Jewish Learning Centre

Harry Altman

Elsewhere on this website you can read a story about the children of Jewish mobsters (https://jewishpostandnews.ca/20-features/3169-these-children-of-jewish-mobsters-were-kept-well-shielded-from-their-fathers-affairs).

Itay Zutra edited 2The Dybbuk is one of the most famous Yiddish plays and films. Written by S. Anski before World War One, the Dybbuk is a spirit of a man who died before his wedding.

Alexander Laak (supplied)/Soviet file photo

By BERNIE BELLAN The story of an alleged Nazi war criminal by the name of Alexander Laak, who was found hanging in his St. James garage in 1960, is one that has been revisited in this newspaper several times.

Zaidman Levine 
Harriet Zaidman/Allan Levine

Two Winnipeg writers along with one writer who was born in Winnipeg and who now lives in Vancouver have been nominated for Western Canada Jewish Book Awards.

Jewish nonprofits down $650 million

By BEN SALES NEW YORK (JTA) — In the weeks after it became clear that the coronavirus pandemic would spark a lasting economic crisis, the Jewish world’s leading funder group put together a memo with some back-of-the-envelope projections for how much Jewish nonprofits stood to lose.

Rabbi Lyle Fishman

By RABBI LYLE FISHMAN (JNS) Countless times I have officiated at funeral and burial services since August 1984, when I came to Ohr Kodesh Congregation in Chevy Chase, Md. 

Mel Brooks

By MARC BRODSKY (JTA) — Social distancing and staying inside is hard. Thankfully, accessing good things to watch during this time is not.

Lisa Novick Greenberg/John Novick

By BERNIE BELLAN
What’s it like growing up the child of a mobster – and a Jewish mobster to boot?
The idea of stringing together various stories about children of Jewish mobsters came to me as I started to read a terrific new book that was sent to our office, totally unexpectedly.

Adam Schwartz/Sarah London

By ADAM SCHWARTZ

What do all great women have in common? They just won’t take no for an answer. When someone puts an obstacle in their path they just power right through it. Neither will Sarah London.

April 20, 2020 JERUSALEM (JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz signed a deal Monday to form a “national emergency government” that keeps Netanyahu as the prime minister for now. Israel has spent more than a year under a caretaker government as neither Netanyahu, who heads the right-wing Likud party, nor Gantz of the center-left Blue and White could assemble a coalition government. With the agreement, the country avoids a fourth national election in less than a year and a half.

Julia Kroft/Sean Broder

By MYRON LOVE

As per usual, the 2020 Winnipeg Music Festival – even though suspended after just one week (as compared to the normal four weeks due to the Coronavirus – did produce some winning performances by several younger members of our Jewish community.

Al Benarroch, Exec. Director, JCFS

By BERNIE BELLAN
With the Corona virus enveloping the entire world, and with seniors being among the most vulnerable members of our community, the agency whose mandate it is to provide social services to seniors in our community has been thrust into the role as the primary source of contact for many seniors - and others who rely upon social support.
Rather than being able to provide in person counseling and other services to its clientele, however, the Jewish Child and Family Service is front and centre among Jewish organizations in this city that have had to improvise how it provides its normal services.

Covid 191By BEN HARRIS April 3, 2020 (JTA) — As the coronavirus pandemic forces Jews around the world to contemplate a Passover holiday in which large family gatherings will be all but impossible, an unusual question posed to a group of Israeli rabbis led to an extraordinary answer.
The question was whether it might be permissible for families to use internet-enabled videoconferencing to celebrate the Passover seder together even as they are sequestered in separate homes. Orthodox Jewish practice normally prohibits the use of electronics on the Sabbath and Jewish festivals, but might the unprecedented restrictions suddenly thrust upon billions of people permit an exception?

Bernie newBy BERNIE BELLAN

As if the fear that any of us might contract COVID-19 isn't bad enough, we're rapidly devolving into a society that has two groups of workers: Those who have either been laid off entirely or taken cuts in pay or hours; and those whose jobs are fully protected, either by collective agreements or organizations that do not want to cut staffs. Recently, however, the Rady JCC was forced to lay off an astounding 160 employees - not including contract workers such as aerobics or yoga instructors. Is it fair that some workers in society in general, and within certain Jewish organizations specifically, are being spared any financial hardship while others are being so severely impacted?

By BERNIE BELLAN

This story is one that I had been dreading to see. The Canadian Jewish News has been a hallmark of superior journalism for years. It was the model for all other Jewish newspapers in Canada.

April 3, 2020

MONTREAL (JTA) — Canada’s flagship national Jewish newspaper, the Canadian Jewish News, became a coronavirus casualty after it announced that its April 9 issue would be its last after 60 years in business.

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