By MYRON LOVE As B’nai Brith Winnipeg reminds us every year during Holocaust Remembrance Week,”to every person there is a name.”
When we hear or read numbers – 500,000 people murdered in Syria’s decade long civil war – or an estimated 300,000 dead in Yemen’s civil war – or 25 million Sudanese at risk of starvation, they are just numbers without meaning for most of us.
The same could be said for the 1,200 Israelis massacred by Hamas and their minions on October 7, 2023.  For me, personally, the face and name that I put to that horrendous mini-Holocaust was -from the very first news reports, our community’s Vivian Silver.  We had known each other since we were seven. We went to school together. In later years, I had grown close to her parents, Meyer and Ros, through our common shul membership, and I would see Vivian at shul when she came to visit. I admired her efforts to foster harmonious relations between Jewish and Arab Israelis and Israelis and Palestinians.
I now have another name and face to picture when I think of the October 7 massacre.
On Tuesday, August 26, I was among 200 fellow Winnipeggers in attendance at the Shaarey Zedek to hear Jacqui Vital tell us about her daughter, Adi.  Adi, we were told, had fought valiantly against the terrorists despite impossible odds and died heroically.
“I want people to know that my daughter is not just a number,” Vital said.  “She was a wife,  a protective and strong mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend.  She was a born leader imbued with the spirit of volunteering.  She was always true to herself.  And she loved the land and people of Israel.”
Jacqui Vital has dedicated the last two years to keeping alive Adi’s memory by speaking about her wherever she can.     
Vital’s appearance in Winnipeg – part of a cross-Canada tour – was co-sponsored by the Shaarey Zedek, the Asper Foundation, Bridges for Peace Canada, and the Rady JCC.
Vital was introduced by Kelly Hiebert, a Westwood Collegiate teacher who is dedicated to educating his students about the Holocaust. The speaker began her presentation by reviewing her road to aliyah. 
Born and raised in  Ottawa, Vital attended the University of Toronto. Fifty years ago she immigrated to Israel.  In Israel, she met and married Yaron. The couple had three daughters – with Adi being the youngest – and one son.
Adi and her husband, Anani, had two children: sons Negev – who was three-and –a-half  at the time – and Eshel, who was just six months old.  Adi was an engineer and cyber-security expert.
As part of her presentation, Jacqui Vital played a video of Adi and another member of the kibbutz speaking about why they decided to move to Holit, a small kibbutz near the Gaza border, and became kibbutzniks.  There were also videos of the extended family in happier times –with the last photo from a family gathering on Rosh Hashanah, three weeks before her murder.
In the early hours of Saturday, October 7, 2023, Jacqui Vital said , when Adi heard the first signs of the invasion and recognized that this wasn’t the norm – and with her husband, Anani, somewhere else – she took her sons into the home’s safe room and contacted Anani.  There was a rifle in the safe room because Anani was the deputy head of security for the kibbutz.  Adi phoned Anani and asked how to load it.  When the terrorists began to shoot through the door to the safe room, Adi fired the rifle, killing one of the attackers before the other terrorists killed her.
I have long believed that everyone who survived the Holocaust was saved by a miracle – if not several miracles.  In the case of Adi and her family, several miracles followed her killing.
First, among this group of terrorists, there were at least some who retained vestiges of humanity.  Instead of murdering the children – as happened in many other cases on that infamous day – the killers spared the children. Not only that, they gave them to the care of a neighbour – Avital Alajem. 
Then – a second miracle. This is a story I remember from that time.  After taking Avital Alajem and the two boys into Gaza, they stopped before entering the tunnel they had used to enter into Israel, and one of the terrorists inexplicably indicated to Avital that she should turn back with the boys and return to Israel. She was able to return the boys to their father.
Now, Jacqui recounted, she was visiting family in Ottawa around this time. She was scheduled to return to Israel on October 8.  Adi’s father, Yaron, had gone to stay with Adi and the boys over Sukkot, while Anani was away.
More miracles:  Adi had suggested to her father that he should stay in the kibbutz guest house lest the baby’s cries wake him up at night.  At the sound of the commotion outside, he went into the guest house’s safe room and waited… The terrorists never came.
As Jacqui reported, the attackers had a detailed map of the kibbutz and who lived where.  The guest house was listed as uninhabited, so they didn’t enter that house.  Yaron waited until late in the afternoon when IDF soldiers broke in and he was able to leave. 
He went with IDF soldiers to his daughter’s house, Jacqui continued.  Inside, they found the body of the terrorist that Adi killed lying on the floor – but no signs of Adi and the kids. They weren’t able to open the door to the safe room wide enough to get in.  On the following Tuesday, a different group of IDF soldiers found a back way in and saw Adi’s body – rigged with explosives. If the soldiers had entered through the safe room door, there would have been a massive explosion.
The final miracle, as told by Jacqui:  Although Yaron’s car was riddled with bullet holes, it was drivable.  The soldiers recommended that he take Road 232 back to Jerusalem.  On a hunch, he chose a different route.  It turned out that terrorists were firing at cars traveling on 232.
Jacqui reported that there have been several acts of kindness helping to keep the memory of Adi alive.  About 1,500 people attended her funeral. Some of Yaron’s students planted a tree in her memory in the yard of the school where Yaron teaches. A couple in Ottawa, who didn’t know Adi,- designed a logo as a tribute to her featuring the head of a lioness – for the boys’ trust fund – the Adi Kaploun-Vital Memorial Fund – which is intended to help support Eshel and Negev.
Any readers who might be interested in donating can go online to the Adi Kaploun-Vital  Memorial Fund on Jgive.

By MYRON LOVE Over the years, I have written about Klara Belkin several times in this newspaper – most recently this past spring when I learned about a documentary that had been filmed highlighting quite likely one of the most significant moments in her life – in the spring of 1945 – when the Hungarian-born cellist and her family were rescued by American forces from a train that was heading for Theresienstadt concentration camp.
After the war, she studied the cello at the Franz Liszt Academy in her native Budapest. Following the Hungarian Revolution in October 1956, she was able to leave Budapest – with the encouragement of her mother – for Vienna. In Vienna, though, the symphony was not hiring any female musicians. So, she came to Canada and found a position with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. That was also where she met her husband, Emile, a violin player, who was also a member of the WSO.
 She was the principal cellist for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for 20 years.  As well, for many years, in the winters, she and Emile were also members of the Tampa Symphony Orchestra in Tampa Bay. As a teacher, she served as a member of the faculty of the University of Manitoba’s School of Music for almost 20 years.  
Now, I have always thought of  Klara Belkin as a classical musician.  So, you can imagine my surprise when my family and I were at Rainbow Stage in August enjoying the recent production of “Frozen” and I noticed in the program that Klara had been inducted on to Rainbow Stage’s Wall of Fame a few weeks earlier.
“It was a different direction for her,” notes her daughter, Lisa Belkin.
According to Lisa, her mother was a member of the Rainbow Stage Orchestra throughout the 1960s and 70s.  “My sister, Brenda, and I were little kids when she began performing at Rainbow Stage,” Lisa recalls.  “Our family spent our summers at our cottage at Sandy Hook. Our mother would play as part of the Rainbow Stage orchestra in the evenings and generally get back at midnight.”  
She reports that Klara left Rainbow Stage in 1979 when she began teaching at the University of Manitoba School of Music.
She was back at the summer theatre briefly in 1990 when she was part of the orchestra backing up the premiere of local playwright/composer Danny Schur’s production of “Strike”, his tribute to the 1919 General Strike in Winnipeg.
One memory Klara has of her time at Rainbow Stage was theatre founder Jack Shapira’s Rolls Royce which, she believes, was the first in Winnipeg.
While Klara appreciated the honour, Lisa notes, her mother was unable to attend the induction ceremony in person.  The famed cellist – now 95 – moved to Saskatoon four years ago – shortly after Emile passed away – to be closer to Lisa.  Family friends represented her at the induction.
In her acceptance speech, Klara Belkin expressed her thanks to the Rainbow Stage organization.  “I am grateful to my dear friends who are with you this evening to accept this honour on my behalf,” she wrote.  “Participating in Rainbow Stage over the years has been very meaningful to me.  As a newcomer to Canada from Europe in 1957, I was not at all familiar with North American musical theatre.  Playing Rainbow Stage over many years gave me the familiarity and joy of Broadway musicals.  
 
“In the early days of Rainbow Stage,” she recalled, “for me – that was in the 1960s… there was a roof over the stage, but not over the orchestra pit or the audience.  When it rained – that was the end of the show and everyone went home.  It happened a lot.  
“Also – playing the shows over many weeks each season, my orchestra colleagues and I were very sure we could play the various roles on stage as substitute actors in a pinch.”
She remembered that the orchestra pit was nearly always cramped – especially for the string players.  There would only be enough room to play her cello using the center one-third part of her bow; that was so she didn’t poke the two guys on either side of her.   
 “I looked forward to every season at Rainbow Stage,” she wrote.  “It was always wonderful seeing how much the audience enjoyed the show … while the mosquitoes always enjoyed them.  Thank you so much for this wonderful honor.”
Lisa is happy to report that her mother’s health is still relatively good and that she keeps busy drawing  and practising her beloved cello.

By MYRON LOVE This past June, a fundraising brunch held at Camp Massad attracted 70 participants and brought in $44,000 for the Jerusalem Foundation’s pioneering Resilience Centre.
The event – titled “Jerusalem at the Lake”  – was organized by Donna Weinstein, Jackie Weinstock, Gina Chodirker, Deborah Friedman, and Cathy Moser- with catering provided by the staff at Camp Massad.
A few months back, this website published a story about the husband and wife team, Cathy Moser and Jeff Itzkow’s newest cause: a campaign to raise money for the Jerusalem Foundation’s new “Resilience Centre,” a novel treatment center for Israelis suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  Aided in fundraising by long-time friends Donna Weinstein and Gina Chodirker, the Winnipeg couple pledged to double every dollar donated to the Centre up to $100,000.
Moser pointed out in that earlier interview that, according to the Jerusalem Foundation, estimates suggest that over half  a million Israelis are suffering from PTSD, as well as other psychological issues, since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the ensuing war. 
“It is not only Israeli soldiers who have been traumatized,” Moser observed.  “Everybody in Israel knows someone who was affected by the attack on October 7.  This past year has triggered trauma from past wars as well as intergenerational trauma from the Holocaust.”
In response to the tsunami of trauma that has hit Israelis, soon after the October attack the Jerusalem Foundation founded the Resilience Centre – operating out of the Shaare Zedek Hospital.  The Resilience Centre utilizes a range of treatments for trauma therapy – including the pioneering use of the psychedelic drug ketamine.
The highlight of the Winnipeg Beach brunch was a presentation via Zoom by Resilience Centre social worker Pinni Baumolm along with psychiatrist and psychotherapist Dr. Sinai Oren. 
In his remarks, Oren spoke of the widespread mental suffering of Israelis and the dramatic results that the Resilience Centre has had using ketamine to greatly shorten treatment periods.
Baumol described the positive outcomes experienced by some survivors of the Nova Festival and members of  ZAKA – Israel’s emergency response team who were first on site after the October 7 attacks – all of whom have been suffering from PTSD.  He cited, as examples: a 25-year-old Nova Festival survivor; a 50-year-old survivor of one of the border communities that was hit; and a 32-year-old social work student – all of whom had been showing signs of PTSD, trauma, anxiety and depression.
“The improvement we have seen in our patients has been heart-warming,” Baumol said.    
He further reported that Resilience Centre researchers are also studying the potential benefits of psychedelics MDMA and psylocibin (magic mushrooms) in treating PTSD and other similar conditions. 
In addition to treating patients, Baumol noted, the Centre is training other mental health care professionals in the application of ketamine in helping Israelis suffering from trauma.
Over the next five years, he reported, the goals are to gain Israeli government acceptance of the treatment, greatly expand on the number of patients that can be helped, and build a stand-alone facility.
Moser is happy to report that Itzkow’s and her efforts have raised over $100,000 to date.  “It sounds like a lot of money,” she says, “but we need many more dollars to continue to do this very expensive work.  “What we have raised so far has livened the souls of ten traumatized individuals and their families and friends. 
“One day, this will become more of the standard of care – and the cost of therapy and the loss of lives to suicide will decrease dramatically.”

 The second part of the day was a family-friendly beach party from 3:00 to 7:00 – also at Camp Massad – featuring activities for all ages.  Moser reports that there was a live band,  Israeli dancing, sports, swimming in Massad’s heated pool, and arts and crafts for the kids.
Although rain put a damper on the turnout, Moser notes, everyone who came had a great time – with Massad staff providing party sandwiches, salads and dessert, along with Israeli dancing led by Gina Chodirker, bubble equipment for the kids, and more dancing to old rock and roll classics. 

Readers who want to make a donation to the Jerusalem Resilience Center can click here: Jerusalem Foundation  hit DONATE – and in the box that asks the name of project to which you would like to donate, specify the Jerusalem Resilience Centre. Moser is encouraging readers to donate what they can – no matter whether it’s $18 , $180, or $1,800.