Local News
Jews from Ukraine who have settled in Winnipeg offer conflicting opinions about the Russian invasion
By BERNIE BELLAN With the war in Ukraine still raging, its effects are being felt especially closely by individuals who have relatives or friends in that country.
Such is the case with several newer members of our own Jewish community in Winnipeg, who either came to Winnipeg directly from Ukraine, or who emigrated first to Israel, then to Winnipeg.
Wanting to learn more about the attitudes of former Ukrainians who are now members of our Jewish community here, I contacted Dalia Szpiro, who is the GrowWinnipeg Director at the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, to inquire whether she could put me in touch with one or more of those individuals.
Subsequently, I spoke with two men of Jewish Ukrainian origin on Tuesday, March 22. The first, Alexey Guider, was quite willing for me to use his name, but the second individual asked me not to mention his name. The reason for that, as you’ll see if you read on, is that he was not totally unsympathetic to the view that Russian-speaking Ukrainians would not be opposed to seeing a part of Ukraine transferred to Russian control. He was worried that taking a position that might not be all that popular here was something that he didn’t want to lead to potential backlash against him or his family.
My primary purpose in speaking with both men was to try and find out what they are hearing from friends and relatives still in Ukraine. Further, I wondered what their attitudes were toward the war that is currently going on in Ukraine.
Alexey Guider explained that he and his wife (from whom he is now separated) came to Winnipeg 11 years ago, directly from Kiev, which is where he and his wife lived for 10 years before emigrating to Winnipeg. He noted that they were both planning on making aliyah to Israel, but they “decided to come to Canada instead.” Their two children were both born in Winnipeg, Alexey noted.
Alexey said that he’s a business analyst working at New Flyer Industries. He added that he has “a small business as well.”
I asked Alexey how many family members he still has in Ukraine?
His parents were living there until quite recently, he answered – in a town close to Kiev called Irpin . His “siblings live in Israel,” Alexey said.
I asked whether Irpin was under attack?
“I’m not sure at the moment,” Alexey answered. “It was captured, liberated, and captured again,” he said. “I’m not 100% sure what’s going on right now –but it’s not suitable for life at the moment.”
“Have you been in touch with your parents?” I asked.
Alexey explained that his parents were able to leave Ukraine shortly before Russia invaded, and go to Germany, where his grandfather had been living. “They went there in the middle of February – just before he died,” Alexey said. “They were able to say good bye – and then the war started…they were lucky.”
Alexey added that his mother-in-law is still in Ukraine – in the western part. “There’s no heavy fighting there,” he noted, “although at least twice a day there’s an air raid alert – so she has to run for safety.”
The rest of Alexey’s family, other than his siblings in Israel, live in other parts of Europe, he said.
“But what about your friends?” I asked. “You must still have many friends who remained in Ukraine?”
“Yes, I have lots of friends,” Alexey said. “Some of them escaped before the war. Some of them went to Poland. I have one friend who went to Spain with her kid. She was able to get her parents there too. I talk to her every day. She’s very anxious. Her husband is still in Ukraine. A man can’t leave Ukraine. “ (Men between the ages of 18-65 are not allowed to leave and must report for military duty.)
Alexey mentioned that he and his parents had been very involved with the Jewish community in Ukraine. His father, he said, was director of a Reform congregation in that country, while his mother was a program coordinator for the congregation.
Even though they’re in Germany now, “they have been helping members of the Jewish community to get out of Ukraine to Poland…not just Jewish people,” Alexey added.
I said to Alexey that I had read that most Ukrainian Jews who are able to leave that country prefer to go to Germany, rather than Israel.
“People are hesitant to go to Israel because it’s a similar situation there (as Ukraine),” he suggested. “There was shelling all over Israel.”
Something that Alexey told me though which took me somewhat by surprise was when he said that “most people who have left Ukraine (and who are still leaving) “are planning on returning when the war’s over.”
Yet, notwithstanding the desire of most Ukrainians who have left the country to be able to return home – and apparently the preference of most Jews who have left to move to Germany, I wondered whether Ukrainians would be eager to come to Canada if they were offered the opportunity?
The Canadian government has taken steps to expedite the immigration of Ukrainian refugees to this country, including dropping the normal visa requirement and allowing Ukrainians to obtain work permits immediately upon their arrival, although there will be a two-year maximum stay permitted for anyone coming here under the relaxation of the normal rules.
As a result, Alexey told me that he is in the process of bringing his parents here under the new provisions. They have family in Germany, he said, but this will be an opportunity for them to see their grandchildren again, so of course they’re eager to come, he explained.
In addition to his parents, Alexey will also be hosting two other friends who will be arriving within the next few weeks, he told me. “I’m going to have a full house,” he said.
He added that many Manitobans of Ukrainian heritage have been offering to take in refugees from Ukraine. (He said there’s been a Facebook group created for that specific purpose with a great many members already.)
Alexey added though that it would be great if the Jewish Federation here were to take the initiative and ask members of the Jewish community to volunteer to take in Jewish (and non-Jewish) refugees from Ukraine. I told him that I’d asked representatives of the Federation whether that is an initiative they will undertake and that I hoped the Federation would respond to my inquiry.
I did receive a response from Adam Levy, the Federation’s Public & Community Relations Director, to my query when I asked whether the Federation might want to ask members of the Jewish community whether they’d be prepared to take in refugees from Ukraine.
Here is what Adam wrote on March 25: “At this time, we are not making such an ask of the community, but continue to re-assess the situation on a daily basis as needs change and evolve. If community members wish to take Ukrainian newcomers into their homes, they can certainly do that.
“This is why we have settlement services in our community. Besides finding housing, there are many other vital parts to living in Canada that these services help to facilitate. We hope that they will utilize these resources so that their needs will be met and their transition to life in Canada will be as painless as possible.”
While Alexey Guider comes from Kiev, which is in the western part of Ukraine, and which is Western oriented in terms of its culture and politics, other Ukrainian Jews, especially those in the eastern part of the country, might have stronger connections to Russia.
Such was the case with Michael (not his real name), who told me he left Ukraine when he was 10, at which point his family moved to Israel for 20 years. He and his wife came to Winnipeg with their three-month-old baby eight years ago. (He wanted to thank the Jewish Federation for its help in bringing him and his family here. He specifically cited Dalia Szpiro’s assistance in that regard.)
Michael works in IT, having been involved in projects for companies both inside and outside Manitoba, he said.
When I asked Michael what part of Ukraine he came from, he said it was a town called Petrovsk, which is situated in the province of Luhansk Oblast. That area of Ukraine has been the scene of fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces for the past eight years and, during Russia’s recent invasion it was taken over completely by Russian forces during the very first days of the invasion.
Two years ago, Michael noted, he was able to bring his parents and grandparents as well to Winnipeg, under a Federal sponsorship program. But, he added, “I still have a bunch of family in Ukraine.”
He said that another grandfather and an uncle of his are in Luhansk, while his wife’s mother and aunt are outside of Luhansk, in an area that has been subject to intermittent bombardment for the past eight years.
Perhaps somewhat ironically, Luhansk and the areas adjacent to it are now quiet, Michael said, as they are now totally under Russian control. “The people are working, shopping centres are open, so are restaurants,” he added.
As noted, an aunt of Michal’s left the Luhansk area with her two daughters (who are approximately the same age as Michael) eight years ago when the fighting first began there, and they moved to a town west of Luhansk.
“It’s quieter there,” Michael said. “You can’t compare to the other places, but still they have sirens in the middle of the night, they’re hiding, they’re getting some humanitarian aid – they’re volunteering in those centres. Basically, right now there is no active combat going on in that part, but there’s uncertainty where everything is going. The economy is stalled; they’re not working.”
What he’s been able to do though is send money to them through Western Union – which is “deposited directly into their bank account,” Michael said.
I asked Michael whether he’s in touch with his family in Ukraine. He said that he is, through a platform called “Viber” (which, interestingly, was developed in Israel).
But I was curious to know what life was like for his relatives who are now living in areas totally under Russian control. “From what you say, life is pretty normal,” I said to Michael.
In response, he told this story about his uncle, who is still living in Luhansk: “He was going someplace, going shopping or something. He was stopped by two Russian soldiers…they were checking his passport and his papers. He took his hat off. He’s like 75. He’s like a traditional Jewish person – he looks Jewish. And they said to him, ‘Sorry father’– (a Russian expression, Michael explained) and they apologized. They said ‘You look like someone else.’ They were looking for resistance. They checked his paperwork and wished him good day, and off he went.”
“So this is fair and normal in the city of Luhansk,” Michael said.
I said I was surprised to hear what Michael just told me. I said, “So this means the Russian soldiers are behaving fairly nicely,” I suggested.
Michael agreed, adding, “The Western media. They are reporting just one side of the story. And, to be honest, I don’t know who is wrong, who is right. You know, you see all those terrible things on the TV, on Facebook, on Instagram, but on Viber – and I haven’t heard from my uncle for a week or so, he says that everything is stable, everyone is okay.”
“Isn’t that interesting?” I responded. I continued, asking Michael, “What would you say then if the Russians took over all of Ukraine, how do you think they would behave?”
Michael answered: “This is what the Western world really doesn’t understand. Ukraine is actually divided into two. The eastern part is truly Russian-speaking population. They share the same traditions, the same language – everything. Even myself, when I was in school, Ukrainian was like a foreign language. It’s like you learn French here. It’s as if Ontario and Quebec were combined together – and you called it Ukraine.
“For those areas where it’s mostly Russian-speaking people, the quality of life is not that great. They don’t really care who is in power, honestly. They just want to get to work, get paid, and feed their families. The people there are mostly farmers, miners (of coal). They don’t really have an agenda for politics. They don’t want war. They just want to lead a normal life.
“In the western part of Ukraine, it’s a different story because they’re more Polish in nature. They have stronger connections to Poland. There was always tension between Ukrainians and Russians. It’s not spoken of, but during the Holocaust the Ukrainians cooperated with the Nazis. (To which I said, “Yes, I know.”) More (Jewish) people were killed by Ukrainians than by Nazis. These days we don’t talk about that. But I don’t know who is better and who is worse (comparing Ukrainians and Russians). They both do the same.
“It’s not black and white, it’s sort of gray,” Michael suggested.
“But how do you react when you see what they (the Russians) are doing to Mariupol and to Kharkiv?” I asked Michael. “Mariupol has been destroyed.”
“Yes, absolutely,” Michael said. “How do I feel? I feel bad. How can you feel when the city is being destroyed, but the point is: Russia has its own agenda and Ukraine has its agenda. Someone is making a lot of money out of this.” (I didn’t ask him what he meant by that.)
I wanted to return to asking about Michael’s relatives who were still in Ukraine. I wondered whether any of them are trying to get out?
He explained that it’s all but impossible where his relatives are. “So,” I asked, “what can we as Winnipeg Jews do to help people like your relatives? We can help with money, I suppose,” I said.
“I guess so,” Michael said. “But he noted that the Russian army is not progressing to the centre of the country where his aunt and his cousins are living. His aunt is working part-time in a grocery store, Michael explained.
I remarked to Michael that I found his perspective totally different from Alexey’s and was rather unsure what to make of what he had told me.
Based on what he told me, I wondered whether the war could be brought to an end if Ukraine were to hand over the two eastern provinces (Luhansk and Donetsk) that are primarily Russian speaking, along with Crimea (which used to belong to Russia)?
“But,” Michael suggested, “they (the Russians) won’t stop. Sanctions mean nothing to them. What do you care about sanctions when you have nothing to begin with?”
He said that there should be “some kind of reasonable negotiations,” but when I suggested that Zelensky has been willing to engage in honest negotiations from the very beginning, yet the Russians are engaged in some kind of charade when it comes to negotiations, he said “I don’t know. I’m not a politician.”
But after listening to Michael, I felt that I had a better understanding how Jewish Ukrainians are not all on the same page when it comes to this terrible conflict. Yet, I don’t want what I’ve written in any way to come across as a defence of what Vladimir Putin has done – and I’m afraid that someone reading this could easily extract from some of Michael’s comments exactly that. Still, I wonder if perhaps, by understanding somewhat better the divisions that exist within Ukraine between Russian speaking and Ukrainian speaking Ukrainians, we might come to the realization that a compromise solution will have to take into account those divisions.
Is a compromise possible? It would seem so, but Vladimir Putin and his generals seem determined to punish Ukrainians terribly first, and for expatriate Ukrainians like Alexey and Michael, they can only watch and wait – and hope that their relatives and friends still living in Ukraine don’t become casualties.
Postscript: Several days after I interviewed Alexey and Michael, I was troubled by the message that I discerned from what Michael had said to me. He was quite sanguine about Russia’s occupation of Ukraine, I thought.
So I decided to look further into his claims that Russian-speaking Ukrainians feel quite differently about the Russian invasion than do Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians.
According to an article in the Washington Post, “most Russian-speaking Ukrainians feel Ukrainian.” The article went on to say that “In Ukraine, the language people speak cannot be equated with ethnic identity. A larger representative study from 2013 examining the identity of Ukrainians living in various regions of the country found that the vast majority consider their ethnic identity as Ukrainian – the lone exception was in Crimea….strong Ukrainian identification can be found in predominantly Russian-speaking parts such as southern, eastern Ukraine, and even Donbas – where 70 percent or more identify as Ukrainian.”
I thought about Michael’s relative acquiescence to the Russian occupation of that part of Ukraine where he lived – until he was 10. But that was 28 years ago. Even though he says he is in touch with relatives in that area, including his grandfather and uncle, I wonder just how much Michael’s views were shaped by his experience growing up in a country that was under Soviet occupation until1991. According to what he told me, Michael would have left Ukraine for Israel in 1994. One can well imagine how much the country has changed in the past 28 years.
But to say that “But I don’t know who is better and who is worse (comparing Ukrainians and Russians),” as Michael said; “they both do the same”, would seem to be a distortion of the reality that now exists in Ukraine.
Local News
Eyal Kraut: continuing the family medical tradition
By GERRY POSNER When you talk medicine and family connections to medicine, one of the families you have to think of almost immediately is the Berbrayer- Kraut family. There are three generations of doctors now in this family, starting with Dr. Peter Berbrayer, of blessed memory, an orthopaedic surgeon (and father of Karla); Dr. Allan Kraut (husband of Karla Berbrayer, an internal medicine and occupational health physician; and Allan and Karla’s son, Dr. Eyal Kraut, an endocrinologist, who now lives in Toronto. Not to be overlooked as part of the Berbrayer-Kraut family medical team is Dr. David Berbrayer, son of Peter, and a medical director in rehabilitation redicine in Toronto. Each of these men has made contributions in his respective field and I expect many readers are well aware of that. Perhaps, because he is still young, Eyal, one of four children of Allan and Karla, is less known – although, because of his participation in the community, I am betting younger readers will know him.
Eyal Kraut was born and raised in Winnipeg. He is a product of the then Ramah Hebrew School and later the Gray Academy. It is fair to say that Eyal was exposed to the Jewish world right from the start in many aspects, not the least of which was by way of his mother Karla’s having run the Music and Mavens Programme at the Campus for many years, as well as being a musical impresario of great renown. In his high school years, Kraut was active in multiple leadership positions, including student council and the Jewish Federation’s P2K committee ( now P2G).
And, he was not just limited to school activities as he was what might be called a “player” at the Herzlia Synagogue, where he often led services, not to mention his talent as a shofar blower ( no small skill; I know that from trying for a week without making a sound). Moreover, Kraut taught Bar/ Bat Mitzvah lessons, was on staff at the Rady JCC during his school days, also staff at Camp Massad. In short, Kraut was the full package coming out of high school. He attended the University of Manitoba and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. While at the university, he served as president of Hillel. Subsequently, he entered the University of Manitoba Medical School.
In 2014, Eyal Kraut graduated with his MD degree. During his time as a medical student he participated in the Manitoba Medical Students Association and also sat on numerous committees. Upon graduation, Kraut was off to Queen’s University for his residency in internal medicine. It was in Kingston that he met his future wife, Zoey Katz, who was from Toronto. The couple returned to Winnipeg for Eyal’s clinical fellowship in endocrinology, which is the specialty focussing on diabetes and hormones. While he was busy with becoming a doctor, his wife Zoey was a nurse at Children’s Hospital. Now that is taking togetherness to a new level. Even then, Eyal and Zoey helped to lead services at the Simkin Centre.
In 2019, the couple made the decision to move to Toronto. Currently, Eyal works at a clinic in downtown Toronto, while at the same time he also has a weekly clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital. Yet, even with the move to Toronto, Eyal retained his medical license in Manitoba and for several years, he returned to Winnipeg for several days every two months to run a small endocrinology clinic in Winnipeg, located at Confusion Corner, called Cardio 1 Lifesmart. That is what I call staying connected to your roots. Even then, Eyal used his spare time to head to the Rady JCC, as JCC memberships are honoured everywhere there is a JCC. The routine of trips to Winnipeg ultimately concluded just recently – at the end of October. Eyal and Zoey now have a two-year-old son, Asher, with another baby on the way, so the trips to Winnipeg are no longer as feasible as they were. Still, Eyal is clear that he intends to make regular visits (to see family of course,) also to show his kids what life is like in Winnipeg. This is one guy who appreciates from whence he came.
Even with his impressive background, what really makes Eyal stand out is a talent that no one likely knows about and that is Eyal’s ability to recognize people. It was at Beth Tzedec Synagogue in Toronto not long ago – at Yom Kippur services, and with a full sanctuary, when out of the blue, a guy whom I did not know tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was Gerry Posner. He just picked me out from my photo in the Jewish Post. That photo has me with a baseball cap on my head, but at synagogue I had a kippah on. Now, that is a rare talent. (Ed. note: Oh come on Gerry – you’ve written before how Winnipeggers, including the equally famous Rabbi Matthew Leibl – before he became a rabbi, have spotted you in baseball stadiums across North America and come up to you . You’re world famous for sure!)
Local News
Latest Jewish Foundation Endowment Book of Life signings took place November 3rd
By MYRON LOVE Almost everyone has a story to tell. And, for the past 25-plus years, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba – through its ongoing Endowment Book of Life program – has been assembling stories of current and former members of our Jewish community.
As explained on the Foundation website, “the Endowment Book of Life program is a planned program that offers participants an opportunity to leave both a financial and historical legacy to the community.”
Donors promise to leave a bequest to the Foundation, in return for which their family stories are inscribed in the Book of Life.
The annual official unveiling of new stories this year was held on Sunday, November 3, at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue and included brunch, some musical entertainment featuring a talented quartet of singers – including Josh Bellan, Alyssa Crockett, Julia Kroft and Hailey Witt (who have seemingly been the young go-to performers at Jewish community functions over the past year or two) – as well as a poetry reading by members of the StudioWorks Players – and comments by Rabbi Alan Finkel as to why he chose to add his and his family’s stories to the Endowment Book of Life.
In his remarks, Finkel, the recently retired rabbi of Temple Shalom, spoke of his family’s stories – in this case, his family’s stories of the Holocaust. “My family has always shared their stories,” he noted. ”Their stories are part of the Shoah Foundation’s collection of stories. And both my mother (Carmela Finkel – who passed away three years ago) and my Aunt Betty (Kirshner) have shared their stories with hundreds of students at the Holocaust Education Centre. Later, my mother was honoured to have her story included as part of the video displays at the Canadian museum of human Rights.
“But, even as I embraced the power of those survivors’ stories,” he continued, “I could see that the list of story tellers was getting ever shorter. I wondered how those stories would continue to be told once there was no one left to tell them.”
Shortly after his mother’s passing, he said, the family came together to discuss how to continue their mother’s legacy. Their response was to create the Carmela Shragge Finkel Holocaust Education Endowment Fund at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba – with proceeds directed toward the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada.
“My page in the Endowment Book of Life is more about my personal life journey that led me to become a rabbi at 65,” he said, “but really, behind it all there are a lot of different threads and stories of Jewish community that intertwine and bind us to each other and to our Jewish community. This, to me, is the real gift of the Endowment Book of Life project – allowing each of us to here to tell our own stories in our own ways, to find our own unique paths of building our Jewish community here in Manitoba – and to celebrate how we are all part of klal Yisrael.”
Signatories to the Book of Life this year included: Dr. Sharon Goszer Tritt and Dr. Stephen Tritt; Brenda Honigman – in memory of her late father Sam, and late brother Archie; Ellie Kives – in memory of her husband Philip; David Wilder; Alisa Abrams; Marlene Reiss and Perry Rose; and Moshe Selchen, in memory
of the late Saul Feldman, a friend of the Selchen family. Feldman was a little-known member of our Jewish community who passed away a couple of years ago and left $2.6 million in his will to the Jewish Foundation.
In his introductory remarks, John Diamond, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s CEO, described the Endowment Book of Life program, as “one of our most successful. We last hosted this event in 2022,” he noted, “and, I’m proud to say, I was a signer that year.”
Diamond explained why he and his wife, Heather, chose to commit to our community’s future. “In 2022,” he recalled, “we were beginning to glimpse what the world would look like post-pandemic. That prolonged period of uncertainty gave us the opportunity to think about our community’s future. If the generations before us had not been forward-thinking, prioritizing the next wave of Jewish Winnipeggers, where would we have been during the pandemic? How would our community have looked?
“Simply put, we were and are very fortunate. Thanks to that forethought, we were able to navigate that uncertainty. We need to continue putting future generations in a similar position to what we find ourselves in now.”
In her closing remarks, Dafna Shore, the JFM’s vice chair (who was filling in for chair Dan Blankstein, who was unable to attend), reported that the Endowment Book of Life currently contains over 800 stories.
“Each story is deeply personal and uniquely individual,” she pointed out. “What makes this program so special – and why it resonates with so many people – is the change to immortalize stories that otherwise might go untold.
“Every family has stories, some hidden away about what makes them exceptional. Very few are known beyond those who lived them. Sharing these stories in the Endowment Book of Life celebrates the lives lived in our community. They are an encyclopedia of what makes our community so rich in history, compassion and generosity.”
Shore thanked this most recent group of story tellers for sharing their stories and for committing to making a legacy gift. “Your gesture,” she said, “will serve to inspire the next generation to do the same. As long as our community has individuals who choose to put their community’s longevity at the top of their priorities, our community will continue to thrive.”
Local News
2024 Yom Tov attendance meets expectations
By MYRON LOVE Congregational leaders in our community are, for the most part, quite pleased with Tom Tov attendance this past Yom Tov.
“We sold out our seats,” reports Dr. Rena Secter Elbaze , the Shaarey Zedek’s executive director.
The remodeled and expanded Shaarey Zedek, our community’s oldest and largest congregation, has a capacity of about 900 in the main sanctuary – with an additional 250 for the separate Family Service downstairs.
Once again, this year, the popular Rabbi Emeritus Alan Green – who was the Shaarey Zedek’s senior rabbi for 18 years – returned to lead Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services in the main sanctuary with Cantor Leslie Emery, the Quartet, and the Ruach Volunteer Choir. Rabbi Anibal Mass led the popular family service with Noah Trachtenberg, a Youth Band and the Dor Chadash Youth Choir.
Shaarey Zedek has, over the past few years, built a substantial following for its Shabbat and Yom Tov services online. Elbaze notes though that the number of people participating in Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur servicers online this year was considerably lower. That was because, she says, many of those congregants were eager to come back to the shul – which just re-opened a couple of months ago after being closed for three years due to construction – and daven in person.
“We were essentially sold out for Yom Tov by early September,” reports Jonathan Buchwald, Congregation. Etz Chayim’s executive director. “Our members were really excited about our first Yom Tov in our new building.”
By necessity – in reflecting the congregation’s slowly declining membership numbers – the new Etz Chayim – at 1155 Wilkes Avenue – is considerably smaller than its predecessor. To accommodate the demand for Yom Kippur seating in particular, Buchwald had earlier reported, the Kol Nidre service was to be held at the Holiday Inn Express at the airport – and there were two services for Yom Kippur day.
Buchwald notes that 335 were in attendance for the first services on Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur service and 120 for the second service on Rosh Hashanah – with 450 for Kol Nidre at the hotel. There were 250 for Neilah and 50 for the Young Family services. About 150 followed online.
As usual, Rabbi Kliel Rose and Cantor Tracy Kasner led Etz Chayim’s High Holiday services – with a separate family service geared toward families with young children as well as a Junior Congregation.
Over at Temple Shalom, our community’s 60-year Reform congregation,Past President Ruth Livingston says that there was “good enthusiasm” for Yom Tov and that the congregation members were very happy with the services led by cantorial soloist Janet Pelletier Goetz as well as long time Temple Shalom member Myriam Saitman – who is set to begin training in September toward her rabbinical ordination – and, for the first time, choir leader Erica Tallis –a 2020 graduate of the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba.
For the second year in a row, South end Winnipeg further offered a fourth liberal Jewish option in the form of Rabbi Matthew Leibl’s “Services on the River: A Modern High Holidays.”
The former Shaarey Zedek – and now independent – rabbi’s services were held once again at The Gates on Roblin – which can accommodate up to 300. Last year, Leibl reported in an earlier interview, about 250 people attended his service. He was expecting to have similar number this year.”
“Services on the River: A modern High Holidays” services were scheduled for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, Erev Yom Kippur and Yom Kippur morning. The services also featured the husband and wife cantorial team of Justin Odwak and Sarah Sommer.
All services were 90 minutes.
Still with the South End, Jack Craven president of Orthodox congregation Adas Yeshurun Herzlia says that people are happy that things are back to normal. “We had a good crowd for Yom Tov,” he says.
The congregation – led by Rabbi Yossi Benarroch – has a membership of about 100 and can accommodate up to 250.
“We were filled up for Rosh Hashonah and Yom kippur,” notes Rabbi Avroham Altein, Winnipeg’s senior Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi of the south end Lubavitch Centre. “We also had a full house for Erev Simchas Torah.”
The Lubavitch Centre has a capacity of between 200 and 300.
The Simkin Centre also held Yom Tov services – on all three days – that were open to the general public. The services were led by Steven Hyman with the Simkin Centre Choir under the direction of Bonnie Antel.
In the North End, the Conservative egalitarian Chevra Mishnayes congregation – the largest congregation in that part of the city with the relocation of Etz Chayim south – saw a bit of a bump in attendance.
“We had 20 new people this year,” reports Chevta Mishnayes President Rob Waldman. “This is the first time that we have seen an uptake in attendance for Yom Tov since before the Covid lockdowns.”
Last year, just under100 came to the Garden city shul for Yom Tov.
This year’s service were once again led by Al Benarroch.
About 18 months ago, a new North End Orthodox congregation came into being as a result of the merger of the struggling Chavurat Tefila and Talmud Torah Beth Jacob members. The renamed Chavurat Tefila Talmud Torah Congregation – located at on the corner of Hartford and McGregor in West Kildonan – attracted between 40 and 50 daveners for its first Yom Tov services last year last year and about the same number this year.
Services at the shul this year were led by Cantor Menachem Frenkel from Silver Spring, MD.
“Cantor Frenkel was recommended by a friend and member of the shul,” says Cary Rubenfeld, the shul’s treasurer and spokesperson. “He was quite well received by the congregation. He is a multi-talented ba’al tefilah. He brought with him an extensive range of traditional and contemporary melodies which the congregants enjoyed.”
The venerable House of Ashkenazie, the last of our community’s old-style Orthodox congregations, was once again the only shul to report a bit of a decline in attendance from last year – with attendance for Yom Tov hovering around 30. Shul President Gary Minuk avers though that the Ashkenazie – which still holds services throughout the year on Thursday mornings – will continue to carry on “as long as we can still make minyans.”
Our community’s most northerly High Holiday services were held at Camp Massad. After a two year absence due to the Covid lockdowns, Camp Massad resumed its innovative Rosh Hashanah service last year. In pre-Covid times, Massad executive director Danial Sprintz noted last year, Rosh Hashanah at Massad had attracted as many as 150 participants. In 2023, 90 attended. This year’s attendance, he reports, was slightly higher.
“Our people were excited to come together,” he says. “We always offer a creative and interactive service that combines some traditional prayers with contemporary readings, folk music and our usual Camp Massad shtick.”
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