Local News
How did an English performance poet develop such a keen interest in Jewish nuclear physicists?
By BERNIE BELLAN Readers of this website may have read an earlier story I posted about a Fringe play titled “THE KID WAS A SPY,” by well-known Fringe writer and performer Jem Rolls. (You can read that story at https://jewishpostandnews.ca/faqs/rokmicronews-fp-1/fringe-show-asks-was-giving-the-secret-to-the-atomic-bomb-to-the-russians-morally-justifiable/)
I was so intrigued by the notion that Rolls had written, not one, but three entire Fringe plays centering around the lives of individuals he described as “Jewish nuclear physicists no one has ever heard of” that I wanted to find out from Rolls what led to his interest in the subject.
We were supposed to have met for an interview while the Winnipeg Fringe Festival was still occurring but, as events transpired, Rolls got caught up with other things that required his attention, and wasn’t able to meet with me.
Still, he contacted me to apologize for not having been able to sit down for a conversation and said he would still very much like to engage with me about his interest in “little-known Jewish nuclear physicists.”
As it was, Rolls recently found himself with more time on his hands when he was in Saskatoon, getting ready for that city’s fringe festival which, he described in an email to me as “the quiet bit after and before the madhouses,” i.e., the Winnipeg and Edmonton fringe festivals.
A little information about Jem Rolls: He’s one of the veteran of the fringe festival circuit. His performing at the Saskatoon Fringe Festival was to be his 150th different fringe festival appearance.
Born in Surrey, England, “from 1996 Jem ran the only successful poetry cabaret in Edinburgh in decades and in 2001 he moved there and set up a very successful fortnightly cabaret, while running Scotland’s first Poetry Slams.
“In 2001 he did the Toronto fringe and nothing was ever the same again. Confronted by the possibilities and demands of the hour show, Jem gleefully exploded into the freedom of it. The Fringe circuit has very few rules and can provide the artists a complete liberation. Jem has been making a living creating a new hour show every year since 2003.”
I also found out from Rolls that in recent years he has been spending his winters in India. Quite the vagabond, he suggested that “all I need is a passport, a laptop, and a bank card.”
We did end up talking over Messenger on Thursday, July 31. I began our conversation by asking Rolls what led him to develop his particular interest in “little-known Jewish nuclear physicists?”
He explained that several years ago he “was stuck in Dauphin with not very much to read.
“I discovered a book about Nazi scientists,” he said.
That book happened to mention a Jewish physicist by the name of Lise Meitner. Rolls was sufficiently intrigued by Meitner’s story that he determined to find out more about her.
Later that year he found himself spending the winter in Edmonton. Rolls said he went to the University of Alberta to do some research on Meitner and came across another book that proved to be instrumental to his developing what would subsequently turn into three separate fringe shows. The book was titled “The Making of the Atomic Bomb,” by Richard Rhodes.
That book, which was first published in 1987, went on to win a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. It is described as the “definitive history of nuclear weapons—from the turn-of-the-century discovery of nuclear energy to J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project—this epic work details the science, the people, and the sociopolitical realities that led to the development of the atomic bomb.”
Rolls’ initial interest in Meitner subsequently led to an interest in the life of Leo Szilard, who became one of five Hungarian-born Jewish physicists – nicknamed “the Martians,” who were all eventually to play key roles in the Manhattan Project and, ultimately, the development of the atomic bomb. The others were: Theodore von Kármán, John von Neumann, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner. Apparently a running joke among their Western colleagues in scientific circles at the time was that “Martians had landed in Hungary sometime around 1900 but soon departed after finding the planet unsuitable. However, these higher beings stayed just long enough to leave behind offspring, which turned into exceptionally brainy scientists, later nicknamed ‘The Martians.’ “
Without going into detail about the scientific work undertaken both by Meitner and Szilard in this story, suffice to say that Rolls was able to mine their stories sufficiently to create two separate shows about them: The first was “THE INVENTOR OF ALL THINGS, “about Leo Szilard, which Rolls first performed in 2015 (and then again in 2017).
In 2019 Rolls created a show about Meitner titled “THE WALK IN THE SNOW,” which he also performed in 2022.
(I should note that Rolls, who has now appeared at 150 different fringe festivals, performs a particular show repeatedly on the fringe festival circuit in any given year. As he explained, “the hard work is done three months before” a show is premiered, as he writes the material and rehearses it on his own prior to taking it before a live audience.)
Both those previous shows proved enormously successful for Rolls, garnering “multiple sellouts and five star reviews.”
Winnipeg audiences, however, have mostly come to know Rolls as a “performance poet,” something, as noted previously, he first brought to Canada at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2001.
Putting on a show in Winnipeg, however, has always been an especially pleasurable experience for Rolls because, as he put it, “Winnipeg is an excellent place where to find out how good a show is.”
Still, ever curious to try to develop new material, Rolls said that he doesn’t like to bring back shows from the past once he says to himself that he is done with them.
Thus, as he has now been performing his latest show, the aforementioned “THE KID WAS A SPY,” in front of audiences across North America this year, Rolls observed that he “may do this show again in another two years,” but then he’ll be done with it.
In my story about “THE KID WAS A SPY,” I noted how controversial much of the show was, having to do as it was with the fact that the protagonist of the show, Ted Hall, turned out to be a spy for the Russians. Hall did end up giving the Russians vital information about the development of the atomic bomb – and was never arrested even though both the FBI and MI6 in Britain had their suspicions about him.
During the course of the show, Rolls attempts to create a balance in the minds of audience members between the conflicting moral decisions that led to Hall’s actions. He was determined to help the effort to create the atomic bomb before Nazi German scientists would succeed in doing so, but he also wanted to keep America from having a monopoly on owning the secret to the atomic bomb – which led to his approaching the KGB and offering to hand over to them the keys to the bomb.
I asked Rolls whether he honestly thought that the Americans and the Russians could be put on the same moral plane – which is something he posited during his play? I also wondered about the very sympathetic treatment he gives to Ted Hall.
Rolls suggested that for him, “Ted Hall was a very likeable and sympathetic guy.”
But, I argued, when he asked audience members to vote on whether Hall was justified in doing what he did, the results were bound to be skewed heavily in favour of voting in Hall’s favour by the mere fact that fringe festival audiences are probably so much more left-wing than the general population.
Rolls noted, however, that the audience make-up for this particular show has leaned heavily older, and that a good portion of audiences would certainly have enough knowledge of history to be able to come to reasoned determinations about the relative moral culpability of America and the Soviet Union over the years. He also observed that Hall was not atypical among young American Jews in the 1930s. “There were an awful lot of radical left-wing Jews” around that time, he suggested.
“I spend 57 minutes trying to give an accounting that weighs the zeitgeist of the time,” he said, against our current thinking about the historical record of America and the Soviet Union.
“This show was quite a bit more difficult to do than his other shows,” Rolls said – especially his performance poetry shows which, he noted, “were funny.”
Even his earlier show about Leo Szilard, Rolls observed, had quite a bit of humour in it.
Given the heavily Jewish theme of each of Rolls’ shows about Jewish nuclear physicists, I asked Rolls whether he’s ever been approached to put on any of the shows by a Jewish theatre company. So far, he hasn’t, he answered, but he’s certainly open to the idea.
Local News
Further to the Simkin Centre’s financial situation
By BERNIE BELLAN A while back I published an article about the deficit situation at the Simkin Centre. (You can read it at “Simkin Centre deficit situation.“) I was prompted to write that particular article after reading a piece written by Free Press Faith writer John Longhurst in the August 5 issue of the Free Press about the dire situation personal care homes in Winnipeg are in when it comes to trying to provide their residents with decent food.
Yet, Longhurst made one very serious mistake in his article when he wrote that the “provincial government, through the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, has not increased the amount of funding it provides for care-home residents in Manitoba since 2009.”
In fact, the WRHA has given annual increases to personal care homes, but its allocations are not broken down by categories, such as food or salaries. As a spokesperson for the WRHA explained to me in an email: “PCHs receive per diem global operating funding based on the number of licensed beds they operate. This funding model is designed to support the full range of operating costs associated with resident care, including staffing, food services, utilities, building operations, and other day-to-day expenses.”
Now, one can make a perfectly valid argument that the level of funding from the WRHA has not kept up with inflation, especially inflation in food costs, but the Simkin Centre is in an even more precarious position because of the skyrocketing cost of kosher food.
“In recent years,” according to an article on the internet, “the cost of kosher food has increased significantly, often outpacing general food inflation due to unique supply chain pressures and specialized production requirements.”
Yet, when I asked Laurie Cerqueti how much maintaining a kosher facility has cost the Simkin Centre, as I noted in my previous article about the deficit situation at Simkin, she responded: “approximately $300,000 of our deficit was due to food services. I do not have a specific number as far as how much of the deficit is a result of kosher food…So really this is not a kosher food issue as much is it is an inflation and funding issue.”
One reader, however, after having read my article about the deficit situation at Simkin, had this to say: “In John Longhurst’s article on Aug 5, 2025 in the Free Press, Laurie (Cerqueti) was quoted as saying that the annual kosher meal costs at Simkin were $6070 per resident. At Bethania nursing home in 2023, the non-kosher meal costs in 2023 were quoted as $4056 per resident per year. Even allowing for a 15% increase for inflation over 2 years, the non-kosher food costs there would be $4664.40 or 24% lower than Simkin’s annual current kosher food costs. If Simkin served non-kosher food to 150 of its 200 residents and kosher food to half of its Jewish residents who wish to keep kosher, by my calculation it would save approximately $200,000/year. If all of Simkin’s Jewish residents wished to keep kosher, the annual savings would be slightly less at $141,000.”
But – let’s be honest: Even though many Jewish nursing homes in the US have adopted exactly that model of food service – where kosher food is available to those residents who would want it, otherwise the food served would be nonkosher, it appears that keeping Simkin kosher – even though 45% of its residents aren’t even Jewish – is a “sacred cow” (pun intended.)
So, if Simkin must remain kosher – even though maintaining it as a kosher facility is only adding to its accumulated deficit situation – which currently stands at $779,426 as of March 31, 2025,I wondered whether there were some other ways Simkin could address its deficit while still remaining kosher.
In response to my asking her how Simkin proposes to deal with its deficit situation, Laurie Cerqueti wrote: “There are other homes in worse financial position than us. There are 2 homes I am aware of that are in the process of handing over the keys to the WRHA as they are no longer financially sustainable.”
I wondered though, whether the Simkin Centre Foundation, which is managed by the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba might not be able to help the Simkin Centre reduce its deficit. According to the Jewish Foundation’s 2024 annual report, The Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation, which is managed by the Jewish Foundation, had a total value of $11,017,635.
The Jewish Foundation did distribute $565,078 to the Simkin Centre in 2024, but even so, I wondered whether it might be able to distribute more.
According to John Diamond, CEO of the Jewish Foundation, however, the bylaws of the Foundation dictate that no more than 5% of the value of a particular fund be distributed in any one year. There is one distinguishing characteristic about the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation, in that a portion of their fund is “encroachable.” The encroachable capital is not owned by JFM. It is held in trust by JFM but is beneficially owned by Simkin, similar to a “bank deposit”. While held by the JFM, these funds are included in the calculation of Simkin’s annual distribution.
I asked John Diamond whether any consideration had been given to increasing the distribution that the Jewish Foundation could make to the Simkin Centre above the 5% limit that would normally apply to a particular fund under the Foundation’s management.
Here is what John wrote in response: “The Simkin does have an encroachable fund. That means that at their request, they can encroach on the capital of that fund only (with restrictions). This encroachment is not an increased distribution; rather, it represents a return of capital that also negatively affects the endowment’s future distributions.
”It is strongly recommended that encroachable funds not be used for operating expenses. If you encroach and spend the capital, the organization will receive fewer distribution dollars in the next year and every year as the capital base erodes. Therefore, the intent of encroachable funds is for capital projects, not recurring expenses.”
I asked Laurie Cerqueti whether there might be some consideration given to asking for an “encroachment” into the capital within the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation?
She responded: “We are not in a position where we are needing to dip into the encroachable part of our endowment fund. Both of our Boards (the Simkin Centre board and the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation board) are aware of our financial situation and we are all working together to move forward in a sustainable way.”
At the same time though, I wondered where donations to the Simkin Centre end up? Do they all end up in the Simkin Centre Foundation, for instance, I asked Laurie Cerqueti on December 15.
Her response back then was: “All donations go through our Foundation.”
I was somewhat surprised to read that answer, so I asked a follow-up question for clarification: “Do all donations made to the Simkin Centre end up in the Simkin Centre Foundation at the Jewish Foundation?”
The response this time was: “No they do not.”
So, I asked: “So, how do you decide which donations end up at the Foundation? Is there a formula?”
Laurie’s response was: “We have a mechanism in place for this and it is an internal matter.”
Finally, I asked how then, the Simkin Centre was financing its accumulated deficit? Was it through a “line of credit with a bank?” I wondered.
To date, I have yet to receive a response to that question. I admit that I am puzzled that a personal care home which has a sizeable foundation supporting it would not want to dip into the capital of that foundation when it is facing a financial predicament. Yes, I can see wanting the value of the foundation to grow – but that’s for the future. I don’t know whether I’d call a $779,425 deficit a crisis; that’s for others to determine, but it seems pretty serious to me.
One area that I didn’t even touch upon in this article, though – and it’s something I’ve written about time and time again, is the quality of the food at the Simkin Centre.
To end this, I’ll refer to a quote Laurie Cerqueti gave to John Longhurst when he wrote his article about the problems personal care homes in Winnipeg are facing: “When it comes to her food budget, ‘we can’t keep making the same number of bricks with less straw.’ “
Local News
Exclusive: Security Enhancement Fund to be announced by Province in coming days
By NOAH STRAUSS The province is set to announce a new program called the Security Enhancement Fund, which
will provide funding to religious and faith groups to improve security at institutions such as
synagogues and mosques. In an exclusive interview, Minister of Justice Matt Wiebe outlined the
plan and detailed what the province has already done to help protect Jewish Manitobans.
“What we want to do is to be able to provide the community with the kind of tools that they need
to stay safe and to ensure that everyone in the community feels safe,” said Wiebe.
The fund will provide a missing link between government and religious communities, and
communities will now be able to make their own choices without money being a big restraint.
Essentially, the power will be in the hands of community leaders and not government officials.
The minister noted that the new partnerships will provide the province a better understanding of
the needs of every community. Rather than the province making the choices, they are
essentially giving a voice to each community. The grants, totalling $1 million, will provide funds to enhance security at facilities like synagogues.
The Jewish Post reached out to Dr. Rena Secter Elbaze, executive director of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek. “It’s important that the government show us that they’re taking security seriously and stepping up to the plate to make this offer. We will absolutely be applying for grant money,” she said. Elbaze also wants to know whether or not the government will cover the costs of things the synagogue has already spent money on. She noted that the province has, in the past, made grants available to have security guards present.
When speaking about what the Justice Ministry has already done to protect Jewish Manitobans,
Wiebe brought up the new special prosecutor that is focusing on hate crimes. Wiebe said the
special prosecutor works closely with the Winnipeg Police Service “to support investigations and
prosecute hate crimes. Wiebe also went on to say how the Department of Education has been helping to fight antisemitism. “The creation of the Holocaust education curriculum is an important step in the right direction,” he said. When asked about Oliver Didtger Ederhof, the individual charged with 14 counts of mischief including vandalism of Shaarey Zedek, Wiebe said decisions like bail and police undertakings are decisions that are in part made by the federal government through the criminal code and policies. “We’re going to continue to advocate for stricter bail reform at the federal level…. I’ve been very clear, we issued clarified directives around bail to our Crown prosecutors.”
The full announcement from the province is expected in the coming days.
Local News
March of the Living 2023 participants form Taste of Hope project to help honour the memory of Holocaust survivor Alex Buckman
By BERNIE BELLAN The March of the Living is an annual two-week international educational program that brings thousands of students and adults to Poland and Israel to study the Holocaust, Jewish history, and the rise of the State of Israel. Founded in 1988, it features a 3-kilometer silent walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).
Attendees on the march are accompanied by adults, some of whom themselves have been Holocaust survivors.
Following the week in Poland, participants travel to Israel to observe Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) and celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day), marking a journey from darkness to life.
For many years the coordinator of the march in Winnipeg was Roberta Malam, working on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg. More recently Abby Flackman filled that role, and now the person in charge is Lindsey Kerr.
Since its inception 37 years ago the March of the Living has become a rite of passage for many young Winnipeg Jews who have been able to participate as an organized group from Winnipeg and combine visits to the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland with the subsequent trip to Israel.
Then – the Covid pandemic hit – in 2020, and the March of the Living was put on hold for two years – in 2020 and 2021.
In 2022, the March of the Living resumed, but there was no organized contingent from Winnipeg participating. (There may have been some Winnipeggers who did go on the march that year, but if there were any they would have been part of a general Canadian group since there was no Winnipeg coordinator that year.)
In 2023, however, once again a very large contingent of young Canadian Jews – 51 altogether, of whom approximately two-thirds were from Winnipeg, went on that year’s March of the Living. That particular march was memorable for many reasons, including the fact it was the last full march since 2019 and was to remain the last march to have an organized Winnipeg contingent in the past six years as the years 2024 and 2025 were interrupted by the war in Gaza. (There were smaller marches held in 2024 and 2025, but again there was no organized contingent from Winnipeg.)
Recently, we were contacted by one of the participants of that 2023 march, Ethan Levene, who asked us whether we’d be interested in running what turned out be a very poignant story about one particular aspect of that 2023 March of the Living.
Here is what Ethan wrote:
“In April 2023, the Coast to Coast Canadian delegation of March of the Living was privileged to travel with Holocaust survivor Alex Buckman (z”l). March of the Living is a Holocaust education trip that allows participants to visit and bear witness to the sites of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, while sharing his story in Poland, Alex passed away. However, the impact he left on us students was immeasurable.
“While speaking to us in Warsaw, Alex told us the story of his Aunt Becky’s gâteau à l’orange (orange cake). While in Ravensbruck concentration camp, his aunt managed to write down this recipe. After his parents’ murder, his Aunt Becky went on to raise Alex after surviving. In addition to sharing his story, Alex tasked us with baking the cake with family and friends.
“Out of this, a group of alumni from our trip have created this project: ‘A Taste of Hope.’ On February 1st, university students from over 5 universities across Canada will come together to bake the gâteau à l’orange and hear Alex’s story. Proceeds from the event and this fundraising page will support the World Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants. Alex was heavily involved with this organization, whose mission is to both create community for Holocaust survivors and their descendants and educate about the Holocaust to help fight against antisemitism and all forms of bigotry and hate.
“Here is information from our fundraising page for the event – ‘A Taste of Hope’: Fundraising for A Taste of Hope.
Ethan added that “it’s completely student led, all by alumni from our 2023 trip attending university at these various locations across Canada; Winnipeg, London, Kingston, Montreal.”
He also added: “Follow us on instagram@tastehope.“
Here is a link to a CBC story about Alex Buckman: Alex Buckman story
In a subsequent email Ethan gave the names of Winnipeggers who are involved in A Taste of Hope: Ethan Levene (studies at McGill), Zahra Slutchuk, Alex Stoller (studies at Queens), Coby Samphir, Izzy Silver (studies at Waterloo).
He also added names of others who are involved in the project: Jessie Ages, Anneke Goodwin, Lilah Silver, Ella Pertman, Ellie Vogel, and Talia Cherun.
To find out more about March of the Living in Winnipeg go to: March of the Living