Is there more to 2 stories than we've been told?
By BERNIE BELLAN Two ongoing stories have certainly led to a fair bit of conjecture within Winnipeg’s Jewish community as to whether there’s more to both stories than we’ve been told. The first has to do with Rabbi Matthew Leibl’s leaving his position as one of the two rabbis at the Shaarey Zedek.
Shaarey Zedek announces hiring of new executive director: Ran Ukashi
Following is a release issued by the Board of Shaarey Zedek: The Board of Directors of Congregation Shaarey Zedek is pleased to announce that Ran Ukashi, PhD will be joining our organization as our new Executive Director beginning Monday, July 12.
Sisters Alison Gervais, Andrea Katz working together to empower women
By MYRON LOVE Eight years ago, sisters Alison Gervais and Andrea Katz decided to combine their expertise in marketing (Katz) and public relations (Gervais) to create a new boutique communications firm with a focus on empowering women as consumers and business owners. Today, their FIT Communications has a roster of clients right across Western Canada.
“Canada’s Rabbi” has died
(CJN) Rabbi Reuven Bulka, who served as spiritual leader of Ottawa’s Congregation Machzikei Hadas for 48 years, died of cancer early on June 27 in New York. He was 77.
Ian Schnoor: He’s created a “marquee” name no matter how you spell it
By GERRY POSNER This is a story worth reading (not that all of my articles are not worth reading). From the depths of the Maples and Garden City has emerged a young man now running what looks to be a very significant business in Toronto and, in fact, well beyond the limits of the city and province.
NY Rangers’ Adam Fox becomes first Jewish winner of major NHL award
(July 1, 2021 / JNS) Adam Fox, a Jewish hockey player with the New York Rangers, was named on Tuesday the winner of the 2020-21 James Norris Memorial Trophy.
The trophy is given annually to the National Hockey League’s (NHL) top defenseman and Fox, 23, has become the first Jewish player to win a major NHL award.
Impressive allocations to our organizations from Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation
By BERNIE BELLAN In 2009 the total value of all endowment funds held at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba represented just a little more than $57 million. That figure represented a very low point in the history of the Foundation, which had been showing steady growth in the total value of its endowment funds until the devastating stock market crash of 2008.
Virtual Kanee lecture: Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy urges Israeli policy makers to “think outside the box”
By BERNIE BELLAN (Note: This article was written prior to the change of government in Israel. As usual, with the swift flow of events there, much of what is presented here is already outmoded.) This year the Jewish Heritage Centre has been presenting a series of three Kanee lectures online, rather than the traditional annual in-person Kanee lecture. The most recent of these online lectures was delivered by Efraim Halevy on June 6.
Jewish Federation to increase allocations to beneficiary agencies by considerable amount
By BERNIE BELLAN The Allocations Committee of the Jewish Federation has submitted its report to the Federation. The committee is recommending a total of $3,523,098 in allocations to the 12 beneficiary agencies of the Federation for the 2021/22 fiscal year, which begins Sept. 1, 2021.
Jewish Foundation distributed over $5,000,000 in 2020
JFM AGM screenshots
By BERNIE BELLAN The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba held its Annual General Meeting online on Wednesday, June 16. This marks the second year now that the Foundation AGM has been held online – and the second year that outgoing Foundation Chair Richard Yaffe has presided over the meeting online.
Zev Faintuch: Winnipeg’s only certified global intelligence analyst
By MYRON LOVE Like many people, Zev Faintuch has hit a Covid detour in his career path. The native Winnipegger and former Israel Defense Forces soldier returned home in 2019 after a year-long internship in Washington D.C. with an international security firm called Global Guardian.
Interview with Daniel Levin - author of international best seller “Proof of Life”, the sensational true story of the hunt for a young man gone missing in Syria in 2012
By BERNIE BELLAN A couple of months back I had the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of a terrific new book titled “Proof of Life”, by Daniel Levin.
In it Levin tells the true story of a task he was given to try and find out what happened to a young man who disappeared in Syria during the early stages of what turned out to be a protracted struggle between the regime of Bashar Assad and the many different groups that emerged determined to fight him.
Changing the rhetoric: What Canada can learn from Jewish-Arab co-education
By JAMIE MICHAELS The current discourse on Israel-Palestine is killing our ability to think. The pattern is a depressingly familiar one. Tensions escalate. Hamas rockets rain down on Israel and Israeli airstrikes pummel Gaza. While civilians on both sides race for cover, pundits and commentators race for Twitter.
After long hiatus, Melton program is back in Winnipeg
By MYRON LOVE After an absence of more than ten years, the Florence Melton School of Jewish Learning is once more being offered in Winnipeg under the auspices of Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
New book tells riveting tale of World War II experience for Jewish family living in British Mandate Palestine – but oh my gosh, I’ve never read more mistakes in a book
“The Long Way Home from Crete”
By Isaac Kal
Self-published, 2021
Available on Amazon
Reviewed by BERNIE BELLAN
I don’t think I’ve ever had quite the experience reading a book that I had reading one that was recently sent to me by the author of “The Long Way Home from Crete”.
New group established ‘in the spirit’ of Canadian Jewish Congress
By RON CSILAG May 27, 2021 (CJN) Remember the Canadian Jewish Congress? Enough of its former senior leaders do, and fondly- to the point that they have founded a new organization “in the spirit” of CJC.
Jewish National Fund holds successful online Negev Gala
By BERNIE BELLAN
It was more than two years in the making, but after the most prolonged break in the history of Negev Galas (and Dinners – which preceded the more recent Negev Galas), the Jewish National Fund was finally able to pull off what turned out to be a very successful event on Monday, May 31, albeit one that was held online.
Former Winnipegger Dr. Meir Kryger takes an impressive turn to fiction with “The Man Who Couldn’t Stay Awake”
By BERNIE BELLAN In the mid-1980s a young Dr. Meir Kryger was beginning to establish his reputation as one of the pre-eminent experts in the area of sleep disorders. Having moved to Winnipeg to take up a position at St. Boniface Hospital (where he was to establish Canada’s first sleep lab devoted entirely to researching sleep disorders and was the first doctor to describe a case of sleep apnea in Canada) Kryger also somehow found the time to begin working on a novel – which, for various reasons, he just couldn’t complete.
Doctors Manitoba recognizes humanitarian pediatrician
By MYRON LOVE Dr. Murray Kesselman pronounces himself “honoured” to have been recognized by Doctors Manitoba (formerly known as the Manitoba Medical Association) as this year’s recipient of the organization’s Distinguished Service Award.
Why Benjamin Netanyahu treated the Jewish media with contempt
By GARY ROSENBLATT June 11, 2021 (New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Whether this week marks the last of Benjamin Netanyahu’s record-setting tenure as prime minister or is just a prelude to another never-count-him-out comeback, it seems a fitting moment to try to understand why he has consistently treated diaspora Jewish media with disdain.
What coalition building in Israel is accidentally teaching us
By JAMIE MICHAELS The signatures are on paper. The ink is drying. The reign of King Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minster, may be at an end. The only guarantee in Israeli politics is that there are no guarantees—der mentsh trakht un Got lakht.
Former Winnipegger Rabbi Shawn Zell writes new siddur for house of mourning
By MYRON LOVE Rabbi Shawn Zell has penned a new siddur which, he hopes, will make for easier reading as well as refreshing the ritual with some inspirational readings which he has composed for those in mourning.
Dr. Keith Meloff: a remarkable medical career
By GERRY POSNER I’ve been writing a lot about Jewish psychiatrists of late (you can call me out for that), but the Jews of Winnipeg have also been a force in Neurology. It is just that not many people know it. One such luminary is Winnipeg born and bred neurologist, Dr. Keith Meloff, now of Toronto.
Community leader Jordan Farber launches new venture in real estate consulting
By MYRON LOVE With over 20 years experience working in real estate, Jordan Farber has gained a wealth of experience in all aspects of real estate development - expertise that he is now in a position to share widely.
The lynching of Saeed Mousa: Radical listening and the battle for the soul of Israel
By JAMIE MICHAELS (Ed. note: Jamie’s submission arrived one day before the ceasefire between Gaza and Israel took effect.)
I begin by expressing my deep sorrow for the Jews and Arabs who have been killed in the last few weeks of escalating violence.
Gaza war not only led to confrontations here between pro and anti Israel factions - it led to rift within Winnipeg Jewish community
By BERNIE BELLAN
Now that a ceasefire has been put into effect between Israel and Hamas, we can take stock of the tumultuous 11 days that began with rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel beginning on Monday, May 10, until a ceasefire was declared May 21.
The repercussions of the often hateful divisions that came to the surface between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups around the world will undoubtedly be felt for a very long time. In Canada rallies of pro-Palestinian groups were often met with counter rallies by pro-Israel groups.
Talented young singers, pianist, violinist among 2021 online Winnipeg Music Festival winners
By MYRON LOVE It was an exceptionally good Winnipeg Music Festival this year for Winnipeg voice teacher Kelly Robinson (of the Jewish Robinsons). Not only did many of her students stand out – as usual - but also her 11-year-old daughter, Juliet Eskin, had a successful debut in her first appearance in the annual competition.
Robert Maxwell was a publishing magnate - and a crook, but what else may he have been?
By BERNIE BELLAN A few weeks back, during one of the weekly bike excursions that a group of men (and occasionally women) go on every Tuesday during the summer, I happened to be talking to one of the members of our group, the ageless Mickey Hoch. (I had profiled Mickey in the April 3, 2019 issue of this paper.)
Mickey asked me whether I knew that there was a new biography out of famed media tycoon Robert Maxwell? When I said that I didn’t know that, Mickey added: “He was my first cousin.”
Michael Eskin, Ava Kobrinsky among newest inductees into Order of Manitoba
By MYRON LOVE Somewhere in the back of my mind, I dimly recall the maxim that it is preferable to be one who honours chase rather than he – or she – who chases after honours. The former is an apt description of both Michael Eskin and Ava Kobrinsky, two of the 2021 class of inductees into the Order of Manitoba.
Calgary scientist Bonnie Kaplan publishes new book stressing the importance of nutrition on mental health
By IRENA KARSHENBAUM What people have known for centuries - that good nutrition is positively correlated to good mental health has, in the last 60 years, been largely abandoned as a precept within Western society. Instead, it’s become standard belief that mental illness can only be helped through prescription medication.