Jewish Ottawa South continues to serve residents
Posted Aug 21, 2009 By Sheena Bolton
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Tweet ThisEMC News A not-for-profit organization in Riverside South is continuing to strive to connect local Jewish families to share events and holiday celebrations.
Jewish Ottawa South was founded five years ago by Kirill Popov and his family who moved to the area in 2004. They noticed there were some Jewish families in the area who wanted to connect to each other, but had no means of doing so.
"If you look at the Ottawa area you will see Jewish families tend to group together and there is a way for them to connect, but in Riverside South there was absolutely nothing. So we got a few families involved and started to get together on major holidays and on a weekly basis," said Mr. Popov. "We then found people were reaching out to us from Manotick and different areas south of Riverside South."
This need to connect resulted in the formation of Jewish Ottawa South, which mainly works online, bringing families together through their Web site and e-mail lists.
Currently, there are 400 people on their mailing list, with approximately 150 of those from the Riverside South area.
Along with weekly dinners for Sabbath, members also get together on holidays, including Hanukkah.
Mr. Popov said the mandate for the organization is to unite families, provide resources, and to attract other Jewish families to the area.
"It's probably one of the nicest communities in Ottawa, Riverside South, and it's still affordable," said Mr. Popov.
"We looked at a way for us to provide the latest current events, some of that's done through the Web site and some is done through electronic mail."
The group also acts as a forum for communication, specifically in the area of local government. They hope to educate people about the Jewish faith and what the holidays mean.
Jewish Ottawa South holds weekly and monthly learning sessions where they bring in rabbis and other teachers to speak about different areas of Judaism. These sessions are free of charge and open to anyone, regardless of religious affiliation.
"We have no affiliation to a single synagogue," said Mr. Popov. "It's open to everybody."
Mr. Popov noted that if the Jewish population in the area continues to grow, a future goal for the organization might be to try and have a synagogue constructed in Riverside South.
"We go to synagogue for Sabbath every Friday night and Saturday morning," said Mr. Popov.
"For Orthodox Jews, we are not allowed to drive on Saturday, you have to walk so that's why (in areas like) Alta Vista and the west end people congregate around the synagogue. So until we get (a synagogue) in Riverside South we can't attract Orthodox Jews to the area."
Along with Jewish Ottawa South Mr. Popov also runs the Ottawa Judaica store. It's a small store, run out of his home, which sells both religious and non-religious Jewish items. He started the business because he had difficulty finding quality Jewish items in Ottawa. The store only purchases authentic items, like handmade silverware, from New York and Israel.
"The idea behind whatever little profit (the store) makes (is that it goes) back into Jewish Ottawa South events," explained Mr. Popov.
For more information about Jewish Ottawa South visit www.jewishottawasouth.com.
For more information about the Ottawa Judaica store visit www.ottawajudaica.com.
