Remembering where we come from is what allows us to build the future. 

Faye’s story begins with survival and rebuilding. She was born in Toronto to Holocaust survivor parents who came from Poland to Canada around 1948 through the Tailor’s Project, arriving with very little and no family. In their home, the past was rarely spoken of, yet its weight was always present. Yiddish was Faye’s first language, and despite modest means, her mother filled their home with Jewish tradition and a strong, lived Jewish identity. 

Even with little to give, tzedakah was a constant presence. A tzedakah box always sat on the table and clothing was regularly set aside for those in need. It was a quiet but powerful expression of values that continues to guide us today. 

I was also raised in Toronto in a home shaped by family, community, and that same sense of responsibility. My father came from Poland in 1928, where most of his family was later lost in the Holocaust. My mother’s family moved from Poland to England in the 1890s before settling in Canada in the early 1900s, where she grew up with seven siblings. I was raised with a Jewish day school education, synagogue involvement, and a strong understanding that being Jewish means being responsible for one another. 

Faye and I met at the JCC in Toronto, where our friendship grew into a marriage built on shared values of family, Yiddishkeit, tzedakah, and community. We raised our two children with those same values, and today, as grandparents to four young girls, we find joy in watching them carry that legacy forward—attending Jewish day schools and camps, singing in Hebrew and Yiddish, and embracing Jewish life. 

Over the years, my involvement in the community has taken many forms, now most fully expressed through my role as president of Jewish Free Loan Toronto (JFLT). In that work, I’ve seen how a single act of support can change the course of a life—a belief Faye also carried through her work as a special education teacher and consultant. 

We bring these lessons to our grandchildren, inviting them to JFLT events to witness this impact and understand that not everyone begins with the same advantages. We encourage them to take part in our philanthropy by exploring causes that matter to them. Together, we support those causes through our fund at the Jewish Foundation, showing them that giving should be thoughtful, purposeful, and guided by values—and that it is both a privilege and a responsibility. 

We are guided by a simple belief: we must never be responsible for a break in the chain of Jewish continuity. Our legacy is not only what we give, but what we pass on—ensuring that the values, traditions, and sense of responsibility we inherited continue to shape the generations that follow.