Local News
Demolition complete of old Chesed Shel Emes house – new building expected to be completed in 2021
By BERNIE BELLAN
It was just over a little more than a year ago that the Chesed Shel Emes (the Winnipeg Jewish community’s burial society) launched a capital campaign, with the intent to build “a new facility to meet the needs of the Jewish community for many years to come,” an announcement in the May 10, 2019 issue of this paper said.
That announcement went on to say that “Chesed Shel Emes’s south building is 114-years-old. It was built in 1905 as a private residence, and was purchased by the newly established Chesed Shel Emes in 1930. The building has met the needs of thousands of families over the years, and is showing its age. The attached chapel, built in 1947, is in good repair and will be a beautiful complement to the new building.
“The new building will provide a better and more comfortable experience for mourners and other visitors,” says Rena Boroditsky, Executive Director of the Chesed Shel Emes. “And for our volunteers, we are designing this new space with safety top of mind.”
“Having an effective and dignified infrastructure to prepare the deceased for burial and to support mourners is something a strong community does for itself.
“The funds raised will be used to: demolish the existing south building; build the new structure; protect the north building during demolition and construction; and furnish the new building with new equipment. The vision is of a building that is handsome, durable, and comforting and that includes state-of-the-art equipment for the care of the deceased. “The new 4,000-square-foot building will include the following features:
“A new, larger tahara room with stainless steel counters and more room for volunteers to perform their work safely (“tahara” is the ritual washing and dressing of a Jewish person in preparation for burial);
“new, state-of-the-art refrigeration units;
“new mechanical lifts for transferring bodies more safely;
“enhanced safety features to improve the experience of volunteers and ensure the dignity of the deceased;
“expanded storage space for caskets, shrouds, and supplies;
“an elevator for guests and volunteers with mobility issues;
“wheelchair access to the building;
“private meeting spaces for mourners, extended family, and friends to gather (currently, mourners use the boardroom);
“more comfortable accommodations for shomrim (“shomrim” are guards who watch over the deceased, so that they are never alone);
“a safer, more accessible back staircase and entrance way;
“enhanced washroom facilities;
“refurbished office space;
“state-of-the-art heating and cooling systems; and other features to create better conditions for mourners, staff, and volunteers, and to ensure the dignity of the deceased.”
The capital campaign is still ongoing – although it has taken a pause during this unprecedented time of global emergency. This past week I spoke with Rena Boroditsky and with Bob Freedman, former CEO of the Jewish Federation, and now a fundraising consultant to Jewish organizations.
During our phone conversation we talked about how the capital campaign has gone. As well, we talked about the history of the Chesed Shel Emes. Following are some excerpts from our conversation:
Bob began the conversation by noting that the “Chesed didn’t come into existence as an organization until 1930 when they bought the house. Up until 1930 when someone passed away they would be prepared in the Jewish tradition – in someone’s home.
“Come 1930 they had a building where the bodies of the deceased would be prepared – up until a few months ago when that operation was moved over to Chapel Lawn” Funeral Home.
As far as the move to Chapel Lawn goes, Rena had this to say: “They have a new 25,000 square foot funeral home that they built on their property, so we have a dedicated room; we are not sharing their prep room. That’s where we are doing tahara; our supplies are kept there.
“We have a dedicated office space, where the shomer sits.”
I asked how the capital campaign has gone to date?
Bob said: “The capital campaign has raised $2.8 million – that’s pretty darn good. Remember, in a capital campaign donors may honour their pledges over a number of years; this campaign has had about half the pledges paid in full, so we have the money to begin the project now.
“By the way, we’ve successfully connected with about 400 donors that have already concluded pledges and there are hundreds more that we haven’t even connected with. This is very much a community organization that serves every aspect of the community and we want everyone in the community to participate at whatever level they’re able to. We’re probably going to extend the campaign because of different circumstances, including COVID-19. We probably would have been more active in the past month or two, but for obvious reasons, took a pause – and so, ending the campaign around the end of May or June, it’s more realistic now to end it around the end of 2020.”
I asked how many individual donors there have been?
Rena answered: “I’d say about 400 (including families).”
I said: “That means the average donation works out to about $7,000.”
Bob noted though that “But, we’ve had donations of $18 and we’ve had a donation of $500,000 – so it varies. Unlike other capital campaigns we’ve had (like the Campus), there are no dedication opportunities.”
Rena added: “Donors will be recognized on a donor wall in the new building.”
Bob: “By the way, Bernie, do you know when was the last time the Chesed ran a dedicated campaign in the community? 1945. That was to raise money for the chapel, which opened in November 1947.
“The Chesed does have charitable status and people have given money, but has the Chesed gone out and raised money? No.
“When we got started on the project we had to develop a donor database because, except for those people who have given money from time to time, the donor base primarily consists of people who are now deceased.”
I asked whether, once the building is done, people “are going to be able to walk through and see where the money has gone?”
Rena: “We will still have a shomer space for families. I’ve been giving tours of the house for the past 20 years – and I’ll still be doing that.
“It’s going to be a two-storey building. It’s going to be a little narrower than what we currently have but a little bit longer from the front to the back…We expect to have it done in about a year.”
Bob: “With COVID-19 there’s certainly been a slowdown in construction activity in the city. We retained Akman Construction as a general contractor. We’re pretty satisfied that the numbers (from the various sub trades) that came in are pretty good.”
I noted the Chesed has to keep going – no matter what the situation.
Rena said: “The Chesed Shel Emes never closes. We had 17 people pass away in April.”
I asked: “How has it been going to Chapel Lawn? Has it been a fairly smooth transition?”
Rena: “We haven’t been down even one day. We had a tahara the day after we moved. It’s been a bit of a learning curve. Their staff is amazing; they are so accommodating. It’s spotless there. They’ve been wonderful.
“That being said, we are not in our own space; there’s some accommodation that needs to be made – just in the way we do things, so we will be happy to get back to our own space – but it’s been a very smooth transition.”
We talked about the effect that COVID-19 has had on synagogues here when it comes to arranging funerals. Rena observed that funerals are limited to the pallbearers and the grave diggers now. As well, there are no meals of consolation, she pointed out.
Still, I wondered whether the relatively large number of funerals in April might have led to a fairly significant infusion of money into the synagogues.
Rena pointed out that the likelihood was that many of those funerals had been prepaid, so that wouldn’t have added to the synagogue’s cash flows. “They may be busy but that doesn’t mean they have any cash flow,” she observed.
Bob said: “We’d like to raise between $400-500,000 more. We’re confident we’ll do it, although we’re quite aware the current situation is not the best of times for many donors. In May and June we’re going to reconnect with people that have already been spoken to and, if we can conclude some of those pledges earlier rather than later, we’ll try to conclude everything by the end of the year. Because of the Federation’s emergency campaign we’re not going to connect with people who have not been spoken to yet.”
Rena: “Anything we might collect over and above what we need for the building will go into our endowment fund, which we established at the Jewish Foundation.”
At this point Bob Freedman interjected an interesting bit of history:
Bob: “Bernie, have you seen the safe? It must weigh 500 pounds.”
“So, what’s in the safe?” I asked.
“Not cash, unfortunately. When I first opened the doors, I opened a bunch of little books. People who passed away were recorded – by pencil or pen, by name – their Hebrew name, the date they died. So I looked up my mum, I looked up my dad. It’s really a history of the Jewish community. There was a big picture of the machers from the 1930s – all men, of course. There was a big picture of the ladies’ auxiliary – all looking very stern.
“By the way, if those men knew that the place was being run by a woman, they’d all be spinning in their graves.
“When you ask someone how do you define a Jewish community, as opposed to a community with Jews living in it, there are three things: A shul, a school, and a chevra kadisha – a burial society.
“Burial is one of the first things people thought about when they came from the old country. They looked for a place to bury people.”
Rena: “Chesed Shel Emes Inc. was formalized in 1930, when they purchased the house. Before that they may have called it chevra kadisha. My information came from Mr. (Ike) Permut, of blessed memory (who was President of the Chesed board in the 70s, 80s, and half the 90s).
Bob “And the original bylaws were written in Yiddish”
One final note: If you would like to make a contribution to the Chesed Shel Emes capital campaign, go to www.ourtradition.ca
Local News
Richard Morantz and Sheree Walder contribute $1 million to ongoing Shaarey Zedek Synagogue Capital Campaign
By MYRON LOVE “We really welcome the decision of Richard Morantz and Sheree Walder to donate $1-million to our ongoing capital campaign,” said Rena Secter Elbaze, the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue’s executive director, on October 9. “They and their families have a long history of supporting our community organizations and the State of Israel. Their contribution to the Shaarey Zedek is inspirational.”
The husband and wife team officially presented the cheque to Elbaze at a brief ceremony at the synagogue the morning of October 9, in the newly renamed Richard Morantz and Sheree Walder Auditorium.
In their remarks, both Morantz, the president and CEO of Globe Property Management, and Walder, a lawyer who is a former partner in the law firm Myers LLP, spoke of their long family connection to the Shaarey Zedek. “My mother’s family were Jewish pioneers in Winnipeg,” Walder noted. “My great-grandfather, Samuel Cohen, for whom I am named, was an original member of Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. I started coming here with my own grandfather, Sidney Cohen, when I was about two years old. I remember exactly which pew we sat in and how my grandfather helped me to follow along in the siddur during services. Shaarey Zedek has always been a place of great comfort for me.”
Morantz added that his own bar mitzvah took place at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue on April 29, 1972. “I learned my maftir from the legendary Rabbi Berkal,” he recalled. “We continued to celebrate here with our own children’s bar and bat mitzvahs. I am very grateful that we got to watch our own children shine on the bimah.”
It was the Hamas-led assault on Israel and subsequent tsunami of antisemitism worldwide that prompted the couple to consider stepping up and contributing to the Shaaray Zedek campaign in such a magnanimous way.
“I have never been a religious person,” Morantz remarked. “While I may be more secular, I strongly believe in the traditions of Judaism. I had a charmed upbringing in the 60s and 70s in River Heights. It is not the case that I experienced no antisemitism, but those experiences were very minimal. Post-October 7th, I found myself, for the first time in my life, having to judge every situation and every person I came across before divulging the fact that I am Jewish or discussing Israel. I came to the realization, during the process of considering this donation, that a primary driver for us is that this synagogue is a safe place for Jews, where we can comfortably be ourselves.”
Walder pointed out that while her mother’s large family were Jewish pioneers, her father was a Romanian Holocaust survivor, with almost no family after the war. “Family matters a great deal to us,” she said. “In addition to strongly agreeing with Richard that the tragedy of October 7th and continuing and growing anti Semitism are big drivers for us in making this donation, we also want to see Shaarey Zedek be a safe and special part of the lives of our now adult children and the generations that will follow them. It is very fulfilling to us that we are contributing to making that happen.”
Walder further credits the encouragement of her old friend and law school classmate, Neil Duboff, for helping to clinch the decision for her and her husband to make the donation. “Neil has worked so hard for the synagogue and our community for so many years and we applaud his efforts and commitment,” she noted.
(Duboff is a past president of the Shaarey Zedek and chaired the capital campaign.)
Walder also mentioned the support of Gail Asper in making the decision. “I met Gail on our first day of law school in 1981,” she recalled, “and we have been very close ever since. While we can all agree that Gail certainly knows how to talk, she also really knows how to listen. Through all of our discussions with her about making this donation, she listened hard, she came up with solid answers, and she was instrumental in leading us to the decision to donate. Shaarey Zedek is extremely lucky to have such a talented fundraiser.”
“We have to make special mention of Rena Secter Elbaze,” Morantz noted. “Rena literally blew me away when I met her for a tour of the synagogue. Her passion and knowledge are remarkable. We believe that our synagogue is in great hands and we feel much comfort and confidence making this donation.
“We are very proud of the recent renovations and upgrades to the synagogue,” he added. “This place is absolutely beautiful. We also feel privileged to have met with Rabbi Carnie Rose. We know he will be a great asset to the synagogue and all of its members for a long time to come.
“We are so honoured to be here with you today and to feel that we are making a difference to this special place”.
He concluded his remarks with an observation by Elie Wiesel that “a synagogue is a house of memory as well as a house of prayer. It reminds us of who we are and where we come from.”
Local News
Winnipegger Charlotte Kittner traces ancestry back to the Jewish expulsion from Spain
By MYRON LOVE Ladino was long the spoken language of the Jews from the Iberian peninsula and North Africa just as Yiddish was the day to day language of the Jews of Eastern Europe. Charlotte Kittner is most likely the only Winnipegger – and one of the few left in the world – who still speaks Ladino.
But Ladino is just one of eight languages that Kittner, who turned 100 in August, can speak – the others being Bulgarian, Romanian, Czech, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Turkish and English.
Charlette (Sarlota) Kittner was born in Bulgaria – in a Jewish community whose members were largely descended from the Jews who were forced out of Spain in 1492 (and Portugal a few years later) by the Spanish expulsion.
A few days after her birth, that part of Bulgaria became part of Romania. She was so small at birth, she recounts, that the doctor had little hope she would survive more than a few years. She slept in a drawer of a chiffonier lined with many layers of cotton for the first year.
The youngest of three sisters, she recalls growing up comfortably in a warm and observant community. Her father, Avram, who operated a textile factor, attended synagogue on Shabbat and all the Yom Tovim.
The family – along with all the other Jewish families in Romania, fell on hard times with the advent of World War II. Although Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany and was never occupied, members of the Romanian Iron Guard – the local equivalent of the Nazis – could be just as sadistic and murderous as their German counterparts. Although most Romanian Jews outside of Bucharest were murdered, those living in the capital city, while facing much discrimination and many restrictions – were spared internment and deportation.
Kittner notes that mother, Minduch, died in 1945 and she lost her father in 1946.
During the war Charlotte and her sister, Lisa, were assigned to a factory making linens and garments for the Nazis.
She recalls that life was tough after liberation and continued to be difficult after the coming of Communism in immediate post-war Romania.
After the war, Kittner trained as an accountant and found work with a large manufacturer. That is where she met her husband, Mike (Misu) Kittner. They were married in Bucharest in November,1952.
Kittner’s sisters, Suzanna and Lisa, both made aliyah after the war. Charlotte and Mike followed in 1964. They lived in Israel for three years. Charlotte quickly learned Hebrew and found work as an accountant.
But life in Israel was difficult economically in those days. Mike’s brothers, Fred and Serge, had previously settled in Winnipeg and encouraged Mike and Charlotte to join them. They did – in May 1967.
The next year, Chralotte’s sister Lisa and husband, Nick, also moved to Winnipeg.
Their other sister, Suzanna, and her husband, Selu, a well known painter, remained in Israel.
Over the years, Kittner has visited Israel – where she has numerous nephews, nieces and cousins – as well as having taken trips back to Romania and to other European countries.
Once in Winnipeg, she and Mike quickly found work in the garment industry. She was first hired as a bookkeeper by Stall and Son. After a short time she moved over to Silpit Industries, where she served as chief accountant for many years. Kittner has favourable memories of her boss, the late community leader Harry Silverberg. She later worked for another Silverberg firm, Brown and Rutherford, a lumber processing operation.
Mike only worked in the garment industry for a short time. He found his niche in insurance sales – where he excelled. He also founded Broadway Agencies and became a booking agent for budding new performing artists in Europe whom he brought to Winnipeg to appear in popular local night clubs.
Mike and Charlotte’s nephew, Brad Kittner, recalls as a youngster going with his
parents, aunts and uncles to those clubs and watching what he describes as “these fabulous singers.” He says that they inspired him to pursue his own successful career as a karaoke singer and performer for hire.
Charlotte and Mike first lived in East Kildonan for a year, then moved to Partridge Avenue in West Kildonan. A few years later, they bought a new house on Drimes Place, north of Templeton, in northwest Winnipeg.
While Mike Kittner passed away in 1991, Charlotte continued to work into her 70s.
Through the years, she has led a busy social life with family and friends. As Brad Kittner notes, even at 100, “Aunt Charlotte continues hosting friends and family for full course meals and gatherings at her place.”
Charlotte celebrated her hundredth birthday with more than 20 relatives and friends at the Ichiban Restaurant.
Although hard of hearing and somewhat frail of body, her mind remains relatively clear. She still enjoys reading fiction, doing crosswords and looking forward to her weekly card games with her sister-in-law, Sylvia, who also lives at Chateau West on Jefferson, and other friends.
May she live to 120!
Local News
Over 2000 supporters turned out for walk for Israel despite overcast skies, rain
By MYRON LOVE October 5 started out overcast and rainy. The rain – which fortunately stopped just before the Walk for Israel began – didn’t prevent over 2,000 supporters of Israel – both members of our Jewish community and those from outside of our community from turning out for the second annual Walk for Israel commemorating the horrific events of October 7 – two years ago – the darkest day in post-Holocaust Jewish history
As with last year, the 45-minute walk began and ended at the Asper Campus. While last year the walk was followed by speeches from community leaders and various politicians, this year the only speaker was Paula Parks, President of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, who pointed out that the ongoing anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations- post October 7- have strengthened the bonds within our community and spurred more people to affiliate with our communal organizations. She further noted that more of us are speaking out and we need to continue to do that.
“The number of people who participated was inspirational,” says Gustavo Zentner, the representative for Manitoba and Saskatchewan for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. “We had numerous allies as well as members of our Jewish community. We had people from all walks of life.”
“We had a fantastic turnout,” added Jeff Lieberman, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s CEO. “Paula spoke very well. Her comments were meaningful.”
He expressed his hope that the hostages would be released very soon, the war would be ended, and Israelis can finally live in peace.
The commemoration’s focus this year was primarily on visual images rather than words. The walk featured a number of photos taken by local members of the Winnipeg Jewish community who visited the Nova site in person or attended the Nova exhibit that travelled to various parts of Canada and the United States. The photos were displayed for the day along the fence on Doncaster Avenue – the first stage of the walk. Participants were handed Israeli flags and kalaniot (red anemones) flowers, the official flower of Israel, and were encouraged to place them around the photos on the fence.
As well, as part of the October 7 commemoration, 33 paintings depicting some of those taken hostage on October 7 were put on display along Main Street of the Campus from the week of October 3-October 10. The paintings were the work of well-known Israeli illustrator, cartoonist, humourist, performance artist and political activist, Zeev Engelmayer.
The walk on October 5 concluded with Israeli shimshinim – Israeli youth representatives here in Winnipeg from Israel – and other young people from our community reciting a prayer for the hostages (who were finally freed last week), and members of the IDF, followed by the singing of “O Canada” and “Hatikvah.”