By MYRON LOVE It was a shiduch made in heaven but sadly, all good things must eventually come to an end.  Thus, after nine years as spiritual leader of Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Synagogue, Rabbi Yossi Benarroch is retiring – as of the end of July – and returning full time to his family in Israel.  Before he goes though, our Jewish community is giving the beloved rabbi a memorable send-off as one of the honorees at this year’s annual JNF Negev Gala – which is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6.
 
To make the occasion even sweeter, Rabbi Benarroch will be joined on stage by his fellow honoree – his brother, Albert. Where Yossi has been an outstanding community leader in the spiritual realm, Al is a leader in the social services area. For the past eleven years, he has served as Executive Director of the Jewish Family and Child Service. (His title was recently changed to CEO.) He served as the JCFS Clinical Director for 15 years before that.  Al also contributes to our community’s religious life as the regular chazan for Yom Tov at the Chevra Mishnayes Synagogue in the North End’s Garden City neighbourhood. 
 
Both brothers describe the JNF recognition as a great honour. “I know our parents would have schlepped a lot of nachus from this,” Yossi says.  “This award is particularly significant to me because of my own strong connection to Israel,” he adds.
 
Al ads that “it is humbling” to be included among the many Negev Gala honorees over the years who have stood out for their leadership, philanthropy and dedication to our Jewish community and to the people of Israel.
 
He hastens to point out – needless to say – that while the recognition is much appreciated, his hope is that the honour – and the funds raised on the evening – will help make a difference for thousands of Israelis and some IDF veterans in Winnipeg suffering from PTSD.
 
“I have dedicated my 36-year career – including the past 26 years working for the JCFS –  to helping clients suffering from mental health problems,” he notes.  “In Israel today, it is estimated that 70% of Israeli children are suffering from PTSD. You would be hard-pressed to find a family in Israel that isn’t experiencing trauma from the events of the past 18 months of war – and a lifetime of stress from the constant threat of rocket fire and terrorism.”
 
 To help some of those families in need, he reports, the project in Israel that the Benarroch brothers  have chosen to support with the bulk of the funds from this year’s gala is an expansion to the Sderot Resilience Centre Family Therapy Suite.
 
According to the JNF webpage, the Resilience Center in Sderot was established by the local government in 2008, to promote resilience, strengthen individuals and the community, and foster the development of partnerships. The Resilience Center provides much needed support for these children and their families, offering therapy and emotional support, a 24/7 hotline, courses for parents to deal with child anxiety, emergency services and more. The Resilience Centre is currently lacking important infrastructure to support the children and families – suffering the trauma of repeated attacks – who rely on it. 
 
Funds raised by the gala will go towards expanding the existing facility by adding a new Trauma Resilience Centre as well as a protective bomb shelter and make the centre accessible for those with disabilities. The additional wing will have 8 therapeutic rooms and allow for double the daily number of patients
 
Al Benarroch adds that, as part of the norm over the past few years, a portion of the funding raised from the gala will remain in Winnipeg –with some of that sum going toward the JCFS for programming aimed to help IDF veterans living in Winnipeg who may be dealing with their own PTSD – and the remainder going to support youth activities at the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Synagogue.
 
Yossi and Al Benarroch are two of four sons (also including Rabbis Yamin and Michael) born to the late Solomon and Mary Benarroch, originally from Morocco, who came to Winnipeg in the early 1960s.  For many years, as Torah reader, teacher of maftir, soifer (scribe), shoichet and occasion mohel, Solomon was an integral part of the religious life of our community. He and Mary were exemplary role models for their sons as observant Jews and ardent Zionists.
 
All four brothers are Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate graduates. Yossi earned a physical education  degree from the University of Manitoba in 1984, following which he made aliyah.  He studied at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva (among others), receiving smicha in 1991.  In 1999, he and his wife, Elana, and their children moved to Vancouver.
 
He and his family were back living in Israel in 2016 when the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia pulpit became vacant. “I saw it as an opportunity to fulfil what I felt was my obligation to give back to the community which had given me so much in my early years,” he says.
A second motivation was that he would be able to spend more time with his aged parents and two brothers in Winnipeg.
 
“My wife, Elana, didn’t want to leave Israel,” he reports, “but she understood how important this was to me.”
 
The arrangement that they agreed upon was that he would spend blocks of nine weeks in Winnipeg, followed by three in Israel.  He always made sure to be home (Israel) for Pesach, Sukkot, and half of Chanukah.  Now, nearing 68 years of age, and with his parents both having passed away, Yossi Benaroch feels that it is time to go back permanently.
 
He leaves with many positive memories of his time at the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia – our community’s dominant Orthodox congregation – where he has been much loved. During his time in Winnpeg, he has also been responsible for kashrut supervision at Shmoozer’s Restaurant, the Simkin Centre, the Gwen Secter Creative Retirement Centre and Gunn’s Bakery – a role that Adas Yeshurun Herzlia rabbis have traditionally taken on over the past 20 years or so.
 
He is looking forward to spending a lot more time with his wife, their seven children and 14 grandchildren – almost all of whom are in close proximity to each other.
 
The gala this year will also be featuring Israeli-American comedian Modi Rosenfeld.
 
Readers seeking more information about the Gala can contact the JNF office at 204 947-0207 or david.greaves@jnf.ca.

By MYRON LOVE Winnipeg-born speedskater Adam Buchwald has had a season to remember. At the start of the Long Track Speed Skating Season last fall, the 19-year-old second-year student at the University of Calgary had one goal: to qualify for the World Junior Speed Skating Championships.
Mission accomplished.
In December, at the Canadian Junior Championships in Fort St. John, BC, Buchwald won gold in the 5000m, becoming Canadian Junior Champion in that distance. This, combined with his performance in the 3 other distances in which he raced, resulted in Buchwald placing 3rd overall out of the field of the top 30 Junior athletes in Canada and was named to the Canadian National Junior Team.
Along with three other men and four women, Buchwald represented Canada at the World Junior Championships and the Junior World Cup, which were both held in Collalbo, Italy from January 31 – February 9, 2025. At the World Junior Championships – against the world’s best, Buchwald placed 14th overall out of the field of over 65 athletes.

Buchwald, the son of Richard Buchwald and Tracy Leipsic, began speedskating at the age of 4, when he insisted on doing the same activity as his older sisters, Rachael and Serena.  His mother was his first coach.  Leipsic, a decorated speedskater in her own right, represented Manitoba and was a medalist at the Canada Winter Games in 1987. Once her speedskating career ended, Leipsic turned to coaching and officiating, through which she has served as an inspiration for many Manitoba speedskaters over the years, including her son.
Buchwald says that as he has progressed to the high-performance level of the sport, his mother has always been able to strike the right balance between former coach and mentor. In a 2023 interview, Buchwald was quoted as saying, “My mom has always been a really good mentor. If she’s coaching, then she’s a coach before a parent, and if she’s not my coach, she’s always a parent before coach. I think that’s been really helpful and a really good influence on me.”
The competitive side of Adam started when he was 10 years old. In his younger years, Adam was a national level Short Track speedskater. Short Track is skated on a 111 metre oval while Long Track takes place on a 400 metre oval.
It wasn’t until high school that Buchwald decided to focus exclusively on Long Track speed skating, where he specializes in the longer distances. At the senior level, the longest distance raced is 10,000m. This is not a distance that is raced at the Junior level. Nevertheless, Buchwald has always wanted to try the 10,000. After repeatedly asking his coaches for the opportunity, he finally got his wish in January 2023, at the outdoor oval at the Cindy Klassen Rec, Centre in Winnipeg. Buchwald not only survived the gruelilng distance, he broke the track record set way back in 1992. Buchwald has only had two other opportunities to skate the 10,000m in competition since then, most recently placing 5th at the Senior National Canada Cup in Quebec at the beginning of March. Buchwald was the top Junior skater in 3 races – the 1500m (13th),  5000m (9th) and 10000m races, involving over 30 of Canada’s top skaters.
Buchwald trains six days per week, twice a day, at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, where he is coached by former Winnipegger and 4-time Olympian, Mike Ireland.
He recently had to take time off from his regular routine to have a minor heart procedure. However, Buchwald reports that he is now good to go and has resumed his training.
Buchwald has certainly had an exciting season, from being crowned National Champion to realizing a goal of representing Canada at the World Championships. One of Buchwald’s many goals is to pursue a career in speedskating and compete in the Olympic Games for Team Canada. 

By MYRON LOVE I grew up in the late 1950s and the 1960s in the old North End – the corner of Prichard and Powers specifically. At the time, there were four Orthodox shuls within walking distance of my house – one of which was the Ateres Yisroel – also known as the Mezericher shul – because many of its members – including my baba’s best friends, Pete and Faiga Goldman – were among the founding members.
Another of those founding families was the Cooperband family. About a month ago, I got an email from Benjie Cooperband with an interesting store to tell.
Cooperband, who is an oral surgeon in Toronto, told me that he has the sign – the name plate – from the Mezericher shul.  In a labour of love, he has spent the past year restoring the sign and is now looking for a Jewish institution in Winnipeg which may be willing to display it.
The Mezericher Shul was founded in 1912 on Powers near Manitoba. In the late 1930s, the congregation moved about a block away to the former Jewish Old Folks Home on Manitoba near Salter.  In 1976, the congregation merged with the Hebrew Sick Benefit Association to form the Beth Israel in Garden City.   In 2002, the Beth Israel merged with the Rosh Pina and Bnay Abraham congregation to create Congregation Etz Chayim.
Cooperband reports that, at its peak, the Mezericher shul had about 250 members.
“I always loved to go to shul,” says the former Winnipegger.
His zaida, Beryl Cooperband, he says, always sat next to the bima overlooking the congregation, while his baba, Faiga, in the ladies;’ section upstairs. every now and then began clapping for quiet when it got too noisy.
“At shul, I would sit with my father (Mickey Cooperband)  at the front overlooking the crowds.  We sat at Zaida Beryl’s standard seat where he used to keep his Tallis and machzer.  I have them to this day in my house as a memory of my zaida.”
 Every year, he remembers, there would be a bidding war for the privilege of reading Parsha Jonah – a competition that his baba always won.   
He also recounts standing on occasion at the gate of the Hebrew Sick Cemetery with his baba when burials were to take place. His baba would solicit donations for Hadassah as people were coming in or leaving.
“She got them coming or going,” he quips.  “My dad also collected donations for Hadassah from his customers at Silverman Jewelers.  Everyone marvelled at how this little old lady always managed to be Hadassah’s top fund raiser in Winnipeg.”
Growing up in Garden City, Benjie Cooperband attended Talmud Torah and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate before finishing high school at the University of Winnipeg Collegiate.  He earned his dental degree from the University of Manitoba in 1981. Initially, he bought Dr. Jack Rosove’s practice at the corner of Selkirk and Salter.
After a couple of years, Cooperband returned to school and became an oral surgeon.  He has been living in Toronto for the past 40 years.
After the Mezericher Shul closed in 1976, Cooperbanjd reports that his father moved the sign that stood outside into the top floor of the Silverman Jewelers store.  Cooperband closed the store in 1981. A couple of years later, the Silverman Building was expropriated and Mickey Cooperband passed away shortly after. Benjie reports that his younger brother, Joel, took the sign home and stored it in his garage for the next 40 years.
(Joel Cooperband sadly passed away last October.)
About a year ago, Benjie, now semi-retired, took the sign back with him to Toronto and restored it to its former glory. Now, he is trying to find a more permanent home for this piece of Winnipeg history.
He notes that a Chabad rabbi who is planning on building a new shul in Toronto has expressed interest in incorporating the 12 foot long and 2,5 feet high sign into the new shul.  Cooperband, however, says that he thinks it would be more appropriate to have the sign on display in Winnipeg.
“I have been in touch with Stan Carbone from the Jewish Heritage Centre who has said that the JHC would be willing to store the sign,”  Cooperband says, “But I am hoping to make contact with a community institution that would be willing to put it where it can be seen.”
He is open to suggestions from readers.  Readers can contact him at drbencoop@gmail.com.
Incidentally, Benji Cooperband is still a regular shul goer and attends a shul in Toronto – the Kiever Shul – a modern Orthodox congregation which, like the Mezericher shul – has the bimah in the middle, with men sitting around it on the main floor and women in the balcony upstairs.
“I still love going to shul,” he says.  “And it’s nice having my children coming with me.”