Avrum Rosensweig

Avrum Rosensweig is the founder and CEO of Ve’ahavta, Canada’s only national Jewish organization dedicated to humanitarian aid and relief in Canada and abroad.

Avrum Rosensweig Leading Community Passover Seder at Habonim (2014)

Ve'ahavta was founded in 1996, and will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2016.

Background

Rosensweig was born in Kitchener, Ontario in 1960, the only son of Rabbi Phyvle (Philip) Rosensweig (1928- 1989)[1] and Gitel Rosensweig (nee Flicht) (1930-2016)[2]

Rabbi Phillip Rosensweig came from a family of Orthodox Rabbis, that emigrated to Canada during the turn of the last century. Some of his mother’s family were Polish Jews from Wierzbnik (after 1952 called Starachowice), Poland, who were murdered in the Holocaust.

In his younger years, Rabbi Rosensweig was active in helping Jewish refugees from Europe flee persecution to come to Canada.Rabbi Rosensweig and his wife, Gitel, were activists fighting on behalf of people in need. Their legacy in Kitchener, Toronto and Southern Ontario is a powerful one.

Avrum Rosensweig received an Orthodox Jewish education at Ner Israel Yeshiva in Toronto[3] and later on in Jerusalem, Israel, followed by the study of journalism at Ryerson University. From 1990 to 1996, he worked for Toronto’s United Jewish Appeal (UJA) campaign. During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, he convinced UJA to launch efforts help the fleeing refugees from the crisis torn region. The campaign, encouraged by Avrum Rosensweig and his colleague, Dani Fine, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceuticals which were sent to neighboring Chad to assist victims of the war in refugee camps.

From 2005 to 2015, he served as associate Religious Leader at Congregation Habonim Toronto.

Avrum Rosensweig with children at Community Passover Seder at Habonim (2014)

Ve'ahavta

In 1996, Avrum Rosensweig founded Ve’ahavta, Canada’s only Jewish humanitarian and relief organization, which launched numerous initiatives in Canada, Israel and around the world.[4]

at Hurricane Katrina Benefit

Areas of work include South America, the Caribbean, in Asia (during the Tsunami in Thailand and the Hurricane in the Philippines), and communities in rural Africa (affected by AIDS), and advocating awareness about the genocide in Darfur.[5] Locally, he has initiated many programs for the disadvantaged in Toronto including the Mobile Jewish Response to the Homeless (a nightly van program structured to take volunteers into the streets of Toronto to assist those living on or near the street through the distribution of food, clothing, books etc.), the Ve'ahavta Street Academy (a school for the homeless in concert with George Brown College), the Passover Seder for the Homeless (co-sponsored by Toronto’s Congregation Habonim), the Creative Writing Contest for the Homeless and a homework partnership program for Somalian Children in Regent Park located in downtown Toronto. Avrum Rosensweig was also instrumental in helping launch the Jewish-Aboriginal arm of Ve'ahavta, meant to form alliances with the Jewish and First Nations communities. This aspect of Ve'ahavta was responsible for facilitating Aboriginal education for teachers in the Jewish school system as well as sending students and a Native doctor to reserves in northern Ontario, responsible for working with the locals in areas of health.

Avrum Rosensweig Presenting Plaque to Chief Rodney Monague, of Christian Island, Survivor of Residential Schools (2009)

Ve’ahavta hosts a gala fundraising event each year, honouring Canadians of all backgrounds for their work in social, humanitarian, medical and educational fields. Honourees have included: Moshe Hammer, Dr. Naomi Azrieli, Dr. Michael Dan, Irwin Cotler, Karen Levine and others.

Hosts, Guest speakers/performers have included: Bob Geldof, Mia Farrow, Mariane Pearl, Steven Page, Emmanuel Jal, Jaffa Road, Michael Enright, Shad (Shadrach Kabango), Evan Solomon and others.

Media Presence

Avrum Rosensweig's work has appeared in various print,[6] TV and Radio Media including:

References

  1. ↑ "I haven't seen my Father in 22 years. How do we?". 3 November 2011.
  2. ↑ "Happy Birthday Mom". 6 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "A Rabbi, Rebbetzin, A Boy & A Biker (On Teaching Tikun Olam)". 12 February 2009.
  4. ↑ "Tikun Olam according to Avrum Rosensweig". 6 August 2009.
  5. ↑ "Spurred by Rwanda Genocide, Activist Makes 'Love Thy Neighbor' a Mission". 18 December 2007.
  6. ↑ "A JEW IN KENORA SPREADING TIKKUN OLAM". Now Magazine. Toronto. 7 June 2015.
  7. ↑ "Posts by Avrum Rosensweig". 16 February 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.