Local News
Beloved Chazan Sol Fink celebrates 100th birthday
By MYRON LOVE On December 24, Sol Fink, who both as shoichet and chazan served our community for many years, celebrated his 100thbirthday. In keeping with his low key approach to life, Fink commemorated the occasion only with those closest to him – his wife, Rachel, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, as well as his last remaining sibling, Ruth Zimmer.
Sol Fink is a man who is infused with a sense of gratitude for his long life, his family and Canada – his adopted home which welcomed him, his three sisters and his parents after their experiences in the Holocaust.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Fink and his sisters is that he is now the third of the siblings to have turned 100. His older sisters, Sally Singer and Ann Novak, had previously passed the 100-year milestone – and Ruth is not far behind.
The four Fink siblings were the world’s oldest siblings to have survived the Holocaust.
The Fink family was among the lucky ones – although they wouldn’t have considered themselves “lucky” that day in 1940 when they, along with other Polish Jews who had moved to the Russian-controlled eastern half of Poland (as compared to those who were already living in the area) were forced by the Russians into rail cars and shipped off to Siberia.
The Fink siblings. the children of Shaindel and Zecharia Fink, grew up in the town of Sanok in southeastern Poland, where Zecharia Fink worked as a kosher butcher. In the early days of the Nazi invasion the family relocated across the San River to Shaindel’s parents’ home.
Sol and his sisters did have a younger brother, Eli. Sadly, when the rest of the family wasa about to board the train, the little boy ran back to stay with his grandparents. He perished in the Holocaust, along with 80 other members of the family.
Three years ago, Sol’s niece, Carol Sevitt, published a story in the Canadian Jewish News chronicling the siblings’ life’s journey. A year later, Anne’s son, filmmaker Allan Novak, created a documentary which was shown at the Berney Theatre – among other venues in North America and Poland.
The family spent a year in a prison camp in Siberia. After the Nazis attacked Russia the Fink family was freed, but had to remain in Siberia for the duration of the war. After the war the family ended up in Germany. `
“We had an aunt and uncle, Clara and Jack Linhart, who were living in Winnipeg and they brought us here,” Sol Fink says.
That was in 1948.
Fink’s first job in Winnipeg was working for a construction company putting down hardwood flooring – an occupation suited to his ability to fix anything. In Siberia, he had been a blacksmith.
What he remembers about this first job was sitting on the roof of the housing he happened to be working on, savouring a big bun stuffed with perogies, which he would wash down with a quart of chocolate milk. He spent every second of that precious half hour enjoying the luscious foods he had been denied for six years in Siberia.
“We were always hungry in Siberia,” he recalls. “To this day, I still love the taste of bread.”
After a short stint in construction, Fink took his handyman skills to work for Adelman Furniture (which later became Penthouse Furniture). “I was doing repairs and servicing,” Fink remembers. “I was given a company truck to drive and went all over the city.”
In the mid-1950s, Fink went into business with his brother-in-law, Morris Singer. They purchased a corner grocery called Lloyd’s on Sargent and Langside. Later, they operated a store on Inkster and McPhilips.
It was while operating Lloyd’s Grocery that Sol Fink was introduced to the love of his life. “George Rubenfeld had come to work for us,” Fink recalls. “One day, he tells me that his sister is arriving from France. He said that she was beautiful and brilliant and wanted me to meet her. He invited me to Shabbat supper with the family.”
Fink was smitten with Rachel Rubenfeld. After a short courtship, he proposed to her one evening at St. John’s Park. She said that she couldn’t marry him because she had to look after her parents. His response – “we will look after them together.”
He was true to his word. After his father-in-law passed away in 1971, his mother-in-law came to live with Sol and Rachel and spent the last 22 years of her life with them.
He was equally solicitous of his own parents.
It was only after retiring in 1985 that Sol Fink began his second career as a chazan, Torah reader and shoichet. In an earlier interview with The Post, five years ago, Fink said that he became a chazan “out of necessity”.
“The chazan at the Bnay Abraham Synagogue had just quit,” he recounted. Rabbi Weizman and the president asked me if I could come to shul on Shabbats to help out.”
When, shortly after, they asked him to lead Yom Tov services, he remembers being unsure whether he could do it. “I went to ask my uncle, Moshe Langsan, his opinion. He knew the niggunim. He listened to my davening and encouraged me to take up the challenge.”
Rabbi Weizman also encouraged his new chazan to become the Torah reader for the Shul.
Around the same time, the community’s shoichet quit and moved to Toronto. “My brother-in-law, Morris, suggested to the rabbi that I might be a suitable replacement,” Fink recalled. “In the grocery store, we sold a lot of meat.”
Fink remembered being really disturbed by the scene at the slaughterhouse the first time that he went with Rabbi Weizman. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to go back.
“Rabbi Weizman encouraged me to come back with him and help out,” he says. “After three or four days, I was used to it.”
Fink and his partner, the late Shlomo Benarroch, worked as the community’s shoichetim for 20 years – usually going out one day a week to the slaughterhouse in Carman– until the community stopped schechitah about 20 years ago.
After the Bnay Abraham merged with two other Conservative congregations (the Beth Israel and the Rosh Pina) in north Winnipeg in 2002, Fink moved to the Chavurat Tefila. For a number of years, he led Yom Tov and Shabbat services and was one of the regular Torah readers on Shabbat at the small congregation. About fourteen years ago, he and Rachel sold their north Winnipeg home and moved into a condo in south Winnipeg. Despite living south, he continued to lead Yom Tov services at the Chavurat Tefila. (Over Yom Tov, he and Rachel used to stay with his sisters (whom he always called “the maidlach”) who lived nearby.
The last Yom Tov service that he led at the north end shul was just six years ago when – at the age of 93 – he had the pleasure of leading the services with his grandson, Avi Fink-Posen.
When leading services, Sol Fink always tried to daven with kavanah. “I was always aware that I was praying to Hashem for the congregation and the Jewish People as a whole,” he says.
As a father and grandfather, if you ask Sol’s children or grandchildren their opinion of him, they will tell you that he is the most loving, positive, caring, honest and hard-working person they know. What you see is what you get.
At the age of 100, Sol Fink is still hale and hearty and he and Rachel still look much younger than they are. Up until a couple of years ago, Fink was still swimming every day at the Rady JCC. Fink looks at least 20 years younger than he is. He and Rachel still keep fit exercising daily at home and Rachel makes sure they eat healthily. And he still puts on tefillin and davens every morning.
As the saying goes – may they both live to 120!
Local News
Nakba exhbit at CMHR – you can see it right here and make your own assessment
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted June 26, updated July 19) The Nakba exhibit at the Canadian Exhibit for Human Rights opened to the public June 27. The morning before the exhibit was set to open to the public, (it had a private opening for invited guests the evening of June 26) we received a press release from the CMHR. That press release gave a very detailed description of what was in the exhibit, along with photos (supplied by Annie Kierans of the CMHR).
There is also a link right at the beginning of the press release that will allow you to watch the same videos that anyone attending the exhibit can watch. We reprinted what was sent to us without making one edit. We leave it to you to form your own opinion as to whether the exhibit is fair in its presentation, and whether it is lacking “context” – which is an accusation that has been levelled at the exhibit’s organizers by some representatives of Jewish organizations.
We have received many emails in reaction to the exhibit. If you have an opinion and would like to see it published on this website, you can send it to jewishp@mymts.net, but please indicate whether you would be willing to have it published on this website.
Here is what we received the morning of June 26:
Winnipeg, MB — June 26, 2026 — The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) will open a new exhibit tomorrow that explores human rights violations related to the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinian Canadians.
Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present will be on display in the Rights Today gallery on Level 5 until 2028. Featuring personal stories told through artifacts and video testimonies, the exhibit presents Palestinian Canadians reflecting on their ongoing struggle for human rights. The small exhibit reveals enduring patterns of loss and resilience, helping visitors understand more about this contemporary human rights story.
Palestinian Canadian stories are now included alongside many other stories of forced displacement and human rights violations featured in the Museum’s galleries. Each of these stories contribute to our visitors understanding of human rights and help the Museum fulfill its mandate to foster reflection and dialogue.
Exhibition highlights
Personal stories and artifacts: Experience firsthand accounts from Palestinian Canadians sharing their journeys of displacement and memory through a series of five artifacts. Cases display artifacts like property deeds, house keys, and a traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, accompanied by short videos that deepen understanding of the impacts of displacement.
Powerful artworks: In her painting Bound Together in Gaza, Malak Mattar, a Gazan artist, captures the struggles and resilience of her generation shaped by conflict. Her work pays homage to Guernica, Picasso’s powerful masterpiece depicting civilian suffering during war.
Curfews and Closures, by Rajie Cook, bears witness to life under military occupation during the 2000–2005 Palestinian uprising, when curfews and closures were expanded and further limited basic rights and freedoms.
Cultural heritage: Discover traditional Palestinian embroidery called tatreez. Tatreez motifs and colours are tied to place, family history and regional identity. Patterns are associated with particular towns, villages or areas of Palestine. In this way, tatreez is a form of storytelling: a way of preserving memory, sustaining identity and expressing resilience across displacement and exile.
Poetry and reflection: Engage with Mahmoud Darwish’s evocative verses, inspiring personal reflection on exile, voice, and responsibility. Visitors can take a card containing Darwish’s poem and add a personal note, fostering ongoing dialogue beyond the exhibit.
Contemporary context: Witness striking images of current events in Gaza and the West Bank, connecting past displacement to ongoing struggles.
Quotes:
“No force can silence the truth we carry. Growing up in Canada, my children lived the Nakba through our stories. And now we watch it happen again, live, on our phones. When I see the images coming out of Gaza, I am not watching the news. I am watching my history repeat itself.” -Fouad Sahyoun, a Palestinian Canadian featured in the exhibit
“We developed this exhibit with a clear awareness that Palestinian Canadian voices have too often been marginalized, silenced or spoken over — and that anti-Palestinian racism affects whose stories are heard and whose suffering is recognized. That is why we intentionally centred Palestinian Canadian voices throughout the exhibit.” -Isabelle Masson, Curator of Palestine Uprooted
“Human rights matter precisely when they are inconvenient, when the question of who deserves the dignity of having their rights recognized is genuinely contested. These are the moments where having a national museum for human rights is most important.
There are people who believe this exhibit should not exist in its current form. There are people who believe it should have existed sooner. There are people who will visit this exhibit and feel that it does not say enough, and others who will feel it says too much.
We have listened to every one of these voices. We have reflected. And we have renewed our resolve to continue the difficult, sometimes contested, and often controversial work of building understanding about human rights. We are a museum grounded in Canada’s human rights framework, whose mandate requires us to bear witness to the full complexity of the human story. We are proud to open this exhibit because the story it tells will help achieve that mandate, and because this story belongs in the collective memory of Canadians.”
- – Isha Khan, CEO
Local News
A photo that’s being circulated on the internet about me
For those of you not familiar with nutjob Michael Kalo – the psycho who created the notorious “$hitler’s List” years ago and the same psycho who went after Ben Carr, well – now he’s obviously taken a strong disliking to the stance I’ve taken on the Nakba exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. (You can read elsewhere on this website how I simply posted the entire exhibit as it is – and asked readers to form their own opinions.)
Kalo likes to send out emails to various individual using phony names – such as Frank Ostrowski. When people ask me (or asked Ben Carr) why we don’t take action against him, my answer is: What’s the use? He only basks in the attention.
So Michael – enjoy the attention you’re receiving. I know how much of an embarrassment you are to your wonderfully talented daughters.
Local News
Ami Hassan returning as owner of Falafel Place
By BERNIE BELLAN In a surprise move – and after more than a six-year absence as owner of Falafel Place (Corydon at Wilton) the legendary Ami Hassan has decided to return as owner of one of Winnipeg’s most famous eateries.
Long known for his sometimes irreverent attitude to his customers, e.g., “If you’re finished, get out!”, Ami decided to return to running Falafel Place after having retired years ago (or so he thought) from running the Corydon Avenue restaurant.
We asked Ami whether he’ll be sending a special invitation to Julia Roberts to come visit him at Falafel Place. He asked again: “Who’s Julia Roberts?” (Just kidding – he really does know how Julia Roberts is.) Read the story how Ami told her to leave the restaurant and come back later at Julia Roberts turned away from Falafel Place
Ami did note that when customers saw him inside the restaurant one recent day as he was getting it ready for the reopening Monday, August 10, over 20 of them came in asking him if he was open already.
We asked Ami whether the menu will be the same as it was when he last ran the place and he said everything will be the same.
Falafel Place will be open 7 days a week from 7 am – 2 pm. Remember, if you’re finished – get out!
