By BERNIE BELLAN  (Posted April 7, 2026) For hundreds of Winnipeg Jews – both current and former, the name Norman Stein conjures up a multitude of memories.
For many of us, “Mr. Stein” was a teacher in the Jewish day school system during the 1950s and 60s who not only taught Hebrew subjects, he was also truly a Renaissance man with an extraordinarily broad knowledge of literature, art, films, and music.

Sadly, Norman passed away in Vancouver on Monday, April 6. I was contacted by his niece and nephew to inform me that Norman, at the age of 95, had died – and that the funeral will be held in Winnipeg on Friday, April 10, at noon, at the Bnay Abraham Cemetery. It will also be livestreamed on the Etz Chayim website: https://www.congregationetzchayim.ca/

In 2021 I wrote the first part of what was to become a two-part series about Norman’s life. It took me a long time to get around to writing the second part – not until 2023. Here are both stories – merged into one:

If you were a student at Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate during the 1960s you might have been lucky enough to have taken one of Stein’s classes in art or music appreciation, philosophy or, as he told me during a recent phone interview, library science (for Grade 11 and 12 students).
But, if you didn’t know Stein the teacher, you might have made his acquaintance as a music maven –who was involved both in concert and record producing, along with working for the famed German recording company, Deutsche Grammaphon, as both a director of that company and vice president of its Canadian branch.

It was in the late 1960s, following Stein’s full transition from teacher to businessman with a variety of interests, that many Winnipeggers also met him in his capacity as owner as the very popular music store, Opus 69 – which was first located on top of Clifford’s at Portage and Kennedy, later on Kennedy between Portage and Ellice in what is now part of Air Canada’s Winnipeg headquarters.
Later, Stein left Winnipeg for Vancouver, where he became enmeshed in the music scene there, also opening a shop where he began selling his own vast collection of music recordings.
Not only was Stein’s name associated with Canada’s music scene for years, helping to launch the careers of such artists as Sarah MacLachlan – among others, he was also involved with the film business, both in terms of helping to produce and promote movie sound track albums (such as the 1977 version of “A Star is Born”, starring Barbra Streisand), later as a consultant for the film prop business in Vancouver.

About to turn 89 (in June), Norman Stein has been a resident of the Weinberg Residence at the Louis Brier Centre in Vancouver since that branch of Louis Brier first opened in 2003.
Having remained an observant Jew all his life, Stein has played an integral role in the religious life of Louis Brier ever since he moved there.
When I first contacted Stein, and broached the idea of conducting a phone interview with him, he said that it would have to be at a time when he was fully rested – given his age.
And, although Stein has endured two major health setbacks in his life – once when he was rear ended in his car in Winnipeg and subsequently ended up in a coma as a result of his having been prescribed the wrong medication; a second time when he returned from a trip to Los Angeles and came down with Equine Encephalitis, and he claims that his memory has major gaps as a result of those two conditions, during our hour-long phone conversation, he often recalled with vivid detail his Winnipeg years.
I told Stein that, although his entire life has been rich with so many different facets, for the purposes of the story I wanted to write, I preferred to concentrate on his teaching career in the Jewish school system in Winnipeg – something with which, I said to him, many of our readers would have some acquaintance.

I began by asking Stein about his background, saying to him, “You had a religious upbringing, didn’t you?”
He answered: “That was not unusual for the north end of Winnipeg. I didn’t know any other type. We didn’t have labels like ‘Orthodox’. Most Jews then just observed what our parents observed in Eastern Europe.”
I asked: “What street did you grow up on?”
He responded: “As far as I can remember, it was Pritchard Avenue. Later, we moved further north – to Redwood Avenue. We had three rooms with no hot water and no bathtub – and no heat except for a ‘Quebec stove’ in the kitchen that had pipes going into the three rooms.
“Rent was $14 a month. My father was a peddler and it was amazing to see how he could even raise the $14 to pay the rent.
“We ended up buying a home on St. Anthony. We had to make sure there were Jewish families there because we wanted to live in a Jewish area.”
I asked: “This is when? Around the 1950s?”
Stein answered: “I went to yeshiva (in Chicago, he later noted) around 1948 – the Yom Kippur after the State of Israel was established. It was Hebrew Theological College – or Beis Midrash L’Torah.”
Stein explained that his teacher at what was then the Talmud Torah on Flora and Charles was someone by the name of “Mr. Klein”. (Back when he was attending Talmud Torah – in the 1930s and 40s, Stein explained, students attended a branch of the Talmud Torah on Magnus and Powers for Grades 1 – 3, then the Flora and Charles location for Grades 4 – 7.)
“I didn’t know how good we (Klein’s students) were,” Stein explained, “because when I was given an examination (at yeshiva), I ended up being transferred from the Grade 10 class right into the graduation class – Grade 12, and I did very well.”

As mentioned earlier, Norman Stein loved films and music. He explained that his family used to go to the Ukrainian Labour Temple (which still exists, at the corner of Burrows and McGregor) “on Sundays, to watch movies, acrobatics – they had a dance school, they had a daily paper, in Ukrainian – it was Communist; and we used to watch through the basement window the daily edition of those printing presses.
“Anyway, one Erev Shabbes – I was three or four, I snuck into the theatre and the manager asked me who I was looking for?
“I told him I was looking for my mommy. He said, ‘You just sit here’, and the next thing I know I’m watching the Priscilla Lane sisters playing tennis in their white shorts. I remembered that.
“The manager called me out and said, ‘Your mother’s here now.’ And I wondered, how could that be? because my mother doesn’t even know I’m here. I go out and there’s my mother and Mrs. Rubinfield, who ran a grocery store a few doors down, and had a pay phone – which they avoided using on Shabbes – but they called the police and the police asked, ‘Is there a favourite place he likes to go?’ and my mother said I like to go to the movies, so the police said: Maybe he went to the Labour Temple.’”
As Stein explained what happened next, when he was confronted outside the Labour Temple by his mother, Mrs. Rubinfield, and a “Bobby” who was with them, in addition to being scolded for wandering into the movie theatre, the Bobby added: “And you didn’t even pay”, to which, Stein said he answered (and remember, this is a four-year-old), “Tsur nisht fregn zayn gelt on Shabbes” – “You mustn’t carry any money on Shabbes.” (Two years later – as you’ll find if you read on, I corrected my awful transliteration of Norman’s Yiddish.)

The conversation took some interesting leaps, but at one point it led to a discussion of the kosher scene in Winnipeg during the 1930s and 40s. Somehow, we ended up talking about kosher restaurants in Winnipeg at that time. According to Stein, there were no kosher restaurants in Winnipeg whatsoeer at that time. I was rather surprised to hear that, so I asked: “What about the YMHA?” (which would have been on Albert Street at that time). Surely the cafeteria there would have been kosher, I suggested.
Stein’s response was “When you lived in the north end in the 40s you didn’t know about the YMHA.” (That proposition would certainly have been open to question, given the information we were able to ascertain about the Albert Street Y and how many north enders did go there when the YMHA held its 100th anniversary reunion in 2019, but let’s leave that aside for the time being. In any event, when Stein added that “the YMHA was really very much a secular place,” he was correct.)

In 1951, following his completion of yeshiva studies, Stein returned to Winnipeg, where he “taught the confirmation class at the Shaarey Zedek”.
The rabbi of Shaarey Zedek at that time was Milton Aaron. “Not once did I meet him the entire year that I taught there,” Stein noted, “although years later he wanted me to do some articles in the Jewish Post about some important people that were VIP’s in his eyes.”
In 1952 Stein began what would end up being a 13-year career teaching at the Rosh Pina Hebrew School. “I ended up being head teacher and head of school,” he said.
“Then I started teaching at the Talmud Torah (on Matheson Avenue) in 1956 and started out at the Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate the very day it opened (in 1959).”
Later in our conversation I asked Stein how he was able to teach at the Rosh Pina, Talmud Torah, and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate all at the same time?
He explained: “Talmud Torah was Grade 1. I was teaching from nine till noon. After that I went to the Wolinsky Collegiate or I was teaching Grade 3 or Grade 5. After that I would go to the Rosh Pina, where I was teaching from 4:30 till 8. It worked out. My whole day was filled. I didn’t eat my dinner until about 8:30 or 9.”
At that point in the conversation, Stein interjected with a rather shocking segué, noting that, “In 1954 my father was killed by a train.” He went on to describe the grisly details of how that happened, but there’s no need to record them here. Suffice to say that it was a totally preventable tragedy.

Following that somewhat surprising twist in the conversation, I said to Stein that I wanted to change tack and find out more about how he became the “Renaissance man” whose interests in art, music, films, and philosophy were imparted to so many of his students over the years.
“When did you start to develop an appreciation for movies and music?” I asked.
“When I was four years old,” he answered. In addition to the aforementioned Ukrainian Labour Temple, “we went to the Palace Theatre (on Selkirk Avenue), to the “Yiddish Theatre” (in the Queen’s Theatre, also on Selkirk), to the “Dominion Theatre”, for live productions (situated at the corner of Portage and Main where the Richardson Building now stands).

As for his exposure to music, Stein had a good singing voice. In material I received from the Louis Brier Residence that had been assembled to spotlight resident Norman Stein, it was noted that “I was selected for the cantorial class by the famous Benjamin Brownstone, but took a back seat to the likes of baritone Norman Mittleman, whose career led to the San Francisco Opera.”

I wondered about Stein’s love of art – and when that developed?
It came “mostly from a secular teacher in Aberdeen School,” he explained. “I learned art technique.”
I said to Stein that I’ve always remembered a fabulous course he taught our Grade 8 class at Joseph Wolinsky on art appreciation. “You taught us the rudiments of architecture,” I recalled.
“We had to photograph Winnipeg buildings and find examples of European buildings that had the same architectural styles,” I said, such as “Gothic and Roman”.
“I taught different courses to students in Grades 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12,” Stein said.
“In Grade 7 it was music, Grade 8 was art and art history, Grade 9 I don’t remember…there was philosophy, and 11 and 12 was library science.”
In that course Stein taught students “how to use microfilms, how to do footnotes, how to prepare a proper bibliography”, on top of which they had to write papers that were about 100 pages. Remember, these were mostly handwritten.”
(In a post on the “Jewish students of the 50s and 60s” Facebook page, former Stein student Avrum Rosner reproduced the actual comments Stein had made about a paper Rosner had written about famed philosopher Bertrand Russell when Rosner was only 14. Stein’s comments extended over a page in length. Just look at the level of erudition he used in commenting on Rosner’s paper – something rather exceptional for a teacher teaching 14-year-olds. Those comments, in which former Stein students comment about their experience of him as their teacher, can be seen at the end of this article. )
So, Stein had a very full career until 1966. “I even wrote a column for the Jewish Post,” he added.
“And then I ended up getting rear ended by a truck,” Stein said. “That’s a period I don’t remember well… I was in a coma for some time. I was a nervous wreck. My doctor suggested I go to some place relaxing, so I went to Hollywood.”
Thus began the next chapter of Norman Stein’s life, including the opening of what became Winnipeg’s most popular record store for a time, Opus 69.
In a future issue we’ll resume writing about Norman Stein and his eclectic career.

Here is the second part of my story about Norman Stein, which was published in 2023. I should note that I repeat a story Norman had told me in 2021 because I had so mangled the transliteration of what he had said in Yiddish that I had to make amends – and print a proper transliteration:

In May 2021 I began what was supposed to have been a two-part story about the life of a man, Norman Stein, who left an indelible impression on so many Jewish students during his teaching career in the Jewish school system, which began in the 1950s and ended in 1967. But – I’ve long been a procrastinator; it’s taken me over two years to return to Stein’s story. Now 91, Stein left Winnipeg many years ago, but he still recalls his years teaching here – at the Talmud Torah, Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate, and the Rosh Pina Hebrew School, with great fondness.

When I published that initial story about Stein’s teaching career, which I began by delving into his childhood growing up first on Pritchard Avenue, later on Redwood, and finally on St. Anthony, I attempted to transcribe a line in Yiddish that I had recorded Stein as saying, but I mangled that line. Here again is the anecdote Stein related about one time when he had wandered off on a Friday evening into the Ukrainian Labour Temple on the corner of Burrows and McGregor: “Anyway, one Erev Shabbes – I was three or four, I snuck into the theatre and the manager asked me who I was looking for? “I told him I was looking for my mommy. He said, ‘You just sit here’, and the next thing I know I’m watching the Priscilla Lane sisters playing tennis in their white shorts. I remembered that. “The manager called me out and said, ‘Your mother’s here now.’ And I wondered, how could that be? because my mother doesn’t even know I’m here. I go out and there’s my mother and Mrs. Rubinfield, who ran a grocery store a few doors down, and had a pay phone – which they avoided using on Shabbes – but they called the police and the police asked, ‘Is there a favourite place he likes to go?’ and my mother said I like to go to the movies, so the police said: Maybe he went to the Labour Temple.’”

As Stein explained what happened next, when he was confronted outside the Labour Temple by his mother, Mrs. Rubinfield, and a “Bobby” who was with them, in addition to being scolded for wandering into the movie theatre, the Bobby added: “And you didn’t even pay”, to which, Stein said he answered (and remember, this is a four-year-old) – and this is the line I got completely wrong: “M’tur nisht trugen kein gelt oif Shabbes” – “You mustn’t carry any money on Shabbes.”

It may have taken me 26 months for me to correct that adulteration of the Yiddish language, but when I contacted Stein again recently to ask him whether he’d be willing to continue with the story of his Winnipeg years, the first thing he told me is how miserably I had failed in trying to transcribe that line. Despite that very grave error, however, Stein did tell me that he quite enjoyed the May 2021 interview piece. I told him that piece also evoked a very strong and warm response from many of his former students and that many of them had told me they were very much looking forward to the sequel. I ended the first part of my story about Stein by noting that, in 1966, he was involved in a very serious car accident when his car was rear ended by a truck. He said, “That’s a period I don’t remember well… I was in a coma for some time. I was a nervous wreck. My doctor suggested I go to some place relaxing, so I went to Hollywood.”

Thus began the next chapter of Norman Stein’s life, which we now take up here: Stein was working for RCA Records in the A&R (artists & repertoire) department. One day a young, barefoot Black girl came in with a demo tape. She said her name was Natalie Cole (daughter of Nat King Cole). Stein asked her why she didn’t take her demo tape to Capitol Records, since that’s where Nat King Cole had a recording contract? “She said she didn’t want to be attached to his apron strings,” Stein explained. Apparently though, Natalie Cole was upset with Stein “and she stormed out of there.” I asked Stein whether there were any other memorable moments from his time in California, and he mentioned that he was still in the United States during the time of the Six-Day War in June 1967. “The Israeli Philharmonic was touring in the States at the time and I did some PR for them. There was a celebratory concert at the Hollywood Bowl and the guest artist was Jack Benny.”

While he was still in California, Rabbi Witty, who was the then-principal of the Talmud Torah and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate had phoned Stein and had asked him whether he would be prepared to resume teaching the humanities courses that he had taught to students in Grades 7-12 at JWC for years, including courses in the history of music and the history of art, philosophy, and library science. I remember taking Stein’s course on the history of art. Part of the course was devoted to a study of architecture. Stein recalled how enthusiastic so many of the students in my particular class were when he gave us an assignment to “take photographs of sites in Winnipeg that would be comparable to some in Ancient Greece by the way they photographed.” Stein did resume teaching those courses in the fall of 1967, but when he asked to take a leave of absence to attend various music conventions, Tamara Wiseman, who was the vice-principal of the Talmud Torah at the time thought that “it wasn’t fair to the students that I had to leave town to go to conventions to pursue a career in music,” and without even being given a chance to say good bye to his students, Stein was told that he should just “leave.”

I said to Stein that I had heard from someone by the name of John Einarson, who is arguably Manitoba’s foremost music historian – and who gave a brilliant presentation during a recent Jewish Heritage Centre event titled “The Soundtracks of our Lives” about Jewish musicians in Winnipeg through the years, that Einarson had worked for Stein at a time when Stein was selling records out of the back of Strain’s Camera Store on Portage Avenue. I asked Stein whether he began doing that around the time his teaching career ended (in 1967)? “We couldn’t get into Polo Park (because Polo Park wouldn’t allow a record store at that time) so we opened in the back of Strain’s (which was owned by the late Manny Wiseman. One of Manny Wiseman’s sons, Bob, went on to become one of the founding members of Blue Rodeo.) “People were only going up to the camera department and we rarely got anyone coming into our section,” Stein observed.

In 1969, Stein made the move that was eventually to lead to a 10-year period when he achieved his greatest recognition in Winnipeg – with the opening of the famed Opus 69 record store. “There was space above Clifford’s Ladies Wear “(at 412 Portage Avenue, the corner of Kennedy and Portage), Stein continued. (Cliffords was owned by Johnny Pollock. One of Pollocks’ sons, Harold, went on to become a renowned classical guitarist.) Thus began Opus 69. Around the same time Stein became host of a nightly program on CKY FM called “Now Flower.” Randy Moffat was the owner of CKY at the time and he was so impressed with the program – and the number of different recordings that Stein was able to play that CKY “even put a console in Opus 69 with live broadcasting by a DJ between noon and 6 pm.”

I remarked that I remember well that second floor location for Opus 69 and how popular it was. Stein suggested “that small location became the most popular record store in Winnipeg.” In a 2016 article for the Free Press, John Einarson wrote about the huge impression Opus 69 made on music fans in Winnipeg when it first opened: “Once Opus 69 opened in the spring of 1969 on Kennedy Street just south of Portage, above an optometrist’s shop, it became my destination for music. Opus 69 specialized almost exclusively in rock music and had the most extensive selection in the city, including imported recordings, as well as listening stations to sample before you purchased. “I remember the first time my friend and I did that, never having used headphones before,” recalls Grant Edwards.“We were busy yelling to each other until one of the workers asked us to please stop yelling as no one else in the store was listening to headphones.” Unfortunately, while owner Norman Stein had great taste in records, his business acumen was wanting, and when Opus 69 moved to the more spacious ground-floor store on Kennedy north of Portage in the early ’70s it was under new ownership. However, it continued to boast a wide selection and knowledgeable staff.” Around the same time that Stein was running Opus 69 he also had a company called “Campus Records Distributors,” which sold records to university bookstores across Canada. Campus Records was eventually bought by Deutsche Grammaphone. As John Einarson noted, “Opus 69 moved to a new location on Kennedy Street (across from what used to be the Town and Country), but by the early 1970s Norman Stein was no longer the owner.” (He told me, during our interview, that he didn’t want to get into what happened with the business. Suffice to say that, by 1979, Opus was in receivership. Stein had long been out of the picture when that happened.)

Stein said that he remained in Winnipeg with his ailing mother until she passed, in 1980. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Vancouver. He did talk about his career in Vancouver, but I said to him that I preferred to keep the focus on Winnipeg. Before our conversation ended though, Stein said he wanted to tell me one more story from his childhood – when he was about four. The story had to do with the quaint Jewish custom of “shlogn kapores,” during which on Erev Yom Kippur a chicken (or a rooster) is waved over one’s head and one’s sins are transferred to said chicken or rooster. Here’s how Stein described how the ritual was practiced in his home – and what happened one year: “You have a tablecloth over a table, you take the live rooster and swing it around your head and say certain prayers from a Siddur (prayer book). When you do that you put the live rooster under the table, then you take it to the shochet for Yom Tov. “Well, this rooster kept pecking at my wrists and hurting me but I was holding on tight, so I threw the rooster under the table. When I pulled it out, it had a limp neck. It was dead. I bawled my head off because it meant the rooster could not have absorbed all my sins. My mother was upset because she didn’t have a tarnigol (Hebrew for rooster) for Yom Tov.” I asked: “Because it wasn’t slaughtered properly?” Stein replied: “How could it be slaughtered? I choked it to death. It had an overdose of sins!”

I said to him that so many of his former students offered reminiscences, both in our newspaper and in the Facebook group “1950s and 60s Winnipeg Jewish Students”, about his having been their teacher, that I wondered whether he would be amenable to hearing from former students. I mentioned to him that one of the contributors to that Facebook group was David Steinberg. I asked Stein whether he had ever had Steinberg as a student? That led him to tell this story: “When I was teaching in the Rosh Pina Hebrew School the synagogue youth group had socials and David performed his jokes on stage. As I was teaching him, he knew, as an opportunist, that I had some connections with Chicago. He wanted to go to Second City – the famous comedy thing. He could not get in, but he could if he was a yeshiva student. So I wrote a letter to the yeshiva on his behalf and he got accepted into the Hebrew Theological College (from where Stein had also graduated) and, after that the Rosh Yeshiva said to me: ’So where is your David Steinberg?’ He disappeared after a while and Second City had rented in the Jewish community centre across the street from the yeshiva. I never saw him again until one year – it was around 1970, I went to Greenwich Village and saw a poster for a folk music group. At the bottom it said ‘opening act: David Steinberg.’ “A door opened and who comes out but David Steinberg? I said ‘Dudi?’ and he said, ‘Uh, your face is a little familiar…Oh yes, Norman, here’s my business card and we’ll have coffee in my private apartment ….and I never went to his apartment.”

I asked Stein whethe he would be amenable to my putting his phone number into this article so that former students could get in touch with him. Although each time I’ve phoned Stein, we’ve had very pleasant conversations, I’m not sure whether he would have the stamina to engage in phone convesations on a regular basis with former students. Still, if he’s tired or preoccupied doing something else, I’m sure he would let anyone know. And, even though he says he has trouble remembering things, I certainly didn’t find that to be the case. Stein did say that he wouldn’t have any objection to my putting his phone number into this article, so here it is: 1-604-269-0961. Remember, he’s in Vancouver, so bear in mind the time zone that he’s in if you do plan on calling him.

Following publication of that first story in 2021 I received a number of emails from former students of Norman, reminiscing about their experiences with him:

From Art Saper:

Hey – Bernie,

I remember Norman Stein well.  Part of the eclectic crew at TT and JWC.

My most fervent recollection was how he instilled an interest, love really, in current world affairs.  He promoted the “Student Subscription” to Time Magazine.  Regardless of what one thought of Time then – and now – it was the first subscription to a current events periodical that was in my own name.  I actually looked forward to receiving each week.  In some small measure it may have contributed to a lifelong interest!

From Avrum Rosner: In October 1963, a certain 14-year-old Joseph Wolinsky student wrote a 6-page “Library Science and Research Paper” on the infamous 1940 New York court case involving Bertrand Russell. The instructor, Norman Stein, wrote one page of notes and gave the paper 89. Here’s the page. And here’s what he wrote. Quite sure he did likewise with all students and assignments!

<< While far from being the definitive study of the Russell Affair insofar as microfilm reports go, yours is a most commendable paper. Your style, despite a tendency toward uncontrolled rhetoric on the rampage, lends an air of serious regard for the problem. But when most students are satisfied to quote source after source without much consideration to adequate analysis, yours conversely stresses excellent insight and dissection without sufficient paraphrasing and citing of sources. Certainly, if you would win support for your arguments, you might have cited actual comments – you do occasionally as in the “apt” description so cleverly stated by Mr. Goldstein – and take the reader and instructor into your confidence by explaining your research techniques. If I did not stress/mention footnote requirements, the omission was deliberate. The onus was on the student, in view of your past assignments/experiences in/with my courses. I would have liked your critique of Christian Century, et. al. of conveying/handling Bernard [sic] Russell to the reader more than your recording of individual reactions. What was the attitude of the press from leftist, moderate and rightist, religious, economic and educative viewpoints? N.E. Stein J. Wolinsky Collegiate >>

From Brenda Dahle:

Norman Stein is my mom Pearl Rosenberg’s first cousin. In fact, he was my sister Michelle Moyer’s grade one Hebrew teacher at Talmud Torah.

I remember spending Passover Seders at his home on Merriwood or my grandparents’ home on College Avenue. Norman would lead the seders and ask thought provoking questions, that made us think and wonder about life in ancient times. Norman would tell stories, and made the seders come to life. He is a brilliant and learned man who would get us to think and reflect upon life long ago.
He did own Opus 69 on Kennedy, which branched out west.
As Sandy mentioned, he and aunt Clara travelled the world and would share their slides with family. He continues to keep in touch with my mom.

More from Avrum Rosner:

We were lucky to have two Normans contributing to our early education. Rabbi Norman Fredman z”l jumped on the “Reach for the Top” bandwagon during its first year on Winnipeg TV (1962-63), determined to have a Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate team. Because the demand was greater than the supply, we had to team up with St. Paul’s, which named Michael Phelps and George Schner to be teammates with me and Larry Epstein. Norman Stein was our eager and brilliant coach. Larry and I visited his home on Merriwood often to go through our paces.

From Susan Turner:
I was a ‘junior chazzan’ for the children’s Saturday synagogue services for a few years at Rosh Pina, in the late 1950s. The services were held in a basement room. It was Norman who taught me the musical liturgy, including one of the most beautiful melodies for “ledor vador” that I’ve ever heard. This melody was recognized many years later by a friend who knew it from his own childhood in Hungary. I remember Norman as a demanding and serious but patient teacher of the liturgy.

By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted April 3) For years many Winnipeggers made a habit of buying delicious Jaffa oranges from Israel, both because they were so delicious, also to support Israel. Those oranges used to be commonly available in many stores during the winter months, but as the years passed, it became increasingly difficult to find them.
Often groups of individuals would get together and place special orders for Jaffa oranges that could be brought into stores like the former Stewart’s Fruit & Deli on Grant Avenue. I remember asking the owners of Stewart’s – Frida and Aaron Herskovits, whether they could bring in Jaffa oranges, but over the years they told me that they found it was increasingly difficult to find a wholesaler that carried Jaffa oranges.
One of the reasons was that oranges from other countries, including South Africa, Chile, Spain, Morocco, and occasionally Mexico, were much cheaper than Jaffa oranges, so wholesalers simply stopped ordering them.
But last week I was contacted by a friend who told me that he found oranges from Israel in FoodFare on Portage Avenue – of all places. Now, I don’t want to get political, but FoodFare is owned by the Zeid family – and the Zeids haven’t exactly been huge supporters of Israel. So, I was somewhat surprised to learn that Israeli oranges were being sold in FoodFare.
When my friend sent me a picture of the bag containing the oranges, I saw that the name on the bag was “Orri.” I had never heard of Orri oranges, so I asked my friend how they tasted ?
“Absolutely delicious,” came the reply. But I’ve avoided shopping at FoodFare ever since October 7, 2023 when members of the Zeid family established themselves as staunch critics of Israel. And so, I didn’t head down to FoodFare myself to buy a bag of Orri oranges.
Lo and behold, I was in Superstore on Kenaston the other day and what do I see prominently featured right in the front of the store, but bags of Orri oranges – at the very reasonable price of $6.99 for a 907 gram bag. I bought a bag, brought them home, peeled one – and was in heaven! It was the most delicious clementine orange I had ever tasted.
But how come I had never heard the name “Orri” before? I wondered. So, I did some research -and here’s what I came up with, from the Orri website:

“Few people know that the original Jaffa Orri has a long history of nearly 30 years. The project was initiated in 1989 as a collaborative effort at Israel’s world renowned Agricultural Research Organization, the Volcani Center. The extensive research led by leading citrus breeders and botanists managed to develop an exceptional lineup of mandarin cultivars that hit their objectives. The new cultivars were planted in experimental plots across the country, and with results being better than anticipated, the rest is history.

“The later crowned “mandarin king” made its market debut in the early 2000s, quickly taking the Israeli market by storm. Despite accelerated orchards planting efforts, consumers simply couldn’t get enough, and demand kept falling short of supply. Year after year, as yields increased, Orri remained the premium brand of choice.

“Today, Orri’s popularity has been steadily climbing in markets such as France, UK, Holland, Germany, Russia, Canada and the US, and lately also China and Japan. While Israel remains the largest single exporter of Orri mandarins, licensed growers now exist in Spain, South Africa, South America and the US.”

Further research determined that “High sugar levels, low acidity, bright orange color, and a long shelf life, making them excellent for shipping.”

“Late-season harvest runs from January through early summer, ensuring availability when other mandarins are out of season.” 

Finally, when it comes to availability in Winnipeg, here’s what I found: “Orri mandarins are available for purchase and delivery at major Canadian retailers like Loblaws (2 lb bags), Real Canadian Superstore, and No Frills. They are also available for delivery through Weee!, Uber Eats, and Instacart. Orri mandarins, known for being seedless, easy to peel, and very sweet, are usually in season from January to May.”

By MYRON LOVE For more than 36 years a staple of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre season has been the RMTC’s annual joint production with the Manitoba Bar Association – featuring a cast composed entirely of Bar Association members. This year’s fundraising production is “Crazy for You” – a delightful romp in the style of 1930s musicals.
 
I well remember the Rainbow Stage production of the musical in 1999 with many memorable Gershwin Brothers’ songs – tunes such as:  “I Got Rhythm,” “Naughty Baby,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” “Embraceable You,” “But Not for Me,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Introduced on Broadway in 1992, “Crazy for You” is based loosely on the Gershwins’ hit 1930 musical “Girl Crazy”.
 The plot, typical of 1930s era musicals is about a young New York banker, Bobby Child, who is sent to Deadrock, Nevada, to foreclose on a rundown theatre. In Deadrock, Bobby falls for spunky Polly Baker, the theatre owner’s daughter.  But Polly takes an instant dislike to the city slicker, so Bobby vows – through cunning, razzmatazz and a hilarious case of mistaken identity – to win Polly’s heart and save the theatre.
 
“Crazy for You” is a fantastic musical,” says an enthusiastic Gail Asper, who plays the role of Billy’s mother in the show.  “I am very happy that we are putting it on this year.  It has great dance numbers.   Who would have thought there would be so many terrific dancers in our legal community?”
 
Asper, a leading patron of the arts (among her many contributions to the community) , has been involved with the annual legal stage production from its inception.  “It was Steven Schipper’s idea,” Asper recalls. (Schipper served as RMTC’s artistic director from 1989 to 2019.)  “He pitched it to the board who thought it was a great idea.  Board member Jean Giguere was tasked with bring the idea to fruition.  Jean and I are still great friends.”
Asper reports that “Crazy for You” is the 16th RMTC/MBA show in which she has had the pleasure of performing.  “This is one of the best fundraising ventures I have ever been involved with,” she says.
(Her one regret though is that she isn’t a dancer.)
The cast also includes a second prominent member of our Jewish community in the person of Mr. Justice David Kroft (who was appointed to the Manitoba Court of Appeal in 2023).  Kroft plays the role of Bela Zangler, the impresario (think Florenz Zeigfield) who is producing the show.
Kroft is a past president of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (following in the footsteps of his late father, Guy, and older brother, Jonathan). He has been a Combined Jewish Appeal canvasser for more than 25 years.  In 2024, he was presented with the Max and Mollie Shore Memorial Award, which is given annually to an individual who has distinguished him or herself through long-standing leadership and dedication to the Combined Jewish Appeal and commitment to the principles and goals of the Federation.  
 For Kroft, this is his ninth Bar Association show.  Last year, he reports, he was in the RMTC/MBA production of the comedy “The Man who Came to Dinner”.
Although, Kroft notes, his theatrical experience previous to the RMTC/MBA productions were high school operettas, he says that he has really enjoyed the opportunity to strut the boards.
Added to the meaning of the production this year is that Kroft is currently RMTC Board Chair.  “This is one of our major annual fundraising initiatives,” he says in his role as Board Chair.
One other member of our Jewish community who will be in “Crazy for You” is Benji Greenberg, who will be making her sixth appearance in the annual fundraiser.  She says that she has the role of Elaine, one of the show girls.
“I love the Gershwin music,” she says.
I wrote about Greenberg last year in regard to her participation for the first time in the annual Winnipeg Music Festival competitions.  In high school (Grant Park) and university (the U of W), she notes, she was involved in performing arts study and productions.
She was called to the Bar in 2015. For the past four years, she has been working as an investigator for the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth.
A couple of years ago, she decided to take proper singing lessons. She credits her teacher, Geneva Halverson, for encouraging her to enter the Music Festival competition,
“Crazy for You” is scheduled to run from  May 5 to 9 at the Tom Hendry Warehouse.   Tickets can be purchased through RMTC.  If you have a friend in the show, on the RMTC board or staff member,  you can help them win a prize by buying a ticket linked to their name using the list online.
Sponsorships and advertising would also be welcomed.