Dear friends, 

Some 40 years ago, I left my office at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto to make my first house call. I was driving nearly 60 kilometres to Oakville to visit a 40-year-old patient on whom I had operated just months earlier in an attempt to cure his colon cancer. Sadly, the cancer had spread, and he was dying.

As I drove, I wondered why I was making the trip. Surgeons don't normally make house calls. There was little more I could offer him medically, but I wanted to see him.

When I arrived, he was waiting for me in his garage, supported by his wife on one arm and an IV pole on the other. He was eager to show me his immaculately restored Corvette sports car. It was clearly a source of enormous pride, and as he walked me around it, explaining the care and craftsmanship that had gone into its restoration, I began to understand why I was there.

In that moment, we were simply two craftsmen appreciating each other's work. I was no longer just his surgeon, and he was no longer just my patient. I was seeing another side of a man I had come to know through his illness.

A few weeks later, his wife wrote to tell me that he had died shortly after my visit. She said he had been thrilled to show me his beloved car.

That house call has stayed with me for four decades. It taught me something important about the value of stepping outside our usual roles and taking the time to see people in the context of their own lives. Sometimes we discover far more than we expected.

Years later, after moving to Ottawa, I made house calls to two extraordinary leaders of our Jewish community, Arnie Vered and Hy Soloway.

Arnie was a builder, both professionally and metaphorically. Near the end of his life, I visited him at home, ostensibly to seek his advice on a Federation matter while I was serving on the Board. In truth, I also wanted the opportunity to spend time with him, to listen and perhaps offer some comfort. I came away feeling as though I had been in the presence of the biblical King Solomon. His wisdom, his perspective and his deep commitment to Jewish Ottawa left a lasting impression on me.

Hy, who had been my patient and was also my neighbour, was someone I visited from time to time toward the end of his life. Our conversations invariably turned to politics after the initial pleasantries. I enjoyed those visits immensely. Like Arnie, Hy had devoted so much of himself to our community, and I learned far more from our conversations than I could ever have offered in return.

Both men helped me understand what true commitment looks like, and the importance of pursuing excellence in whatever we undertake.

I have been thinking about those house calls recently because, in some ways, my time as interim CEO of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa has felt like another unexpected house call.

I have known Federation for many years. I have served on its Board, participated in its work and understood the importance of its role in our community. Or at least I thought I did.

But spending my days alongside the people who do this work has given me an entirely new perspective.

I have had the privilege of working with some of the most exceptional people I have ever met. They are highly professional, deeply committed and extraordinarily hardworking. Every day, I see them bringing their skills, creativity and compassion to the task of sustaining and strengthening Jewish life in Ottawa.

They work on the front lines of our community's response to antisemitism, helping our institutions and community members navigate an increasingly difficult environment. They create opportunities for Jewish students to find friendship, belonging and a warm Shabbat table. They help families connect with Jewish life and work with our schools to strengthen access to high-quality Jewish education.

They support the volunteers and donors whose generosity makes so much of this possible. They encourage new ideas and initiatives that respond to community needs, and they work alongside our outstanding social service agencies, including the Bess and Moe Greenberg Family Hillel Lodge, Jewish Family Services, and Tamir, to help extend the reach and impact of the resources our community provides.

Much of this work happens quietly, away from public view. Yet it touches lives across our community every day.

I have also come to appreciate just how complex this work can be. There are competing priorities, limited resources, difficult decisions and expectations that cannot always be reconciled. The people doing this work care enormously about getting it right, even when the answers are not simple.

Like every organization, Federation makes mistakes. We can and must learn from them. We serve a community that is deeply invested in its future, and with that comes a responsibility to listen carefully, welcome questions, respond to concerns and remain accountable for our decisions.

Indeed, a community that cares enough to ask difficult questions is a community that is engaged.

But I have also learned how important it is that we approach those conversations with a willingness to understand one another. We may disagree about decisions, priorities or the best way forward, but we should never lose sight of the fact that we are working toward the same goal: a strong, vibrant and secure Jewish future in Ottawa.

Our staff deserve the same consideration, respect and generosity of spirit that we would want extended to ourselves. And our community deserves to know that its concerns will be heard and taken seriously. These are not competing expectations. They are the foundations of a healthy relationship between Federation and the people we serve.

Looking back, I realize that each of those house calls taught me something about the importance of seeing beyond what is immediately apparent.

My patient in Oakville wanted me to see the craftsman behind the illness. Arnie and Hy allowed me to glimpse the wisdom, generosity and lifelong commitment behind their remarkable contributions to our community.

And my time at Federation has given me the opportunity to see the people behind an institution I thought I knew so well.

There is something humbling about discovering how much more there is to learn when we take the time to look more closely, listen more carefully and appreciate the efforts of others.

I began my first house call wondering what I could possibly offer. I left with something far more valuable than I had expected.

Forty years later, I find myself feeling much the same way.

Shabbat Shalom, 

Hartley

Ottawa’s municipal election is this Monday. Make your voice count!

To help our community make informed decisions, the Jewish Federation of Ottawa met with three mayoral candidates and surveyed City Council and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustee candidates on issues important to Jewish Ottawa.

Read what the candidates had to say in our special municipal election edition of the Ottawa Jewish E-Bulletin.

Remember: every vote matters, every position matters. Make your voice heard.