Local News
Rady JCC Executive Director Rob Berkowits on what the future holds for the Rady JCC
By BERNIE BELLAN It’s been 17 months since most Rady JCC members have actually set foot in what had become the centre of Jewish life in Winnipeg. From time to time we’ve written about how Rady JCC Executive Director Rob Berkowits has been forced to pivot, then pivot again and again, as first, stringent lockdown measures were imposed in March 2020, then eased in June 2020, then reimposed again in the fall, and only recently eased again in July.
We noted in January this year that all Rady JCC employees had been laid off in the fall, save Rob himself, Zac Minuk, Director of Development, Partnerships & Communications, and two members of the finance department, Barry Miller and Victoria Morton. As well, no one in the Early Learning Centres has been laid off.
And, while expenses were drastically reduced as a result, the fact that memberships were frozen took a very heavy toll on the Rady JCC’s revenues: By the end of September 2020 it had $700,000 less in revenues than it had anticipated.
While a $700,000 grant from the federal government filled that particular hole, the Rady JCC was still faced with having to pay the Asper Campus monthly fees. On top of that the cancellation of the annual sports dinner for what has now been two consecutive years has only added to the pain of losing membership revenue.
Still, despite the challenges facing the Rady JCC, it did begin to offer programming online, starting with the ever popular Music ‘n Mavens series in January, as well as a Jewish Film Festival, and a program produced jointly with the Gwen Secter Centre titled “Familiar Faces”.
The summer period is generally a quiet one for the Rady JCC – except for the sounds of hundreds of kids enjoying day camp at the Asper Campus. When we read the farewell message announcing Assistant Executive Tamar Barr’s departure, however, we wondered whether the Rady JCC could ever return to being the beehive of activity it had been since the doors to the Asper Campus first opened in 1997. So, we contacted Rob Berkowits to ask him for an update as to what the future holds in store for the Rady JCC. We also wanted to know who, if anyone, could fill the very large shoes that Tamar Barr had filled for so many years.
We began by asking Rob: “When was it Tamar was let go? Was it in October?”
Rob: “She was placed on lay off. She was never ‘let go’. All our staff were also laid off.”
JP&N: “I asked you this before, but since Tamar was so heavily involved with the cultural component of the Rady JCC, why didn’t you try to emulate what other JCCs had done – for instance the Vancouver JCC?”
Rob: “Remind me again what they did in Vancouver.”
JP&N: “It was all online. They had a lot of game playing– Bridge, Mah Jong, exercise classes. They also had something called “Dinner and a Movie”. They had a monthly concert series, a musical trivia program, yoga, morning stretch. I remember talking to you about that back in January, but you pointed out that the Vancouver JCC was still charging members for memberships without having frozen any.”
Rob: “We didn’t have a platform to offer that kind of programming in the fall, but in December we brokered a partnership with the Asper Foundation and began offering programs like Music ‘n Mavens, the Jewish Film Festival, the Asper Jazz Performance series – and the program you participated in (‘Familiar Faces’), which we did together with the Gwen Secter Centre. We also began delivering at that time some online workouts, like yoga.
“All tallied, our virtual programming reached over 10,000 community members. Many people told us that it was our programming that allowed them to continue to feel connected to the Jewish community when so many of us were isolated at home. We offered all of our programming free of charge so no one felt left out.”
JP&N: “Gwen Secter has begun filling the void that I would have thought you might have wanted to fill – with their summer concert series. But they’re doing that in their parking lot – it’s a pretty small venue – can only hold 25 max. Did you ever consider doing something like that – say, a concert series outdoors at the Campus?”
Rob: “Not in the summertime. Traditionally the Rady respects the fact that Winnipeggers go to their cottages in the summer and the reason we offer members the opportunity to freeze their memberships in the summer is there are very few who wish to participate in summer programming.
“We are about to launch a drive-in event which will take place in August. Most of our programming in the summer time is directly related to the day camp program.
“We’re going to announce a roll out program for the fall, which will include Tarbut, the Jewish Business Network, weekly programming that will include parent and baby, fun zone, birthday parties. Of course, this will all be based on the guidelines about what we’re allowed to have.
“We do believe there will be a virtual element in what we have planned because there are seniors who will not be comfortable in coming in person to the centre. We also want to be respectful of the fact that this virtual age is here to stay and as borders reopen, many snowbirds will head south and the virtual content that we’ll be able to produce and deliver will be relevant to them.”
JP&N: “Talking about Tarbut – that would involve people sitting in close proximity in the Berney Theatre. I wonder how comfortable people are going to be doing that, especially when we’re being told to expect a fourth wave (of Covid) in the fall.
“But, you’re talking about programming. Who is designing the programs? This would have been something that would have fallen under Tamar’s rubric.”
Rob: “Laura Marjovsky’s a longtime program manager. We recalled Laura and she agreed to come back. Now she’s in the process of recalling other staff that would take on a variety of roles. The department will not be as large and as robust as it was previously, but it will still provide us with our ability to provide arts and cultural programming, as well as programming for seniors, for teens, tweens, families, newcomers, and individuals with various levels of physical and cognitive disabilities.”
JP&N: “Speaking bluntly, if Tamar were to say that she was willing to work – even on a limited basis, is that something you would consider?”
Rob: “I think that’s something more for Tamar to decide. Tamar made the decision that she wanted to pursue other things.”
JP&N: “I did have a conversation with her. I got the impression that Tamar, under the right circumstances, would be interested in coming back in some capacity. But the message you sent to members seemed to be pretty much a final good bye – effectively closing the door to her returning. Are you saying now that it (Tamar Barr returning to the Rady JCC) is something that you would not rule out?”
Rob: “Nothing is out of the question, I guess, but it’s not a focal point moving forward. Tamar has moved on permanently from the Rady. We are moving forward into this next era of a sustainable hybrid of virtual and in-person arts and cultural programming without her. We have no plans or intentions to work with her on any of this going forward and thank her for everything she did while she was here.”
JP&N: “I don’t want to make this the focal point of what I’m going to be writing, but I just got the impression from reading that farewell message to Tamar that it was “good bye Tamar”, but Tamar is still relatively young – and, quite frankly, there aren’t a lot of jobs out there for cultural programmers. I think that, if Tamar had her ‘druthers’, she’d rather be back at the Rady JCC.”
Rob: “I talked to Tamar about doing something to honour her years of service, and she seemed amicable to do that. But when do you do it so that you can do it justice?”
JP&N: “Switching gears – let’s talk about the exercise facility. You’re up to 50% capacity now – right? So what’s the response been?”
Rob: “The traffic is still slow upstairs, but to be honest I attribute that to it being summertime. Normally we see a significant number of people freeze their memberships for July and August, and we see increased traffic in the facility after the Labour Day long weekend – and we anticipate that’ll be the same.
“The traffic hasn’t been bad; I don’t want to give you that impression. It’s just not at a very high level right now.”
JP&N: “We were in a similar situation last summer, when attendance was way down – and you were expecting a healthy return of members in the fall – and then we got hit with a second wave in the fall – and that kiboshed everything again. I don’t want to be a purveyor of doom and gloom but you must be in such a terrible predicament. How do you plan when you don’t know what’s around the bend? Also, have you done any polling of members to ask how many are actually planning on coming back?”
Rob: “We’re in the process of doing that right now. There are many members whose memberships have lapsed, but we don’t think it’s an issue of their having left the Rady and they’re going somewhere else. Remember, we closed three different times – and reopened three different times. I think we’ll get a real sense of where we’re at (in terms of membership) after the Labour Day long weekend, but keep in mind the Jewish holidays are early this year.”
JP&N: “What about outreach to the community – with the newcomers to the community? Is that just too difficult to plan under these conditions?”
Rob: “We’re looking at various partnerships with Jewish Child and Family Service. I’ve already set up several meetings with Al (Benarroch, Executive Director of JCFS).
For youth, we’re going to bring back ‘Strictly Tweens’, ‘Kids at the J’, we’re going to do BBYO chapter programming again – which has continued on in a virtual manner. We’re going to bring back seniors’ programming – like Bridge and Mah Jong, the Stay Young Club, Active Living classes. We’re going to bring back the lecture lunch series – which is very popular with seniors.
“We’ll obviously offer a hybrid combination of in-person and virtual options for all these things. For inclusion, we’re going to offer ‘Fun and Fitness with Friends’. We’ll do another version of the Israel Asper Jazz series, the Israel International Film Festival.”
At the end of our conversation Rob told me that he would send me a more complete list of programs that the Rady JCC is planning to roll out for the fall. It turns out that he covered them all during our conversation at one point or another – except for birthday parties and Rosh Hashanah Outdoor Challah Bake (Sept. 2).
Local News
GrowWinnipeg celebrates 25th anniversary
By MYRON LOVE On Wednesday, June 25, about 250 Jewish Winnipeggers – comprising lifelong residents as well as newer arrivals, came together at the Asper campus to celebrate the 25th anniversary of GrowWinnipeg, an initiative that has revitalized our Jewish community – in our camps, school, synagogues and other institutions and given our community a much more international flavour.
Our community’s population peaked in terms of population in 1961 when Winnipeg Jewry numbered around 20,000. The years after had been a period of steady decline. By 1961, most of the Jews living in smaller communities in the Prairie provinces – the source of much of our ongoing population replenishment up to that point – had largely disappeared.
A s Bob Freedman, the former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (and its predecessor, the Winnipeg Jewish Community Council), noted in his remarks at the 25th anniversary party, by 1986, community leaders recognized that ours was an aging and shrinking community with aging infrastructure.
“We recognized that something had to be done,” he recalled.
The first stage, he pointed out, was the planning and construction of the Asper Campus, which brought our major institutions and organizations under one roof in an attractive new building.
The next challenge was to attract more people to our community. GrowWinnipeg was created to take on the challenge. GrowWinnipeg is unique in its efforts to reach out to young Jewish families throughout the Western world .
The genesis was a chance meeting on an airplane almost 30 years ago between former Manitoba Lieutenant-Governor Janice Filmon – at that time the wife of then-Manitoba premier Gary Filmon, and a Jewish businessman from Argentina who was contemplating moving to Toronto. Filmon persuaded him to consider Winnipeg instead. He was impressed by what he saw and suggested that the community send representatives to Buenos Aires to meet with other Argentinian Jewish families who were considering leaving.
That planted the seed.
Shortly thereafter – in 1998 – Larry Hurtig – then the president of the Federation, his son, Jack, and a representative of the provincial government, made an exploratory visit to Buenos Aires to gauge what interest there might be among young Jewish families to consider moving to Winnipeg.
GrowWinnipeg was officially launched in 2000. Our community opened its arms in welcome to the new arrivals who began to arrive, hosting them in our homes and helping them become acclimatized to their new surroundings.
Evelyn Hecht became the principal contact for the newcomers. “I was lucky that I happened to be working for the Federation when we opened the campus and turned our energies to repopulating our community,” Hecht noted in her remarks at the recent celebration. “Fortunately, the pieces fell into place at just the right time.”
Those pieces, Hecht related, included: the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program – which allowed community support groups to recruit specific immigrants; the arrival of a small number of Jewish families from Buenos Aires who encouraged community leaders to look to their former home as a potential source of Jewish immigrants; and the availability of email and the internet.
The initiative – led by Hecht – recruited a group of local Jewish families who were prepared to host potential immigrants who had begun to come for exploratory visits. The connections made by the new arrivals and their local hosts resulted in many long–lasting friendships, Hccht noted.
She praised Jewish Child and Family Service for helping the new arrivals to become established here and integrate into the community.
Efforts were also made to build a data basis of potential employers for the newcomers.
GrowWinnpeg was kicked off by two visits to Buenos Aires – visits Hecht describes as “exciting and exhausting” – in the early 2000s, when Hecht and other Winnipeg representatives met with potential immigrants and heard their concerns about life and personal safety in Argentina and hopes for the future that Winnipeg might be able to give them.
“I remember,” she said, “the numerous meeting I held in my office on the third floor here listening to people’s excitement and concerns and answering questions about life in Winnipeg, our Jewish identity, schools, synagogues, employment, housing and especially, safety. I always emphasized that they would encounter struggles, disappointment and possibly, crises – but I assured them that we would be here to help.
“And I remember feeling so much happiness when people would show up at my door to share good news about babies born, bar and bat mitzvahs, graduations and new jobs – and the numerous times I was in Citizen Court where so many were so proud to receive their citizenship certificates. “
And they are still coming. Dalia Szpiro, Hecht’s successor, reports that, over the past 25 years just under 7,000 people have come here under the aegis of GrowWinnipeg – and not just from Argentina. We have had families from Brazil, Uruguay and other South American countries, Mexico, Europe, and, in more recent years, especially from Israel.
For former Israelis I spoke with on the 25th, such as Slava and Karina Pustilnikov, Irena Oz and Marina Shapiro and her 19-year-old son, Adam, all of whom have been here for 10 to 15 years, the primary motivation was being in a safer environment.
For Ori Rahima and his wife, Anna Shapiro, who have been here for seven years and have three children under six, the pull was greater opportunity and a better standard of living.
Then there is Esther Barna, a teacher by training, newly arrived from Budapest. “Hungary is not a good place to be a Jew,” she says. “There is a lot of antisemitism. I was looking online for a better place to go and came across the GrowWinnipeg website. I love it here.”
In her concluding remarks, Dalia Szpiro, herself an immigrant from Uruguay about 20 years ago, thanked the many Jewish organizations and individuals in the community who have helped to make GrowWinnipeg the success that it is.
“Over 250 volunteers each year meet with our exploratory visitors – opening their homes, their hearts, their time, their insights and their networks,” she noted. “There is something very special about our community and our province. Every exploratory visitor who comes here as part of their immigration journey discovers it.
“This 25-year milestone is a reason for pride and celebration – and a renewed commitment to the future. We are already working on new strategies – to strengthen what we have built, support immigration, foster inclusion and create more opportunities for newcomers to grow and prosper.”
Local News
Long time community members Bryan Schwartz, Myriam Saitman receive rabbinic ordination
By MYRON LOVE On June 21, Bryan Schwartz and Myriam Saitman received their rabbinical ordination through the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI) Rabbinical School – bringing the number of JSLI rabbinic graduates in our community to seven.
“I felt a calling,” says Saitman, who is the new spiritual leader of Temple Shalom, our community’s roughly 60-year-old Reform Congregation. Saitman notes that she is Temple Shalom’s fourth female rabbi.
Originally from Buenos Aires, Saitman and her family answered our community’s call for new young Jewish families that began with the Federation’s GrowWinnipeg campaign. They arrived here in 2003.
“We were attracted by a community that offered a safer environment for raising a family and better economic opportunities,” she recalls.
Although raised in a secular family, she notes that, as a young adult she was drawn to learning more about Judaism. “I took Hebrew classes in Argentina and started on a spiritual path,” she recalls.
Soon after coming to Winnipeg, she found her spiritual home at Temple Shalom. Over the last many years, she has served as a volunteer in several capacities at the synagogue – both at the school and as a long time member of the board. Since 2016, she was also one of the lay service leaders, often leading Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday evenings.
When her predecessor, Allan Finkel – also a JSLI grad – let it be known that he was planning to retire after six years as the congregation’s spiritual leader, Saitman put her name forward as a potential successor.
“Judith (Huebner) and Ruth (Livingston) (Temple Shalom’s president and past president respectively) were really supportive as were the board and the congregation,” Saitman says. “I began leading services.”
As for the JSLI program, Saitman notes that it is intensive. “It meets a need,” she observes. “It prepares us well for all the requirements of being a congregational rabbi.
“We at Temple Shalom want people to know that we are here and we welcome interfaith families,” she adds. “Our motto is that we follow tradition and embrace modernity. Our services (on Friday evenings) reflect the essence of Reform Judaism where we allow for individual choices. I’d like to stress that individual choices are informed by an educated interpretation based on knowledge of the laws and customs.”
Unlike Saitman, Rabbi Bryan Schwartz was not considering a career as a congregational rabbi when embarking on the JSLI program. For Schwartz, “rabbi” is the latest title in a lifetime of achievement. As this writer noted in a story in the Post about Schwartz last year, he “is the very model of a modern-day, Jewish, Renaissance scholar.”.A long-time professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law, he is also a passionate Zionist, student of the Holocaust and an in demand commentator on modern legal and constitutional issues. He has written or contributed to 34 books and over 300 publications in all – in a legal and teaching career that stretches back more than 40 years. His works within a Jewish context encompass the gamut of Jewish life from ancient times to the Holocaust to the current Jewish situation. In addition, he is a poet, playwright and songwriter.
“My main purpose in taking the JSLI course,” he observes, “is to be better positioned to help deal with the challenge of Jewish survival. I want to be able to pass on Jewish tradition to the younger generation and impress upon younger Jews – who have grown up in largely secular homes – the value of our 2,500-year-old literature, culture and religious traditions.”
He observes that there is something for everyone in Jewish tradition. “There are many people who are looking for a spiritual community. I believe that Judaism provides us with a sense of our place in the universe.”
Schwartz – a lifelong student himself – notes that he has been building to this moment for a long time. In his early 20s, he notes, he audited a few courses at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In his 50s and 60s, he learned Hebrew at different ulpans.
“I had been looking around for a while for a rabbinic program,” he says. “JSLI seemed to be the best one. It was hard work – but well worth it. I learned a tremendous amount.”
So what is Schwartz – who is a member of the Shaarey Zedek – planning on doing as a rabbi?
“I would like to be able to offer weekly dvar Torahs,” he says.
He would like , among other things, to do creative and educational projects for the community, like his weekly dvar torah in the Times of Israel. The commentary that he gave on the weekend of his Smicha ceremony is called “From Burning Synagogue to Rising Lyon,” and can be found at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/from-burning-synagogue-to-rising-lion/
“I have also been writing books and musicals inspired by the Tradition, and hope to find forums to share them in the years ahead,” he adds. “My mission is to share in the radiance of our Tradition and help inspire the next generations to see its warmth and illumination”
Local News
Winnipeg Fringe performer Melanie Gall subjected to antisemitic attack – for second year in a row
By BERNIE BELLAN (July 20, 2025)
Melanie Gall is a talented performer who is a veteran of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival – having appeared here many times.
Last year Melanie found herself being subjected to antisemitic attacks that were initiated by a site supervisor for the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, someone by the name of Eric Rae.
As I wrote on my story about Melanie’s experience, “…on the third day (of the Fringe Festival), she said, ‘the site supervisor (Rae) came and was wearing a pro-Palestinian symbol’ and told Melanie that he was wearing that deliberately because he was coming to Melanie’s venue.
“He told her, ‘that stance you’re taking (on social media) is a political symbol.
Rae also posted on social media: “We have a Zionist in our midst harassing pro-Palestinians.”
There was a concerted effort on social media last summer to boycott Melanie’s shows (She had three different shows altogether.)
As Melanie said during a phone conversation we had last summer about what happened to her, “This is so ridiculous. I’m being harassed and bullied because I’m Jewish…it’s not about Israel.”
Eric Rae was relieved from his duties after Melanie complained to the Fringe office staff, Melanie noted during our conversation.
She adds that other Fringe employees also complained about Eric Rae’s behaviour: “I wasn’t the only one who complained last year,” she wrote in an email sent today. “Several staff members complained, as Eric was not adhering to the Fringe policy that did not allow political symbols to be worn by staff. From what I heard, he refused to stop wearing it, and he did publicly target me. The Winnipeg Fringe upheld their safe spaces policy, and they were wonderful in the way they handled it.”
Further, Melanie was the target of an organized campaign on pro-Palestine social media calling for her shows to be boycotted.
(You can read the full story about what happened to Melanie, also to her mother during last year’s Edmonton Fringe Festival, at Melanie Gall.)
Just today we received another email from Melanie informing us that the same individual who targeted her last summer is targeting her again during this year’s Fringe Festival.
Melanie wrote: “Hi! Thanks so much for the mention in the preview article! I just wanted to let you know that Eric Rae is at it again.”
Attached to that email was a picture taken from Rae’s Instagram account.
As of the writing of this post, Melanie said that she is out of town for three days and is not aware whether any of her posters have been defaced – the way they were last summer.
She did add, however, that “I assume by ‘make her feel unwelcome’ (which is what is written on one of the pictures on Rae’s Instagram account) he is planning something. Ugh.”
Melanie also said that “The one post is too close to a threat to ignore.”
In a subsequent email Melanie also sent a screenshot of an exchange that took place on Rae’s Instagram account between him and someone who goes by the handle “Kat Cat.”
If we hear more about what’s been happening to Melanie we’ll update this article.
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