TORONTO — Jordan Banks, global head of vertical strategy and managing director of Facebook Canada, was inspired to make a meaningful donation in memory of his late grandparents, Becky and Irvin Shulman, while at the same time honouring his mother, Debby Kaplan.
“Mom is an unbelievable woman. I told her that I wanted to do something meaningful for her,” said Banks with pride.
Banks told her that he and his wife, Faith, wanted to make a significant donation to any organization she wanted.
Kaplan chose Temple Har Zion, where she has been a member for more than 30 years and is married to Lawrie Kaplan, a founding member of the 44-year-old congregation.
Banks’ donation is supporting the renewal of Har Zion’s sanctuary, which was renamed the Debby Kaplan Sanctuary in honour of his mother and in memory of her late parents in a ceremony at Har Zion on Sept. 12.
“I wanted the donation to go someplace that connected our family. We felt this is where the donation would be best used, to enrich and revitalize the existing sanctuary. We wanted to encourage others to feel comfortable in a new environment that was more contemporary than what we presently have,” Kaplan said.
“The main focus of the donation became the revitalization of the bimah and Aron Kodesh. The legacy fund, which was established a number of years ago to build a pool of capital funds to ensure the continuity of our congregation, is also a beneficiary of the Banks family’s generosity,” said Har Zion president Shari Stancer.
Work on the sanctuary is set to begin at the end of June.
Har Zion, a Reform temple, was founded in 1971 and has grown from 72 families housed in rented facilities to its own property located on Bayview Avenue in Thornhill, with a membership today of approximately 550 families.
Kaplan has been a member since 1983 and served as president from 2007 to 2009
“In Debby’s years on the board, and under her leadership as our president, our daytime adult education programming began. We transformed our Hebrew program, our Shabbat task force was reconstituted, and the process of refining our policies on non-Jewish spouses in the synagogue began,” said Rabbi Cory Weiss.
“A lot of synagogue presidents go into hiding after their presidencies, but not Debby. After two more years on the executive as immediate past president, Debby moved on to chair our 40th anniversary celebration, and she lent us Lawrie for the year so he could chair our Torah writing project, an accomplishment that gave us our brand new sefer Torah,” Rabbi Weiss added.
Kaplan believes her ties to Har Zion are bashert.
“Growing up in Belleville, my parents and I attended the Sons of Jacob Synagogue. While raising my kids, Jordan and Laurie, in Toronto, we used to go back to Belleville for High Holiday services,” said Kaplan, a former nurse who went on to teach nursing at Centennial College before retiring in 2006 as dean of continuing education and corporate training.
“I found [Har Zion] before I met my husband, Lawrie [Kaplan]. I found Lawrie through friends and discovered he was very involved in Har Zion. Lawrie was a founding member of Har Zion and was president from the late 1970s to the early 1980s,” she said.
“Knowing that my parents live on with the naming of the sanctuary and that they were both here [at Har Zion] before they passed away, they knew how much Har Zion means to me, and they were always proud of the fact that I was very involved, so it holds great meaning,” she added.
“I am very proud of Jordan and Faith for setting an example to the next generation. Anyone can give back to their own community at any time. We often think we have to save that until we are older.
“It’s a sanctuary that belongs to everybody and we will all love it and enjoy being in it.”