By MYRON LOVE Rabbi Shawn Zell’s newest publication, “Meaningful Mourning: Reflecting on the Life and Death of a Loved One,” is a thought-provoking and comprehesive contemplation of dealing with the process of grieving. In essence, “Meaningful Mourning” is a follow up to the former Winnipegger’s earlier book, “For Those Who Grieve,” which was published three years ago.
In an earlier interview with the Jewish Post regarding “For Those Who Grieve,”, Rabbi Zell noted that “one of the greatest frustrations when it comes to a shivah house is that, all too often, the atmosphere leaves much to be desired” – with people telling jokes, catching up on gossip and generally avoiding the subject of death and dying rather than rather than “sharing words of comfort and reflection and anecdotes and recollections of the deceased.”
“For Those Who Grieve,” he continues, aims to replace “tired and worn” readings in current shivah books with his own compositions which, he hopes, will give readers “new food for thought” that may “serve as a source of comfort to the bereaved and render the atmosphere of the shivah house more meaningful.”
‘What compelled me to write Meaningful Mourning”, Rabbi Zell says, “is to offer suggestions that may help clergy as well as others are uncomfortable dealing with.” 
He cites, as an example, the funeral of a mentally-handicapped individual in our community roughly 50 years ago where Rabbi Peretz Weizman officiated.  The individual was hit by a bus.
“I still recall Rabbi Weizman’s well-thought out words  that the deceased had a tragic life and died a tragic death.” 
Rabbi Zell also spoke of a more recent funeral at which he officiated where the widow was very angry that her husband had died.  “The deceased had become involved in a dispute with the city over some property. His wife was adamant that he not try to fight city hall. He persisted and died of a heart attack.  I tried to focus on appreciation of his life.”
In the introduction to “Meaningful Mourning,” he notes that “rifts in families are not uncommon. But how many readings in our canon broach such subjects?” he asks.
“And,” he continues, while Judaism makes it quite clear that you should choose life over death, there are occasions when one gives up one’s life to protect others.”
“Meaningful Mourning” consists of 15 chapters, each with a specific theme and each divided into a series of two-page readings – consisting of an exposition of how each day of the week, each month of the year, every Jewish festival, can provide comfort to mourners. Each reading also consists of a relevant poem and psalm.
In the first chapter, for example – which focuses on the daily order of creation, one comment in particular caught my attention – and made me think:  When someone I  know died suddenly, I sometimes wonder what that individual had planned for the rest of the day, what celebrations were coming up, what trip might the deceased have been  looking forward to? 
I recall one fellow coming to the evening minyans at my shul to say kaddish for his brother.  Then, one day, he didn’t appear.  I subsequently heard that he had developed an infection and died unexpectedly.  I remember thinking that he wasn’t supposed to die. He still had several months left to say kaddish.
As Zell points out in “Meaningful Mourning,” “unlike the creation process, death does not necessarily wait for the deceased to complete everything he hoped to accomplish.  In many cases, death has been compared to an unfinished symphony.
“From the Jewish perspective, the Angel of Death has little, if any, regard for projects yet to be completed, plans yet to be realized and dreams yet to be fulfilled.”
Another reading speaks of the signs of the zodiac and their connections to the equivalent Jewish months.  “The sign for the month of Shvat is Aquarius, the water carrier,” Zell observes.  “In Judaism, water is prayed for because water is seen as a blessing.  But what happens when the natural flow of water is interrupted?  How do we respond when tranquil water is usurped by troubled or turbulent water i.e., death?
“In a perfect world, the mourner would find solace in believing that he enriched with happiness and joy the one who was summoned from above.”
The accompanying reading with this topic is a poem intended to bring some comfort for mourners who are overcome with remorse or regret.
 In “One Small Step,” Zell riffs on the immortal words of astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon.  “Little did Neil Armstrong realize that he was echoing the words of many a religious leader counselling a bereaved individual,” the rabbi comments.  “Mourning that is proper and effective is a process of small steps and giant leaps.”
A leap of faith is necessary for several reasons, Zell adds, most of all so that the mourner is not consumed by pangs of guilt for not having been a better child, sibling or spouse. He quotes Ecclesiastes in saying that “when the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest.”
“I hope that the readings in this book help to lessen the pain for the bereaved,” he writes.   
 Zell, who was formerly the spiritual leader of Congregation Tiferet Israel in Dallas, grew up in Winnipeg. The son of the late Ida and Phil Zell was initially ordained as a Conservative rabbi in the mid-1980s. He served in pulpits in that capacity in Sioux City, Iowa, and Clark, New Jersey. In 2004-2006 – while between congregations, he received his Orthodox smicha.  He currently lives in retirement in New Jersey..
“Meaningful Mourning” is his fourth book – and his third focusing on different aspects of death and mourning.  The book was published by Scribal Scion Publishers out of Teaneck, New Jersey.

By MYRON LOVE The first (and last) time that I interviewed Jonathan Strauss for The Jewish Post & News would have been shortly after the then teenager had founded Strauss Event Management. Today, almost 30 years later, the renamed Strauss Event and Association Management’s services are much in demand both in our Jewish and the wider community and the company is a player on the national scene.
And throughout, Strauss has remained strongly committed to downtown Winnipeg and our Jewish community.  Among the most recent assignments for the president-elect of the Winnipeg Board of Jewish Education/Gray Academy (where his two children go to school) was the production of the Jewish National Fund’s Negev Gala in June.
“It was great working with (JNF executive director) David (Greaves) and his team,” Strauss says.  “I really enjoyed Mayim Bialik’s presentation. I learned a lot from her.”
Strauss notes that his company has worked on previous Negev Galas, also managed events in our community for the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, and the Rady JCC.
In the general community, Strauss Event and Association Management helped organize the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s 150th anniversary celebrations last year at True North Square and continues to partner with Tourism Winnipeg.
The son of Arla and Martin Strauss launched his career part way through his Grade 11 year at the University of Winnipeg Collegiate.  “A few months earlier, he explains, “I had begun working part time for a company that was producing trade shows. The owners were experiencing financial difficulties.  How hard can it be to sell trade show space and advertising, I wondered?  I borrowed some money from my parents and paid the previous owners enough to cover their debts.
“Strauss Event and Association Management is a niche company,” Strauss continues. “Initially, we were focused on publishing and producing trade shows.  As a result of the trade shows, we began to receive requests to manage associations. Over the past 20 years, our revenue has changed and 90% of our revenues have come from managing associations.”
Strauss Management’s typical client is an organization without their own staff or is able to afford only a minimal office staff – perhaps one or two people, Strauss explains.  “With our team of specialists, we offer fractional management. We may provide an executive director, perhaps, a staff person to manage events or communications – or membership recruitment – basically any administrative support or association services that are required.”
In Manitoba, Strauss points out, Strauss Management has no competition.  “There are only a couple of dozen companies in Canada that offer the services that we do. The others are all in Toronto.”
Strauss Management has a staff of just 16 in Winnipeg and one in Toronto.  Surprisingly, the company also has four staff members in the small Central American country of El Salavdor. 
“Covid changed the way many people do business,” Strauss points out.  “Most of our work is done online now.  In Winnipeg, we offer our employees a hybrid work program that allows them to work from home two days a week.  Doing our business online has enabled us to access a more diverse labour pool with the right skill sets at a time when it is difficult to find more workers locally. Thus, we have been able to hire staff working from El Salvador.”
 Strauss is a firm believer in the potential for our downtown.  With the Convention Centre, the arena and the theatres, the downtown is a strong driver of our economy,” he says.  ”I am happy to see conventions, trade shows and gala evenings returning to the downtown post-Covid.”
From the beginning, Strauss management has been located downtown.  “It is important for our business to be close to the Convention Center and major hotels such as the Fort Garry and the Delta,” he points out.
Strauss is every bit as committed to our Jewish community as he is to the downtown.  He has offered his expertise to many leading Jewish organizations over the years – including have been on the board of the Jewish Child and Family Service – and is looking forward to his role at Gray Academy.
“I have been on the Board of Jewish Education for three years,” he notes.  “I bring to my new role a lot of governance experience with community boards and recruiting skills. 
“I believe that it is really important to provide our children with a strong Jewish education and positive learning experiences, not only through Gray Academy, but also through programs such as our Jewish summer camps and the March of the Living.”
He further comments that, since October 7, he has been working with a lot of people to help keep our Jewish community safe.  “As a parent, these past few months have been a real eye-opener,” he observes. “I have had the opportunity to work with our police officers and their willingness to go above and beyond to protect us.  I never thought that we would ever have to deal with a situation that we are facing now. As a parent and member of our Jewish community, I couldn’t be more confident that the Winnipeg Police Force will keep us safe and secure.”

By MYRON LOVE Brothers Bradley and Harlan Abells have followed similar paths in their lives.  They both attended Brock Corydon School’s Hebrew bilingual program. They are both relatively recent graduates of the Asper School of Business.  They are both pursuing careers working with numbers – Harlan notes that their zaidy, Chartered Accountant Saul Guttman, is their role model. both for Harlan – a CPA since July of last year who is currently working for People Corporation; and for Bradley – who earned his actuarial designation three years ago and works for Canada Life.  And they are each injecting youth into leadership roles in long-established community institutions.
Last month, Bradley assumed the role of vice-president of Jewish Child and Family Service at the JCFS Annual General Meeting.  (June was momentous for Bradley in another way as well, with his marriage to Kayla Rosen.)
“I was looking for a way to give back to the community,” says Bradley who, in his teen years was active in BBYO and served as a counsellor at Camp Massad.  “I was interested in the work social workers do, and it was suggested to me to approach JCFS.”
That was just two years ago.  Bradley’s introduction to the organization came as a member of both the Finance Committee and the Human Resources Committee. He later joined the Investment Committee.
“I didn’t know a lot of what the JCFS did before I began volunteering,” he says.  “I have been very impressed by the wide range of services that the JCFS offers our community and what a difference it makes in the lives of so many people.”
As reported elsewhere in this paper, JCFS’s new president is Elena Grinshteyn, whose family was itself a  client of the JCFS when Elena and her husband, Konstantin, along with their baby daughter, first came to Winnipeg from Israel nearly 20 years ago.   
Whereas Bradley Abells has chosen at this juncture to give back through the JCFS, younger brother Harlan is devoting his time to the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, where he was also elevated to vice-president.
“I had just started my working career in 2020 when Mark Kantor (the current JHCWC president) approached me about joining the board,’ notes Harlan who, in his younger days was a Massad camper and was later active in BBYO.   “The daughter of a friend of Mark’s is a good friend of mine.  The organization was in need of a treasurer and Mark reached out to me.
“I like what we do at JHCWC,” he continues.  “I am particularly impressed by the extensive archival collection and I appreciate the JHC’s Holocaust education mandate.  It is nice to be included in this important work.”
Both Harlan and Bradley believe that it is important to encourage more younger people to get involved in supporting our community’s institutions.  They are certainly good role models.