John Diamond Named New CEO of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba

In a press release issued Thursday, January 30, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba announced the appointment of John Diamond as its new CEO. DIiamond is scheduled to begin his new role on Monday, February 10, 2020.
A lifelong resident of Winnipeg, Diamond’s appointment follows a period of more than a year in which the Foundation had no CEO. The previous CEO, Tara Fainstein, had been fired from her position in October 2018, after less than a year on the job. Fainstein had been hired following the retirement of Marsha Cowan as Foundation CEO.
Despite not having a CEO, the Foundation managed to continue operating successfully - having received $7.5 million in new contributions in the 2018 fiscal year, and having allocated a record $4,558,794 in grants during that period - up $13,055 from the previous year.

Managing Ransomware

By YURI KOGAN and ZEV COHEN of Ergo Oriens Crisis Management 

In the ‘All Connected World’ ransomware attacks gain traction. Criminals constantly improve at monetizing their access to your network & data. They target an organization, lock up the data, and then demand money hundreds of thousands of dollars or more - in exchange for releasing it to be paid in untraceable crypto- currency. Sometimes, restoration of data from backups is possible. Bypassing the encryption is also an option, but in many cases the bad guys find and destroy backups and use state-of-the-art encryption. The attackers often create backdoors to allow future infiltrations easier, so this may not be the last time you hear from them. 

Merger brings together leading lawyers with storied volunteer careers in community service

By MYRON LOVE
The recent merger of Wilder, Wilder and Langtrey with Pullan Frohlinger Kammerloch brings together some of our Jewish community’s most high profile legal practitioners.

With almost 70 years of experience, Gordon Pullan, QC has been practicing law longer than anyone else in Manitoba. (Only the late Harry Walsh was in practice longer.) He was honored by the Law Society of Manitoba as a senior member of the Bar with more than 50 years of practice almost 19 years ago. At 94, he is still working full time.

Joel Lazer taking charge as new Jewish Federation of Winnipeg president

By MYRON LOVE
At a time in his life when most of his contemporaries have already retired - or are looking to transition to a more leisurely life- Joel Lazer is going against the grain and taking on more responsibility.
As of the most recent Jewish Federation of Winnipeg Annual General Meeting in mid-December, Lazer has assumed the role of our community’s new president. At the same time, the co-founder in 1982 of Lazer Grant LLP continues to shoulder a full work load helping business clients to become more productive.

Child cancer survivor Ari Kay shares bar mitzvah money with Dream Factory

By MYRON LOVE

Ari Kay is a normal, active 13-year-old. He works hard at school, enjoys playing basketball; he is a member of two Gray Academy teams and one community centre team – and likes swimming.
On December 14, Ari celebrated his bar mitzvah at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. He carried the Torah and read most of the parsha as well as the haftorah. And, as has been the practice in recent years of bnai mitzvoth, Ari designated 25% of the money he received as gifts to a charitable cause. His choice of charity – as was the choice for his sister, Sydney, after her bat mitzvah on November 18, 2017 – was the Dream Factory – reflecting the long and harrowing path that he Ari, Sydney, and their parents have traveled over the past eight years to reach this point in their lives and continue the tradition of support their parents have shown them.

Winnipeg-born writer Sidura Ludwig speaking at Limmud about changing images of grandparents in kids literature

By MYRON LOVE
Sidura Ludwig’s second book, a collection of short stories titled “You Are Not What We Expected”, has been years in the making. While the new volume will be out in May, the subject of Ludwig’s Limmud presentation – at the Asper Campus on March 1 – will reflect her current focus on children’s books rather than her new publication.
The Winnipeg-born writer’s Limmud presentation will be focusing on the need for more diversity in the portrayal of Jewish grandparents in today’s children’s picture books. The daughter of Israel and Maylene Ludwig is currently working on a Masters Degree in Fine Arts specializing in writing books for children and young adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

One man’s story of surviving the Holocaust - briefly told by his daughter

The following article was posted by former Winnipegger Brenda Honigman on Facebook on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
There are countless stories written either by Holocaust survivors or their descendants, but we chose to republish this story - partly because the late Sam Honigman was so well known, also because his tale of survival is so typical - and so extraordinarily harrowing, that it brings home in a more personal way the incredible experiences that so many individuals went through during the most horrible period in human history.

Leo Lowy’s story of survival centrepiece of annual remembrance program

By MYRON LOVE
Since the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2005 designated January 27 – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – as the date for the annual commemoration of the Holocaust, communities around the world have been planning events on or around that date to continue to raise awareness of the greatest evil of the 20th century and remember the victims.
The centerpiece of this year’s commemoration - in Winnipeg – of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz - was the story of Holocaust survivor Leo Lowy. Roughly 500 people gathered at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on the afternoon of Sunday, January 26, to hear his story.

Helping to Right a Historic Wrong: Aviva Silberman believes that Holocaust survivors deserve to live in dignity and comfort

By SHARON GELBACH

The statistics are grim: a quarter of Holocaust survivors in Israel and a third of those in the US are living in poverty. These now-elderly people, who experienced some of the worst traumas in modern times, are subsisting on so little they can't afford both food and medicine, or dental treatment, or house repairs, or to replace a broken appliance. Many are childless; many are the last remnant of their extended families, with no support network to advocate for them in their twilight years.

Fifth annual Shabbat Unplugged leadership retreat draws record number of participants

By MYRON LOVE
The fifth annual Shabbat Unplugged Leadership Retreat – which took place on the weekend of January 10-12 – was the most successful to date. Asper School of Business student Einat Livni, who assisted Hillel Winnipeg director Hartley Mendelsohn, reports that this year’s retreat at Hecla attracted 130 university students and young adults, including eight from UBC in Vancouver and seven from the University of Calgary.

Situation re possible sale of Town Island gets even murkier

By BERNIE BELLAN
The situation regarding the possible sale of Town Island took a somewhat confusing twist these past two weeks when an online publication known as Kenora Online reported on Monday, January 13, that Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford (who is also Ontario’s Northern Development Minister) said “he’s working with the City of Kenora on a possible Town Island land swap.”

Downing of Ukraine Airlines flight: a classic case of mismanagement of a crisis

By YURI KOGAN and ZEV COHEN of Ergo Oriens Crisis Management. (Special to The Jewish Post & News)

PS752, a scheduled commercial flight by Ukraine International Airlines from Tehran to Kyiv disappeared from air traffic control radar a few minutes after departure in the early morning hours of Wednesday, January 10. Initial media reports, quoting local witnesses and Iranian officials reported the airliner disappeared 6 minutes after departure at an altitude of 8,000 ft. It was reported that no distress call was transmitted by the crew. All 176 crew and passengers on board were reported as casualties. There were no survivors. Most of those on board were either Canadian citizens or others on their way to Canada through Kyiv.

Bermax Caffé case takes new twist

By BERNIE BELLAN

As reported on the CBC website on January 16, two of the three lawyers who had been representing different members of the Berent family, which owned Bermax Caffé & Bistro, “are no longer defending” two members of the Berent family – Alexander and Oksana Berent, following a” ‘breakdown in the solicitor-client relationship,’ Crown prosecutor Mike Himmelman told the court.”
Both James Lowry, who had been defending Alexander Berent, and Martin Glazer, who had been defending Oksana Berent, have resigned as counsel for the accused, according to the CBC report.

Former high profile “White Supremacist” to speak at Limmud

By MYRON LOVE

Once upon a time, Elisa Hategan was a protégé of noted Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel and White Supremacist leader and Canadian Heritage Front founder Wolfgang Droege.
Today, she is a member in good standing of Canada’s Jewish community and a frequent voice against the very concepts with which she was formerly identified.
On the weekend of February 29-March 1, Hategan will be in Winnipeg – for the first time – at Limmud (at the Asper Jewish Community Centre) speaking about her journey from the dark to the light and her path to Judaism.

Long time friends Ben Carr & Kevin Freedman cheering each other on in school trustee by-election campaigns

By MYRON LOVE
Long time friends Ben Carr and Kevin Freedman are hoping to be working together come March 21 as fellow members of Winnipeg School Division No. 1’s Board of Trustees.
The pair are running in two separate byelections – in Wards 3 and 4, where the previously elected school trustees, Mark Wasyliw and Lisa Naylor, quit their positions after winning seats in the Manitoba legislature in last fall’s provincial election.