Robert and Alla live in the Thornhill community, and are the parents of five children: Corey, Leeat, Seivan, Meital, and Maayan. Robert is the founder and director of Carmel Transport & Cartem Intermodal Logistics. Alla is a teacher, wonderful home maker, and enjoys spending time with her three amazing grandchildren.
A word from our honourees:
“Our family have been members of Westmount for 20 years. We were one of the first six families. Our children were the driving force to our initial relationship to Westmount. They were always asking to go to shul. Just around that time, a friend of ours mentioned that there was a new shul in the Westmount school. And it was in that space, right near the cafeteria, which became the home and source of some of our closest relationships to date. This core group of people are so much a part of our lives today. Any simcha, any holiday, anything that we do, we do not forget about each other. The vibrant, loving community at Westmount was and is such a central part of our lives.
Our family came from different backgrounds. One from a traditional Orthodox roots from Europe, and the other from Israeli stock. We looked for a shul that would be able to support our lifestyle, and understand where we came from. We also needed a place that was child friendly. Despite our different levels of interest and background, Westmount gave us the tools to continue on developing our Jewish identity in an organic process. Little by little our family was transformed thanks to the Westmount community, and through Rabbi and Rebbetzin Michalowicz.
We were not the only ones impacted by Westmount, but so too were our children. One daughter has told us, “Westmount gets the merit from all the fruit and the generations of Jewish grandchildren will that come from our family. Westmount was the first exposure to Torah Judaism. It was the seed to so much of our growth.” Another daughter has said, “Our family is our family because of our religion, which came through Westmount. Shabbas is the time where we sit down for hours and be together. Also, my morals are completely different from other people that I know. I have values which will stay with me forever. Deep Jewish values – like family, honouring your mother and father, loving your friend like you love yourself.” There is no doubt in our minds this is a result of Westmount’s impact on our lives.
We are committed to Westmount and to seeing it grow. We envision a place where our grand-children can find us seated in Shul, a place where my family will feel at home and comfortable as part of the community. We believe that the Shul should be your home outside of home. It is the essence of Yiddishkeit. We look forward to seeing the Westmount community grow and blossom the next generation, and being a home to another generation. We look forward to seeing new programs, new families and new classes. The future is exciting, and we are glad to be a part of it.”
