Montreal – August 30, 2022 – Federation CJA launched its 2022 CJA campaign to support the community's most vulnerable and address the most pressing needs in the Montreal Jewish community.

“We're back, and in person,” said a delighted Yair Szlak, CEO of Federation CJA. “We are continuing our 105-year-old tradition of raising crucial dollars for the most vulnerable in our community and to address communal needs. While Covid took us down another path, we're coming out the other side stronger, united and more resilient. We are proving yet again that we are ‘Stronger As One’”, Szlak said, highlighting this year’s campaign tagline.

David Cape, Comprehensive Campaign Chair opened the fundraising season, last week, at an in-person campaign leadership kick off at the Gelber Conference Centre.

“Over the last two years, we faced many challenges, and we are so thankful that the community stepped up and responded generously to our appeal, but we still have work to do to reach all our donors,” Cape said. “With a recession looming, we are certain that the community will need us this year in ways we can’t even imagine yet—and we will need to secure many gifts to meet the crucial needs that will arise.”

Women’s Philanthropy Campaign chair, Trish Bengualid, spoke personally about the way Federation CJA’s vast array of services provided by its community partners and agencies greatly benefitted her family as new immigrants many years ago.

“A gift to Combined Jewish Appeal is an investment in a stronger Jewish community,” Bengualid said. “The collective gift provides the best opportunity to make a significant and long-term impact. Thanks to our extensive network of affiliated agencies and communal organizations, Federation CJA can harness expertise across a range of disciplines to identify our community’s most pressing challenges and responsibly allocate the resources needed.”

“No other organization has the depth and breadth to support community today, evaluate our community’s changing landscape, rise to our greatest challenges, and capitalize on our most exciting possibilities. We are uniquely positioned to play a central role in building a stronger, more inclusive Jewish community - for today and tomorrow,” Bengualid added.

Similarly, Philantropie Sepharade campaign chair, Avi Krispine, took to the stage to proudly exclaim that he and his family were also beneficiaries of communal assistance since their arrival in Canada.

“From the moment my parents immigrated to Montreal, we were taken care of by the federation’s resources: JIAS, Hebrew loan, school subsidies, Ometz, holiday food baskets, my first trip to Israel, my first job Centre-Hillel,” Krispine reminisced with pride in explaining his rise to leadership. “I even met my business partners thanks to Federation CJA!”

More recent arrival, Elena Boguslavsky, Campaign Chair for the RSJ (Russian-speaking Jews) philanthropy division, spoke about her own family’s experience in settling in a new country and how they were welcomed by the organized Jewish community under the Federation CJA banner.

Former leader of RSJ, Anna Digerman, recounted passionately about her recent mission to Warsaw, Poland. Sent to assist fleeing Ukrainian Jews along with several other RSJ volunteers from Montreal, Digerman choked up telling those assembled about the Montreal Jewish community’s efforts to help those in desperate need.

Bengualid read the following which is entitled “BEING A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER THAN OURSELVES”:

“That feeling that recognition, through our shared history and shared identity. Our pride, our joy, our belonging.

At FEDERATION CJA, we band together when facing the hurt and fear of antisemitism. We band together through times of joy and sorrow.

We remember, together, those we’ve lost through war and hatred.

As part of the FEDERATION CJA family, we, the leaders, canvassers and donors, know with certainty that even when we’re strangers, we’re family.

From birth and throughout our lives, Federation CJA brings us together, holds us together and keeps us together.

We are diverse, we’re older, we’re younger, we’re fortunate or we’re in need.
We may come from different backgrounds.

We may celebrate our Jewish culture and identity in completely different ways. In spite of our differences,

… We are Stronger as One.‘’

Szlak said that there will be significant pressure upon individuals, schools, camps and other institutions with a potential recession, changes in the workforce, Ukrainian refugees, extreme rise in antisemitism, and so many serious issues arising at the same time.

“Who do people turn to when in need?” Szlak asked. “To Federation CJA, the hub of the community,” he exclaimed. “Business is NOT as usual. Indeed, we are feeling how unusual things are.”

Every single gift counts in this campaign, as canvassers fan out to call upon thousands of members in the Montreal Jewish community.

“If you think yours doesn't matter, think again,” Szlak said. “The power of a small and meaningful gift multiplies over and over.”

Jewish community members are encouraged to answer the call for CJA ’22. More information is available at federationcja.org.

About Federation CJA

For over one hundred years, Federation CJA has been at the heart of the organized Jewish community in Montreal. In partnership with a vast network of agencies and organizations locally, nationally, and internationally, Federation CJA builds and sustains this community by providing leadership and by supporting the delivery of services and programs to care for the vulnerable and those in need, to ensure a bright Jewish future, to represent communal interests, and to positively affect issues in the wider society.

Media Contact:

Glenn J. Nashen
Director, Media Relations and Crisis Communications | Directeur, Relations avec les médias et communication de crise
Strategic Marketing and Communications | Marketing Stratégique et communications
FEDERATION CJA
1 Carré Cummings Square | 5151 Chemin de la Côte Ste-Catherine Road
Montréal, Québec  H3W 1M6
[email protected]