School Offers Lessons in Jewish Culture, History

Vancouver Island, Canada — Nearly a century old, the annex of Quadra school is now home to a far older heritage of learning.

The two-room Jewish Education Centre opened six months ago by Chabad of Vancouver Island — one of 3,000 organizations worldwide offering Jewish teachings for adults and children, regardless of their observance or affiliation.

“We are here for life ,” says 20-something Rabbi Meir Kaplan, a father of three. “It’s not that we are on a mission — but we are here to become a part of the community and to do everything we can to make Jewish heritage available.

Gordon Head mother Narcis Kellow, 41, is already overjoyed with what she’s found at Chabad for herself and family: A sense of permanence and willingness to engage her needs on her terms. ”I have questions and the rabbi has answers.“

She finds his wife, preschool teacher Chani Kaplan, equally welcoming. ”There’s never a ‘no,’ they never say, ‘ later.’ Their door is always open.“
Kellow experienced seven rabbis growing up in Victoria but expects Kaplan to be here to marry her kids.

For now, she is ”unbelievably thrilled“ with the preschool education they’re getting.

Recently, Amelia, age five, arrived with a little basket containing a teeny doll and informed Kellow: ”It’s Moses. His mommy put him in a basket to save him.“

The ”No. 1“ belief of Chabad is to be welcoming, not judgmental, about the way people live their Judaism, says the rabbi, a native of Israel, who came to Victoria by way of New York and Michigan three years ago.

”You don’t have to be observant,” he adds, noting that most of those who send about 70 children to the centre are not particularly observant of Jewish ritual. But they are interested in having their children know more about their history.

To further that, about 25 kids attend preschool weekdays and another 20 attend Hebrew school to prepare for bar and bat mitzvah. Nearly that many adolescents show up for Torah For Teens.

Salaries for everything from teaching to cleaning and specialized Hebrew materials are funded by the local Jewish community, and the wider community that appreciates what is being done, Kaplan says.