Young Winnipegger gearing up to volunteer with Magen David Adom in Israel

By REBECA KUROPATWA

Ari Glikman is getting ready to leave for Israel soon where, among other things, he plans to volunteer with Magen David Adom (MDA). Glikman has no medical-related career path in mind. For him, volunteering for MDA is all about helping out and saving lives.
“Israel is actually the only place in the whole world that has this sort of program, where you can be a volunteer medic,” said Glikman. “My friend told me, who did it this past summer, that she met people from all over the world who weren’t necessarily Jewish. They came to Israel to volunteer for MDA, because this was the only opportunity they had to do something like this.”

This winter come Celebrate Seasonal Affective Hilarity with Adam Schwartz

By ADAM SCHWARTZ

Many people in the Winnipeg Jewish community and the Winnipeg community as a whole suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I know I do. Yet, it’s not something we feel comfortable discussing. We feel like it’s some kind of personal failure when we struggle with depression. If anyone asks, most of us will point out the many great things going on our lives, and we will deny that we are depressed, thinking what right do we have to be depressed? The problem is depression is not something we can control, and no one would feel guilty about having a physical health problem the way we do about a mental health one.

Jackie Silverberg: like mother, like daughter

By GERRY POSNER

How much can a daughter be like her mother? Apparently, if you look at the life of Jackie Silverberg, quite a lot. Not only is there a physical resemblance and a vocal similarity, but Jackie has captured her mother, the late Laila Silverberg’s passion for running (and indeed beyond that). The parallels are striking.

Susan Garfield launching Holocaust memoir on December 8 at Berney Theatre

By MYRON LOVE
Although just 11 years old at the time, Susan Garfield remembers as if it were yesterday the day that the Nazis marched into her native Budapest.
“It was March 19, 1944,” recalls the former Suzanne Loffler. “A group of us were rehearsing a play. “We were going to raise some money for the Jewish Agency. When we heard that the Germans had arrived, we all hurried home. I began telling people that the Germans were killing Jews. I knew because I had a girlfriend I had known since Grade 2 who was orphaned when the Germans killed her Polish Jewish parents.”

Henriette Ivanans tells incredibly harrowing story of dealing with drug and alcohol addiction: “In Pillness and in Health – a memoir”

By BERNIE BELLAN
A few weeks back I was contacted by reader Debby Davis, who asked me if I would be interested in reading a new book by someone by the name of Henriette Ivanans. Debby added that Henriette is married to Kevin McIntyre, whom I know.
Without going into much detail, Debby told me that Henriette’s story is absolutely riveting. I responded to Debby that I would certainly be open to taking a look at the book – and soon thereafter I was contacted by Henriette herself, who told me that she could drop a copy of her book off at my house.

Eva Wiseman launches “Healing Lives: A Century of Manitoba Jewish Physicians”

By BERNIE BELLAN
The Berney Theatre was jam packed Sunday afternoon, November 3, as Eva Wiseman launched her long-awaited history of Manitoba Jewish physicians, titled “Healing Lives: A Century of Manitoba Jewish Physicians”.
Those not able to get seats in the theatre itself were able to watch the event in the adult lounge of the Rady JCC on a simulcast especially set up for the occasion.

University of Manitoba announces Michael Benarroch to be 12th President and Vice-Chancellor

Nov. 20, 2109 The University of Manitoba has appointed a demonstrated bridge-builder and a committed leader in community engagement, a sought-after global economic outlook expert, and a proud Manitoban, Dr. Michael Benarroch, as its 12^th President and Vice-Chancellor.

Judaic Studies program at University of Manitoba to receive $100,000 donation from MaryAnn Lippay Kanee

By BERNIE BELLAN
On Friday, November 8, we received an interesting email from Brooke Karlaftis, who is a Donor Relations Officer at the University of Manitoba.
In her email, Karlaftis wrote that the Judaic Studies program at the University of Manitoba will be receiving a donation of $100,000 from MaryAnn Lippay Kanee, who lives in Minneapolis, and was married to the late Stephen Kanee.

Brand new and state of the art: The Stephen J. Harper KKL-JNF Hula Valley Visitor Centre launched

At the heart of the Hula Valley, home to millions of migrating birds and hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, a brand new, eco-friendly and hi-tech visitor center was launched on November 6.

After 10 years of planning and construction, the visitor center is now active, offering guests various attractions - including state-of-the-art VR stations simulating a flight from the eyes of a migrating bird, a 194 sq. ft. digital, gesture-controlled wall that projects a live feed of surrounding migrating birds, a 3D digital model of the Hula Valley, dynamically updated with terrain data, a 220 seatsauditorium fitted with a 4K projector that will remain open to the public, and more.

JNF Man-Sask Exec. Director Ariel Karabelnicoff accepts new role as national sales director for Israel Bonds

By MYRON LOVE

After four years as executive director of the Manitoba/ Saskatchewan office of the Jewish National Fund, Ariel Karabelnicoff is moving on. At the beginning of December, he will be assuming his new role as national sales director for the Israel Bonds organization based in Toronto.

How the Asper Campus came about - third & final part

A key turning point in the Campus project: Sheldon Berney joins up with Marjorie Blankstein and Bob Freedman to head the project

By BERNIE BELLAN
Sheldon Berney would prove to be an indispensable figure in what eventually became the Asper Campus, but until the Campus project came along he had not played any sort of prominent role in the Jewish community’s history.

Montreal-born Israeli writer ventures into the genre of young adult fiction with an entertaining novel set in the late 1960s

By BERNIE BELLAN
I get a fair number of books sent our way by Jewish writers, although, if truth be told – not as many as I used to receive. (That might be a reflection of the changing world of book publishing; more and more books are being published digitally without even going to print.)
As well, I do often receive requests from writers – or would-be writers, as the case may be, asking for advice how they can get a book published. What I invariably end up telling those individuals is that it’s one thing to get a book published, it’s another thing to get it distributed.

Alan Dershowitz handles some tough questions at CABGU Gala

By MYRON LOVE
Alan Dershowitz, the evening’s keynote speaker at the CABGU Gala that honoured Hope and Howard Morry, has received numerous accolades during a 50-year career in law and advocacy.  The tenured Harvard University professor and prolific writer has been called “the world’s best known criminal lawyer”, “the top lawyer of last resort”, “America’s most public Jewish defender” and “Israel’s lead attorney in the court of public opinion”.

Gala evening honours community leaders Hope and Howard Morry

By MYRON LOVE
There were accolades in abundance for Hope and Howard Morry on Wednesday, October 23, as more than 600 people turned out at the Winnipeg Convention Centre for a gala evening, organized by the Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (CABGU) in honour of the long time community leaders.

Three MP’s with Jewish roots elected in Manitoba

By BERNIE BELLAN
This story was originally going to be about the news that two Manitobans elected in the Monday, October 21 federal election – Jim Carr and Marty Morantz, are Jewish, while a third winner, Leah Gazan, had a Jewish father.
But then the news about Jim Carr’s being diagnosed with multiple Myeloma one day after the federal election hit like a ton of bricks.