Features
Pastor Rudy Fidel has had an unabiding love for Jews and Israel for over 40 years
By BERNIE BELLAN In formulating ideas for writing this particular article I spent a considerable amount of time reading materials pertaining to Christian Zionism. I admit that I am still more than a little confused when I hear devout Christians refer to their belief in “Hashem,” using the same term as one would expect to hear from someone who is Jewish.
Yet, as I read more about the long history of Christian Zionism and its various permutations I can more easily understand how someone can claim to be both a devout Christian and an ardent Zionist.
But, when you hear someone like Pastor Rudy Fidel expound upon his love for Israel, as he did to at a recent meeting of the Remis Lecture Group at the Gwen Secter Centre on October 20th, well – trying to understand Fidel’s religious orientation is no easy task.
Fidel’s love for Israel is obvious; as of the time of writing he has been to Israel 23 times, beginning in 1986. As pastor of Faith Temple for the past 40 years he has been consistent and steadfast not only in promoting support for Israel, his devotion has led to others in his church contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to Israel.
During his talk at the Gwen Secter Centre Fidel referred to one particular couple that belongs to Faith Temple (although without divulging their names) who have purchased an astounding five ambulances for Magen David Adom, on top of which they have contributed $100,000 for Holocaust survivors.
But, when it comes to explaining what has led Fidel to harbour such a deep love for Israel and a general affinity for Jews, well, it’s not easy obtaining an answer from him for that.
In material found on the Christian Friends of Israel website, it’s noted that Fidel was mentored by Dr. Ingrid Bergner when she was Fidel’s predecessor as pastor of Faith Temple. According to the website, “Dr. Bergner visited Israel in 1967, just two weeks before the Six Day War and returned seared with a passion for this holy land…It was Bergner who mentored Rudy through his long years at Faith Temple…But he not only undertook the leadership of the church – he undertook the mantle of leading groups to Israel.”
The Six Day War, it has been observed, was not only pivotal in awakening a much closer interest and affection for Israel among many Jews, it also led to much stronger support among many branches of Protestant Christianity. For many Evangelical Christians, Israel’s lighting victory in that war was a sign that the fulfillment of the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah was at hand.
Rudy Fidel, however, simply dispenses with any talk of the return of the Messiah. Something he said to his audience at Gwen Secter when he spoke – and which I’m sure came as quite the surprise to almost everyone who was there, is that there is not a single cross on display at Faith Temple.
For that matter, if you had walked into the room not knowing that Fidel is a Christian pastor, there is almost nothing in what he said that would have made you think he is anything but Jewish.
“The only agenda I have is to love Israel,” he said. “I love Judaism.”
In 1983, Fidel said, “when I made a personal commitment to God, I went to a travel agent and got a bunch of brochures about Israel.” As was noted, that was the start not only of Fidel going to Israel as the leader of many different tour groups, it also led to him bringing other Christian pastors to Israel so that they, too, would be encouraged to bring their parishioners to Israel.
Fidel referred in particular to the example of Reverend Raymond Maclean, a Native pastor who has been to Israel an incredible 32 times.
Continuing in the vein of his admiration of the Jewish people, Fidel went on to say that his “favourite character in the Bible is Jacob. I see him in Larry Vickar, in Earl Barish, and in Alan Yusim (who was a former director of B’nai Brith Midwest Region in Winnipeg).”
It was Alan Yusim who asked Fidel to participate in B’nai Brith’s annual Holocaust week event, “Unto Every Person There is a Name,” when various individuals are invited to read out loud the names of individuals who perished in the Holocaust at a ceremony held at the Manitoba Legislature.
Fidel said he was deeply touched by that invitation, which came in 2003. He observed that the night before the ceremony, when he was practicing reading the names of those Holocaust victims so that he would not stumble over their pronunciation, he had what he described as an “epiphany.”
Developing close relationships with Jewish organizations and leaders of those organizations, such as Alan Yuism, has been key to what Rudy Fidel has strived to accomplish, he explained. He spoke particularly fondly of the friendship he and his wife, Gina, have maintained over the years with Larry and Tove Vickar, noting that friendship originated way back when a young Tove Vickar, recently arrived here from Israel, was studying English for the first time and Gina was her teacher.
Fidel observed that Larry Vickar has been generous in his support for a multitude of causes, going so far as helping “to build homes in the Philippines. He puts his heart into everything he does,” Fidel said.
So, if the Six Day War was a pivotal event for Dr. Ingrid Bergner who, in turn, imbued Rudy Fidel with an ongoing devotion to Israel, it was his later encounters with Holocaust survivors that led to another facet of his love for Jews.
In 2005, Fidel said, he was part of a March of the Living tour to Poland and Israel. When he was at Auschwitz he met a survivor by the name of Felix Opatowski, who had been an inmate in Auschwitz. Opatowski was actually a part of the group that planned on blowing up one of the crematoria at Auschwitz (until the SS learned of the plot) and, even though he was severely tortured (with all his fingernails pulled out, along with the loss of an eye and hearing in one ear), he managed to survive.
According to Fidel, Opatowski said that the “ground at Auschwitz is as holy as Eretz Yisrael ,” which didn’t go over well with Israeli authorities. But meeting Opatowski was another life-changing moment for Fidel, he explained, and one that led him on a path devoted to helping Holocaust survivors. He noted that there are still 150,000 Holocaust survivors alive in the world today and, working with an organization known as “Emunah,” which is devoted to helping survivors, Fidel has raised over $20,000 for the cause.
Not only has Fidel played a significant role in helping Holocaust survivors, he’s also long been active in helping Jews in Ukraine and in Cuba. (He noted that he’s been to Cuba eight different times, where he’s helped to forge ties with the Cuban Jewish community.)
But, after he concluded his talk, Fidel was challenged by audience members with some questions that elicited some evasive answers which might lead one to wonder just what motivates Rudy Fidel’s deep love for Jews.
One question that seemed to catch him off guard was: “Where does Jesus Christ come in?”
Fidel begged off answering, saying, “I’d rather not talk about that. Maybe it was my passion 40 years ago, but it isn’t any more.”
Another audience member, alluding to an observation Fidel had made earlier that over 150 different individuals whose last name was Fidel are recorded at Yad Vashem as having died in the Holocaust, asked whether Fidel had ever taken “a DNA test” to try and determine whether he actually had Jewish ancestry himself.
Fidel answered that he hadn’t, but it was certainly an interesting idea.
Finally, someone else asked him “Are all your congregants pro Israel?”
Fidel answered, “Most of them.”
Quite the interesting fellow – that Rudy Fidel. It’s not the first time we’ve written about him in an article for this paper, but like many other Christians who harbour a deep love for Israel and Jews in general, we certainly appreciate all that he’s done over the years to strengthen ties between Christians and Jews.
Features
Musings from Dizengoff Street – by Bruce Brown
(August 8, 2026)
Outside Basimta Café in Central Jerusalem. Love the red shirt against a tiny sea of black. Not sure I am shrugging because of the ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat or the lack of an ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat. For the last six weeks Israeli headlines shouted about the cafe chaos. With the ultra-religious blocking entrances and storming the café. While shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Upsetting the secular amongst us just wanting to enjoy our Saturday iced matchas. So the wife and I thought we would check it out. And. Yes. Buy something to support the business. Uproar. Not. Blocked entrances. Not. Storming the café. Not. Albeit there were police barriers separating the devout protesters from the coffee drinkers. The protesters being just a few dozen black clad, pious Jews. Mostly teenagers. And yes. Shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Certainly underwhelming in its reported mayhem. Reminds me of the famous saying misattributed to Mark Twain – “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do, you’re misinformed.” But I did enjoy my iced matcha.
(August 6, 2026)
Here we go again. Another round of forever negotiations. As someone who negotiates for a living. The way things are going in the straits. If I had to recommend a book on the subject to a new hire. Between The Art of the Deal, A Presidential Edition by Donald J. Trump or The Real Art of the Deal by the Mullahs of Iran with a special forward by the IRGC. Well. I would choose the latter.
(August 3)
Bravo Yoav Segalovitz, Liberal Yesh Atid MK and Monsour Abbas, United Arab Ra’am MK and party head. For breaking a glass ceiling where a Jewish lawmaker joins an Arab political party. No less a political earthquake in my little shtetl. Which can significantly impact coalition block arithmetic and posturing and strategy in the upcoming elections. Now Ra’am can be considered a legitimate ‘Zionist’ partner when forming coalition blocks and potentially pushing the ‘center left/right’ party over the 60 seat majority threshold. In our crazy parliamentary democracy defined by a multi-party (about fourteen!!), proportional representation system. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Israel’s proportional representation model of governance is the best parliamentary democracy system except for all other forms of working democracies. Stay tuned for more amateurish political musings as we move towards Israel’s 26th national election – five of them held since 2019.
(August 1)
Although both sides say they are open to diplomacy. Neither really trusts the other. And American military action, or its threat, continues. I read headlines in the middle of the night -it’s a nervous habit lately– that the Dynamic Duo of Trump and Netanyahu may again strike in unison. Possibly this weekend. Yikes! Prompting me, at 2:30 AM, to dash around the house stocking my safe room. Bottled water. Canned food. Medicines. Documents. The beat goes on….
If it’s crazy here. It’s insane in Italy. With a recent online ‘Jew Hunt’ in the Milan area. Before being removed, the digital forms urged reportings of Israelis and Italian Jews staying in local hotels. The infamous Global Sumud Movement -yes, the one coordinating ‘peace and humanitarian’ flotillas to Gaza- was somehow connected. Although they deny involvement?! This deranged decree was looking to identify Zionist tourism and Zionist neo-colonization in Italy. I’ll stick with stocking the saferoom.
Then there’s New York Mayor Mamdani, a Global Sumud Movement supporter, threatening to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu if he comes to New York. But since discovered he has no legal right for such a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic antic. Maybe Mandami should be arrested! Or at least impeached. For being a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic mayor.
Here’s a post Bruce sent us Friday, July 31:
WARTIME MUSINGS
Should credible threats against FLOTUS and ‘FSOTUS’ (first son..) not be justification to attack first.
As for yesterday’s summit. Netanyahu really can’t win. Explainer. If Trump now attacks without victory its ’cause of Netanyahu. If Trump now attacks with victory its ’cause of Trump. And, in Israel, if Trump doesn’t attack -victory or not- Netanyahu failed in his eighth meeting with Trump. And if Trump does attack -victory or not- half the country will vilify Bibi anyway. Missing a permutation?
Ya. I know. Kinda’ need a definition of victory for that musing to work.
And here in my little shtetle. We go to sleep unsure if there will be a code red in the middle of the night. And if not. We wake up thinking it will be tonight. How do you define stress?
Seemed like an appropriate way to end this musing.
Bruce Brown is a former Winnipegger who made aliyah to Israel over 35 years ago. Bruce first began writing for us – in his own inimitable style, in 2012, during what was known as “Operation Pillar of Defense.” His occasional musings on aspects of life in Israel that were far from what you’d typically read in other reports from Israel were hugely popular – both in the print Jewish Post & News and on this website.
We’re now glad to report that Bruce is back writing for us – this time on a regular basis. We will post Bruce’s reports as they arrive – with the date of each post at the beginning of that post.
Here’s some information about Bruce – and awards he’s received for his writing:
Bruce Brown. Canadian born. Now living in Israel (for a long time). Bruce works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. He received the American Jewish Press Association’s award for writing excellence in 2019 and 2025. And wrote the 1998 satire, “An Israeli is….” Bruce’s musings are political, social, economic and personal. With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic and irreverent insight.
Features
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Features
Israel pavilion ambassadors – then and now
By BERNIE BELLAN Given that Folklorama is on again and the Israel pavilion – Shalom Square, is in full swing, I thought it timely to resurrect an article I first posted to this website in August 2023.
But before reading that article, I wanted you to see who this year’s ambassadors are for Shalom Square:
It was back in 2023, however, that I set out to answer a question that I had asked our readers to help answer: Where was the very first Israel pavilion located? Some readers had thought it was the Golden Age Club, which used to be located on Pritchard and Salter. But others weren’t so sure. Here then is what I wrote back in August 2023 – when, with the help of a librarian at the Winnipeg Public Library, I was able to solve the riddle of where the first Israel pavilion was located:
It was earlier in August 2023 that I had raised a number of questions about the history of the Israel pavilion at Folklorama.
Among those questions were: Where was the first Israel pavilion located and when did the Israel pavilion actually become a permanent fixture in the YMHA on Hargrave (before moving to its current home in the Asper Campus)?
As part of my search for answers to those questions I turned to David Cohen, who had long been the coordinator of the Israel pavilion when it was located on Hargrave, but who didn’t step into that role until 1975.
David thought that the Israel pavilion hadn’t moved to Hargrave until 1974, but he wasn’t sure where the first Israel pavilion had been located.
I tried to find information using the Winnipeg Public Library online digital archive. In case you didn’t know, anyone with a library card can access the library’s online archive. You can also have access to newspaperarchive.com through the library’s digital archive. Newspaperarchive.com is an invaluable reference tool for journalists especially – or anyone wanting to access old newspaper archives, for that matter, but ordinarily you would need a subscription to newspaperarchive.com in order to use it. For some reason, however, the search function in the Winnipeg Public Library’s digital search engine didn’t produce results when I entered the word “Folklorama.”
As a result I called the Winnipeg Public Library for assistance and received great help from someone by the name of Louis-Phillipe. After taking my information, Louis-Phillipe phoned me to say that he had found out that the library had compiled a file of press clippings related to Folklorama going back to the very first year, 1970.
Further, Louis-Phillipe said, he had found a list of the 22 pavilions in that first year of Folklorama, along with where they were located. It turns out that the Israel pavilion was actually located in two different venues that first year: the Rosh Pina and the Shaarey Zedek.
The next day I also heard from reader Phyllis Dana, who confirmed that the Israel Pavilion had been in both synagogues. Phyllis also remembered that the only food served that first year was honey cake.
But the pièce de resistance came when I heard from reader Marilyn Breitman (née Stitz), who now lives in Calgary, when she phoned me on Monday, August 21 (which is when she received the August 16 issue of the paper with my story about Folklorama).
Marilyn told me that, not only did she remember that the first Israel pavilion alternated between the Rosh Pina and the Shaarey Zedek, she had actually been the female representative of the Israel pavilion that first year. Her title, Marilyn said, was simply “Jewish.”
But, as you might also recall, the entire confusion over where the first Israel pavilion was located began with an email I had received from Roz Greenfeld, who had written to correct my mistake when I had written in the August 2 issue that the Israel pavilion had been located in the YMHA from the very beginning.
Roz pointed out that, in 1971, the second year of Folklorama, the Israel pavilion was located in “Council House” or, as it was better known, “The Golden Age Club,” on Pritchard and Salter. How did she remember that? Roz was the female representative of the pavilion that year. Her title, as I found out was “Miss Judea,” she said.
So, if the Israel pavilion was located at both the Rosh Pina and Shaarey Zedek in that first year of Folkorama, and in the Golden Age Club that second year, where was it after that?
It was left to Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada archivist Andrew Morrison to come up with the answer to that question. Andrew informed me that the Israel pavilion did indeed move to the YMHA in 1972 and remained there for the next 25 years, until it moved to the Asper Campus in 1997.
There was a further footnote to the story, which is when I decided to try my luck with the Winnipeg Public Library’s online archive one more time. This time, rather than searching for “Folklorama,” I tried searching for old copies of both the Free Press and the Tribune from August 1970. I did manage to get results for the Tribune and when I entered a specific search within the Tribune I found a picture of all the famale representatives of pavilions – in bathing suits.
It turned out – and this was corroborated by both Marilyn Breitman and Roz Greenfeld, the female representatives had to parade in unison – in bathing suits, as part of Folklorama festivities. Each year, as well, a queen of Folklorama was chosen. Neither Marilyn nor Roz was made queen, both of them told me, although Roz was voted “Miss Congeniality.”
In addition to finding out about the early days of the Israel pavilion, I also learned that the Chai dancers were not regular performers at the Israel pavilion in those early years – as they eventually did become. Chai performers would dance only one night in those first years, with other entertainment the other nights.
I did enlist Andrew Morrison’s help once again and did find that Chai performed only one evening during the first few years of Folklorama – from 1970 to 1976. In 1977 Chai began performing every night of Folklorama, but there were other performers on hand as well, including Jerry Maslowsky and Rabbi Yosel Rosenzweig. In 1978 the Chai Folk Ensemble was the featured entertainment every evening; however, a notice that appeared in our paper did say that whistler Harvey Pollock would “be on hand” to entertain – whatever that meant.
While some may wonder of what earth shaking importance all this is, I ask: Isn’t it fun to look back in time – for just a little while, instead of worrying about more immediate problems, such as global warming, inflation, terrorist attacks in Israel, and whether Donald Trump will be president while he’s in jail?
