Local News
Charles Marmar: From Montrose Street in Winnipeg to Park Avenue in New York
By GERRY POSNER Add yet another name to the list of Winnipeg Jews who became psychiatrists and who have achieved fame elsewhere. I speak of none other than Dr. Charles Marmar, formerly of Montrose Street in the south end of Winnipeg. Some readers may well remember his parents, Dr. Maurice Marmar and Pearl (Brook) Marmar. In fact, it was Dr. Maurice Marmar, either intentionally or not, who influenced his son Charles to follow a career into medicine. Charlie wll recalls , going as a kid with his father, a family doctor and surgeon, on rounds at the Victoria General Hospital and deciding then and there that he wanted to follow a similar path as his dad. He just went down a different path.
Charlie grew up in the south end of Winnipeg, having attended River Heights School,then Kelvin High School. He also played hockey with the River Heights Cardinals. After obtaining a BSc at the University of Manitoba in 1966, he entered medical school at the U of M and graduated with his MD in 1970. He was all of 24 when he graduated medicine.
Marmar soon departed for Toronto, where he competed his residency in psychiatry. He obtained a fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation and studied neuropharmacology at the University of Toronto in 1976. Charlie then completed another fellowship in traumatic stress and grief in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco in 1978.
After that, Marmar’s career really took off. In 1978, He advanced being a junior faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF to becoming a professor there, then Chief of Psychiatry at the San Francisco VA Hospital in 1996. In 2009, Marmar made a major move across the continent to New York, where he assumed the position of Lucius N. Littauer Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the New York University Langone Medical Center.
Currently, he is Peter S. Schub Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychiatry, Director of the Centre for Precision Medicine in Alcohol Use Disorder, and Executive Director of the Langone Health Military Family Centre in the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Those are a lot of titles, but they clearly indicate that Marmar is one of the movers and shakers in this area of medicine.
Marmar’s list of hospital appointments started in 1983 and continues to this day. As mentioned above, he presently sits as the Director of the NYU Langone Center for Precision Medicine in Alcohol Use disorder and PTSD. Moreover, he has been deeply involved since 1982 with a variety of other professional positions and Major Visiting Appointments. You have to take my word when I say that the list is expansive, too long for the Jewish Post. Yet, that list pales in comparison to the honours and awards that have come Marmar’s way in his illustrious career as a psychiatrist. I could not help but notice the very first mention of achievement for Marmar was his Honours standing in genetics at the School of Medicine at the University of Manitoba in 1966. That was the start of many moments of distinction right up to the present time. I also note that, among the many prestigious honours bestowed upon Charlie Marmar was the 1999 J. Elliot Royer Award as the Outstanding Bay Area Psychiatrist from the University of California, San Francisco. As well, He has published over 400 (not an error) articles on the epidemiology, neurobiology and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2022, Charlie was named Master Clinician as the outstanding physician across all specialties at NYU Langone Health.
Let’s just say that Charlie Marmar has put in serious time with his work on committees, many of them major and continuing to this day. In fact, Charlie was and still is the Chair of the Disaster Psychiatry Centers Special Review Committee for NIMH. He has worked over a period of years with veterans and that work is evidenced by the many committees he has worked with, particularly in the field of PTSD. This is an area of psychiatry where Marmar has much experience and has attained much fame. His focus has ranged from combat related conditions in veterans, including veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to assisting refugees and earthquake victims suffering from PTSD.This kind of work has led Marmar to conduct studies in psychopharmacology, psychopathology, psychobiology, all relating to PTSD.
Needless to say, Marmar has been a member of professional societies all over the world and, moreover, he has been involved with editorial boards and has authored many articles and been the editor for many publications.
With all that said, what I got a kick out of was when I asked a psychiatrist with whom I am friendly in Toronto, if he knew a Charles Marmar and he answered, “ Charlie, I remember him well from his days in Toronto (now over 50 years ago). He was a rising star.”
So, you take a kid from Montrose Street and without even a shove, years later he is settled in New York, regarded as one of the leaders in his field. He is still at it. And of course, a big part of his success he attributes to his wife Anne (Stern) whom he met at the University of Manitoba Health Sciences Centre where she was studying Dental Hygiene. They married in 1971 and are the proud parents of two sons, Eli and Daniel. They also have five grandchildren: Amalya, Liyora, Tziyon, Noah and Isaiah. The couple remains close to their family and friends from Winnipeg, now living in Toronto, New Jersey, Northern California, Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere in the Winnipeg diaspora.
Local News
Cheryl Hirsch Katz, Jewish Child and Family Service’s longest serving staffer, set to retire at end of the month
By MYRON LOVE “I loved working at Jewish Child and Family Service,” says Cheryl Hirsh Katz, who is due to retire at the end of June. “I have always appreciated the warm and welcoming atmosphere here. I feel that the people working here are my extended family. I am going to miss my colleagues”.
“I have derived great satisfaction over the years to have been able to help many people in our community of all ages through my work at JCFS,” she continues.
After 44 years at the agency, Katz, the longest-serving member of the staff, was given an appreciative send-off at the JCFS’s recent (June 23) Annual General Meeting at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue.
The daughter of Art and Bess Hirsh, Cheryl grew up in Garden City. She attended Peretz School, then Jefferson Junior High and Garden City Collegiate. She joined the staff of JCFS in 1981, shortly after receiving her Bachelor of Social Work degree.
She earned an MSW in 1990.
“I chose to become a social worker,” she recalls, “because I always wanted to be able to help people.”
Katz was originally hired by JCFS to work with newcomers. After a couple of years, she was given responsibility for looking after the needs of older adults.
“I really enjoyed working in older adult services,” she says. “That is where I spent the bulk of my time at JCFS.”
After ten years as a case worker, she was promoted to a supervisory role. Later, she was also given responsibility for mental health and addictions programming and settlement services, while keeping the older adult files under her purview.
“As a supervisor, I wasn’t directly involved with individual clients,” she points out. “I was more involved with programming. Among the programs for seniors we organized were – for example – sessions on elder abuse, digital storytelling and memory loss.”
She notes that one of the trends she has seen over the last 44 years is that people are living longer and living in their homes longer. A lot more of our clients are living well into their 90s,” she observes. “We have had to continually expand our staff and the services we provide in order to accommodate the growing demands of an aging population.”
She also spoke of the mental health needs of seniors and aging Holocaust survivors.
She says that she has mixed feelings about leaving JCFS. “After so many years working full time, I am going to have to create a new routine,” she comments.
She notes that, now that she is retired, she will have more time to spend with her parents – who are in their 90s.
And then, there are the two dogs to look after. “I will have time now to try new activities,” she says. “ I might learn to play mah-jong.”
She speaks about maybe doing some traveling – although her husband, Murray, is still working full time.
(She and Murray have one daughter, Farah.)
“Retirement may also include some volunteering,” she adds.
It is quite likely, she will be continuing her association with JCFS but in a volunteer capacity.
Local News
Gray Academy students shine in provincial, national debating competitions
By MYRON LOVE It has been another good year for Gray Academy’s high school students who participated in provincial and national debating competitions. The best results were recorded by Grade 9 student Noa Mednikov, who finished fourth overall nationally, fourth in interpretive reading, and fifth in persuasive speaking at the junior National Public Speaking Championship in early May in Vancouver.
Last October, in the Junior Provincial British Parliamentary Championship – which was held at St. John’s-Ravenscourt – Noa and her partner, Raya Braunstein, finished third as a team while Raya placed third in individual debating.
Their fellow Grade 9 student Maxim Moscalenkov tied for first in persuasive speaking in Vancouver, while the Gray Academy team of Gabe Tapper and Aaron Koplovich finished fifth. Aaron also finished fifth in his individual debate.
Earlier, in March, Maxim finished fifth in the Provincial Juniors debating competition, which was held at Balmoral Hall He and his debate partner, Nate Shenkarow, finished seventh among the teams entered. Last November, he and partner, Ethan Tenenbein, finished seventh in the Junior Prepared Tournament – just behind the Gray Academy team of Nate Shenkarow and Jack Kay.
At the senior high level in that competition, the team of Jacob Tenenbein and Jonah Novoseller finished fourth and Jacob was recognized as fifth best in an individual capacity. Jonah and Jacob also paired up to win the Asper Cup, which was held at their home school.
Jacob represented Manitoba at the Junior National Speech Championship in Vancouver in May and, last October, he and Grade 12 Gray Academy students Julie Krozkin and Daniel Bokser represented Canada at an international debating tournament in Bermuda.
Gray Academy’s debating program was introduced by Linda Martin in 2003. She also led the debating teams at Balmoral Hall. In 2011, Martin was succeeded by Gray Academy high school English teacher Andrew Kaplan.
“Andrew has done a wonderful job with the debating program” says Martin, who has a debating trophy at Gray Academy named in her honour, as well as a provincial trophy for best individual junior debater. “Over the years, Gray Academy students have done very well in many local, national and international competitions,” she adds.
About three weeks ago, this writer had the opportunity to sit down with Andrew Kaplan and six of the school’s top debaters while they discussed the benefits of learning how to debate. According to Noah Strauss – who competed in the Junior Provincials at Balmoral Hall in March, public speaking leaves him with a feeling of accomplishment.
“It’s a good skill set to have,” he observes. “It builds confidence.”
“A benefit of being able to debate is that you learn how to convince people that you know what you are talking about,” adds Maxim Moscolenkov.
Raya Braunstein notes that being able to debate is a skill that she expects to be helpful in many university courses which she may choose to take.
As Andrew Kaplan notes, the ability to express yourself has a great impact in whatever career you choose to pursue.
He points out that debating is compulsory at Gray Academy for all Grade 7 and 8 students – and students can continue debating as an option in the higher grades
Of course, competitive debating is not for everyone. For those students who opt to take that path, the journey begins with internal school debate competition – with the top debating teams and individuals qualifying for local tournaments and – potentially – beyond.
Andrew Kaplan reports that a small number of high schools in Winnipeg and southern Manitoba have active debating programs – including St. Johns Ravenscourt, St. Paul’s High School, St. Mary’s Academy, Garden City and Maples Collegiates in the Seven Oaks School Division, St. Maurice (a Catholic School), as well as Morden Collegiate and Dasmesh, a Sikh private school.
Kaplan expresses his appreciation to the Asper Foundation and an endowment spearheaded by the Kives Family for providing funding for the Gray Academy debating program – as well as the Andrew Slough Foundation – which was established by his friends in memory of the outstanding former Ravenscourt student debater and lawyer who passed away suddenly two years ago at the still young age of 38.
I am confident that our Jewish community can look forward to the continued success of Gray Academy’s star debaters and to the continual emergence of future stars as the times goes by.
Local News
Antisemitism has crept into grade school in Canada
Antisemitism in Canada has moved beyond protests and politics; it is now entering classrooms and altering how Jewish children see themselves functioning within them.
A a university student I have observed the experience of my younger brother in grade eight as a Jewish student. Over the past few months, his school has been at the center of several deeply troubling incidents that have made him feel unsafe in our parks, community, and even his school. Swastikas were drawn around the community, in parks and ponds. Additionally, an older man, who claims to be a pro-Palestinian influencer, stood outside his predominantly Jewish school wearing a keffiyeh, filming a video which then circulated between students on TikTok.
This same man later showed up to our local Jewish community center in keffiyeh to allegedly watch his son play basketball where my brother and many of his classmates go for their lessons, basketball games, and Jewish events. These moments made him and his peers feel watched and targeted just for being Jewish. Local political representatives condemned the incidents and raised awareness about antisemitism, but the fear among students didn’t go away. The feeling of being targeted for simply existing has been taught to my brother, something my parents had tried their hardest to escape from.
Most recently, my brother was chosen to represent his school at a regional science fair. When one of the judges arrived wearing a keffiyeh, he froze. For many, including my brother after the incidents he has faced, the keffiyeh represents a political message. But even more so for my younger brother, it is tied to the fear and intimidation he had already experienced. He felt nervous, distracted, and unsure of how to act.
This is not about silencing political expression. It is about a child who came to share his ideas and left feeling uncertain and afraid. It is about the atmosphere forming in Canadian schools, where Jewish students are being made to feel targeted and unwelcome.
His school made an effort to address the incidents, but the impact is lasting. Posts on social media, much can be very vague at times about inclusion cannot fully undo the feeling of being singled out. A kind word from a teacher does not erase the fear that builds when threats are left unspoken but deeply felt.
I am writing this as a sister who watched her younger brother lose a moment that should have been filled with confidence and pride. He deserved to feel safe. So do all Jewish students in this country.
Moving forward, schools must take concrete steps to protect all students. Antisemitism cannot only be addressed when it becomes violent or overt. It must also be recognized when it appears as intimidation, symbolic targeting, or political messaging that creates fear among students. Children should never have to question whether they are safe in their own classrooms or community spaces.
Events that are meant to support and celebrate students must remain focused on them. Individuals who feel the need to bring political symbols or messages into school grounds or children’s events should not be welcomed in those spaces. Schools must make it clear that their environments exist to support learning, safety, and inclusion, not to host agendas that can intimidate or isolate students.
Administrators and educators must develop clear guidelines for identifying and responding to antisemitic behavior in all its forms. This includes strengthening security measures, offering ongoing staff training, and engaging directly with Jewish families to understand their concerns. Inclusion is not a one-time statement. It is a responsibility that must be reflected in everyday decisions and actions. No child should ever feel unsafe or unwelcome because of their identity.
The author is a Campus Media Fellow with HonestReporting Canada and Allied Voices for Israel who lives in Toronto.