Local News
B’nai Brith Camp announces new co-executive directors: Married couple Lexi Yurman and Jacob Brodovsky
By BERNIE BELLAN
For the first time ever, B’nai Brith Camp on Town Island in Lake of the Woods will be under the direction of a husband and wife team: Jacob Brodovsky and Lexie Yurman. The decision announcing their hiring was made in the fall. As of January 1st, Jacob and Lexie succeeded Jerrod Henoch, who was executive director for two years following the retirement of Brenda Tessler-Donen. (Unfortunately, this past summer, as was the case with sleepover camps everywhere, there was no camp.)
Not being allowed to operate this past summer would have come as a bitter disappointment, not only to regular sleep-over campers, of whom there were close to 300 in the summer of 2019, but also hundreds of day campers (who would arrive by boat from Kenora each morning), along with about 1,000 students who participate in spring programs during the school year.
Both Jacob and Lexie bring with them years of experience at BB Camp, both as campers and as staff members – in a variety of different positions.
Jacob says that, as a youngster, he attended Brock Corydon, Grant Park, and University of Winnipeg Collegiate, while Lexie says she went to Ramah “for my first year of junior kindergarten, then Gray Academy opened, and I went all the way through to Grade 12”.
“I’ve been a camper at BB Camp since I was six years old, says Jacob. “I’ve been working in youth work for about ten years now, including working at BB Camp in the summer”, he adds.
“We both started as counselors right out of the gate” (once they finished their experience as campers), Jacob explains. “I was a section head, then a program director, then operations director, finally assistant director. Something just clicked when I was in my 20s, thinking ‘It would be so great if I could just do camp as my whole career.’ “
Lexie says that her first experience at BB Camp came when she was in preschool and “started going for family weekends”. Like Jacob, she was a camper every summer until she was 17.
“I’ve been working at BB Camp” in a variety of roles, “for 11 years now”, Lexie adds. “Including Ac Outtripper, Health Officer, Wilderness Director, and eventually co-Assistant director for the last three seasons.”
Similar to Jacob, when she wasn’t working at BB Camp, Lexie says she was also involved in youth work.
In between working at BB Camp, however, both Jacob and Lexie spent years attending university following graduation from high school.
“We both lived in Toronto for about five years,” Jacob notes.
At this point in our conversation (which was conducted over Zoom), I was obliged to ask the question that immediately came to mind once Jacob explained that he and Lexie both lived in Toronto for five years. I had thought it was intrusive to ask at the outset, but at that point, I asked: “Are you a couple?”
The answer – from Jacob, was: “Yes, we met (in 2010) at camp, got engaged at camp, and got married at camp.”
“We got married in a teeny-tiny Covid wedding this past summer at camp,” Lexie adds.
Although the camp was closed this past summer, Lexie and Jacob say that they were both busy “doing a number of projects at the camp – repairing and cleaning up”.
“We’ve done a ton up upgrades to the camp,” Jacob explains.
“All our cabins were renovated. They got new roofs, new electrical. We have a brand new olam gadol, katan. We’ve added accessible bathrooms to our dining hall and upgraded ventilation.
“So, when our campers come back to camp this summer – hopefully, it will look like a brand new camp.”
As far as what the coming summer holds, naturally, it’s totally unknowable at this point what’s in store for sleepover camps. Still, Jacob and Lexie have been operating under the assumption that they will be given the go-ahead to reopen the camp come summer.
“We’ve hired about 25 staff already,” says Lexie (all of whom will be returning staff from 2019). (She adds that the usual staff complement numbers around 85.)
“All indications so far are that the (Ontario) government intends to allow us to run,” notes Jacob. “If we’re mandated to close again like last summer, we hope to be able to offer individual cabin rentals to families and alumni.”
Lexie adds: “Our goal for the summer is to meet or exceed every guideline so the community can safely spend time at BB Camp.”
Registration for summer 2021 opened on Friday February 5th at www.BBCamp.ca” “
Local News
First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
Local News
Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
Local News
Team Schvesters teammates Benji Harvey, Kim Gray once again among top ten fundraisers in this year’s CancerCare Manitoba Foundation Challenge for Life event
By MYRON LOVE This year’s annual CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s Challenge for Life walk at Assiniboine Park is scheduled for Sunday, June 13 – and, once again, in terms of fundraising, Team Schvesters is sitting in second place overall – having raised just over $30,500 as of May 26 – which is $5,000 more than the team members had raised by the same time last year.
As well, team members Benji Harvey and Kim Gray are once again in the top ten among individual fundraisers. Harvey this year sits in fifth place, having raised a little over $16,000 as of May 17 – while Gray has raised just above $8,000 – putting her in seventh place.
Harvey reports that, -over the past 18, years participating in CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s Challenge for Life, she has personally raised $180,000 for cancer research, while her team as a whole has brought in $367,000. In discussing her success as a fundraiser, Harvey says that she has made a lot of friends over the years and believes in giving back to the community.
The “Schvesters” are the Greenfeld sisters: Harvey and sisters Lesly Katz and Debra Lewis – the daughters of Lil and the late Ike Greenfeld. Two of the sisters are cancer survivors.
There is one other team member – in addition to Kim Gray. Judge Rocky Pollack first joined Team Schvesters in 2023. After a year away in 2024, he returned last year. Pollack lost his wife, Sharon, to cancer in 2014 after a multi-year struggle.
Nancy’s Nightingales has been a top 10 community fundraising team for Cancercare Manitoba and the Challenge for Life since its inception in 2008. As a team, they have walked together since 2006 when they walked 60 km in two days in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer.
Last year, the team – including Louise Raber, Joanne Katz, Rhonda Youell, Connie Botelho and Harriet Lyons – finished fifth in fundraising. So far this year, the team is again sitting in fifth place –having raised just under $12,500 (as of May 26) – a couple of thousand dollars more than last year, and just about $300 behind the fourth place team.
The Nightingales are named after a nurse who is a cancer survivor- and a friend of Louise Raber, Nancy’s Nightingales team leader.
“Our goal, as always, is to raise at least one dollar more than last year,” says Raber.
Team Jason’s Journey team leader Jason Gisser has experienced a more intimate and longer-lasting relationship with cancer than many of the other Challenge for Life participants. He was first diagnosed with cancer when he was 18. “I am a proud cancer fighter, having lived and battled a chronic cancer diagnosis for the last 23 years,” he said in an earlier interview. “I participate in the Challenge for Life not only to give back for the care and treatment which I have and continue to receive through CancerCare Manitoba, but to ensure that others do not have to endure the journey which I have endured.”
This is the ninth year that Gisser has taken up the Challenge for Life. His teammates are returnee Nora Fien, as well as friends Danial Sprintz, Wendy Martin White and Jason Roberts, also his mother, Judge Freda Steele. He has personally raised about $5,500 this year, while the team as a whole has raised just over $7,000.
“The Challenge for Life is great opportunity to raise valuable dollars for cancer research and treatment,” Gisser notes.
Readers can make donations to their preferred team by going online to CancerCarefdn.mb.ca and click on Challengeforlife.ca.
