Fonds jhse-101 - Edmonton Jewish Community Council fonds

In 1954, the Edmonton Jewish Community Council of Edmonton was established in order to bring a more organized and centralized approach to community affairs. John Dower was named the first president but shortly thereafter Wolfe Margolus was named president and became the driving force behind the council in its early years. The council took responsibility for calendar clearing of community events and fundraising campaigns for local organizations such as Talmud Torah School and the operation of the council itself. In 1955, Max Levy was hired as the executive director of the Community Council as well as director of the council-directed Zionist Council and the Jewish Welfare Society. In 1958, the Council began publishing the <i>Our Community News</i> newspaper. <i>Our Community News</i>, which changed its name to <i>Your Community News</i> in the late 1960s, was published until 1987 when it was discontinued. The Community Council coordinated a Kashrut committee in partnership with the Beth Shalom and Beth Israel Synagogue, which hired a shochet (butcher), mohel (ritual circumciser), and a mashgiach (supervisor of Kosher activities). In 1981, the Edmonton Jewish Community Council opted to merge with the United Jewish Appeal, to form the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, an umbrella group of all the Jewish Organizations in the city.

In 1981, the Jewish Community Council merged with the United Jewish Appeal to form the Jewish Federation of Edmonton. The new organization functioned as an umbrella organization that could undertake all of the traditional activities and services provided by the Jewish Community Council while conducting the annual United Jewish Appeal fundraising campaign and allocating funds to local, national and international Jewish organizations. The Federation continued to represent Canadian Jewish Congress in Edmonton and Northern Alberta, and enjoys representation on the national level in Congress, United Israel Appeal, JIAS, Canada-Israel Committee, Federations Canada and other national Jewish bodies. In 1993, Federation integrated the Jewish Community Centre of Edmonton into its operations. Federation is housed in the JCC and is the official voice of the Edmonton Jewish Community and as such, is involved in human rights and community relation issues such as educating Edmonton students about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. Federation is governed by elected officers and an appointed full-time director. The Federation operates several sub-committees such as the Holocaust- March of the Living committee, Community Relations, and Resource and Allocations.