Local News
Former Winnipeg JNF Shaliach and Ben-Gurion University Executive Director Ariel Karabelnicoff has new gig with Haifa University
By MYRON LOVE Ariel Karabelnicoff left an indelible mark on our community over the 16 years that he and his wife Grabriela and their daughters lived here. Originally from Argentina, Ariel and Gabriela came here – by way of Israel – in 2003.
On first arriving, Karabelnicoff worked for investment firm Jory Capital. Subsequently, by turn, he served as the State of Israel Bonds’ point man here, then executive director of the local chapter of the Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – followed by filling the same role for the JNF here. In 2019, he was lured to Toronto by former employer Israel Bonds to serve as national sales director.
About two years ago, Karabelnicoff left Israel Bonds for a new gig as executive director of Canadian Friends of Haifa University.
“I was excited to take on this new role,” Karabelnicoff says. “I strongly believe in the importance of higher education. Higher education broadens the mind and is a path to opening doors to multiple opportunities in life. It is a key to social mobility.”
Karabelnicoff reports that, among the largest universities in Israel, the University of Haifa is the youngest. Fully accredited in 1972, he notes, the university has an enrolment of 18,000 students – with a student body that reflects the diversity of Israel’s population. About 40% of the students come from the Druze, Circassian and Arab communities and – among the Jewish students – there are many whose families are from Ethiopia.
The University of Haifa , he adds, also boasts the highest percentage – among Israeli universities – of students who are the first generation in their families to attend university.
The university has several campuses. The original campus – a 30-floor structure – on Mount Carmel – houses several faculties, among them the Faculty of Law – in its new building – and the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, which offers the only graduate program in Israel in that field. The Computer Science Faculty is located in the port area. The Faculty of Design and Architecture – formerly the Neri Bloomfield School of Design under Hadassah-WIZ Oauspices – is situated in Haifa’s German Colony neighbourhood.
Coming soon for the University of Haifa, Karabelnicoff reports, will be a new School of Medicine. “There is a serious doctor shortage in Israel,” he points out. “The plan is to work in cooperation with Carmel Hospital. The University of Haifa is proud to lead in the efforts to train medical doctors and to be able to serve and take care of the population in the north of Israel.”
He adds that, as a result of the ongoing war, thousands of young Israelis that fought and are fighting right now, will be able to receive treatment and rehabilitation to their injuries and physical disabilities at the “Rehabilitation Training Center,” which will be built as part of the new Medical School of the University of Haifa . The Center, he says, will be one of the most important facilities to be developed at the School of Medicine to train doctors in rehabilitation.
Karabelnicoff further reports that the new School of Medicine was inaugurated at an event during the recent Board of Governors meeting held on June 2, 2024. The school will start teaching its first 50 students in October 2025. In subsequent years 150 students a year will begin training annually.
The school will be built on the grounds of the main campus of the University of Haifa on Mt. Carmel. The capital campaign that was recently launched totals US $120 million. The university has already secured US$65 million – including US$50 million from the Amir Family, US$10 million more from the Bloom Family in Boston, and another US$5 million from other donors around the world so far.
The Canadian Friends of Haifa University, he notes, has been in operation since 1973. The Canadian chapter has been, until now, largely focused on Toronto. The new executive director is working to expand the CFHU outreach to other Canadian Jewish communities.
“There are a lot of Israelis living in Winnipeg, for example,” he says. “I have begun reaching out to them.
“I would also like to see if we could negotiate some joint programming between Haifa University and the University of Manitoba.”
Karabelnicoff reports that the school year, which was delayed by the October 7 attacks and the current ongoing IDF operation in Gaza, began at the beginning of January. “Things are slowly getting back to normal in Israel,” he says. “We had about 1,500 students and faculty fighting in the reserves. Two-thirds are back in class.”
A current fundraising goal for the CFHU is to raise money for students returning from the fighting to provide scholarships to help pay tuition and rent to make up what they had to sacrifice financially while serving in Gaza.
As an individual whose work history has been all about building relationships, Ariel Karabelnicoff may be just the man to expand CFHU’s footprint across Canada.
For readers interested in contacting Ariel about supporting Canadian Friends of Haifa University, his email address is ariel.karabelnicoff@haifa-univ.ca.
Local News
Join the Sewing Circle at Chesed Shel Emes
Local News
Talented Winnipeg composer Sara Kreindler teams up with her mother Reena Kreindler to create new satirical show to premiere here in May
By BERNIE BELLAN It’s been many years since I’ve heard from Sara Kreindler. Sara’s name first appeared in The Jewish Post & News in 2002 when a satirical musical titled “A Touch of Class” was reviewed by the late Arnold Ross. That particular production featured songs from popular Broadway shows that touched upon themes such as “greed, poverty, oppression, and social unrest.”
When she appeared in that show, Ross noted, Kreindler had just recently returned to Winnipeg from England, where she had obtained a doctorate in Social Psychology from Oxford University.
While at Oxford, Kreindler found time to compose a satirical musical titled “Charity,” which played to rave reviews there, and was performed five times.
Continuing in the theme of writing satirical musicals, Sara has now teamed up with her mother, Reena, to write a new musical titled “A Perfect Man,” which is set to run at the Gargoyle Theatre from May 6-17.
According to a press release we received, “A Perfect Man” is “a satirical musical, set on a fictional analogue of ‘The Bachelor’.
“The story follows an anthropologist who arrives to research TV’s hottest reality-dating show — only to discover she’s been made a contestant, and the bachelor is her high school crush. Past and present collide against an exuberant pastiche score that uses vintage musical styles to highlight modern absurdities.”
“Praised as ‘a musician [who] can make biofuels funny’ (CBC), Sara is known for whip-smart satire on a panoply of topics. Her digital musical, ‘Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System, created during her former life as an academic, has garnered over 84,000 YouTube views. Naturally, she had a field day with the subject of reality dating.
“The topic just begs for campy zaniness, which I think we all need in these times — but also for a more cerebral critique of what these shows say about the culture that spawned them,” says Kreindler. And thanks to the romance context, the satire is woven into a deeper, more personal story. “It’s satire with a heart.”
Here is some more information about Sara Kreindler, taken from a 2009 article I wrote about her:
“Born in Israel, Sara’s precocious talent was nurtured by her mother, Reena, whose own particular talent is literary, not musical. According to Reena, however, Sara was singing from the time she was a baby, and she began to study piano at the age of four.
“As a young girl, Sara began writing her own songs and poems, along with the “occasional musical”, notes Reena. Yet, Sara’s rare talent put her at odds with the typical interests of other children her own age, on top of which she attended a school to which she was exposed to a fair degree of antisemtism.
“As a result, Sara says, being bullied was a common aspect of her childhood. On one occasion, when she was nine, she notes, Sara fought back against one particular bully by reciting the following little ditty:
“I write so many epigrams to you that all the people laugh.
I’m tired of writing epigrams.
I want to write your epitaph!”
“Sara went on to compose a musical titled ‘Flutesong’ while she was a student at Vincent Massey Collegiate, she says. After doing her undergraduate work at the University of Manitoba, majoring in Psychology, Sara won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University.
“Sara eventually earned a doctorate in Social Psychology and returned to Winnipeg, where she began teaching at the University of Manitoba, but she said she didn’t enjoy the “mass production” style of teaching upwards of 300 students at a time, so she switched careers and began doing health research for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.”
All the while Sara has been continuing to compose and perform her own songs, often teaming up with her mother, as she has for “A Perfect Man.”
Showtimes and ticket information for The Perfect Man are available at:
http://www.thegargoyletheatre.com/upcoming-events/the-perfect-man
Local News
Rabbi Kliel Rose to leave Congregation Etz Chayim for new post in Ottawa
The following email from Congregation Etz Chayim Executive Director Morissa Granove was sent to members of the congregation on Friday, April 10:
“Dear Members and Friends,
“As we know, Rabbi Kliel recently spent a weekend with Kehilllat Beth Israel where he has since been offered a position. After much thought and consideration, he has made the decision to sign a contract in Ottawa. He will continue to lead our congregation through Yom Kippur.
“This news marks a significant ending for our Etz Chayim community, and at the same time with change comes opportunity. Congregation Etz Chayim will soon embark on our own Rabbinical search with excitement as we look for our perfect candidates and explore the new possibilities that will help us to continue to shape a strong future for our synagogue and members.”
Kliel Rose took up the position of rabbi at Etz Chayim in August, 2018.
In an article announcing his appointment to the position in the June 6, 2018 issue of The Jewish Post & News, Myron Love wrote:
The congregation has been without a permanent rabbi since last summer when Rabbi Larry Lander chose to retire – after ten years here – and relocate to Toronto.
Kliel Rose is already a well-seasoned rabbi. He was ordained in 2004 by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
He previously served as spiritual leader at the West End Synagogue in Nashville and Temple Enamu-El in Miami Beach. His current posting is Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton.
Following the example of his parents, Kliel Rose has been active in interfaith dialogue and human rights work for which he was honoured in 2014 with the Human Rights Hero Award by Truah: The Rabbibic Call for Human Rights.
He has also participated in the Kellogg Management Education for Jewish Leaders program at Northwestern University and was most recently chosen to be among 20 rabbis from different denominations chosen to train in the Clergy leadership Incubator – a two-year program, under the leadership of Ranni Sidney Schwarz, intended to educate younger rabbis in innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
In Edmonton, Rose also served as Jewish chaplain at the University of Alberta and took the lead on a program called “Faith and Inclusion”, whose mandate was to support individuals with cognitive and physical learning challenges to feel more welcome within various faith communities.