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150 attend special event marking re-opening of Holocaust Education Centre

ByBERNIE BELLAN On January 25 approximately 150 individuals were in attendance at the Asper Campus for the reopening of the Holocaust Education Centre.
As Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada Executive Director Belle Jarniewski noted in her opening remarks to the audience gathered in the Berney Theatre for the event, “the museum’s very existence is thanks to the efforts of Holocaust survivors themselves who contributed to the original Holocaust Education Centre 25 years ago” when the Campus first opened.
Today, Belle noted, “the memory of the Holocaust is under siege…Survivors of the Holocaust,” of whom some 1500 – the vast majority of whom are at least in their nineties now – settled in Winnipeg after the war. (The names of all those Holocaust survivors are displayed on one of the walls of the newly renovated museum, as John Longhurst explains in the adjoining article.)
Another component of the museum, Belle added, are displays focusing on the history of anti-Semitism in Canada, beginning from the 1920s to the present day.
Jewish Federation of Winnipeg President Gutstavo Zentner, while looking out at the audience, remarked that he was “thrilled to see so many young people here tonight. I hope they put to good use the touch screens in the Holocaust Education Centre.”
Special guest speaker Irwin Cotler, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, who was in Israel on January 25, had recorded a 20-minute message for audience members, which was played on a large screen.
In noting the significance of the reopening of the HEC this particular week, Cotler observed that January 25, 1945 was a very important date in history for two reasons: It was on that date 78 years ago that Auschwitz was liberated, but it was also on January 25, 1945 that Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg was arrested and disappeared in Budapest – but not before he had helped to save over 100,000 Hungarian Jews from death camps.
Cotler went on to enumerate a number of lessons to be learned from the Holocaust, including that, “the abiding universal lesson to be acted upon, wherever we are, is that we are each the guarantors of each other’s humanity.”
The second lesson, Cotler stated, is that “the Holocaust was a paradigm for radical people and anti-Semitism is a paradigm for radical hate.”
“As we meet on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,” Cotler said, “let us remember that 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz, but 1.1 million of those were

ews. Jews were murdered at Auschwitz because of anti-Semitism but anti-Semitism did not die at Auschwitz. It remains the bloody canary in the mineshaft of global evil.”
The third lesson is the danger of “state sanctioned incitement to hate and genocide.”
The fourth lesson is “the proliferation of Holocaust denial.” Cotler referred specifically to the trope in recent years of accusing Jews of “manufacturing the Covid virus and profiting from it” as a manifestation of an outgrowth of Holocaust denial.
“Fifth is the danger of silence in the face of evil,” Cotler said. “Silence means coming down on the sound of the oppressor, not on the side of the victim.”
“Number six is the danger of indifference and inaction – as in the example of the Tutsis” (in Rwanda). “What makes the Holocaust and other genocides so unspeakable are not just the atrocities themselves, it is that this could have been prevented. Nobody could say ‘we did not know.’ We knew but we didn’t act.”
What one person, Raoul Wallenberg, did, in saving 100,000 lives, “the whole international community did not,” Cotler observed.
In closing, Cotler suggested that it is not true that “if there had not been a Holocaust there would not have been a State of Israel, but rather it is the other way around: If there had been a State of Israel, there would not have been a Holocaust.”
Other speakers in the Berney Theatre on January 25 included: Mark Kantor, President of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada; Peter Flegel, Executive Director, Government of Canada’s Anti-Racism Secretariat; Andrew Smith, Manitoba Minister of Sport and Cultural Heritage; Janice Lukes, Deputy Mayor, City of Winnipeg; and Candace Hogue, who was the guest curator for the Holocaust Education Centre.
The final remarks were delivered by Holocaust survivor – and longtime educator, Edith Kimelman, who began with a wry nod to the lengthy list of speakers who had preceded her when she said: “You are quite fortunate that I am the last one to speak. I can well remember from my years as an educator the short attention spans of students the last class of the day.”
Edith noted that when she has spoken to many student groups over the years, “I was always trying to convey the perspective of a six-year-old girl and her experiences in the Holocaust.” It was her goal, she said, to explain the Holocaust to groups that are three and four generations removed from the Holocaust – and especially newcomers to Canada,” who would likely have very little knowledge of the Holocaust.
She would tell those students – also to new Canadians who had either very little knowledge of the Holocaust or none at all, that “when I arrived here (in Winnipeg) at age 14, I had nothing. All I had was the baggage of the Holocaust. Indelible trauma, however, did not prevent me from seeking a better future.”
And with that astute observation which can well sum up the experience of almost all Holocaust survivors, the portion of the evening in the Berney Theatre came to a close. At that point, while many who had been in attendance partook of refreshments, various individuals made their way to the HEC itself, where they were able to see firsthand the tremendous amount of work that had gone into its renovation.
The HEC is open during all hours that the Asper Campus is open,

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Two Jewish athletes receive prominent recognition in the Winnipeg Free Press – on the same day!

Curler Kyle Doering (left) and hockey player Zach Hyman

By BERNIE BELLAN When’s the last time two Jewish athletes received widespread recognition on the sports pages of the Winnipeg Free Press on the same day?
In today’s (March 26) issue, there are stories about Edmonton Oilers hockey player Zack Hyman and Winnipeg curler Kyle Doering.
Hyman, who’s in town today as his team plays the Winnipeg Jets, has achieved a special renown for having scored 50 goals this year. As the Free Press story about him notes, he’s the third oldest player ever to achieve that milestone for the first time.
As for Doering, his recognition today comes from his having been selected by Canadian Men’s Curling Champion Brad Gushue to serve as the fifth man on Gushue’s team in the upcoming Mens’ World Championship in Switzerland.
But, rather than focus on their most recent accomplishments, we thought we’d look back at some past stories that had run about both Hyman and Doering, both of which tell us something about their connections to the Jewish community.


As a personal aside, I had met Kyle many years ago when he was nominated for the Rady JCC Jewish Athlete of the Year. Then, in 2017, I happened to meet up with him again when he was practicing curling at the Granite Curling Club in preparation for the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. As I chatted with Kyle – and his curling partner, Ashley Groff, Kyle asked me whether The Jewish Post & News would consider being a sponsor for their team. I agreed – and for two years running, we did sponsor Kyle and Ashley. I never realized though that, as a result, Kyle and Ashley would put the name “The Jewish Post & News” on their jackets! I was impressed that they were willing to go as far as doing that.

Mixed doubles curling team Ashley Groff and Kyle Doering wearing jackets that bore the name “The Jewish Post & News” in 2017 (also in 2018)

Here then are excerpts from stories about both Kyle Doering and Zach Hyman, which give some information about their backgrounds:
From Harvey Rosen’s April 6, 2011 “Sporting Touch” column:
“Was in touch recently with former Winnipegger Billy Lifchus who has been living in Toronto for over 20 years. He tells me that his grandson Kyle Doering, 15, who is his daughter Bonnie’s son, recently skipped his team to a bronze medal over New Brunswick at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax.
Billy’s mom is the late Bella Lifchus, who came over from Europe together with my late mother Sarah Rosen.
Kyle, an East St. Paul resident, made a triple-raise takeout to score a six-ender against Ontario in the round-robin part of the tournament, and his shot was featured across Canada on TSN.
Billy, as any proud grandfather might offer, noted: “Probably the best Jewish curler in these parts since Terry Braunstein and Allan Shinfield.”

From Harvey’s March 1, 2017 column:
Now let’s rock with Jewish curler Kyle Doering (whose grandfather, Bill Lifchus, once wrote a financial column for this paper). When I last spoke with the personable young Doering, who is now 21, it was in 2012 when he was in high school in West Kildonan. The then-skip had just led his team to a Canadian Junior title.
Last year his junior curling team won the Canadian championship and earned a bronze medal in Copenhagen, Denmark at the World Junior Curling Championship.
He was in conversation recently at the Granite Curling Club with our Bernie Bellan and inquired if the Jewish Post & News would be interested in sponsoring his “Mixed Doubles” curling team. The latter game is a new and exciting variation of the sport and will be featured in the next Olympic games.
Needless to say, as many other Jewish kids (athletes) have learned over the years, financial support is a must if they hope to compete, say, in the Maccabiah or Maccabi games, they require support.
In any event, Bellan was prepared to sponsor the team with a gold member contribution of $200. Doering was extremely gratified for Bellan’s generosity and asked me to thank him again.

As for Zach Hyman, there was a terrific story in the Alberta Jewish News’ August 9, 2021 issue, which was written just after Hyman had been acquired by the Edmonton Oilers from the Toronto Maple Leafs. The story was written by Jeremy Appel.

Recent Edmonton Oilers acquisition Zach Hyman says the supportive Jewish environment he was raised in gave him a strong foundation of support for launching and sustaining his professional hockey career. 
“It was very familial,” Hyman, who has four brothers, says of his Jewish upbringing in Toronto. “I had great, supporting parents, who really believed in me and tried to encourage me to follow my dreams and my passions. And I had a great support system of extended family, and of course a very strong community behind me.” 
Hyman, 29, signed a seven-year $38.5-million contract with the Oilers in late-July after playing six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he scored 185 regular season points — 86 goals and 99 assists — as well as 13 playoff points. 
“That was a special time to be able to play for my home team to start my career out, but I’m really excited about this new chapter in my life and this new opportunity,” Hyman said.
He says he’ll be moving to Edmonton in early September in time for Oilers training camp. He plans to grow his family and provide his kids with a strong Jewish communal upbringing, just like the one he had.  
Hyman, who says he knew he wanted to play in the NHL from a young age, describes his Jewish upbringing as secular — he grew up attending shul on the High Holidays and doesn’t consume pork. “For me, being Jewish is more than just a religion. Obviously, there’s a really big communal aspect to it,” he said, describing the distinction between various religious denominations as “blurred”.
He received a full Jewish day school education growing up in Toronto — first at the United Synagogue Day School, and then at the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto Tanenbaum Campus for high school, where he met his future wife, with whom he has an eight-month-old son named Theo and a Siberian Husky dog named Whitey.
After taking a year off to focus on hockey, Hyman spent four years playing hockey on a scholarship at the University of Michigan starting in 2011, where he majored in history. 
While his Jewish education provided him with a strong communal foundation, playing hockey allowed Hyman to expand his social sphere outside the Jewish bubble, interacting with people of various backgrounds, he says. 
“For me, leaving home and going to university outside of Toronto obviously was a change, but I think hockey prepared me for that,” said Hyman. “It was an incredible experience. I learned a ton there, and it really helped propel my hockey career and shape my career too.” 
Growing up, he played for various teams in the Greater Toronto Hockey League — the Toronto Red Wings, the Jr. Canadiens and Mississauga Reps — before moving on to the Ontario Junior A Hockey League, where he played for the Hamilton Red Wings. 


In 2013, he represented Canada at Israel’s Maccabi Games, where he won a gold medal. 
Hyman was number 11 on the Leafs, but he can’t use that number on the Oilers, since it’s retired as Mark Messier’s, so Hyman will be playing as number 18, which is the day in December Theo was born on, in addition to its Jewish significance of chai, the hebrew word for life.
Hyman has published three children’s books with Penguin Random Rouse since 2014 — The Bambino and Me, Hockey Hero and The Magician’s Secret. 
Ultimately, Hyman says the Toronto Jewish community’s support for his ambitions, from his teachers who allowed him to do work outside the classroom to accommodate his hockey commitments to his family’s large network of friends who all wanted to see him succeed, was instrumental in his success. “Everybody was cheering for me and supporting me, and rooting me on,” he said. 

Brothers Spencer (left) and Zach Hyman – who were on Canada’s gold medal winning hockey team in the 2013 Maccabi Games in Israel
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Canadian survivor of Supernova Music Festival massacre Shye Klein recounts his story to Winnipeg audience

By MYRON LOVE Growing up in democratic countries in Western society, we are fortunate to be able to go about our lives oblivious to potential danger. We go to sporting events, concerts, folk festivals confident that there is nothing to worry about and we can have a good time.
Such was the thinking for about 3,500 young Israelis who converged on Kibbutz Re’im, near the border with Gaza, on Saturday, October 7, for the Supernova Music Festival. In the early morning hours, their idyll was shattered by an onslaught of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists that resulted in the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history.
The number of victims who were murdered was more than 350. Among those who survived was young Canadian photographer Shye Klein – who was in Winnipeg on Monday, March 11as part of a speaking tour of Canada and the United States – to give eye-witness testimony of what he experienced and share his photos and videos of hat horrific day.
Klein’s presentation – in the Rady JCC gym – in front of about 300 people – was sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg,  Hillel, and the Asper Foundation. 
Prior to Klein’s testimony, those in attendance heard introductory remarks by Federation CEO Jeff Lieberman and Federation President Paula Parks, as well as StandWithUs Canada University of Manitoba representative Benjamin Margulets.   The speaker was introduced by University of Manitoba student Matthew Morry.
Originally from Toronto, the 26-year-old Klein made aliyah last April.  He noted that, initially, when his cousin Mordechai told him about the upcoming festival a few week s in advance, the idea of going didn’t appeal to him.
“Just thinking of the people crowding around the stage, the garbage, I wasn’t interested,” he recalled.
Mordechai asked hm again the day before though, and he changed his mind.  “I didn’t know many people in Israel, yet,” he said. “I thought this might be a good way to meet people.”
Klein’s small party of eight arrived at the location around 1:00 A.M. on the morning of the festival, and set up their tent.  “I had no idea how close we were to the Gaza border,” he noted.
 
So, while his cousin and friends were chilling and enjoying the scene, Klein grabbed his camera and began to mingle.   At this point in the presentation, he showed on screen all of the concert-goers whose photos he took throughout the night and early morning – talking a little bit about each one.
He also described the layout, small stages and main stage and the “marketplace”.
He added that, typical of such raves, the smell of drugs was omnipresent.
It was about daybreak – about 7:30 in the morning – when, he noted, people began getting messages on their cell phones about incoming missiles aimed at Tel Aviv, Petah Tikvah and elsewhere.

“The music was so loud that it muffled the sounds of explosions,” he recounted.  “While some people began packing up, the consensus still seemed to be that we were safe. There were no strategic targets anywhere around us.
“Then we start hearing gunfire. It didn’t sound like it was coming from the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). Then explosions.  There was a lot of commotion.”
Klein’s party quickly got to their car. “Of the eight of us, only three were in shape to drive,” he recalled.  “Mordechai drove while I started videotaping what was happening.”
He recalled that there was pandemonium – with people fleeing – in their cars or on foot – in every direction.  Standing in front of a screen showing his video of his group’s frantic efforts to escape,  he described  bypassing a long line of cars and trucks by driving around through a farm field, when they approached an IDF checkpoint where they were advised to go no further in the direction they were driving and to stay in their car no matter what.
His videos showed cars along the side of the road to Tel Aviv pocked with bullet holes. Klein added that there were bodies in some of the cars and along the road.
“We were freaking out,” he said.  “At one point, we were approaching three guys dressed in black and wearing masks. We drove right by them. Thank goodness,. they didn’t shoot.
“As we were driving, we could see smoke from burning houses.”
The group made it safely to Tel Aviv by about 9:45.
“While we were safe, I didn’t know what happened to all the people I had met and taken pictures of at the music festival,” he noted.  “I had exchanged contact information with them so, over the next few weeks, I went about contacting them.”
Happily, he was able to report that almost all of them were safe.  As he had done earlier – showing the photos of his new friends and acquaintances from the festival, he again posted their pictures on the screen and briefly told their stories.  One young woman, for example, had found herself on one of the kibbutzim under attack and hid in a fridge for several hours until she was rescued. Others found safety in the nearby JNF forest until rescued by the IDF.
Five and a half months after that horrendous day, Klein observed, “many people in Israel aren’t doing so well, but we are doing the best we can. No one is alone.  There is also a greater sense of togetherness than there was before the war.”
He also reported that his friends in Israel encouraged him to share his photos and video with the world. As a result, he is currently on a speaking tour of North American Jewish communities.
He said that he is scheduled to return to Tel Aviv on May1.

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Congregants give new Etz Chayim building two thumbs up

By MYRON LOVE To borrow from the late movie reviewers Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, long time members are giving the new Etz Chayim building the two-thumbs up seal of approval.
“It’s beautiful,” says Brenda Keller who has been an Etz Chayim member – and the Rosh Pina before it – since 1990. “I love it,” the Garden City resident continues. I especially like what we did with the stained glass windows. The building has a nice, haimishe feel.”


Gary Jacobson concurs.   He also really likes how the stained glass windows from the old building have been incorporated into the new.  “The sanctuary is very nice,” observes the St. Vital resident, who has been a member  of the congregation since 2002 when the former Rosh Pina merged with the North End Beth Israel and Bnay Abraham congregation to form Etz Chayim.  “The acoustics and the lighting are both very good.”


The new Congregation Etz Chayim shul – at 1155 Wilkes in the south end – opened its doors at the beginning of March, culminating years of discussions about following our Jewish community’s demographic trends and moving south. Discussions even predating the 2002 merger of the three North end synagogues have been ongoing for several years about a move south.  The issue came to a head about 18 months ago.  Faced with a declining membership, a 70-plus year old (former Rosh Pina) building that needed a lot of work and had become too large for the existing membership combined with the fact that 70% of the members and 80% of the younger members lived south – the decision was finally made to take action.
“We just felt that it made more sense to put our money into buying a smaller, pre-existing building south and renovating it,” said Etz Chayim’s president, Avrom Charach, in an earlier interview.  “We were looking for a location within a ten minute drive from most of our members,” Charach reported.
The congregation was able to purchase just a building – a facility that had been the Khartum Shriners’ headquarters.   Etz Chayim sold their former building to an Eritrean Christian congregation.
The reconfigured new location – designed by leading architect and congregation member Ed Calnitsky – was originally supposed to have been re-opened in early December.  But, as often happens with construction projects and renovations, the best-laid plans rarely go off without some hiccups.
“Our new building feels very comfortable,” Charach says today. “And our acoustics are much better.”


The sanctuary can accommodate up to 350 people – about the same number as could be seated comfortable in the old building.  In the former building the sanctuary though could be doubled in size by removing the barrier that separated it from the auditorium. The 1155 Wilkes location doesn’t have an auditorium – but it does have a kiddush room large enough for 100 people. After Shabbat services, if necessary, the sanctuary can be rearranged for  additional  tables and food stations for Kiddush.
The kitchen, Charach points out, is smaller than the kitchen at 123 Matheson.  “We can still prepare kiddushes and provide for smaller functions with our caterer,” Charach notes.  “For larger simchas and programs,  we have an arrangement with our caterer, Lisa Odwak, who can prepare in a kosher kitchen and bring the food to the shul.”
Overall, Charach observes, the smaller facility is less expensive and easier to operate.
Outside, there is parking for up to 170 vehicles.
The synagogue membership stands at around 400 families, Charach reports.  “We have had a few more join over the past three months,” he says.    
He is happy to report that, for the first Shabbat, more than 200 were in attendance and, while the number was down considerably for the second Shabbat, it was still substantial.
“I think that we can look forward to about 100 daveners on Shabbat going forward,” Charach says.
He reports that two grand openings are in the plans – the first a Chanukat Habayit in early April where the new building will be officially dedicated – and a public opening later with government representatives and other dignitaries in attendance.  

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