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Despite JNF Canada losing its latest appeal in the Federal Court of Canada to have its charitable status restored, it will continue the appeal process all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, if necessary

By BERNIE BELLAN (June 17, 2025) Readers may recall that last August, in what was a shocking decision by the Canada Revenue Agency, JNF Canada lost its charitable status, which meant that it could no longer issue tax receipts for charitable donations. Further, JNF Canada was facing the prospect of having to wind down its operations and disburse all its assets by November 13, 2024, or face a 100% tax.
At the time, Canadian Jewish News reporter Ellin Bessner wrote a detailed examination of what had happened and why it happened.
Bessner noted the following reasons that the CRA had revoked JNF Canada’s charitable status:
“The agency’s findings in the audit ranged from where the charity’s books and records had been kept in 2011 and 2012 (mostly in Israel, which was a no-no), to what language the paperwork and receipts were kept in (mostly in Hebrew, which is not illegal but makes work difficult for auditors), to the conclusion that JNF Canada’s founding charitable purposes of relieving poverty in Israel by paying the salaries of indigent labourers, were not being met.”

Why would the CRA not enter into negotiations with JNF Canada over a new compliance agreement?

Lance Davis, CEO, JNF Canada

In an email received from Lance Davis, CEO of JNF Canada, on June 6, 2025, however, Davis addressed the particular concern to which Bessner referred in her August 2024 article – that JNF Canada was not meeting its “charitable object.”
Davis wrote: “The revocation is based on the CRA’s belief that our current charitable objective is no longer an acceptable charitable objective (after being acceptable for almost 60 years). It is not that the objective isn’t being met. It should be noted that we offered 10 new charitable objectives, which were previously approved for other charities, but the CRA never acknowledged these new objectives and continued to reject our requests for a compliance agreement. “

The CJN article offers more reasons for the CRA decision to revoke

Bessner’s article continued: “Another major issue was that because of missing paperwork and superficial oversight on the ground in Israel, it was felt the Montreal-based JNF Canada hadn’t been in control of or directing its own operations overseas. CRA believed the charity was acting merely as a funnel of money to the Jerusalem-based agency, the Jewish National Fund/Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, which ran the projects.
“A further red flag for auditors were several projects in 2011 and 2012 that benefited the Israel Defence Forces, such as construction of buildings and green areas on IDF military bases. Registered charities are not permitted to support a foreign military financially, under Canadian laws. Some other projects were located in the West Bank and on other disputed land, the CRA found, something which Canada’s foreign policy frowns on.
Bessner further noted that “JNF Canada disagreed with the CRA’s view of that last category—and still does. But in 2019, the charity assured the public that it had stopped funding both kinds of projects after 2016, in order to comply with CRA requirements in good faith.”

A 2019 internal CRA memo says JNF Canada’s charitable status would not be revoked until the appeals process was exhausted

Immediately upon learning that the CRA had revoked JNF Canada’s charitable status, representatives of JNF Canada launched a series of legal appeals to have that decision reversed.
What is even more perplexing, however, notwithstanding the various reasons the CRA may have given for revoking JNF Canada’s charitable status, is why the CRA took that step when apparently, in August 2019, senior administrators within CRA had decided not to revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status until such time as JNF Canada had exhausted all its appeals including going so far as appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada.
In an internal email circulated among three CRA employees in August 2019 (shown here), and which was written by Melissa Shaughnessy, who is currently listed as the “Acting /Manager, Charities Directorate, Compliance Division | Canada Revenue Agency,” Ms. Shaughnessy wrote: “I confirmed that our process would then be to await the decision of the objection and any possible subsequent FCA (Federal Court of Canada)/SCC (Supreme Court of Canada) appeals before taking any further steps toward revocation.” (emphasis ours)

As Lance Davis noted in an email sent to me on June 6, JNF Canada had already begun an appeal process to avoid having its charitable status revoked by the CRA. When the August 2024 decision to revoke its status was suddenly issued, notwithstanding the decision among CRA administrators, evident in the memo seen here, to await the results of the entire appeals process to which JNF Canada was entitled before revoking its charitable status, JNF Canada was blindsided.
Davis noted, with reference to what was written in that August 2019 CRA memo: “This approach was consistent with past practice of the CRA as reflected in its policies, publications and internal communications, and we relied on this assurance in our decision-making. Nonetheless, in 2024, the CRA published our revocation despite our Appeal 1 being active. …Appeal 2 is the appeal that we’ve now had two hearings on, both of which ruled on jurisdiction but not yet on the merits of revoking our status. We are currently determining with our leadership if we will proceed with another hearing to rule on the merits of our case, which we still believe are strong.”

We asked the CRA why that August 2019 memo which said revocation would not take place until JNF Canada’s appeals process in the courts was exhausted was reversed?

We contacted the CRA media department on June 10 to ask why, if the August 2019 memo gave clear indication that the CRA was not going to revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status until such time as all appeals by JNF Canada in the courts had been exhausted, the CRA had gone ahead in August 2024 and revoked JNF Canada’s charitable status? (We attached a screenshot of that August 2019 memo in case the CRA would take the position that there had never been any decision to await the results of JNF Canada’s appeals process.)
It took six full days for a media representative of the CRA to respond. In a typically Kafakaesque manner the CRA media representative simply entirely avoided dealing with the question about the memo, writing instead:
“The confidentiality provisions of the Act prevent the CRA from commenting on specific cases; however, we can provide you with the following general information.
“As mentioned in our response of August 30, 2024, we can confirm that the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund of Canada Inc. / Fonds National Juif du Canada Inc. (the Organization) was revoked effective August 10, 2024, in accordance with the Act.
“The CRA’s decision to revoke an organization’s charitable status is not taken lightly. Every organization facing revocation has the right to seek recourse.
“For more information about revocations, please visit: Revoking registered status – Canada.ca.
“The courts provide Canadians with an independent review of disputed issues, and court decisions serve to clarify the law or resolve disputes between the CRA and taxpayers. The CRA does not comment on the specific details of court cases to respect the confidentiality provisions of the Acts we administer. Publicly available information on this case may be obtained from the courts.”

However, as we noted in a previous article on our website, the CRA did release 358 pages of documents to us pertaining to its decision to revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status, following its decision to revoke. As Jonathan Rothman, writing on the CJN website, noted: “The communications branch of the CRA recently provided 358 pages of its correspondence with JNF Canada. Officials said that due to confidentiality restrictions in the Income Tax Act, the CRA can release this material only after revoking a charity’s status. ” 
So, it is somewhat specious for the media spokesperson to claim that “The CRA does not comment on the specific details of court cases to respect the confidentiality provisions of the Acts we administer” when, in fact, the CRA was quite willing to release 358 pages of documents explaining why it had suddenly revoked JNF Canada’s charitable status in August 2024. The question remains: What changed from the time that memo was circulated in August 2019 among CRA administrators and August 2024, when JNF Canada’s charitable status was revoked, without any prior notice given to JNF Canada that was about to happen?

The appeals process continues to take its course

It is somewhat confusing to follow the appeals process which JNF Canada undertook. One was an appeal through the Federal Court and another was an appeal through the Federal Court of Canada.

As Ellin Bessner explained in a November 10, 2024 article which appeared on the CJN website,
in November 2024 the Federal Court turned down JNF Canada’s request that the CRA’s decision to revoke its charitable status be reversed. Bessner wrote that “Jewish National Fund of Canada has lost its first major legal battle to stop the tax department’s revocation of its charitable status, which came into effect three months ago.
“Late in the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 8, a Federal Court judge dismissed JNF Canada’s application for a judicial review—and the judge also dismissed a request for an injunction to force the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to remove the official revocation notice that was printed in the Canada Gazette on Aug. 10.”
But, as Lance Davis noted in his June 6 email to me, “the November decision was not on the merits of our case. It was simply that the Federal Court was not the correct court to rule on our case and so the motion was dismissed and we were advised to take our case to the Federal Court of Appeal.”
However, early in June, JNF Canada lost its appeal to the Federal Court of Canada to have its charitable status restored.
Again though, as Davis explained to me, “This recent ruling was again only on jurisdiction. We appealed the Federal Court’s first decision that it did not have jurisdiction. The reason our lawyers chose this route was we truly believed the Federal Court was the correct place to start our judicial review. Time is of the essence as we do not want to operate as a non-profit indefinitely. Both CRA and JNF agreed that since the FCA was hearing our case, they should rule on the merits and not on whether or not the FC had jurisdiction. They declined to rule on the merits and instead, simply upheld the FC ruling that the FCA is the correct court to hear our case.”


Letter sent to JNF Canada supporters on June 4 about the most recent court decision

However, with that most recent court decision going against JNF Canada, a letter was sent to JNF Canada supporters on June 4 by Lance Davis, and Nathan Disenhouse, President, JNF Canada. That letter noted that “This week, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed our appeal, concluding that the Federal Court did not have jurisdiction over our claim that the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) actions deprived JNF Canada of procedural fairness. 
“The merits of our case – our arguments as to why the process afforded to us lacked procedural fairness – have still not been ruled on.
“While we are, of course, disappointed by this result, and while it is not the result we had expected, we always knew it was a possibility. For this reason, we have been actively planning next steps.  
“When the revocation of our charitable status was published in the Canada Gazette on August 10, 2024, we indicated that we had been blindsided. This is because in 2019 the CRA clearly and explicitly assured JNF Canada that the CRA ‘would not proceed with a revocation until JNF had exhausted their appeals process in Federal Court of Appeal or Supreme Court of Canada.’ (emphasis ours) This approach was consistent with past practice of the CRA as reflected in its policies, publications and internal communications and we relied on this assurance in our decision-making. 
“It is also important to emphasize that over the past decade JNF Canada has attempted to engage without success with the CRA in the hope of finding a mutually acceptable path forward. Approximately two weeks ago, JNF Canada made a settlement offer in advance of this hearing, which was rejected without a counteroffer or any type of dialogue. We urge the CRA, under the leadership of the newly appointed Honourable Wayne Long Secretary of State, Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions, to engage with us in the hope of our arriving at a mutually satisfactory agreement.    
“In looking ahead, JNF Canada will continue to challenge the CRA’s revocation of JNF’s charitable status and its decision to publish notice of the revocation when it did in 2024. We have a multi-pronged strategy in place which will ensure that all reasonable legal processes are engaged to protect JNF Canada’s rights. 
 “While the court ruling was surprising and disappointing, please rest assured that we remain committed to helping address the needs of Israelis during these troubling times and to pursuing justice through the judicial process.”
Davis added this, in his June 6 email to me:
“While we are disappointed with the outcome of our appeal, it is important to clarify that our main/underlying appeal is still in the court system at the Federal Court of Appeal. While we do not have a set date yet, we are expecting our case to be heard in late 2025 or early 2026.”

What has the impact of the CRA decision been on JNF Canada the past 10 months?

So, how have JNF Canada’s operations been affected since that August 2024 decision by the CRA to revoke its charitable status?
Davis wrote, in his email to
“JNF Canada has certainly experienced difficulties since we were revoked on August 10, 2024. It is evident that our revenue has diminished. For example, major gifts from charitable foundations cannot be donated to JNF Canada as these gifts can only be sent to a registered charity. However, we are pleased to share that thousands of Canadians from coast to coast have made contributions to JNF Canada without a charitable receipt. They believe in our mission and mandate so much that they forgo the benefits of a charitable receipt. To us, this demonstrates strong support from our community, and we are as motivated as ever to find a resolution.
“In the meantime, JNF is continuing to proudly operate as a non-profit and support the projects and programs we know are of deep importance to our community here in Canada. Thankfully, we have collaborated with like-minded charities. We are pleased to support three critical projects right now: the rehabilitation of Canada Park’s forests, the Ashdod Rehabilitation & Therapy Centre and the Sderot Resilience Centre. “

Manitoba/Saskatchewan division of JNF Canada carrying on

David Greaves, Executive Director, JNF Canada, Manitoba/Saskatchewan,

We also contacted David Greaves, Executive Director, JNF Canada, Manitoba/Saskatchewan, to ask him what impact the CRA August 2024 ruling has had on the Winnipeg office?
Greaves was upbeat in his response. He noted, for instance, that rather than laying off employees in the Winnipeg office, the number of positions there had increased from 3 1/2 to 4.
As well, Greaves observed that the Manitoba/Saskatchewan division was coming off a very successful Negev Gala – despite not being able to issue tax receipts for attendees at the Gala or donors who did not attend the Gala but still wanted to support JNF Canada, and that the office here was already planning next year’s Gala.
Finally, Greaves explained that JNF Canada was now working with a charitable organization called the Israel Magen Fund (which is also known as “Zaka”) to continue working on two projects that JNF Canada had already initiated within the past couple of years and had not been completed: the Ashdod Rehabilitation Centre and the Sderot Rehabilitation Centre.
Greaves advised that anyone wanting to donate to either of those two projects contact the Israel Magen Fund of Canada.

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Jewish Federation CEO Jeff Lieberman acknowledges importance of reaching out to members of the community who are disaffected

"Java with Jeff" attendees (left-right): Uriel Jelin, Shota and Lia Megrelishivili, Carrie Shenkarow, Jeff Lieberman.

By BERNIE BELLAN It was billed as “Java with Jeff” – a chance for anyone to talk to Jewish Federation CEO Jeff Lieberman in an open setting at Schmoozer’s Café. There were to be two sessions: an early morning session Monday morning, September 8, and an evening session Tuesday, September 23, at 7:30 pm.
While I didn’t attend the morning session held on September 8, anecdotally I heard that there was a good crowd and so, I expected much the same for the Tuesday, September 23 session – which I did attend.
As a result, I was somewhat shocked when I entered the Asper Campus that Tuesday evening and saw absolutely no one waiting in Schmoozer’s Café. I checked my phone again to make sure that I had the right date and time and, sure enough, I did.

Eventually, an old acquaintance by the name of Uriel Jelin – whom I hadn’t seen in quite a long time, walked up to where I was sitting at a table in Schmoozer’s and asked me whether I was also there to see Jeff Lieberman. I said I was, but Uriel was equally stupefied that no one else was there. (By the way, Uriel Jelin immigrated to Winnipeg from Argentina in 2015, along with his wife, Cynthia Fidel, and their two children, Anna Sofia and Eliel. They were profiled in an April 2016 issue of The Jewish Post & News by Rebeca Kuropatwa.)
While Uriel and I chatted, catching up on where he and Cynthia are at now, we noticed that, gathered in the courtyard adjoining Schmoozer’s, was a group, including Jeff Lieberman. (It turns out it was some sort of meeting for Gray Academy.) Within a few minutes, Jeff entered through the door leading into the campus. I approached him and asked him whether he was still planning on going ahead with “Java with Jeff,” despite the scarcity of attendees.
Jeff said he was going to proceed as planned but, instead of holding an open forum – which was the initial plan, he said, it would make more sense to hold a series of one-on-ones with whoever showed up. As it was, a very aggressive woman (who showed up after Uriel and I had been sitting waiting for Jeff to show up), approached Jeff and said to him that she had something to attend, so she asked whether she could sit down with him first. (I wasn’t surprised that someone had the effrontery to push herself to the head of the line.)
While that rude woman was sitting talking to Jeff, two more individuals showed up and said that they, too, would like to talk to Jeff.
While the rude woman spent over 20 minutes talking to Jeff, I engaged the two new individuals in conversation. They introduced themselves as Shota and Lia Megrelishvili – recent arrivals to our city from Georgia (not the Georgia in the USA). Georgia, which seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991, had been following a pro-Western stance, Shota explained, but its most recent prime minister has been attempting to shift the country back into a more pro-Russian stance, he noted.
Eventually, Jeff invited the four of us: Uriel, Shota, Lia, and me, to join him and Carrie Shenkarow (who said she was the incoming President of the Jewish Federation, about to take over from current President Paula Parks in November), at one table. (I should note that Paula Parks did show up as well, but she ended up sitting with someone else who had apparently come to participate in whatever it was that was supposed to take place. Paula and that person ended up having their own private conversation at a different Schmoozer’s table.)
Given the quite small number of individuals who had come out, Jeff suggested that we all just introduce ourselves and ask any questions anyone might have of him.
Shota took the opportunity to say how grateful he and Lia were to the Federation for the help they had been given in moving to Winnipeg. He added that he and Lia were there because they wanted to offer their services to the Federation to volunteer in any capacity the Federation might think useful.
At that point both Shota and Lia told the story how they had ended up in Winnipeg. While Shota said he had found work immediately in his field (IT), Lia was sadly underemployed (working in a food store), even though she was also qualified to work in IT.
I said to them that, years ago, I had been involved, along with former Rady JCC Programming Director Tamar Barr, in setting up what was called the Jewish Business Network. I said that I had retained every business card I had ever been given at any of the Jewish Business Network meetings and I knew that I had cards from at least a couple of individuals who were involved in IT. I said I would try to put Shota and Lia in touch with someone in IT – which I did the next day.
Eventually though, after everyone had had their chance to talk to Jeff, I said to him that I would like to take the opportunity to ask him some questions. I must add that I had tried to get a response from Jeff around the time the Federation had enmeshed itself in the affairs of BB Camp back in April, when then-Executive Director Jacob Brodovdsky had found himself caught up in a witch hunt engendered by the publisher of a website known as the J.ca, during which Brodovsky was accused of not showing enough support for the State of Israel.
Even though the board of BB Camp had given Brodovsky a full vote of confidence, the Jewish Federation had stepped in and, only three days after the BB Camp had issued that vote of confidence to Brodovsky, the Federation held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation and – the next day, Brodovsky was let go from his position. I never did get a response from Jeff as to why the Federation had interceded in the affairs of one of its beneficiary agencies (which, presumably, operate autonomously from the Federation.)
But, now that I had the opportunity to talk to Jeff one on one, I began by saying that I wasn’t going to revisit what happened to Jacob Brodovsky and that, no doubt, Jacob himself wanted to move on from what had happened.
Instead, I said, I wanted to ask how the Federation “can reach out to people who feel the Federation doesn’t represent them?”
Jeff answered that holding this kind of session was a way for people to “talk to the Federation, to talk to me. This may be the beginning, but maybe we can do something else – like a town hall – by Zoom or something, where people could ask questions, hold a conversation. I understand that there are people out there who don’t understand what Federation does, who don’t know the difference between Federation and (Jewish) Foundation…
“After I became CEO (in July 2023), I held a series of meetings, along with Dalia (Szpiro, Jewish Federation GrowWinnipeg Director) with Israelis. I was shocked to hear from some of them that they had never set foot in this building.”
I said that “they live far away in a lot of cases.” I noted that when Gayle Waxman was Rady JCC Executive Director, she started holding events in Transcona, for instance, to take programming closer to where many Israelis live.
Jeff added that, to make things even more difficult, some of the Israelis now live in Sage Creek which, I suggested, is “about as far away from the campus as you can get.”
“Here’s the other thing,” I said though: “Aside from involvement in the community,” there’s a situation where, especially among a lot of young people” – noting I had received a number of emails around the time of the Brodovsky controversy, “there’s a feeling that ‘if we don’t line themselves up in total support for Israel, we feel marginalized, we’re not accepted as part of the community.’ Is there room for people – like me,” I asked, “to have dissenting voices?”
Jeff agreed there are people who “feel we don’t represent them because of our support of Israel and we support Israel – the right of people there to feel secure, not to have to worry about their safety, but we don’t talk about support for the Israeli government, we talk about the Israeli people.”
“You talked about holding a ‘town hall,’ ” I said, “maybe through Zoom..and that would be kind of awkward,” , but “you agree about reaching out to people who feel excluded, who don’t feel part of the mainstream? It’s a tough one – because things have become so polarized.”
Jeff acknowledged “there’s a certain percentage of Jews who don’t agree with our position on the State of Israel.”
I said, “It’s probably a lot more than you think because I meet a lot of people who are ostensibly Jewish, who say we don’t want anything to do with the Jewish Federation… but – if you can put some flesh on the bone, and reach out by having some sort of town hall, that would be a way of perhaps doing something to make people who are currently disaffected feel that the Federation is at least listening to them.”

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Former Canadian Jacqui Vital tells Winnipeg audience story how her late daughter Adi fought heroically against Hamas terrorists on October 7

Jacqui Vital/her late daughter Adi Kaploun-Vital

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.

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Rainbow Stage honours Klara Belkin

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.

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