Local News
Brock Corydon students help children around the world affected by COVID
We received the following press release from Karla Dueck Thiessen, who is a teacher at Brock Corydon School: Ms. Karla Dueck Thiessen and her students from Brock Corydon School are thrilled to announce that their book, It Starts With A Breath…a book about mindful breathing has been translated into Spanish! Students in the Grade 6 Hebrew Bilingual program are now working to translate the book into Hebrew.
The pandemic has impacted the mental health of children, youth, and their families around the world. Studies show that anxiety, depression, and behavioural issues have risen during the pandemic. “Mental health supports for children are limited but breathing mindfully is one of the simplest ways they can calm their anxiety and fear. Breath is like a hug from the inside out. Even the youngest students can learn mindful breathing strategies” says Karla. She has spent the past year collaborating with educators from Mexico and Argentina to create the Spanish translation. It is available online as a free resource for parents and teachers at https://youtu.be/90tRVCWGSrA. Their original English version can be viewed at https://youtu.be/5eftsTzCIw4. Karla is also working with Manitoba educators to translate the book into Cree and Ojibwe.
As a teacher with over twenty-five years of experience working with young children, Karla is passionate about helping students learn skills to mindfully identify and manage their feelings. “When you give children the tools to become self-aware and confident in their ability to handle their emotions, you reduce the risk of mental health struggles in the future. Mindful breathing relaxes the mind and body so stressful experiences can be calmly observed, reflected upon and responded to in an intentional way. Practicing mindful breathing is a simple, practical, important life skill that calms the nervous system, helping children develop self-regulation, focused attention, and positive well-being.”
When we contacted Karla to tell her we would like to publish her press release in The Jewish Post & News, she replied that “Morah Leah (Bramer) and her Grade 6 class are also in the beginning stages of translating the book into Hebrew (but I’d not sure it will be completed this school year).”
Karla also included reviews that the book has received thus far:
“Karla’s book is a sweet introduction to breathing mindfully. With rising levels of anxiety and stress at all age levels, it is increasingly apparent that we need to intervene early and teach our children how to calm themselves. Through simple poetry and photos of the children from her Nursery/Kindergarten class, Karla teaches young children to pay attention to their breath when they feel upset as a means of returning to a state of peace and calm.” Dr. Michèle Kreijzer, School Counsellor and Author
“Mindfulness seems to be one of the most immediately impactful concepts. I love how Karla boils one thousand pages of Jon Kabat-Zinn into a children’s book.” Kevin Kohut, parent
“This book is a wonderful resource to remind us all that this present moment is the most powerful moment of all.” Keith Macpherson, Author of Making Sense of Mindfulness
“This book is a timely reminder for adults and a great lesson for kids to slow down and breathe. It puts into words what is happening to your body during emotional times. By providing some simple exercises, it gives kids permission to own their feelings and gives them skills to reduce stress and anxiety.” Natalie Sundmark, parent
Local News
Winnipeg Jewish Theatre to open season with world premiere of “Pals”
By BERNIE BELLAN The opening show of Winnipeg Jewish Theatre’s 2023-24 season promises to be a clever and poignant take on relationships between men and women, when “Pals” makes its world premiere on November 9 in the Berney Theatre, running until November 19.
“Pals” is the third two-person show created by the team of Diane Flacks and Richard Greenblatt. Interestingly, when I spoke with Flacks and Greenblatt while they took a break from rehearsing the play in Toronto, they told me that their previous two two-person plays also had one word titles – with four letters in both: “Sibs” and “Care.”
“Pals” is the story of two friends, told over a 25-year time period. Their friendship survives many tribulations, including both characters entering and exiting many other relationships. The play uncovers the underlying tensions that permeate all friendships.
“Pals” opens with the two characters meeting for the first time. I asked Diane and Richard whether the notion of their having sex ever enters into the plot, but Richard was quick to exclaim, “We don’t have sex.”
Diane also noted that, in the case of her character, she is married to another woman. (Diane is a lesbian in real life.)
The fact that the characters maintain a friendship though becomes a source of friction within their respective relationships. It raises the question: Can you have an intimate, albeit platonic, relationship, with a member of the opposite sex all the while you’re in a physical relationship with someone else?
I asked whether the characters in “Pals” are Jewish (which both Diane and Richard are), and the answer was “yes.”
Both Diane and Richard have had past associations with the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. Richard’s goes back a very long time – when he directed the critically acclaimed “League of Nathans” in 1995.
Diane Flacks appeared in a one-night performance of a show in 2021 called “25 Questions for a Jewish Mother,” which was a part of that year’s Tarbut festival. There were no in-person events that year, due to Covid, but “Jewish Mother” was available on Zoom and had a huge audience.
In addition to writing for the stage, Diane Flacks has written for TV, including Working the Engels, Baroness Von Sketch Show, Young Drunk Punk, PR, and The Broad Side.
Richard Greenblatt has performed in theatres across Canada and abroad, as well as in feature films, television and radio. He co-wrote 2 Pianos 4 Hands, which played on five continents and in over 150 cities since it opened in 1996.
Pals is directed by the internationally acclaimed director Jillian Keiley. More information, tickets and 5-show subscriptions can be found at: www.wjt.ca. You can also reach WJT by phone at (204) 477-7478.
To watch a preview video from Pals, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2W0VmHHFbA
Local News
Simkin Centre introduces Friday afternoon Shabbat services – open to all
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted Oct. 31) The Simkin Centre held its first ever Friday afternoon Erev Shabbat service this past Friday (Oct. 27), led by Rabbi Matthew Leibl.
There were more than 30 residents in attendance, along with various other outside guests. The service was approximately 45 minutes long and was filled with stories and songs associated with Friday evening Shabbats – some from Rabbi Leibl’s own childhood and some from more recent years.
The Friday afternoon Erev Shabbat services are now to become a regular features at the Simkin Centre and are open to anyone to attend.
To watch a short clip of Rabbi Leibl introducing his first Friday afternoon service click https://youtu.be/hLSrV18K58o
Local News
The complete text of MP Marty Morantz’s speech at the community vigil for Israel on October 10
Tonight we are all Israelis!
Conservatives stand with Israel.
Pierre Poilievre stands with Israel.
On Saturday we woke up to unspeakable images.
We must stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel as it defends itself from these criminal and barbarous acts.
On Shabbat, Hamas brutally invaded Israel, invaded homes, killing hundreds, taking hostage hundreds.
More Jews were killed in Saturday’s attack than in any single day since the Holocaust.
Some 1500 human beings killed in a single day would be like 6000 Canadians being murdered in a single attack.
They were children, babies, men, women.
They were young people just out listening to music at a dance party.
This was an unprecedented brutal attack.
As we speak Hamas is threatening to execute innocent hostages.
This outrage cannot, must not stand.
Don’t let anyone tell you Hamas is the legitimate voice of the Palestinian people. It is not a government.
They are a genocidal murderous and evil death cult and they must be defeated.
But friends, we have seen evil before.
Jews have been persecuted for millennia, but we have survived.
Conservatives unequivocally condemn the invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists and the sadistic violence that Hamas has carried out against innocent civilians.
Now is the time for moral clarity. There is no moral equivalency between democratic Israel and the butchers of Hamas.
There is no response, no matter how strong, that would be disproportionate to the crimes Hamas has committed.
Israel has the right to defend itself against these attacks and respond against the attackers – as any other country would.
Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, said, “If you will it, it is no dream.”
In 1948 that dream became a reality – a homeland in Israel, the promised land.
Working together Israelis turned a desert into an oasis.
An island of democracy surrounded by a sea of autocracy.
A Jewish state where Jews could live in peace free from fear and persecution.
Let there be no doubt. Israel is the ancient and indigenous homeland of the Jewish people.
We will not let the butchers of Hamas take that dream, long realized, away from us.
Many politicians will stand with Israel when it is easy.
But listen to what they say when it is hard.
They will talk about “both sides.”
I’m here to tell you that there is only one side.
The side of morality.
The side of democracy.
The side of Israel.
We see too often politicians at the United Nations unfairly singling out Israel for criticism.
I will always stand against the unfair singling out of the Middle East’s only democracy.
Already there are calls for Israel to deescalate.
I ask you.
Would any country deescalate after having its people slaughtered in cold blood?
I wish the people of Israel and its brave soldiers Godspeed on their mission to defend the promised land from pure evil.
As Prime Minister Stephen Harper said:
Through fire and water Canada will stand with you.
Am Yisrael Chai!
