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I am honoured to be President of Congregation Emanu-El. We are an egalitaria consevative Congregation of approximately 195 families. We have taken part in 150 years of history in British Columbia. I invite you to review our webpage pertaining to our history and our status as a national heritage site.
We are an active Jewish community devoted to both youth and adult religious education. We are extremely proud of the fact we have a number of individuals capable of chanting from the Torah and many more very capable of chanting the Haftorah. We also take pride in educating our youth with great passion. You may hear one of our B’nai mitzvah students chanting the preliminary service, shachrit, a portion of the Torah Parashat or musaf. You may meet one or more of our children who have come back from Israel after serving in the IDF. You may even meet one of our children who have grown up and become a Rabbi or Cantor elsewhere in North America having received a very strong Jewish education in our Hebrew school and through our USY and Kadima Programs.
We are also proud of our activities comprised of annual events such as ‘Calling All Artists’ (an annual adult education program that brings out the painter, the sculptor, the poet and the musician in our midst), and special events such as last year's Lafayette String Quartet fundraising event, an event which we hope to follow up on with similar fundraising and other events. This year we are focused upon efforts to complete our Mikveh constructed in the basement of the Fisher Building. With the support and energy of Lindy Shortt and her team of volunteers, we hope to open the Mikveh this Spring.
We open our national heritage building to the public for tours of our building along with a lecture on our history in Victoria and basic Judaism which helps to educate the general public. Please contact our office for more information.
We welcome visitors from around the world for Shabbat services. Please join us at our historic shul and pray on Shabbat in Canada's Oldest Continuously Operating Synagogue (Founded in 1863 in the Colony of Vancouver Island).
L’shalom
Aron M. Bookman
President
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