By Michael Regenstreif
Since arriving in Ottawa in 2007 to work at the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, I’ve spent my working days – and many of my evenings – immersed in the ongoing activities of the city’s diverse Jewish community. I’ve attended events, written articles and edited many more. I’ve had the opportunity to meet and get to know many of the great volunteers, lay leaders and professionals who make the Jewish community of Ottawa the dynamic community it is.
Working on a newspaper generally means your focus is almost always squarely on the present, the recent past and the immediate future. On a daily newspaper that means yesterday, today and, maybe, the next couple of days. On a community paper like the Bulletin, it’s the past couple of weeks, this week and what might be coming up in the next few weeks.
Every time I have a conversation with someone in the community, certainly every time I do an interview or attend an event, every time I do some research for an article I’m writing, or verify facts in an article I’m editing, I learn something new about this community. For the most part, though, I’ve been learning about the contemporary community and the relatively recent past.
But, while we’ve worked on this issue’s special section marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish Community Council of Ottawa/Vaad Ha’Ir, the community’s umbrella organization now known as the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, I’ve had the opportunity to learn so much about the history of the Vaad and Federation, about the history of Ottawa’s Jewish community and about so many of the people who have contributed to making this community what it is – from the visionary leaders who founded the Vaad 75 years ago to the 75 contemporary volunteers whose contributions are noted in the special section and who will be honoured on Wednesday, May 20 when the Federation officially marks the 75th anniversary.
Following the timeline of the Vaad and Federation, reading the articles about the history of the organization and about some of its major figures over the years has been fascinating. The Hy Hochberg Community Boardroom is down the hall from the Bulletin office in the Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building. I’ve attended many meetings in that boardroom without really knowing very much about Hy Hochberg and how important a figure he was to the Vaad and to Ottawa’s Jewish community. I now know much more about him and about so many of the other people so important to our community’s history.
It may take a couple of years of finding a few extra minutes at a time, but I’m going to go back and slowly work my way through the 70 years of Ottawa Jewish Bulletins that were published before I arrived. I’m going to do that partly because my interest in learning more about the history of the Ottawa Jewish community has been piqued, and partly because I’m already anticipating the 75th anniversary of the Bulletin coming up in 2012.
Today’s Jewish Federation of Ottawa is the central communal organization of a community that is religiously and culturally diverse. And, while there is so much diversity in the community and while so many people work on so many different aspects of Jewish life in Ottawa, the Federation is at the heart and soul of Ottawa’s Jewish public collectivity.
Planning for the special section marking the 75th anniversary of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa started several months ago when we began discussing the very idea of a special section and what it should include. A tremendous amount of work was involved in pulling it all together and I’d like to give my special thanks to a number of people who worked many extra hours above and beyond their normal calls of duty. From the Bulletin staff, Business Manager Rhoda Saslove-Miller sold the advertising that made the special section possible, while Production Manager Brenda Van Vliet did great work setting up and laying out the section and designing the ads that did not come in camera-ready.
Kristina Yovcheva, the Federation’s graphics and web co-ordinator, did a fabulous job designing the section cover and the timeline. Laurie Dougherty of the Ottawa Jewish Archives verified the historical data and found the photos from decades past. Laurie and Cynthia Engel researched and wrote the articles and Benita Siemiatycki of the Jewish Ottawa InfoCentre compiled the volunteer biographies.
And working with us through the entire process were Federation President Mitchell Bellman and Communications Director Francie Greenspoon.
Thanks to all involved.
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