
The Rock and the Star

Kulanu Canada has contributed to this small, emerging Jewish community in Guatemala, Adat Israel. This program will delight all.
Come one, come all!
Date: April 1, 2019.
Location: City Shul, 300 Bloor St. West
On Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018, Kulanu Canada wired $1,960 to Ethiopia to support the inhabitants of Giso and Meteke synagogues, whom we met in the film, Bal Ej: The Hidden Jews of Ethiopia.
Kulanu Canada THANKS YOU!
Thank you to those of you who joined us for a screening of the film on June 21st.
And many thanks to those of you who offered additional donations to support the hidden Ethiopian synagogues.
The money sent came entirely from your admission payments and donations and has been used to purchase emergency food supplies. Those of you who joined us at the film heard about the particularly dire situation of these isolated communities due to recent heavy rains and flooding.
As the emergency food situation is now beginning to be addressed, we will continue to work with 3 hidden synagogues to assist them in the development of self-sustaining initiatives. For example, they are interested in purchasing chickens and sheep as a way of generating income. These are good investments in rural Ethiopia for generating income, while the raising of such livestock is not too demanding for the elderly. In the film, we saw them grinding grain with stones. Each synagogue would very much like to be able to purchase one mill, to alleviate the hardship of grinding by hand and to allow them to grind grain for others as a source of income.
Even small improvements in their financial resources will allow them to continue their Jewish practices with greater ease.
Please remember that it is never too late to donate. Should you with to dedicate your donation to Ethiopia, please write ETHIOPIA in the CanadaHelps message box.
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/canadian-friends-of-kulanu-inc/
For more information about the film and our screening, click https://kulanucanada.org/ethiopia/
To learn more about Kulanu Canada, please visit our website: https://kulanucanada.org/
At an evening program hosted by City Shule on December 4, 2017, and co-sponsored by Kulanu Canada, representatives of Adat Israel of Guatemala City talked about their journey to Judaism, showed slides of their small community of recently Reform converted Jews, paid homage to Rabbi Elyse Goldstein who is their spiritual leader and rabbi of Toronto’s City Shule, and engulfed their audience in the love they expressed for Judaism.
Jeannette Orantes, whose husband Moshe Isaiah was the inspired founder of the community, and their daughter Rebecca, recounted the community’s history and shared personal accounts of their religious exploration and study of Judaism. The community had a chance encounter with Rabbi Elyse Goldstein when she was on a volunteer program in that country, about 6 years ago. Their relationship has enabled the community to experience more of Jewish life, to be connected with Kulanu, have rabbis and teachers visit, and to have their youth experience a summer at a Jewish camp in Ontario.
Kulanu Canada helped promote a community-wide Pesach Seder for the members of Adat Israel and their guests in 2016, and shares their story here to encourage more support to this small but mighty congregation.