“However motherhood comes to you, it’s still a miracle.” – Valerie Harper (adoptive parent)

What do we know? We know The CJN is shutting down. (It won’t. Too many people love it, and there is lots of investment money out there).

We know the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) is not a huge hit in our city. Some community members swear by it, but it seems that many are wondering where its leadership is on substantial Canadian issues such as the diminishing number of refugees allowed into Canada, antisemitism and anti-Roma sentiment in Hungary, and our government’s punitive approach to lower crime statistics.  

We also know the Jewish woman the community rescued from living in her car a few winters ago is about to go homeless again and needs a place to live. Please be in touch. It’s pa’s nisht – Yiddish for “wrong” – for a Jewish woman to be living on the street. 

What don’t we know? We don’t know yet who the “forever family” of Josh – the Jewish 10-year-old I wrote about last month waiting to be adopted – will be. We do know the initial buzz around the first “Josh committee” article was substantial and 10 or so people called Jewish Family & Child (JF&CS), some of whom were rejected and others who dropped out, but we don’t know why that buzz has fizzled. 

We also don’t know why more non-Jewish families, rather than Jewish families, are trying to adopt Josh, even though Josh is one of ours and gets stellar marks from his foster family. We do know JF&CS is working feverishly to figure out how to get us – the Jews of Toronto, Canada – to adopt this sweet, beautiful kid through advertising and information sessions. What we don’t know is why there isn’t a battle among our members to adopt Josh. Where is the urgency to help this child? 

If, when you read the original article, you thought for a second, “I want to adopt Josh,” but didn’t act, this time please do. By doing so you have a remarkable opportunity to bring security to his life, a sense of “always.” You can be certain that adopting Josh will be one of the greatest mitzvot you will ever do and will put a forever smile on the face of a 10-year-old kid, your 10-year-old kid. What can beat that? 

I encourage you, therefore, with all my heart, to call JF&CS and speak to social worker Marsha Urowitz. Her number is 416-638-7800, ext. 6306. Ask Marsha what you can do to further the process of adoption. There are no guarantees, but we do know you won’t succeed if you don’t try. 

We know our community can accomplish most things when it wants to. We know adopting Josh is an unparallelled opportunity to do something holy for a child, for you and for the Jewish community. We know the process is not simple, but what is clear, is if you adopt Josh, you will have a special Jewish addition to your family forever, someone whom you can call son and who will care for you when you are old.

And we know that now it’s your turn to embrace that boy, while he is in need of your warmth, direction, caring and love. That is a good thing. We just don’t know yet how to make it happen. Call!!!  

“His [Josh’s] smile and big blue eyes are hard to resist.” – Sheryl Ederman, Practice Team Manager, JF&CS.