Characterco
Fair Service

John Ginsburg

Introduction: We were sent this short story by John Ginsburg, who is a Winnipeg writer. Given the constant stream of stories about students and professors being intimidated by forces championing political correctness, especially when it comes to anything having to do with Israel, we thought it timely to publish the story here.
June 2021 Mackenzie King College Walking east, past the Theatre building, the view was genuinely inspiring, especially in the bright morning sunshine.

Bruce 001Blog # 29 (Posted Jan. 18, 2022) And Now for Something Completely Different

Here’s one for the Monty Python gang:  Remember those blue & white tin boxes - from the Jewish National Fund - the ones passed around the classroom or placed on some hard-to-get upper kitchen shelf - for collecting pennies and nickels for tree planting in Israel?  Our collective efforts paid off.  Over 250 million trees were planted during the 20th century - with Israel being the only country ending the century with more trees then when it started, and…we had a 50 year handicap. 

Steven Aronovitch

By GERRY POSNER A long ago in Winnipeg, one of the giants of this community started a business with his brother-in-law, Louis Leipsic. That business became a powerhouse in the real estate and insurance fields. Its name: Aronovitch and Leipsic.
That giant was Abraham Herman Aronovitch.

Sam Slutchuk

By BERNIE BELLAN When Sam Slutchuk was still a student at Gray Academy – five years ago, he developed a keen interest in working with the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.
As he told me in a recent phone interview, “I’ve been connected to the Federation since high school. I began as an intern, then when I started university, I was asked to work for the Federation part-time.”

Solly Dreman/Don Barnard

By MYRON LOVE Over the past few years, Yolanda Papini Pollock has created a solid body of work as a documentary filmmaker with a focus on human rights.

Elana Schultz

By MYRON LOVE Community has always been important for Elana Schultz. The daughter of Dr. Ben and Serky Goldberg credits her parents with showing her the way. (Her mother was the 2018 recipient of the Max and Mollie Shore Memorial Award.)

Allan Cheskes

Introduction: With this story we begin what has become an annual tradition, which is to preview some of the speakers who will be presenting at this year’s upcoming Limmud. As it was last year, Limmud will be held virtually – this year, on March 6.

In his presentation at the upcoming Limmud Winnipeg 2022, Allan Cheskes, a retired Deloitte partner in Toronto and amateur musicologist, will explore the history of Klezmer music as it developed and moved from Europe to America.

Leah_Braemer

By MYRON LOVE In the movie “Billy Ellliot”, the eponymous character, when asked by a review board why he, the son of a hard-bitten goal miner, should be accepted into the Royal Ballet School, responds that when he is dancing, he feels - to paraphrase – “electric”.

Keit Tennant/Samuel Braemer

By MYRON LOVE Life is about community. Community brings together people of shared interests, values and beliefs and provides a sense of belonging. The bottom line is that – ideally – members of a community support each other.

Simkin Centre logoUpdated Jan. 17 A total of 20 Residents have tested positive for Covid. Of those 20, 15 have recovered. The remainder are in the Covid isolation unit. In addition, two more staff have tested positive, bringing the total number of staff who have tested positive to 31. Twenty-six of the staff have returned to work.

Gray Academy logo websiteBy BERNIE BELLAN With the decision by the provincial government to require online learning in all classrooms for students from K-12 from January 10-14, Gray Academy was well positioned to implement what it began to refer to as “Gray Away” when it was first introduced in May 2020. As well, the school has also taken steps to provide all parents of students in JK-6 with test kits that the parents are being asked to administer every three days beginning January 16.

Synagogue logos montageBy BERNIE BELLAN With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant it comes as no surprise that many local synagogues have taken a proactive approach to dealing with the pandemic. For the time being, however, the Rady JCC is maintaining its existing schedule, although that may change quickly depending on possible new restrictions that may be issued by the provincial government.

Harvey Secter/Robert Silver

Two well-known members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community were among 135 Canadians to be appointed to the Order of Canada last week.

Taylor Polstra, organizer of the Covenant
Cup golf tournament, held this past
August; right, at the entrance to the tournament

By BERNIE BELLAN Taylor Polstra is a young woman now living in southern Manitoba who originally comes from the southern US.
In 2010 Taylor was working for an organization known as the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

Rabbi Shmuel Bowman (right), director of
"Operation Lifeshield", with the head of security
for Maalot-Tarshiha, which is where a new
bomb shelter for nursery school children
was just opened this past week.

By BERNIE BELLAN As noted in our article about the Covenant Cup golf tournament elsewhere on this website, money raised by a group in southern Manitoba was used to build a bomb shelter in a community in Israel. The name of the community is Maalot-Tarshiha, situated in the northern Galil, only 15 kilometres from the Lebanese border.

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