From Your DJC Board: September 2025

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Dear DJC Community,

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will soon be upon us and, like so many of you, we continue to watch with despair the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We ask ourselves, what can we do that reflects our commitment to the DJC value of standing against injustice and to seek ways to repair the world (Tikkun Olam)?  How can we stand with and support the global Jewish community to end the violence, loss of life, starvation, and devastation?

We were heartened last month by Rabbi Glickman signing, on behalf of the Danforth Jewish Circle, the Open Letter on the Gaza Humanitarian Crisis led by the New Israel Fund and JSpace Canada.  We echo the NIF as we also “mourn with Israelis grieving the losses of October 7 and the ongoing suffering of the hostages that remain in captivity and their families and loved ones…We also grieve for the millions of Palestinians suffering under occupation in the West Bank and under siege in the Gaza Strip, facing increased settler violence, displacement, widespread destruction, malnutrition, separation, and death.” 

Together with the New Israel Fund and JSpace Canada, we continue to call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of the hostages, an end to the shootings and violence at food distribution centres, the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and medical care for Gazan civilians, the rebuilding of Gaza’s infrastructure, and a stable alternative government to Hamas.

Along with other progressive Jewish organizations and congregations, the DJC Board strongly supports the New Israel Fund and JSpace’s comprehensive calls to action — both immediate and long-term — and acknowledges that their realization demands that the war must end.

These past two years have been short on hope. But it does seem that the tide is beginning to turn. On August 17 almost a million Israelis took part in a general strike. At the end of the day, over 500,000 people marched to Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square — our former Rabbi Miriam Margles among them — calling for an end to the war and the return of the hostages. 

As we approach the bittersweet end of summer and look ahead to the High Holy Days, the dissonance between the privilege of our lives here in Toronto and the ongoing devastation in Gaza can be deeply distressing. We ask again, what can we do as individuals, and as a community, to help repair this broken world and to support and stay connected to each other? 

Our tradition teaches us that our lives are bound together — the pain of one community reverberates through the whole web of life. 

“There is no greater defence of human dignity than the phrase from the first chapter of the Bible that dared to call the human being ‘the image of God’.”

— Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, The Great Partnership, p. 127

As we begin to prepare for this season of teshuvah (return), we are called not only to name the brokenness around us, but to turn toward repair and healing — to honour and defend human dignity. Through prayer, reflection and action, we can bring compassion into this fractured world. 

We invite you to consider the community calls to action listed below. In addition, we encourage you to support the efforts of fellow DJC members, repairing the world one step at a time — through climate action, the East Toronto Multifaith Community, and Social Justice. And if you’re involved in fundraisers, learning series, vigils or actions which help bring about tikkun olam, please share with the DJC community Facebook group. 

May this new year bring repair, courage, and hope.

Shanah tovah u’metukah.

Saara Greene, Juliet Palmer and Eli Fellman

Co-chairs,on behalf of the DJC Board

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Calls to Action

• A Call to Action from Canada Friends of Standing Together

• Haaretz Conference Registration September 14 | New Israel Fund of Canada

• Jews for Food Aid for Gaza

• Gaza Water – International Development Relief Fund

• New Israel Fund Canada: Get Involved

• World Central Kitchen

• UNICEF Relief for Gaza

• JSpace Petition: Stop E1 Settlement Plan