TORONTO — About 160 young Jewish leaders from across Canada gathered at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto last weekend for the Flick the Switch conference to develop Jewish leadership skills and to “shrink the country.”
Steven Farber
Steven Farber, 34, chair of UIA Federations Canada National Young Leadership Executive, which hosted the conference with UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, said working with Jewish leaders from all over the country will strengthen the Jewish community as a whole.
“What we’re trying to do is not only shrink the country, but to a certain extent we’re trying to shrink the world and ensure that the dialogue is working to strengthen the communities around the world,” said Farber, who works for National Bank Financial Inc., and has been volunteering with Jewish organizations for eight years.
“Let us each benefit from each others’ good ideas. Let us each benefit from each others’ challenges. Where there are opportunities to do things together as communities… let’s do it.”
The keynote speaker for the event, Marc Kielburger, CEO of Free the Children, delivered an address titled “Me to We: Achieving True Well-Being through Social Involvement.”
Farber, who spoke to The CJN just days before the conference kicked off on May 8, said an event such as Flick the Switch allows people to learn from each other and to discover how much they have in common.
“We’re very proud that it is a very inclusive conference of all communities from coast to coast, and I think they’re coming together to make new friendships, to rekindle old friendships, to learn about different ideas that are working in other parts of the country that can be applied, or modified and subsequently applied,” said the Ottawa native.
He said one of the challenges that Jewish communities in all parts of the world face, is engaging the next generation to become involved.
“Everybody realizes the importance, but the tough part is how you do it,” Farber said.
“The only way you can do things is to constantly have dialogue and you get feedback and you try different things and you keep speaking about what is working and what’s not and try very hard to strengthen the various communities.”
But, he added, the conference isn’t all serious business.
“It’s a young leadership conference, which means there are a lot of laughs, there’s a lot of learning and there is always a high level of energy.”
Farber, a UJA Federation board member who has held leadership roles with a number of other Jewish organizations, including Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, said he grew up in a family who was always involved in the community.
“I find myself in a weird position now because… at the same time that I’ve taken over as chair of the National Young Leadership… my mother is actually the president of UIA, Barbara Farber,” he said.
“The Jewish community has always been important and that was instilled in me as I was growing up, so it was quite natural to get involved growing up at both the local and national level and I’ve been doing that in different types of roles over the past several years.”
Farber added that being active in the Jewish community has afforded him many opportunities to travel, make meaningful friendships with people all over the world, and he encourages Jewish youth to get involved in whatever way they can.
“I think young people should know they are not only welcome, but people who’ve been in the community for a little while longer seem to get reinvigorated when they see young people coming in,” he said.
