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Jewish Heritage Centre publishes new collection of essays about the history of Jewish life in Manitoba
Jewish Life and Times: A Collection of Essays Volume X
Review by MARTIN ZEILIG This soft covered collection of interesting and even entertaining essays, which are grouped under umbrella topics, brings together, as is stated in the introduction, presentations made to the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada over the past few years.
It provides a glimpse into the life of Jews in this part of Canada, as well as, at least in some of the essays, lessons for today’s world.
For example, in the section, Social Issues in Winnipeg’s Jewish Community, Esyllt Jones, Professor of History at the University of Manitoba, has contributed an essay, Jews In Winnipeg’s Influenza Pandemic, 1918-1919. It’s based on a talk she gave to the JHC in 2006, and formed part of her award-winning book, Influenza 1918: Disease, Death, and Struggle in Winnipeg (University of Toronto Press, 2007).
This exploration has contemporary significance because the COVID pandemic, as is stated, “has increased awareness of the social implications of disease.”
As Professor Jones writes, “… the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 hit Winnipeg and worldwide societies hard. Both the course of the disease and the response followed along class and ethnic lines of division within society. The poor, especially in Winnipeg’s immigrant-dominated North End, lived and worked in conditions that put them at greatest risk, as death statistics show. Their poverty made treatment difficult and often depended on the willingness and ability of wealthier strata to provide nursing care and financial relief. This extended even to burying the victims.
“Within this context, the Jewish community drew on its long tradition of community self-help through philanthropic organizations and through mutual-aid societies that reflected the North End community more closely.”
Communal Solidarity: Immigration, Settlement, and Social Welfare in Winnipeg’s Jewish Community, 1882-1930, is a contribution by Arthur Ross, Professor Emeritus and Public Administration at Metropolitan Toronto University and a former Winnipegger “with deep roots in the North End.” It is based on his book, which published by the University of Manitoba Press, of the same name that was launched at the JHC in 2019.
Ross describes the activism of the North End Jewish community.
“Few of the Jewish immigrants who established Winnipeg’s Jewish community could have imagined that their children and grandchildren would live in a society in which the government was responsible for universal health care, provided various forms of income assistance, and funded social services,” he concludes.
“Certainly, the establishment of the welfare state reduced much of the need for Winnipeg’s Jews to engage in collective action to protect each other from life’s misfortunes. After the 1930s, communal solidarity continued to shape the development of Winnipeg’s Jewish community.”
The section entitled JEWS IN WORLD WAR 1 contains a series of essays that, taken together, form a fairly comprehensive look into Jews as soldiers on both sides during that four year long pointless war: Jewish Canadians and the Great War, by (the late) Jim Blanchard; German Jewish Soldiers in World War 1 by Lionel Steiman; French Jewish Soldiers in World War 1, by Robert J.Young; Russian Jews During the First World War, by Daniel Stone; The General Monash Branch, by Daniel Stone.
“Jews made good citizens in all countries in which they lived and fought valiantly; although their efforts were not always recognized or appreciated,” noted a presenter, during a panel discussion at the JHC to mark the centenary of the Great War (which erupted in August 1914).
Some of the other fascinating essays in this useful little book deal with The 1919 WINNIPEG GENERAL STRIKE, RABBI ZALMAN SCHACTER, THE GARMENT TRADE IN WINNIPEG, LEISURE ACTIVITIES, and BEYOND THE CITY.
A section at the beginning, PASSAGES, acknowledges the passing of several board members and staff members of the JHC and its predecessor, the Jewish Historical Society: Abraham J. “Abe” Arnold, CM (1922-2011); Mildred Gutkin (1921-2021); Leon Michaels (1925-2015); Irma Rachel Penn (1945-2013); Judith Putter (1948-2021); Maurice Steele (1929-2022); Roseline (“Roz”) Wolodarsky Usiskin (1928-2022); Norman Vickar (1917-2015); Marshall Wilder (1926-2017).
“Their insight, dedication, and contributions have greatly furthered the win aims of the Jewish Heritage Centre: the documentation, preservation, and sharing of information on the development of the Jews in Western Canada and advocacy of anti-racism, especially through Holocaust education,” says the Introduction.
One now awaits the next installment of Jewish Life and Times. What an invaluable historical resource for our community. It reinforces the truth that all people and cultures are living histories.
Jewish Life and Times: A Collection of Essays Volume X
Edited by Daniel Stone & Annalee Greenberg
Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada
184 pages
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Talented Winnipeg composer Sara Kreindler teams up with her mother Reena Kreindler to create new satirical show to premiere here in May
By BERNIE BELLAN It’s been many years since I’ve heard from Sara Kreindler. Sara’s name first appeared in The Jewish Post & News in 2002 when a satirical musical titled “A Touch of Class” was reviewed by the late Arnold Ross. That particular production featured songs from popular Broadway shows that touched upon themes such as “greed, poverty, oppression, and social unrest.”
When she appeared in that show, Ross noted, Kreindler had just recently returned to Winnipeg from England, where she had obtained a doctorate in Social Psychology from Oxford University.
While at Oxford, Kreindler found time to compose a satirical musical titled “Charity,” which played to rave reviews there, and was performed five times.
Continuing in the theme of writing satirical musicals, Sara has now teamed up with her mother, Reena, to write a new musical titled “A Perfect Man,” which is set to run at the Gargoyle Theatre from May 6-17.
According to a press release we received, “A Perfect Man” is “a satirical musical, set on a fictional analogue of ‘The Bachelor’.
“The story follows an anthropologist who arrives to research TV’s hottest reality-dating show — only to discover she’s been made a contestant, and the bachelor is her high school crush. Past and present collide against an exuberant pastiche score that uses vintage musical styles to highlight modern absurdities.”
“Praised as ‘a musician [who] can make biofuels funny’ (CBC), Sara is known for whip-smart satire on a panoply of topics. Her digital musical, ‘Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System, created during her former life as an academic, has garnered over 84,000 YouTube views. Naturally, she had a field day with the subject of reality dating.
“The topic just begs for campy zaniness, which I think we all need in these times — but also for a more cerebral critique of what these shows say about the culture that spawned them,” says Kreindler. And thanks to the romance context, the satire is woven into a deeper, more personal story. “It’s satire with a heart.”
Here is some more information about Sara Kreindler, taken from a 2009 article I wrote about her:
“Born in Israel, Sara’s precocious talent was nurtured by her mother, Reena, whose own particular talent is literary, not musical. According to Reena, however, Sara was singing from the time she was a baby, and she began to study piano at the age of four.
“As a young girl, Sara began writing her own songs and poems, along with the “occasional musical”, notes Reena. Yet, Sara’s rare talent put her at odds with the typical interests of other children her own age, on top of which she attended a school to which she was exposed to a fair degree of antisemtism.
“As a result, Sara says, being bullied was a common aspect of her childhood. On one occasion, when she was nine, she notes, Sara fought back against one particular bully by reciting the following little ditty:
“I write so many epigrams to you that all the people laugh.
I’m tired of writing epigrams.
I want to write your epitaph!”
“Sara went on to compose a musical titled ‘Flutesong’ while she was a student at Vincent Massey Collegiate, she says. After doing her undergraduate work at the University of Manitoba, majoring in Psychology, Sara won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University.
“Sara eventually earned a doctorate in Social Psychology and returned to Winnipeg, where she began teaching at the University of Manitoba, but she said she didn’t enjoy the “mass production” style of teaching upwards of 300 students at a time, so she switched careers and began doing health research for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.”
All the while Sara has been continuing to compose and perform her own songs, often teaming up with her mother, as she has for “A Perfect Man.”
Showtimes and ticket information for The Perfect Man are available at:
http://www.thegargoyletheatre.com/upcoming-events/the-perfect-man
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Rabbi Kliel Rose to leave Congregation Etz Chayim for new post in Ottawa
The following email from Congregation Etz Chayim Executive Director Morissa Granove was sent to members of the congregation on Friday, April 10:
“Dear Members and Friends,
“As we know, Rabbi Kliel recently spent a weekend with Kehilllat Beth Israel where he has since been offered a position. After much thought and consideration, he has made the decision to sign a contract in Ottawa. He will continue to lead our congregation through Yom Kippur.
“This news marks a significant ending for our Etz Chayim community, and at the same time with change comes opportunity. Congregation Etz Chayim will soon embark on our own Rabbinical search with excitement as we look for our perfect candidates and explore the new possibilities that will help us to continue to shape a strong future for our synagogue and members.”
Kliel Rose took up the position of rabbi at Etz Chayim in August, 2018.
In an article announcing his appointment to the position in the June 6, 2018 issue of The Jewish Post & News, Myron Love wrote:
The congregation has been without a permanent rabbi since last summer when Rabbi Larry Lander chose to retire – after ten years here – and relocate to Toronto.
Kliel Rose is already a well-seasoned rabbi. He was ordained in 2004 by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
He previously served as spiritual leader at the West End Synagogue in Nashville and Temple Enamu-El in Miami Beach. His current posting is Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton.
Following the example of his parents, Kliel Rose has been active in interfaith dialogue and human rights work for which he was honoured in 2014 with the Human Rights Hero Award by Truah: The Rabbibic Call for Human Rights.
He has also participated in the Kellogg Management Education for Jewish Leaders program at Northwestern University and was most recently chosen to be among 20 rabbis from different denominations chosen to train in the Clergy leadership Incubator – a two-year program, under the leadership of Ranni Sidney Schwarz, intended to educate younger rabbis in innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
In Edmonton, Rose also served as Jewish chaplain at the University of Alberta and took the lead on a program called “Faith and Inclusion”, whose mandate was to support individuals with cognitive and physical learning challenges to feel more welcome within various faith communities.