Local News
Jake Tapper reflects on his role as a CNN anchor and his search in vain for a connection to any Winnipeg Tappers
By BERNIE BELLAN Jake Tapper is a very well-known CNN anchor (and chief Washington correspondent) whose manner is totally opposite from the firebrands who populate Fox News.
Whereas individuals such as Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson thrive on inflaming their audiences, Tapper’s soothing tone and low-key style serves to calm his audience. However, while Tapper may appeal to the type of liberal audience that attended the most recent Kanee lecture on June 2nd, according to a recent report in Forbes magazine, Fox is trouncing CNN in the ratings. After listening to Tapper deliver what was, in essence, a review of the way in which Donald Trump was responsible for the assault on the US Capitol for on January 6, 2021, which was undoubtedly totally familiar to members of the audience who might have expected him to offer a more illuminating or stimulating talk than he did – it’s not hard to understand why viewers have been tuning CNN out.
To be fair though, when it comes to delivering a lecture, an individual like Tapper, who no doubt is quite mindful of not straying too far afield from a moderate position, is not the kind of person who is likely going to offer great insight into the issues of the day.
Such was the case on Wednesday evening, June 2nd, when approximately 350 individuals attended this year’s Sol & Florence Kanee lecture at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. (It was the first live in-person Kanee lecture in three years, with everyone in attendance required to produce proof of vaccination and remain fully masked for the entire evening.)
Prior to Tapper’s talk, Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada President Mark Kantor gave a brief rundown of the current state of the JHCWC. Kantor noted that the JHCWC has now achieved its goal of having raised $1 million for what is known as the Norman and Florence Vickar Archival Fund at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.
Jake Tapper is first and foremost a reporter, and what he proceeded to do during his 45-minute talk was give a summary of the events that had led up to the current situation the very moment he was speaking – when, he said, the fact that the Congressional hearings into the January 6 insurrection were going to be televised live the next night meant that he was unable to be in Winnipeg in person.
Before moving on to a discussion of the events of January 6 and the fallout thereafter, Tapper amused the audience with stories of his ancestry, including having had a great-grandfather who, for a very short time (four days) served as mayor of Winnipeg. It was in his quest to find out more about his roots that, Tapper explained, he actually got in touch with the Jewish Heritage Centre. One thing led to another and JHCWC Executive Director Belle Jarniewski ended up inviting Tapper to deliver this year’s Kanee lecture.
Tapper noted that he became interested in exploring his ancestry during the first year of the Covid pandemic, when he had more time on his hands than usual, and he became involved in doing a story about ancestry.com. He went on to explain that he had been told that he might be related to some Tappers in Winnipeg, but after researching the subject – partly with the assistance of the JHCWC, he realized that what he had been told was wrong.
Thus, he declared to the audience: “I’m talking to you tonight entirely because of a mistake.”
Further, Tapper explained that while his father is Jewish, his mother had converted to Judaism. It turns out that members of his mother’s family had actually fought in the American Revolution, Tapper discovered in doing research on his ancestry.
“They did fight in the Revolutionary War – but on the ‘wrong’ side,” he disclosed. As a result, “they fled to Canada,” hence his Winnipeg connection through his mother’s grandfather (whose name, by the way, was David Dyson).
An anchor with CNN since 2013, Tapper also serves as CNN’s Chief Washington Correspondent. In that capacity he’s been deeply involved in reporting on the incredible story of an incumbent president trying to overturn the results of a democratic election – which we’re now witnessing unraveling in prime time.
Yet, unlike a historian such as Margaret MacMillan, who offered profound insights into the chaos ensuing in the aftermath of World War I four years ago during her own Kanee lecture, someone like Tapper is perhaps too closely enmeshed in the day to day events as they unfurl to offer the kind of perspective on events that perhaps a historian might have been able to deliver.
What he gave to the audience on June 2nd instead was a fairly long overview of how we got to where we are, but without offering any analysis of what the longterm consequences will be of having had a scoundrel of such epic proportions as Donald J. Trump in the White House for four years.
Tapper noted that early on in his presidency Trump declared that “journalists are the enemy of the people,” but in saying that, Tapper suggested, Trump “put people’s lives at risk.”
“I’m amazed that no journalists were killed during Trump’s presidency,” he admitted, with the exception of Ahmad Khashoggi, who was likely killed by the Saudis because Mohammed Bin Salman knew that Trump could care less about the murder of a Saudi journalist.
“Something else was lost” during the Trump presidency, Tapper observed: “facts and the truth.”
Tapper noted that Trump had a specific purpose in attacking journalists, which Trump revealed when he said to a group of journalists, “I do it to discredit you all, so that when you write critically about me, you’ll be discredited.”
During an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” correspondent Leslie Stahl, Trump delved deeper into his methods (but after the cameras were turned off), Tapper said. Trump told Stahl that he was going to treat “any negative polls as ‘fake news’,” adding that “if it’s bad I say it’s fake, but if it’s good I say that it’s the most accurate poll ever.”
For Tapper, the ongoing war between Democrats and Republicans in the United States is “not about Republicans versus Democrats, it’s about truth versus lies.”
Yet, Trump did accomplish some good things during his presidency, Tapper acknowledged, including helping to bring about the “Abraham Accords” and pushing for the rapid development of vaccines to combat Covid-19 with a plan that was labeled “Operation Warp Speed.”
“It’s ironic that Operation Warp Speed saved millions of lives,” Tapper noted, so “Why didn’t he (Trump) fully embrace the vaccination program then?”
“He was vaccinated in secret before he left office,” Tapper added. “It was his handling of Covid that cost him the election.”
At that point in his talk Tapper delved into a very detailed review of events immediately preceding the January 6 insurrection. I continued to take copious notes but, in reviewing them I’ve said to myself: “Who doesn’t know the details of what happened immediately following the US election on November 3, 2020?” I suppose someone totally indifferent to world events might not know that Trump tried to claim that the election was “stolen”, but, in any event, there’s no need to regurgitate Tapper’s detailed chronology of those events here. (I do have them in my notes, though. If you want to hear what Tapper had to say give me a call and I’ll read you my notes about that part of his talk.)
Tapper did offer some suggestions as to why it’s important to continue to examine those fateful days between November 2, 2020 and January 6, 2021, saying: “It’s important to have clarity, it’s important to say lying is not good.”
Tapper quoted the very brave Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who said that the lie Trump told – and has continued to tell “is a lie that’s going to be deployed in the future.”
“We must stand up for the facts,” Tapper declared. “Facts are messy and inconvenient…but in order to push a narrative you have to have facts….News media should be committed to facts and ignore the narratives.”
As an illustration of how people commit to a certain narrative – such as that Joe Biden has to be supported no matter what, Tapper said that he’s been told that “if you ask tough questions about Biden’s handling of the economy, you must be for Trump.”
There was one point in Tapper’s lecture when he actually mentioned a term which I, along with most others in the audience, had probably never heard before, when he referred to something known as the “Overton Window.”
That term, he explained, refers to “the range of policies that are acceptable to discuss” at a certain point in time. It was inconceivable to discuss the emancipation of the slaves until a certain period in American history, Tapper noted.
Now, it is possible to discuss “reparations for slaves”, “defunding the police” and, perhaps most alarmingly, “disenfranchising the voters of Pennsalvania and Wisconsin” by disallowing huge numbers of perfectly legal ballots, which is something “two-thirds of House Republicans voted to do,” Tapper observed.
“Trump’s plan is to overturn the results of the 2024 election if he or his chosen successor fails,” Tapper predicted. Consequently, “democracy in the US is at risk when so many voters have proven to be susceptible to lies.”
Tapper ended his lecture by quoting Thomas Jefferson, who had this to say about the importance of newspapers to democracy: “If I had to choose between government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I would choose the latter.”
Following Tapper’s remarks, he fielded questions from audience members. (I took notes until both the pens I had brought with me ran out of ink. At that point I left. I apologize if I’m omitting some good questions which I may have missed as a result. Honestly, the question and answer session was more illuminating than hearing Tapper’s remarks to that point, especially when he found himself squirming talking about his disgraced colleague, Chris Cuomo.)
By the way, that was the first question asked of Tapper: “What have you learned about integrity and honesty with what’s gone on at CNN?”
Tapper: “You have to learn to recuse yourself or be fully transparent. Nobody in journalism wants to be the story. You don’t want to have to answer questions like that” (the one just posed to him).
Question: “As bad as Trump is are we going to see worse?”
Tapper: “I am more afraid that there are Republicans who have been going on with the ‘big lie’.”
Question: “How can you remain objective?”
Tapper: “The question is: ‘Are you aware of your biases?’ Do you try to understand points of view other than your own?”
Question: “How does a reporter handle what you’ve seen in Ukraine?” (Tapper spent two weeks in May reporting from Ukraine.)
Answer: “A lot of news organizations remind us that if we need to talk to people (about what we’ve seen), we have people there for you – but let’s remember first responders face the same problem.”
Tapper was then asked a question about a possible connection to some Jewish Tappers from Winnipeg.
He responded that “I looked for months to try to find a connection with the Jewish Tappers of Winnipeg. We even went so far as to try to get someone (from Winnipeg) to take a DNA test.” (Apparently that endeavour was aborted when it became clear that it was fruitless.)
Question: “What do you think is going to happen in the mid-term elections?” (Afterwards, someone suggested to me that it would likely be impossible to find an American audience anywhere that would want to hear from a Canadian journalist about Canadian politics.)
Tapper: “We haven’t lost our democracy yet. The guardrails buckled, but they’ve held. We have to remain vigilant…but I’m not applying for Canadian citizenship. I don’t know that things are going to get worse.”
Question: “Have you felt any anti-Semitism at CNN?”
Tapper answered that he’s experienced anti-Semitism most pronouncedly on social media – from “both the right and the left.” He noted, however, that his colleague Ben Shapiro, who presents quite clearly as a conservative on most issues, has also been subjected to anti-Semitic attacks from both the right and the left.
Tapper added thought that the roughest period for him as a Jewish reporter was when he was covering the Israel-Gaza war (I’m not sure to which one he was referring. It was probably the war in 2014, which lasted almost seven weeks – one which I also personally experienced.) when he came under attack for both being too critical of Israel and too supportive.
Yet he added, with reference to any anti-Semitism he may have experienced, “compared to what my female colleagues who are Latino or Asian go through, it’s nothing.”
In retrospect, thinking about how I began this report of Jake Tapper’s lecture, perhaps I was a shad too dismissive of what he had to say. It would have been unfair to expect him to offer the kind of learned wisdom that a Margaret MacMillan was able to impart – 100 years after the end of World War I, about the long term effects of that war.
Still, there are commentators out there, including on CNN – such as Fareed Zakaria, who specialize in offering deep insight into the issues of the day. And maybe next year whoever is invited won’t have to use the excuse that he was called upon to anchor his network’s coverage of congressional hearings as a reason not to appear in person. Say Jake, when did you actually decide you weren’t going to be coming to Winnipeg? I dare say it was long before you knew you were going to be anchoring CNN’s coverage of the congressional hearings, wasn’t it?
Local News
Two Toronto synagogues attacked over the Canada Day weekend in a window-smashing spree
June 30, 2024 By MICHAEL FRAIMAN (CJN) When members of Pride of Israel Synagogue in Toronto began showing up for Sunday prayer services on the morning of June 30, in the middle of the Canada Day long weekend, they were shocked to discover several windows shattered, holes in their stained glass and stones scattered onto the bimah.
The congregants stood there for a moment, rattled and disappointed. But that didn’t stop them from holding their 9 a.m. services.
“We’re gonna go on,” Carl Zeliger, vice-chairman of the congregation, told The CJN over the phone as the sounds of broken glass cracked under his feet. “Our service continued today. All [the vandal] accomplished was maybe a five-minute delay in the start of our services. We’re gonna continue. This isn’t going to help them.”
The custodian of the building, which is located near the intersection of Steeles Ave. and Bathurst St., first noticed the damage after arriving at 8 a.m. Police were called by 8:30. A forensic team gathered evidence for several hours until they gave the congregation the green light to clean things up.
The attack allegedly occurred earlier that morning. A nearby resident told Zeliger that they were awoken by a loud crash shortly before 3 a.m. According to Zeliger, this neighbour looked out their window and saw a motorcyclist wearing a helmet and speeding away. The neighbour then called the police at 3:02 a.m., according to a Toronto Police Service press release.
Police added that they believe the same suspect attacked the Kehillat Shaarei Torah synagogue at 3:30 a.m., throwing another rock at a window—the third such attack on the Bayview Ave. and Fifeshire Rd. building since mid-April, along with an incident involving a dead raccoon left in its parking lot.
Michael Gilmore, executive director of Kehillat Shaarei Torah, confirmed to The CJN that their video cameras captured on tape the motorcyclist pull up to their shul, remove two small objects from their pockets and throw the objects at their windows.
However, because the synagogue had not yet repaired their windows from the previous attack, this latest suspect merely threw the objects at polycarbonate covers that shielded already-broken glass.
“These three separate attacks have encapsulated the very real and present dangers that the Jewish community across Canada faces daily,” Gilmore told The CJN. “Fortunately, as Jewish generations before us have done, we come together as a community stronger, more united, and with a greater sense of purpose than ever before.”
In their press release, Toronto police confirmed they are treating the investigation as being “a suspected hate-motivated offence” and will be increasing police presence in both areas.
The damage to the Pride of Israel building, Zeliger says, “is quite significant.” The attacker threw two large, heavy rocks through the windows above the main entrance. They also threw a couple smaller stones that pierced (but did not shatter) the stained glass windows that lead to the sanctuary. Those stones ended up on the bimah.
In addition, the attacker seemingly attempted to break a glass door with a different rock, but that door held strong.
As of Sunday afternoon, the congregants had already contacted professionals to fix the glass, and made immediate plans to call their insurance company and review their safety and security protocols.
Pride of Israel Synagogue traces its roots to 1905, when the Pride of Israel Sick Benefit Society was founded in a house on Chestnut Street in downtown Toronto. The grassroots organization sent doctors and money to community members who were sick or in need. The congregation, which describes itself as “traditionally conservative” yet independent of any Jewish denomination, eventually moved into its current building in North York in 1969.
Its name, Zeliger believes, is partly what made it a target in the long aftermath of Oct. 7.
“If you view this as anything other than antisemitism, I don’t think you’re paying attention to the reality today,” he says. “My parents were Holocaust survivors. This hurts. I love my parents, but I’m happy they’re not here to see this.”
This incident makes Pride of Israel the latest in a wave of antisemitic attacks that has washed over all of Canada, with Jewish buildings being lit aflame, shot at and vandalized in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and many other cities on a recurring basis.
What struck Zeliger most was how this happened on the eve of July 1.
“We as Canadians are supposed to be joyful of who we are, where we are. But that includes people of all different races, colours, religions, whatever. This is really an affront to everyone—that this is what happened on a Canada Day weekend. It’s basically saying our values dont mean anything. I really would like to see the silent majority come to terms with this. We have to do better. We can make this a better Canada.”
Local News
Who was Saul Feldman and why did he leave $2.6 million to the Jewish Foundation?
By BERNIE BELLAN Each year that the Jewish Foundation releases its Annual Report, I scan the report looking for unusual items. During the course of my scanning the Foundation’s 2023 Annual Report – as I was looking for names of new funds, one name jumped off the page for me: Saul Feldman – whose estate gave $2.6 million to the Foundation in 2023.
Who was Saul Feldman, I wondered – and why hadn’t the Foundation made any sort of an announcement that it had received such a huge gift in 2023?
I contacted Drew Unger, Director of Marketing & Communications for the Foundation to ask whether he could shed any light as to who Saul Feldman was – and why had the Foundation not publicized such a huge gift?
Drew replied: “It is a fantastic gift that is going to benefit the community greatly!
“As you know, we are very cognizant of donors’ wishes regarding the recognition and publicity of their gifts, and that is the process we are currently engaged in.
“We hope to feature the gift in the future, but we are still doing our own due diligence on Mr. Feldman.”
In a subsequent conversation that I had with Drew, he explained that the Foundation actually knew very little about Mr. Feldman. I asked whether he would mind if I did my own digging, as a gift of this size – coming totally out of the blue – reminded me of several similar gifts that had been made in the past to Winnipeg Jewish organizations. In 2020, for instance, I had reported on a gift of $725,000 made to the Simkin Centre by the estate of Myer and Corrine Geller – who had lived in San Diego. After a fair bit of investigation I discovered that Myer Geller must have had a mother who lived in what was then the Sharon Home for a time. (You can read that story at https://jewishpostandnews.ca/faqs/rokmicronews-fp-1/mystery-of-why-725-000-donation-to-the-simkin-centre-was-made-is-likely-solved/)
In 2015 the Gwen Secter Centre itself was saved from having its building sold by the then-owner, the National Council of Jewish Women, when an anonymous “angel” stepped forward with a gift of over $900,000. I was able to find out the name of that donor, but as that person had wished to remain anonymous, I never reported their name.
But the case of Mr. Feldman is quite different. Here we have an individual allocating a huge amount of money to the Jewish Foundation, but without any apparent reason why he decided to do that.
I was able to find his name in an old Henderson’s Directory, which I’ve held on to for years. Mr. Feldman lived at 400 Enniskillen Avenue. There were two others living there in 1993, along with Saul Feldman: His mother Rae and his brother Jack.
I also found a reference to Mr. Feldman in a 1946 Jewish Post, where it was noted that he had graduated as an electrical engineer from the University of Manitoba that year.
A search of the Jewish Heritage Centre archives showed that Mr. Feldman died in March 2023.
Through a search of the Manitoba online court registry I was able to find that Mr. Feldman’s estate had been probated in April 2023 and the name of the lawyer who had handled the estate was given. It was a name well know to me, so I contacted Mr. Feldman’s lawyer and asked him whether he could give me the name of Mr. Feldman’s executor? The lawyer said he would get back to me, but rather than wait for his answer, I decided to head down to the Law Courts to ask to see Mr. Feldman’s will. (As a matter of interest, anyone is allowed to see anyone’s will, but you have to attend in person at the Law Courts to see a will.)
I discovered, upon reading Mr. Feldman’s will, that I knew his executor, and I was able to find a phone number for him in an old 2010 phone book I’ve kept. (I was surprised the number was still active and the voice message indicated that the person I was trying to reach still used that number.) I left a message, saying I was trying to find out anything I could about Saul Feldman – and perhaps what had prompted him to leave his entire considerable estate to the Jewish Foundation?
Mr. Feldman’s executor was good enough to call me back the next day and he told me quite a bit about Mr. Feldman.
Apparently Mr. Feldman had worked for Winnipeg Hydro for years. He was “very intelligent,” I was further told and, at his funeral (which is available to watch on Youtube), it was noted that he had participated in the building of the Alaska Highway.
Mr. Feldman never married and had lived with his parents and a brother in the Enniskillen home for many years. Mr. Feldman was a very quiet man, I was told, who took care of his elderly parents for years, also his brother, who was very sick.
Mr. Feldman had another brother, who had moved to Toronto, and that brother was designated as Mr. Feldman’s beneficiary, with the provision that were Mr. Feldman’s brother to predecease him, his entire estate was to go to the Jewish Foundation.
As it was, Mr. Feldman’s other brother did pass on – and Saul Feldman lived to be 99. According to his executor, his final years were spent at the Shaftesbury Park Retirement Residence. The only organization to which he belonged, I was also told, was the Reh-Fit Centre on Taylor. (Apparently he was an original member of the Reh-Fit.)
He had very few friends, I was also told, but his closest friend had been the father of his executor – which explains how this individual came to be appointed executor.
From what I could see in the will, all of Mr. Feldman’s holdings were held in accounts at TD Bank and RBC.
He had led quite a frugal life,”who gave no thought to his own life…who never spent that much energy on himself,” it was said at his funeral (by the brother of the executor).
I suppose it’s not hard to imagine why an individual such as Mr. Feldman, who apparently had no other living relatives, would donate his considerable estate to an organization such as the Jewish Foundation. With over 4500 funds now in place at the Foundation, it has certainly established a very high profile within not only the Jewish community but the community at large as well..
When I contacted Drew Unger to inquire about Mr. Feldman I said that one of the reasons I wanted to single him out for attention was to inspire other people – who might be in similar circumstances as was Mr. Feldman, i.e., no apparent beneficiaries, to consider making the Jewish Foundation their beneficiary.
It would be interesting if anyone reading this who knew Mr. Feldman might want to contact me. As I’ve noted, the Jewish Foundation would like to honour his memory, but other than the information provided here, they don’t have much to go on.
Local News
Inspirational Gray Academy teacher Sheppy Coodin retiring
By MYRON LOVE After 20 years at Gray Academy – and 30 years overall as a teacher, Dr. Sheppy Coodin is retiring – leaving behind many indelible memories – not only for himself but also for the numerous students he has taught over the years.
“I tried to inspire my students – and I was in turn inspired by them,” says Coodin, the son of Kayla and the late Fischel Coodin, who was one of the longest serving teachers currently teaching at the school.
The beloved biology teacher’s relationship with our community’s Jewish school system actually goes back much longer than 20 years. He is an alumnus of both the former Talmud Torah School and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate and his father-in-law, Jerry Cohen, served as principal of Joseph Wolinsky for 17 years – from 1980-1997.
Coodin recounts that his teachers at Joseph Wolinsky – in particular the Grysmans and Binenfelds – inspired his passion for Judaism.
Coodin earned his Ph.D. in Biology from Western University – graduating in 1993. He says though, that his goal all along had been to become a teacher. After Western, he and his late wife, Naomi, returned to Winnipeg where he earned his B. Ed at the University of Manitoba.
He first taught for a year in the Seven Oaks School System – followed by eight years at St. John’s-Ravenscourt. At Ravenscourt, he taught Grade 8-12 Sciences.
Coodin taught at Ravenscourt for eight years before moving to Gray Academy. At the latter, he taught high school Biology and Judaic Studies.
Coodin describes Gray Academy as a very special school. “My colleagues and the students – we are a family,” he observes.
One important trait that Coodin brought to his role as a teacher was his enthusiasm. “I have always loved lesson planning,” he says. “I loved the challenge of finding new ways to help my students connect with the material.
Coodin also has one talent that is unique among his fellow teachers: He can juggle…no, not in the sense of juggling responsibilities – but real juggling. It was an avocation that he learned in high school. In his younger days, he occasionally worked children’s birthday parties as “Sheppy the Clown” – an act that naturally included juggling.
And from his first year as a teacher, he taught interested students to juggle as part of his school’s extracurricular activities. At Gray Academy, he started a yearly Purim variety show which included his student jugglers as well as other students and staff offering stand-up comedy, song and dance.
He happily reports that the variety shows will continue even though he will no longer be a part of them.
Living and modelling an observant Jewish life has also been important to Coodin. For 30 years, Jewish scholar Barry Bender form New York would fly into Winnipeg in January – with a dozen yeshiva students, to lead a weekend Shabbaton for the school’s high school students – a Shabbaton that Coodin was involved in helping organize.
That came to an end with the Covid lockdowns in 2020 but, Coodin reports, last year, he and his fellow teachers organized their own Shabbaton for their students.
“All 14 of us high school teachers who went were actively involved,” he points out.
Another initiative that Coodin started – with fellow Gray Academy High school teacher Avi Posen (who made aliyah in 2019) was the annual “Shabbat Unplugged.” The two created Shabbat Unplugged in 2016 with the idea of building on the annual high school Shabbaton and organizing an annual Shabbaton for Jewish university students, not only from Winnipeg, but also from other Western Canadian Jewish communities.
The Shabbaton is now run by Hillel, he notes. “It was nice to be invited back by (Hillel director) Raya (Margulets),” Coodin commented in an interview with the Post a few months back. “Raya is also a former student of mine who took part in the 2017 Shabbat Unplugged.”
One of the highlights of his teaching career at Gray Academy, he notes, was being able to teach his own sons, Yoni and Elly. “That was really special,” he recalls.
In retirement, he says, he is looking forward to spending time at Gimli over the summer with his partner, Leslie Singer, who is also retiring from teaching this year. “I am planning on renewing my gym membership and getting back to golf,” he continues. “Leslie and I will most likely do some traveling in the fall. I am also looking forward to spending time with family. ”
And though his teaching career is at an end, Coodin fully expects to keep in touch with many of his former students.