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visit Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. 

About 80 campers joined the con-
gregation for services and dinner. As 
Cantor Adam Stotland played favorite 
Israeli dance songs on his guitar, it 
was a pleasure to watch many of the 
children dancing and jumping up and 
down with excitement. After services, 
we joined the congregation and the 
campers for dinner and heard from 
Canadian and Israeli IVOW leaders 
as well as some counselors and camp-
ers. 
One camper, a young girl whose 
father is being held hostage in Hamas 
captivity, spoke about the horrors 
she experienced on Oct. 7, including 
seeing her older sister killed in front 
of her. We were all struck by how 
articulately this child shared what she 
had lived through even as her father 
remains a hostage. The evening was 
very emotionally charged as we felt 
distraught to know the hardships 
these children have experienced 
and continue to experience, but we 
were inspired seeing them make new 
friends and find joy.
The next day, we met Rabbi Adina 
Lewittes and spent the remainder of 
Shabbat in the Laurentian Mountains. 
Rabbi Lewittes told us about her 
community in the mountains and 
how they came together for Shabbat 
during the pandemic, convening in 
boats on the lake they live around, 
sharing food and drink and singing 
and dancing. She showed us where 
the community plans to build a 
Jewish cemetery, in addition to the 
existing Catholic and Protestant 
cemeteries, and led us on a hike full 
of words of Torah, representative of 
gatherings the community often has 
on Shabbat mornings. 

Rabbi Lewittes introduced us to 
community leaders, including the 
community’s mayor, all of whom 
shared words of encouragement for 
being a leader in the Jewish commu-
nity. After enjoying a seudah shelishit, 
the traditional third meal eaten on 
Shabbat, we made Havdalah togeth-
er. We returned to the city feeling 
refreshed and energized, with new 
connections and a lasting affinity for 
this small mountain community. 
The trip made clear how connected 
the global Jewish community is — in 
our five days, we met Jews not only 
from Canada, but also Ukraine and 
Israel, and learned how their stories 
are inextricably intertwined with our 
own. We also built relationships with 
our fellow American Jews and will 
bring back what we’ve learned to the 
places where we live. I am certain that 
the connections made and lessons 
learned on this trip will enhance our 
Jewish identities and strengthen our 
ties to the Jewish community, at home 
and abroad, for years to come. 

A Torah hike in the Laurentian Mountains

Making cookies for campers at Friendship Circle Montreal

