Local News
Former Jewish Child and Family Service client is new JCFS president
By MYRON LOVE When Elena and Konstantin Grinshteyn arrived in Winnipeg in 2006 with their one-year-old daughter, they were warmly welcomed at the airport by a settlement worker from Jewish Child and Family Service, who assisted them in settling in. This past June, at the JCFS’s Annual General Meeting, Elena was appointed the new president of the JCFS board.
“I have experienced first-hand the good work that the JCFS does in our community,” says the Red River College Polytech Senior Development Officer (responsible for student awards, and special initiatives), who joined the JCFS board in 2017.
Since Elena and her family settled in Winnipeg as a young couple with their one-year-old daughter, they have maintained a strong connection to the community by actively volunteering for the Grow Winnipeg program with the Jewish Federation, and later with JCFS. In their new country, Elena pursued a career in fundraising, working for the United Way of Winnipeg and Friends of Ralph Connor House before joining Red River College Polytechnic.
“The opportunity to work with visionary people who are shaping the community and creating a brighter future for the city is what makes being a Winnipegger special,” she says. Elena also sits on the board of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP).
Elena’s vision for the next two years at JCFS is to help move JCFS forward, ensuring the organization reaches as many clients as possible and continues to grow. As an immigrant to Canada, she feels a profound commitment to maintaining a strong connection with new immigrant families and raising awareness about all the services JCFS offers.
On Thursday, July 11, independently of her new role as JCFS Board President, Elena spoke to a small gathering of Christian friends of Israel – which was organized by Pastor Rudy Fidel of Faith Temple and his wife and partner, Gina. The reason for Elena’s presentation was twofold – to speak of her experiences being in Israel on October 7 – when she was not far from the epicentre of the Hamas attacks. As well, Al Benarroch, JCFS Executive Director, was invited to raise awareness with the group about JCFS’s support services for Holocaust survivors. During his presentation Benarroch noted that there was an unexpected shortfall in year’s funding for the program this year.
Grinshteyn began her talk with some biographical information. The daughter of a Ukrainian father and Jewish mother living in the now embattled Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the family decided to make aliyah in 1991, when Grinshteyn was 13. The family settled in Ashkelon in southern Israel.
Grinshteyn did her two years of service in the IDF, after which she earned a degree in Economics and Computer Science from Bar Ilan University.
“Israel is a multifaceted country – you hear many different languages on the street – and where people are generally happy despite the constant threat of terrorism and war,” she observed.
It was acts of terrorism – in particular, the bombing of the Dolphinarium Discotheque in Tel Aviv on June 1, 2001, that persuaded Elena and Konstantin to leave Israel. “It was a hard decision,” Elena recalls, “but we wanted to offer our kids a home where they would be safe.” The couple has two daughters – 19 and 13 years old.”
At the beginning of October, the Grinshteyn family returned to Israel to spend Sukkot with their extended family. “We enjoyed an amazing six days,” she told her audience. “We were surrounded by our loving family in Ashdod and Ashkelon.”
“Then, in the early hours of October 7, we heard rockets and the sirens going off ,“ she recounts. “Fortunately, my mother-in-law had a bomb shelter in her apartment building. Although everyone said we would be okay, the sounds of the rockets were terrifying.”
“By 9:00 A.M., we realized that a full-scale invasion was taking place.”
“By 10:30 am, over 2,000 missiles had already been fired into southern Israel.”
She proceeded to show slides of some of the destruction in Ashdod.
Elena and Konstantin immediately began trying to make plans to return home to Canada, but most flights were cancelled. They were able to get a flight to Greece on October 11 and were able to finally return to Canada five days later.
As was noted, the second part of the evening’s presentation for Christian friends of Israe saw Al Benarroch, JCFS’s Executive Director, speaking about the needs of local Holocaust survivors and the reductions in funding for the program at JCFS that supports them.
“This year, we are facing a $40,000 deficit,” he reported. Pastor Rudy Fidel and his congregants have pledged their own efforts to help raise money toward making up that deficit.
After WWII, Benarroch explained, the German government slowly accepted responsibility for what the Nazi Regime unleashed on the Jewish people and entered into negotiations to pay financial compensation to survivors. The negotiations (which continue to this day) and funding channels through the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (also known as the “Claims Conference”), a nonprofit organization with offices in New York, Israel, and Germany. Over the decades, Germany has paid out many billions of dollars to help Holocaust survivors all over the world.
“The problem here,” Benarroch pointed out, “ is that the number of Holocaust survivors in Winnipeg served by JCFS now stands at 91 (an estimated 20-25 additional survivors have not sought services from JCFS). We have assisted as many as 160 over the years. (Some 1,050 or so survivors originally settled in Winnipeg after the war). JCFS assists them with filling out the various forms for reparations, which can be an emotionally daunting task for survivors. We also assist with emergency financial assistance for those most in need, and private homecare services to top up the few hours that the public healthcare system may provide. Funding from the Claims Conference covers all of this, including funds to employ two social workers to work with the survivors. Until recently, negotiations with the German government allowed for funding in a ratio of one social worker for every 50 Holocaust survivor clients. As a result of negotiations, and to establish more consistency worldwide, this ratio has now been changed to one worker for every 70 clients.
“JCFS currently receives and spends almost $900,000 a year total for the services to Holocaust survivors in our community”, Benarroch reported. “The funds allocated to financial assistance and homecare remain the same. However, the funds to cover the salaries of those 2 social workers at the new ratio of 1:70 cases is resulting in a deficit of $40,000.
“On principle, JCFS will not reduce the amount of social work time devoted to Holocaust survivors,” said Benarroch. “They deserve so much more than we already give them, and we will find a way to keep funding those positions.”
He singled out special praise for JCFS social worker, Adeena Lungen, herself the daughter of Holocaust survivors, who has been working with the survivor community for the past 20 years.
“Adeena’s dedication is remarkable. She is so committed and, as an example, she makes every effort to attend the funeral of any local Holocaust survivor who passes away,” Benarroch added. “It is estimated that in another 10-12 years, the last remaining Holocaust survivor in the world will pass away. What then will be their legacy?”
Referring to Elena Grinshteyn’s account of terrorism in Israel, Benarroch recounted his own parents’ narrow escape once – in Jerusalem. In the 1990s, Shlomo and Mary Benarroch were visiting in Jerusalem. They were shopping for a tallis – the kind with the rainbow stripes, for a younger Al Benarroch – before doing their Friday afternoon pre-Shabbat shopping at the nearby Machane Yehuda Market. They were delayed in that particular Judaica store and ,while waiting, a double suicide bombing occurred in the market.
“It was a miracle,” Benarroch said to the church group. “There is no other way to explain it. Israel is a special place. It is a land where miracles happen every day, and our very survival itself is a miracle. It is through the grace of God that Israel will continue to overcome hardships and survive.”
Local News
Further to the Simkin Centre’s financial situation
By BERNIE BELLAN A while back I published an article about the deficit situation at the Simkin Centre. (You can read it at “Simkin Centre deficit situation.“) I was prompted to write that particular article after reading a piece written by Free Press Faith writer John Longhurst in the August 5 issue of the Free Press about the dire situation personal care homes in Winnipeg are in when it comes to trying to provide their residents with decent food.
Yet, Longhurst made one very serious mistake in his article when he wrote that the “provincial government, through the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, has not increased the amount of funding it provides for care-home residents in Manitoba since 2009.”
In fact, the WRHA has given annual increases to personal care homes, but its allocations are not broken down by categories, such as food or salaries. As a spokesperson for the WRHA explained to me in an email: “PCHs receive per diem global operating funding based on the number of licensed beds they operate. This funding model is designed to support the full range of operating costs associated with resident care, including staffing, food services, utilities, building operations, and other day-to-day expenses.”
Now, one can make a perfectly valid argument that the level of funding from the WRHA has not kept up with inflation, especially inflation in food costs, but the Simkin Centre is in an even more precarious position because of the skyrocketing cost of kosher food.
“In recent years,” according to an article on the internet, “the cost of kosher food has increased significantly, often outpacing general food inflation due to unique supply chain pressures and specialized production requirements.”
Yet, when I asked Laurie Cerqueti how much maintaining a kosher facility has cost the Simkin Centre, as I noted in my previous article about the deficit situation at Simkin, she responded: “approximately $300,000 of our deficit was due to food services. I do not have a specific number as far as how much of the deficit is a result of kosher food…So really this is not a kosher food issue as much is it is an inflation and funding issue.”
One reader, however, after having read my article about the deficit situation at Simkin, had this to say: “In John Longhurst’s article on Aug 5, 2025 in the Free Press, Laurie (Cerqueti) was quoted as saying that the annual kosher meal costs at Simkin were $6070 per resident. At Bethania nursing home in 2023, the non-kosher meal costs in 2023 were quoted as $4056 per resident per year. Even allowing for a 15% increase for inflation over 2 years, the non-kosher food costs there would be $4664.40 or 24% lower than Simkin’s annual current kosher food costs. If Simkin served non-kosher food to 150 of its 200 residents and kosher food to half of its Jewish residents who wish to keep kosher, by my calculation it would save approximately $200,000/year. If all of Simkin’s Jewish residents wished to keep kosher, the annual savings would be slightly less at $141,000.”
But – let’s be honest: Even though many Jewish nursing homes in the US have adopted exactly that model of food service – where kosher food is available to those residents who would want it, otherwise the food served would be nonkosher, it appears that keeping Simkin kosher – even though 45% of its residents aren’t even Jewish – is a “sacred cow” (pun intended.)
So, if Simkin must remain kosher – even though maintaining it as a kosher facility is only adding to its accumulated deficit situation – which currently stands at $779,426 as of March 31, 2025,I wondered whether there were some other ways Simkin could address its deficit while still remaining kosher.
In response to my asking her how Simkin proposes to deal with its deficit situation, Laurie Cerqueti wrote: “There are other homes in worse financial position than us. There are 2 homes I am aware of that are in the process of handing over the keys to the WRHA as they are no longer financially sustainable.”
I wondered though, whether the Simkin Centre Foundation, which is managed by the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba might not be able to help the Simkin Centre reduce its deficit. According to the Jewish Foundation’s 2024 annual report, The Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation, which is managed by the Jewish Foundation, had a total value of $11,017,635.
The Jewish Foundation did distribute $565,078 to the Simkin Centre in 2024, but even so, I wondered whether it might be able to distribute more.
According to John Diamond, CEO of the Jewish Foundation, however, the bylaws of the Foundation dictate that no more than 5% of the value of a particular fund be distributed in any one year. There is one distinguishing characteristic about the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation, in that a portion of their fund is “encroachable.” The encroachable capital is not owned by JFM. It is held in trust by JFM but is beneficially owned by Simkin, similar to a “bank deposit”. While held by the JFM, these funds are included in the calculation of Simkin’s annual distribution.
I asked John Diamond whether any consideration had been given to increasing the distribution that the Jewish Foundation could make to the Simkin Centre above the 5% limit that would normally apply to a particular fund under the Foundation’s management.
Here is what John wrote in response: “The Simkin does have an encroachable fund. That means that at their request, they can encroach on the capital of that fund only (with restrictions). This encroachment is not an increased distribution; rather, it represents a return of capital that also negatively affects the endowment’s future distributions.
”It is strongly recommended that encroachable funds not be used for operating expenses. If you encroach and spend the capital, the organization will receive fewer distribution dollars in the next year and every year as the capital base erodes. Therefore, the intent of encroachable funds is for capital projects, not recurring expenses.”
I asked Laurie Cerqueti whether there might be some consideration given to asking for an “encroachment” into the capital within the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation?
She responded: “We are not in a position where we are needing to dip into the encroachable part of our endowment fund. Both of our Boards (the Simkin Centre board and the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation board) are aware of our financial situation and we are all working together to move forward in a sustainable way.”
At the same time though, I wondered where donations to the Simkin Centre end up? Do they all end up in the Simkin Centre Foundation, for instance, I asked Laurie Cerqueti on December 15.
Her response back then was: “All donations go through our Foundation.”
I was somewhat surprised to read that answer, so I asked a follow-up question for clarification: “Do all donations made to the Simkin Centre end up in the Simkin Centre Foundation at the Jewish Foundation?”
The response this time was: “No they do not.”
So, I asked: “So, how do you decide which donations end up at the Foundation? Is there a formula?”
Laurie’s response was: “We have a mechanism in place for this and it is an internal matter.”
Finally, I asked how then, the Simkin Centre was financing its accumulated deficit? Was it through a “line of credit with a bank?” I wondered.
To date, I have yet to receive a response to that question. I admit that I am puzzled that a personal care home which has a sizeable foundation supporting it would not want to dip into the capital of that foundation when it is facing a financial predicament. Yes, I can see wanting the value of the foundation to grow – but that’s for the future. I don’t know whether I’d call a $779,425 deficit a crisis; that’s for others to determine, but it seems pretty serious to me.
One area that I didn’t even touch upon in this article, though – and it’s something I’ve written about time and time again, is the quality of the food at the Simkin Centre.
To end this, I’ll refer to a quote Laurie Cerqueti gave to John Longhurst when he wrote his article about the problems personal care homes in Winnipeg are facing: “When it comes to her food budget, ‘we can’t keep making the same number of bricks with less straw.’ “
Local News
Exclusive: Security Enhancement Fund to be announced by Province in coming days
By NOAH STRAUSS The province is set to announce a new program called the Security Enhancement Fund, which
will provide funding to religious and faith groups to improve security at institutions such as
synagogues and mosques. In an exclusive interview, Minister of Justice Matt Wiebe outlined the
plan and detailed what the province has already done to help protect Jewish Manitobans.
“What we want to do is to be able to provide the community with the kind of tools that they need
to stay safe and to ensure that everyone in the community feels safe,” said Wiebe.
The fund will provide a missing link between government and religious communities, and
communities will now be able to make their own choices without money being a big restraint.
Essentially, the power will be in the hands of community leaders and not government officials.
The minister noted that the new partnerships will provide the province a better understanding of
the needs of every community. Rather than the province making the choices, they are
essentially giving a voice to each community. The grants, totalling $1 million, will provide funds to enhance security at facilities like synagogues.
The Jewish Post reached out to Dr. Rena Secter Elbaze, executive director of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek. “It’s important that the government show us that they’re taking security seriously and stepping up to the plate to make this offer. We will absolutely be applying for grant money,” she said. Elbaze also wants to know whether or not the government will cover the costs of things the synagogue has already spent money on. She noted that the province has, in the past, made grants available to have security guards present.
When speaking about what the Justice Ministry has already done to protect Jewish Manitobans,
Wiebe brought up the new special prosecutor that is focusing on hate crimes. Wiebe said the
special prosecutor works closely with the Winnipeg Police Service “to support investigations and
prosecute hate crimes. Wiebe also went on to say how the Department of Education has been helping to fight antisemitism. “The creation of the Holocaust education curriculum is an important step in the right direction,” he said. When asked about Oliver Didtger Ederhof, the individual charged with 14 counts of mischief including vandalism of Shaarey Zedek, Wiebe said decisions like bail and police undertakings are decisions that are in part made by the federal government through the criminal code and policies. “We’re going to continue to advocate for stricter bail reform at the federal level…. I’ve been very clear, we issued clarified directives around bail to our Crown prosecutors.”
The full announcement from the province is expected in the coming days.
Local News
March of the Living 2023 participants form Taste of Hope project to help honour the memory of Holocaust survivor Alex Buckman
By BERNIE BELLAN The March of the Living is an annual two-week international educational program that brings thousands of students and adults to Poland and Israel to study the Holocaust, Jewish history, and the rise of the State of Israel. Founded in 1988, it features a 3-kilometer silent walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).
Attendees on the march are accompanied by adults, some of whom themselves have been Holocaust survivors.
Following the week in Poland, participants travel to Israel to observe Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) and celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day), marking a journey from darkness to life.
For many years the coordinator of the march in Winnipeg was Roberta Malam, working on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg. More recently Abby Flackman filled that role, and now the person in charge is Lindsey Kerr.
Since its inception 37 years ago the March of the Living has become a rite of passage for many young Winnipeg Jews who have been able to participate as an organized group from Winnipeg and combine visits to the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland with the subsequent trip to Israel.
Then – the Covid pandemic hit – in 2020, and the March of the Living was put on hold for two years – in 2020 and 2021.
In 2022, the March of the Living resumed, but there was no organized contingent from Winnipeg participating. (There may have been some Winnipeggers who did go on the march that year, but if there were any they would have been part of a general Canadian group since there was no Winnipeg coordinator that year.)
In 2023, however, once again a very large contingent of young Canadian Jews – 51 altogether, of whom approximately two-thirds were from Winnipeg, went on that year’s March of the Living. That particular march was memorable for many reasons, including the fact it was the last full march since 2019 and was to remain the last march to have an organized Winnipeg contingent in the past six years as the years 2024 and 2025 were interrupted by the war in Gaza. (There were smaller marches held in 2024 and 2025, but again there was no organized contingent from Winnipeg.)
Recently, we were contacted by one of the participants of that 2023 march, Ethan Levene, who asked us whether we’d be interested in running what turned out be a very poignant story about one particular aspect of that 2023 March of the Living.
Here is what Ethan wrote:
“In April 2023, the Coast to Coast Canadian delegation of March of the Living was privileged to travel with Holocaust survivor Alex Buckman (z”l). March of the Living is a Holocaust education trip that allows participants to visit and bear witness to the sites of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, while sharing his story in Poland, Alex passed away. However, the impact he left on us students was immeasurable.
“While speaking to us in Warsaw, Alex told us the story of his Aunt Becky’s gâteau à l’orange (orange cake). While in Ravensbruck concentration camp, his aunt managed to write down this recipe. After his parents’ murder, his Aunt Becky went on to raise Alex after surviving. In addition to sharing his story, Alex tasked us with baking the cake with family and friends.
“Out of this, a group of alumni from our trip have created this project: ‘A Taste of Hope.’ On February 1st, university students from over 5 universities across Canada will come together to bake the gâteau à l’orange and hear Alex’s story. Proceeds from the event and this fundraising page will support the World Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants. Alex was heavily involved with this organization, whose mission is to both create community for Holocaust survivors and their descendants and educate about the Holocaust to help fight against antisemitism and all forms of bigotry and hate.
“Here is information from our fundraising page for the event – ‘A Taste of Hope’: Fundraising for A Taste of Hope.
Ethan added that “it’s completely student led, all by alumni from our 2023 trip attending university at these various locations across Canada; Winnipeg, London, Kingston, Montreal.”
He also added: “Follow us on instagram@tastehope.“
Here is a link to a CBC story about Alex Buckman: Alex Buckman story
In a subsequent email Ethan gave the names of Winnipeggers who are involved in A Taste of Hope: Ethan Levene (studies at McGill), Zahra Slutchuk, Alex Stoller (studies at Queens), Coby Samphir, Izzy Silver (studies at Waterloo).
He also added names of others who are involved in the project: Jessie Ages, Anneke Goodwin, Lilah Silver, Ella Pertman, Ellie Vogel, and Talia Cherun.
To find out more about March of the Living in Winnipeg go to: March of the Living