Local News
Winnipeg Conservative/Reform congregations’ virtual Yom Tov services very well received
By MYRON LOVE
Due to a combination of government-imposed limitations on numbers and many people’s reticence in attending religious services because of Covid, our community’s congregations were forced to rethink their usual High Holiday services.
For both Congregation Etz Chayim and the Shaarey Zedek, our community’s largest congregations, as well as Reform congregation Temple Shalom, the solution was to live stream services – a continuation and expansion of what they had been doing since the province went into lockdown in late March and, for the Shaarey Zedek, a service that the synagogue has been offering for several years now.
And the response, according to both Etz Chayim’s Executive Director Jonathan Buchwald and Ian Staniloff, Congregation Shaarey Zedek’s executive director, exceeded expectations. “Everything went incredibly well,” Staniloff says, “except for one hiccup when the shul cloud for all of North America went down for a short time.”
Staniloff reports that well over 600 “unique users” tuned in as well as over 400 people listening on audio only. “We assume that there were on average at least 1.5 viewers per household,” he notes. “In many households, people got together as a family to take part. Overall, we estimate that we had as many, if not more people, participating in our services.”
(Last year, the Shaarey Zedek reported an attendance of more than 1,700 for the High Holidays.)
Staniloff further reports that, while the numbers dropped somewhat for the second day of Rosh Hashonah, participation for Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur day were very strong.
Congregation Etz Chayim (where High Holiday attendance last year was about 850) offered a virtual service this year – with the exception of ten people to form an in-person minyan.
“We organized a task force, incorporating members with health and safety, technical and communications expertise, to put our High Holiday program together, ” Buchwald notes.
“While services are going to look, sound and feel very different than what we are used to, Rabbi Kliel, Cantor Tracy and our entire Ritual team will offer a most meaningful and memorable ‘Virtual Sanctuary’ for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur”, Buchwald reassured synagogue members in an email sent out to congregation members in the summer. “Our own Virtual Voices choral ensemble under the direction of Sarah Sommer will bring a special depth and beauty to our services. ”
Etz Chayim asked members to buy virtual seats beforehand. People were really supportive, ” Buchwald says.
He reports that 370 households signed on to participate in the services. “That would be the equivalent of about 700 people. We also had people tuning in from other parts of Canada, Mexico City and Australia.”
The virtual service, he adds, also incorporated Etz Chayim’s long-standing “Family of Roses” alternative service, led by Rabbi Neal and Carol Ros,e as well as separate pages for childrens stories and crafts. ”
Temple Shalom’s virtual High Holidays programming also attracted former members from across Canada as well as viewers from New Mexico, France and Romania.
”We had a fabulous response, ” says Judith Huebner, the congregation’s co-president. “For Kol Nidre, we had 100 people on Zoom and 500 more viewed the service on Facebook later.”
Certain parts of the High Holiday service were available online only for Temple Shalom members.
Rounding out our community’s Conservative congregations is the Chevra Mishanyes congregation in Garden City. For Rosh Hashonah, reports the congregation’s long-time president, Marshall Kneller, the plan was to have two services each day with about 50 in attendance for each service. As it turned out, only one service was held each day.
“We had a little under 50 for Rosh Hashonah,” Kneller notes. “As for Yom Kippur, we were going to offer two services but, after Winnipeg was raised to Code Orange, a lot of people were concerned and reluctant to come for services. It was a tough choice but, in the end, we decided to cancel services for Yom Kippur. With all things considered, we wanted everyone to feel safe.
“We did have a service for Sukkot though.”
Our community’s Orthodox synagogues, precluded by halakhah from attempting virtual Yom Tov services, did the best they could under the circumstances. The Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Congregation, the largest of the Orthodox synagogues, held three separate services each day of Rosh Roshanah, with the third service combining mincha (the afternoon service) and maariv (the evening service).
“A lot of our people who had registered to attend chose not to attend our services,” says Jack Craven, the congregation’s president. “We had 40 to 50 people attending each of the two morning services and 25 to 30 in the evenings. For Kol Nidre, our numbers were down considerably. For Yom Kippur day, we davened outside.”
Craven adds that the congregation did have Sukkot services inside which were reasonably well attended and followed the mandated protocols.
For the Lubavitch Centre, it was business almost as usual for the High Holidays. “There were some logistics we had to arrange – and we did ask for reservations,” Notes Rabbi Boruch Heidingsfeld. “Our numbers were down because of social distancing requirements and some people were uncomfortable with coming.
“Our services were much the same as any other year, but we did a lot less singing. It’s harder to do through a mask.”
The two North End Orthodox shuls that had minyans for the High Holiday services – the Ashkenazi and Chavurat Tefila – were able to hold services – with reduced numbers – for Rosh Hashonah but, as with the Chevra Mishnayes, were not able to offer Yom Kippur services.
Local News
First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
Local News
Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
Local News
Team Schvesters teammates Benji Harvey, Kim Gray once again among top ten fundraisers in this year’s CancerCare Manitoba Foundation Challenge for Life event
By MYRON LOVE This year’s annual CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s Challenge for Life walk at Assiniboine Park is scheduled for Sunday, June 13 – and, once again, in terms of fundraising, Team Schvesters is sitting in second place overall – having raised just over $30,500 as of May 26 – which is $5,000 more than the team members had raised by the same time last year.
As well, team members Benji Harvey and Kim Gray are once again in the top ten among individual fundraisers. Harvey this year sits in fifth place, having raised a little over $16,000 as of May 17 – while Gray has raised just above $8,000 – putting her in seventh place.
Harvey reports that, -over the past 18, years participating in CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s Challenge for Life, she has personally raised $180,000 for cancer research, while her team as a whole has brought in $367,000. In discussing her success as a fundraiser, Harvey says that she has made a lot of friends over the years and believes in giving back to the community.
The “Schvesters” are the Greenfeld sisters: Harvey and sisters Lesly Katz and Debra Lewis – the daughters of Lil and the late Ike Greenfeld. Two of the sisters are cancer survivors.
There is one other team member – in addition to Kim Gray. Judge Rocky Pollack first joined Team Schvesters in 2023. After a year away in 2024, he returned last year. Pollack lost his wife, Sharon, to cancer in 2014 after a multi-year struggle.
Nancy’s Nightingales has been a top 10 community fundraising team for Cancercare Manitoba and the Challenge for Life since its inception in 2008. As a team, they have walked together since 2006 when they walked 60 km in two days in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer.
Last year, the team – including Louise Raber, Joanne Katz, Rhonda Youell, Connie Botelho and Harriet Lyons – finished fifth in fundraising. So far this year, the team is again sitting in fifth place –having raised just under $12,500 (as of May 26) – a couple of thousand dollars more than last year, and just about $300 behind the fourth place team.
The Nightingales are named after a nurse who is a cancer survivor- and a friend of Louise Raber, Nancy’s Nightingales team leader.
“Our goal, as always, is to raise at least one dollar more than last year,” says Raber.
Team Jason’s Journey team leader Jason Gisser has experienced a more intimate and longer-lasting relationship with cancer than many of the other Challenge for Life participants. He was first diagnosed with cancer when he was 18. “I am a proud cancer fighter, having lived and battled a chronic cancer diagnosis for the last 23 years,” he said in an earlier interview. “I participate in the Challenge for Life not only to give back for the care and treatment which I have and continue to receive through CancerCare Manitoba, but to ensure that others do not have to endure the journey which I have endured.”
This is the ninth year that Gisser has taken up the Challenge for Life. His teammates are returnee Nora Fien, as well as friends Danial Sprintz, Wendy Martin White and Jason Roberts, also his mother, Judge Freda Steele. He has personally raised about $5,500 this year, while the team as a whole has raised just over $7,000.
“The Challenge for Life is great opportunity to raise valuable dollars for cancer research and treatment,” Gisser notes.
Readers can make donations to their preferred team by going online to CancerCarefdn.mb.ca and click on Challengeforlife.ca.
