PURIM PARTY
As most of you know, our annual Purim party is but days away (Sunday, February 29). It promises to be a lively affair, filled with a bit of history and leavened with loads of fun. See the attached flyer for all the details. And please take note of the call for volunteers…and consider calling Susan Litchen at 416-691-9279. To inspire those of you - and you know who you are - who considered volunteering but then thought again, here are some quotes we unearthed that we hope will set you right:

“Ask not what your Purim party can do for you; ask what you can do for your Purim party.”

“To err is human; to volunteer, divine.”

“A hamantashen in the hand is worth two hours at a booth. Okay, help out for one hour. “

SHABBAT SERVICES
If winter is beginning to feel interminable, don’t fret. Help is on the way. An evening of song and prayers can do wonders for the soul. Put the slush on hold and take the time to connect with others in a setting that is informal and inspiring but never intimidating. We were delighted to see many new faces at our last Shabbat service, and encourage those of you who have yet to attend a service to consider joining us soon. We are a world away from institutional, and do all that we can to be inclusive.

Friday, March 5, 7 p.m.

Marlee Novak and David Wyman
1 Victor Avenue
RSVP: 416-466-6293

Friday, April 2, 7 p.m.

Ed Glassman and Lise Henlisz
97 Hogarth Avenue
RSVP: 416-465-1665

BOARDED UP
So, you ask, what has the DJC board been up to? Okay, so you haven’t asked. And you couldn’t name a board member even if we provided all the vowels. We’ll tell you more about which board member does what in the next newsletter. For now, two items of interest to the community are cemeteries and a fundraiser. We will avoid all lame cemetery jokes and let you know that, in all seriousness, we have begun to explore the possibility of having a DJC cemetery of our own. More to the point, the DJC would have a section in a larger cemetery. Toward that end, you may be canvassed in the months to come as to your thoughts on purchasing land.

And speaking of purchases…It takes money to run a humble community group like ours. As much as we generate through our membership fees it isn’t enough to sustain us in the long run. And as we hope to be around longer than the Edsel, we have to find creative ways of raising funds. A fundraiser is in the works that promises to be a painless way of supporting our group while having a great night out. We can’t divulge any details until commitments have been made and dates finalized, but we’ll keep you posted.

COMMUNITY NEWS
We put out the call but have yet to hear from you. Does anyone have a tape/CD player lying around that could be put to wonderful use at our Jewish studies program? Perhaps your teenaged son or daughter has left the nest and left a tape player behind? Perhaps your belly-dancing lessons went belly up and you have no more use for the CD player collecting dust in your basement. We won’t ask any questions. If you have what we’re looking for, please call the school at 416-831-7301 or e-mail Debbie Plested at pleste1@attglobal.net .

A note we received from Gordon Arbess and Sharon Neiss, who have asked the DJC to forward the following letter:

As members of the Toronto Jewish Community, we would like to spread the word on a very important cause that has affected our family.

Our nephew Matthew, who lives in New York, is an amazing 9-year old boy who is living with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and it has recently relapsed. His doctors feel that his best chance of fighting this battle is to have a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, to date, there is not an identified match available in our family or in the worldwide unrelated bone marrow registry.

Our family is sponsoring a major drive to encourage more people to register as potential bone marrow donors. We are supporting Gift of Life as our main recruitment organization because they focus on registering people with our family’s ethnic background and because they collect samples using a quick, non-invasive test using ‘buccal swabs’ (a cotton swab is stroked on the inside of the cheek) instead of drawing blood. Our goal is to raise $5,000,000 so that at least 50,000 Jews can be registered as potential bone marrow donors worldwide.

The recruitment drive will take place on Sunday, March 14th, 2004, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM Holy Blossom Temple, 1950 Bathurst Street. Tell your friends and family to come to the drive. Potential donors must be ages 18-60 and in general good health. You can visit http://www.giftoflife.org to learn more about Mathew’s Story. If you have any questions, please call us at (416) 932-2831 or email at garbess@yahoo.com

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