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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands in a recent meeting with Iran's Foreign Affairs Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif (Global)


OTTAWA – B'nai Brith Canada has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, citing its failure to comply with a motion to list Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in its entirety, as a terrorist organization.

The action, specifically launched against both the government and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, comes about five weeks after B'nai Brith, the Council of Iranian Canadians and the Justice 88 Campaign publicly urged the implementation of a motion passed by the House of Commons in June of 2018.

Sheba Medical Centre's telemedicine app

 

Posted Feb. 18, 2020. Special to the JP&N. Note: The following story is an update to a story which was posted Feb. 17 and which can be read following this story:

Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer will host those Israeli citizens who had been confined to the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan during the past few weeks, and who’ve not exhibited coronavirus symptoms. The ill-fated vacationers will be flown back to Israel on a special flight, hopefully arriving by the end of this week, and sent to Sheba Medical Center, where they will be fully examined and treated by a specially trained medical staff.

Sidura Ludwig

By MYRON LOVE
Sidura Ludwig’s second book, a collection of short stories titled “You Are Not What We Expected”, has been years in the making. While the new volume will be out in May, the subject of Ludwig’s Limmud presentation – at the Asper Campus on March 1 – will reflect her current focus on children’s books rather than her new publication.
The Winnipeg-born writer’s Limmud presentation will be focusing on the need for more diversity in the portrayal of Jewish grandparents in today’s children’s picture books. The daughter of Israel and Maylene Ludwig is currently working on a Masters Degree in Fine Arts specializing in writing books for children and young adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

(l-r): Gordon Pullan, Sam Wilder, Joe Wilder

By MYRON LOVE
The recent merger of Wilder, Wilder and Langtrey with Pullan Frohlinger Kammerloch brings together some of our Jewish community’s most high profile legal practitioners.

With almost 70 years of experience, Gordon Pullan, QC has been practicing law longer than anyone else in Manitoba. (Only the late Harry Walsh was in practice longer.) He was honored by the Law Society of Manitoba as a senior member of the Bar with more than 50 years of practice almost 19 years ago. At 94, he is still working full time.

The late Sam Honigman seen here as a baby in a photo taken in Mizerich, Ukraine, prior to WWII. Sam’s sister Devorah is to his right; to his left is his sister Rivka. The woman on the left was Sam’s mother, Gisia, the old woman on the right was Sam’s grandmother, Shaindle and the man holding Sam is his father, Asher. Only Sam survived.

The following article was posted by former Winnipegger Brenda Honigman on Facebook on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
There are countless stories written either by Holocaust survivors or their descendants, but we chose to republish this story - partly because the late Sam Honigman was so well known, also because his tale of survival is so typical - and so extraordinarily harrowing, that it brings home in a more personal way the incredible experiences that so many individuals went through during the most horrible period in human history.

Joel Lazer

By MYRON LOVE
At a time in his life when most of his contemporaries have already retired - or are looking to transition to a more leisurely life- Joel Lazer is going against the grain and taking on more responsibility.
As of the most recent Jewish Federation of Winnipeg Annual General Meeting in mid-December, Lazer has assumed the role of our community’s new president. At the same time, the co-founder in 1982 of Lazer Grant LLP continues to shoulder a full work load helping business clients to become more productive.

Yuri Kogan (left) and Zev Cohen

By YURI KOGAN and ZEV COHEN of Ergo Oriens Crisis Management 

In the ‘All Connected World’ ransomware attacks gain traction. Criminals constantly improve at monetizing their access to your network & data. They target an organization, lock up the data, and then demand money hundreds of thousands of dollars or more - in exchange for releasing it to be paid in untraceable crypto- currency. Sometimes, restoration of data from backups is possible. Bypassing the encryption is also an option, but in many cases the bad guys find and destroy backups and use state-of-the-art encryption. The attackers often create backdoors to allow future infiltrations easier, so this may not be the last time you hear from them. 

Michael Akbashev

By BERNIE BELLAN
Last year we reported on the success that young Michael Akbashev had been enjoying as a 16-year-old judoka. This year, now 17 (he’ll turn 18 in March), Michael has attained even more success competing against athletes similar in age, most recently having placed first in the “Elite National Eight” judo championships in Montreal in January.

Sydney and Ari Kay

By MYRON LOVE

Ari Kay is a normal, active 13-year-old. He works hard at school, enjoys playing basketball; he is a member of two Gray Academy teams and one community centre team – and likes swimming.
On December 14, Ari celebrated his bar mitzvah at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. He carried the Torah and read most of the parsha as well as the haftorah. And, as has been the practice in recent years of bnai mitzvoth, Ari designated 25% of the money he received as gifts to a charitable cause. His choice of charity – as was the choice for his sister, Sydney, after her bat mitzvah on November 18, 2017 – was the Dream Factory – reflecting the long and harrowing path that he Ari, Sydney, and their parents have traveled over the past eight years to reach this point in their lives and continue the tradition of support their parents have shown them.

Richard Lowy

By MYRON LOVE
Since the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2005 designated January 27 – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – as the date for the annual commemoration of the Holocaust, communities around the world have been planning events on or around that date to continue to raise awareness of the greatest evil of the 20th century and remember the victims.
The centerpiece of this year’s commemoration - in Winnipeg – of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz - was the story of Holocaust survivor Leo Lowy. Roughly 500 people gathered at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on the afternoon of Sunday, January 26, to hear his story.

John Diamond

In a press release issued Thursday, January 30, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba announced the appointment of John Diamond as its new CEO. DIiamond is scheduled to begin his new role on Monday, February 10, 2020.
A lifelong resident of Winnipeg, Diamond’s appointment follows a period of more than a year in which the Foundation had no CEO. The previous CEO, Tara Fainstein, had been fired from her position in October 2018, after less than a year on the job. Fainstein had been hired following the retirement of Marsha Cowan as Foundation CEO.
Despite not having a CEO, the Foundation managed to continue operating successfully - having received $7.5 million in new contributions in the 2018 fiscal year, and having allocated a record $4,558,794 in grants during that period - up $13,055 from the previous year.

town islandBy BERNIE BELLAN
Originally published in the Feb. 5 issue of the JP&N

The one story that has preoccupied me most in recent weeks has been the impending sale of the portion of Town Island that is not owned by BB Camp, but which is owned by the City of Kenora. I am now glad to report that, at least for the time being, the sale of Town Island has been averted – not because the City of Kenora dropped the idea of selling it; rather, it was because Kenora did not receive one single “expression of interest” in buying the island, according to an email I received from Kenora’s Manager of Development Service, Adam Smith.

130 university students and young adults attended this year’s “Shabbat Unplugged” at the Hecla Island Resort the weekend of January 10-12.

By MYRON LOVE
The fifth annual Shabbat Unplugged Leadership Retreat – which took place on the weekend of January 10-12 – was the most successful to date. Asper School of Business student Einat Livni, who assisted Hillel Winnipeg director Hartley Mendelsohn, reports that this year’s retreat at Hecla attracted 130 university students and young adults, including eight from UBC in Vancouver and seven from the University of Calgary.

Attorney Noa Shein with survivor Aryeh Shotzky Credit: Sarit Uzieli

By SHARON GELBACH

The statistics are grim: a quarter of Holocaust survivors in Israel and a third of those in the US are living in poverty. These now-elderly people, who experienced some of the worst traumas in modern times, are subsisting on so little they can't afford both food and medicine, or dental treatment, or house repairs, or to replace a broken appliance. Many are childless; many are the last remnant of their extended families, with no support network to advocate for them in their twilight years.

Former White Supremacist Elisa Hategan in a 2018 photo (left); and as a White Supremacist at a meeting of the neo-Nazi Heritage Front in June 1992

By MYRON LOVE

Once upon a time, Elisa Hategan was a protégé of noted Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel and White Supremacist leader and Canadian Heritage Front founder Wolfgang Droege.
Today, she is a member in good standing of Canada’s Jewish community and a frequent voice against the very concepts with which she was formerly identified.
On the weekend of February 29-March 1, Hategan will be in Winnipeg – for the first time – at Limmud (at the Asper Jewish Community Centre) speaking about her journey from the dark to the light and her path to Judaism.

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