Jewish Heritage Month

Jewish Heritage Month  

We’re pleased to share a series of meaningful events taking place this May in recognition of Jewish Heritage Month.

In collaboration with the Town of Collingwood and the Collingwood Public Library, we’ve come together to create opportunities for learning, reflection, and connection within our community.

From a flag raising and proclamation, to children’s programming, a Shabbat luncheon, and a special presentation with Holocaust Survivor Nate Leipciger, each gathering offers a moment to engage with Jewish history, culture, and lived experience.

We look forward to welcoming you!

RSVP required for select events: shalom@sgbjc.ca

Location: Collingwood

Date: May 2026

Shabbat Luncheon In celebration of Jewish Heritage Month

Get Tickets Here for Shabbat Luncheon on Eventbrite!

As  part of Jewish Heritage Month, we invite you to join us for a relaxed  and welcoming Shabbat luncheon in the heart of Collingwood.

Held  at the Collingwood Public Library, this gathering is designed to feel  open, informal, and centred around connection. 

A long-table setting,  shared meal, and easy conversation create the foundation for an  afternoon that brings people together in a natural and meaningful way.
Shabbat offers a moment to pause—to step away from the pace of the week and reconnect with one another.

We  are pleased to partner with the Town of Collingwood in recognizing  Jewish Heritage Month and to create space for community, culture, and  shared experience.

The luncheon will be thoughtfully catered by United Bakers, with a menu that reflects tradition, comfort, and gathering.

Date: May 2

Time: 12:30 PM – 3:00 PM

Location: Collingwood Public Library · Rooms B & C
Cost: $25 per person

Kids 10 and under are free
We look forward to gathering with you.
For tickets and more information:

Click Here for Shabbat Luncheon on Eventbrite!


        

The Spirit of Shabbat

In recognition of Jewish Heritage Month, we're inviting children of all ages and their grownups to an inclusive and welcoming experience that introduces the spirit of Shabbat, a weekly Jewish family tradition. 

Shabbat offers each of us a change to take a break, disconnect from our tech, and reconnect with each other. Let's read a story, enjoy a craft, decorate a Shabbat-themed cookie, and try some yummy challah and grape juice.

Learn about the spirit of Shabbat and how we can all reset and reconnect with what truly matters, our family, friends, and greater community!

RSVP: Rsvp.Shalom@sgbjc.ca 

Location: Collingwood Public Library   

Date: May 2, 2026 - 10:00 AM                      

Outside Collingwood Public Library

Contact: shalom@sgbjc.ca

Location: Collingwood Public Library     

Date: May 5, 2026 - 11:00 AM    

Make sure to mark your calendar as we gather for our flag raising and proclamation with Mayor Yvonne Hamlin. 

Proclamation: Jewish Heritage Month

WHEREAS, This month, we celebrate the history, culture, and traditions of the Jewish community in Canada; and

WHEREAS,  Jewish Heritage Month was proclaimed by Ontario in 2012 (Bill 17) and  federally in 2018, this month honours the Jewish community’s profound  impact on our local societies and country as a whole, including in  business, politics, arts, science and medicine; and

WHEREAS,  The combined Jewish communities across Canada currently make up the 4th  largest Jewish population in any given country; and

WHEREAS,  The Southern Georgian Bay Jewish Community (SGBJC) supports unity  and  inclusion while also honoring diversity among our neighbors. As we  honour the Jewish communities across all of Canada, we also acknowledge  the longstanding antisemitic hate that continues to be on the rise and  that specifically targets Jewish individuals, schools, synagogues, homes  and businesses; and

WHEREAS, The Town of  Collingwood condemns all forms of hate and remains committed to being a  place that is peaceful and inclusive of all residents. The Town of  Collingwood proclaims that antisemitism has no place in our town or  country.  

NOW THEREFORE, I, Yvonne Hamlin, Mayor of the Town of Collingwood,

DO HEREBY PROCLAIM May 2026 as “Jewish Heritage Month” in the Town of Collingwood, 

and encourage residents of Collingwood to learn more about our local Jewish community.                     

Clock Tower Illumination

In recognition of  Jewish Heritage Month, the Town of Collingwood will illuminate the  Clock Tower in blue—marking a visible and meaningful moment within the  community.

Blue holds deep significance in  Jewish identity. It reflects heritage, continuity, and a connection that  spans generations. As the tower lights the evening skyline, it becomes a  quiet symbol of presence—acknowledging both history and the community  that continues to grow here today.

May 3rd to 9th

Contact: shalom@sgbjc.ca

Location: Downtown Collingwood     

Date: May 3-9, 2026                          

"Life is for the living. You have to go on, and make the best you can out of your present situation and utilize your tools."
— Nate Leipciger

In partnership with the Collingwood Public Library and the Southern Georgian Bay Jewish Community, we invite you to an intimate evening of conversation and reflection at the Simcoe Street Theatre.

This special program brings together Bobby Koven and Nate Leipciger in a meaningful, unscripted dialogue on resilience, perspective, and the tools we carry through life’s most difficult moments.

Drawing on Bobby Koven’s work as Founder and Executive Director of No Magic Bullet, and Nate Leipciger’s extraordinary lived experience surviving The Holocaust and rebuilding a life in Canada, this conversation offers a rare inter-generational exchange grounded in honesty and humanity.

Together, they will explore:

• How we develop inner tools to navigate adversity
• The role of awareness, mindset, and adaptation in survival and healing
• The importance of storytelling, memory, and education across generations

An intimate setting for a powerful conversation—inviting reflection, connection, and a deeper understanding of what it means to move forward with purpose.

Holocaust  survivor Nate Leipciger will share his extraordinary and deeply moving  story. Born in Poland, Nate endured the unimaginable realities of Nazi  concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Mauthausen, surviving  through resilience, courage, and an unwavering will to live. For  decades, he has dedicated himself to Holocaust education, speaking to  audiences across the country to ensure that history is neither forgotten  nor repeated. His reflections are not only a testament to survival but a  powerful call to bear witness, to listen, and to carry these stories  forward.

Following this, Bobby Koven  Founder and Executive Director of No Magic Bullet
will  lead an intimate, unscripted conversation with Nate. Together, they  will explore themes of resilience, perspective, and the tools we carry  through life’s most difficult moments—offering space for thoughtful  dialogue, shared reflection, and meaningful connection. 

To Register: shalom@sgbjc.ca

 Location: Simcoe Street Theatre     

Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Time: 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM                             

Our next SGBJC Book Club Meeting will be June 17th at 7pm. 

We will be discussing Nate Leipciger’s book The Weight of Freedom. 

SGBJC  in partnership with the Collingwood Public Library is proud to bring  Nate Leipciger to speak at the Simcoe St Theatre on May 20th. 

To follow this opportunity we will read and discuss his book The Weight of Freedom.

Nate  Leipciger, a thoughtful, shy eleven-year-old boy, is plunged into an  incomprehensible web of ghettos, concentration and death camps during  the German occupation of Poland. Demonstrating incredible strength of  character as he struggles to survive, he forges a new, unbreakable bond  with his father and yearns for a free future. With memories that remain  etched in tragedy and pain even as he looks optimistically to the  future, Nate builds a new life in Canada. Introspective and raw, yet  ever hopeful, The Weight of Freedom is Nate’s vivid journey through a  past that can never be left behind.

RSVP shalom@sgbjc.ca 

Join us for an engaging and informative lecture designed to support the members in our community. This session focuses on
awareness, communication, and practical ways to stay safe in everyday life.

The  lecture encourages individuals to become more aware, communicate  effectively, and feel confident taking steps that help keep themselves  and others safe.

Participants will learn how to recognize
potential safety concerns, understand the
importance of a "see something - say
something" approach, and discover how they
can play a role in supporting security in their
community.

Security workshop
Sunday April 12th at 10am
RSVP to shalom@sgbjc.ca
Reserve your spot today and be part of building a safer, more aware community 

Dear Community Members,

On  Thursday, March 5, from 8:00am - 11:00am  the Shaare Zedek Hospital  Foundation Ski Day will be hosting a swabbing station set up on site at  Alpine Ski Club.

We are currently looking for:

• Volunteers to help administer cheek swabs

• Community members to come out and be tested and entered into the genetic database.  Adults 18+

This  is a meaningful opportunity for our Jewish Genetic SGBJC community to  take part in a simple process that has the potential to save lives. The  swab takes only a few minutes, and participants will be added to the  registry database.  

<May  2025, Daphne was diagnosed with Myeloproliferative Neoplasm (MPN), a  rare blood cancer. Her only hope for a cure is a stem cell transplant  from a matching donor. Her children have been tested. Her brother has  been tested. 45 million people in the worldwide registry have been  searched. No viable match has been found. Yet.

If  you are available to volunteer or would like to be tested, please join  us that morning and help spread the word within our community.

Thank you for showing up for one another.

Warmly,
Peter Seligman - SGBJC Vice Chair

(C: 416/565-1100)
Email: peterseligman@rogers.com

Team Be The Light – SGBJC is hitting the streets on February 28, 2026 for the Coldest Night of the Year — a family-friendly walk supporting front-line organizations helping those facing homelessness, hunger, and hardship in Collingwood.

As a community, we believe in showing up — with compassion, action, and warmth — especially when the night is coldest.

Walk with us, sponsor our team, or cheer us on from the sidelines.

https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?teamID=1041062&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio

Together, we can  be the light.

Join us for dinner, dessert or drinks while we discuss The Choice: Embrace the Possible.

To follow our Yom HaShoah January 27th event, we are meeting to have a further conversation centered around Edith Eva Egar's story.

Dr Edith Eva Eger is an eminent psychologist whose own experiences as a Holocaust survivor helps treat patients and allows them to escape the prisons of their own minds. 

It's 1944 and 16 year old ballerina and gymnast Edith Eger is sent to Auschwitz. Separated from her parents on arrival, she endures unimaginable experiences, including being made to dance for the infamous Josef Mengele. When the camp is finally liberated, she is pulled from a pile of bodies, barely alive. The horrors of the Holocaust didn't break Edith. In fact, they helped her learn to live again with life-affirming strength and a truly remarkable resilience. The Choice is her unforgettable story.

Hosted by Southern Georgian Bay Jewish Community

DATE:  Thursday March 5th, 2026
TIME: 7-9pm
LOCATION: Collingwood

rsvp for details:  shalom@sgbjc.ca 

January 27 is a day of remembrance. A day  to pause, to gather as a community, and to honor the six million Jews  murdered in the Holocaust. We remember those whose lives were taken, and  we bear witness to those who survived.

Join  us to view a video interview with Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Eger—an open  and deeply moving conversation reflecting on survival, responsibility,  and her bestselling book, The Choice: Embrace the Possible.

Edith  Eva Eger is a Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor who was deported to  Auschwitz in 1944, where her parents were murdered. She survived  unimaginable trauma and was rescued from near death at the end of the  war. Today, she continues to share her story, offering a powerful voice  of resilience, memory, and moral choice.

Hosted by Southern Georgian Bay Jewish Community

DATE:  Tuesday, January 27th, 2026
TIME: 9:30 am
LOCATION: Collingwood

rsvp for details:  shalom@sgbjc.ca