new direction as we are of steering the ship. □