Local News
Fringe festivals throughout North America – including Winnipeg, have become hugely hostile locations for anyone who has expressed support for Israel
By BERNIE BELLAN What happens when a fringe festival performer, who also happens to be Jewish, doesn’t shy away from voicing their support for Israel? In today’s world that performer is bound to be subjected to a torrent of hate – both online and in person.
Such was the case in Winnipeg recently when Melanie Gall, a longtime performer at Winnipeg’s Fringe Festival, found herself caught up in an organized campaign of harassment and bullying – culminating in calls to boycott her shows and defacement of her posters.
To begin, here’s a brief bio of Melanie which should give a good idea how accomplished she is: “Melanie Gall is a professional musician and music historian who holds advanced degrees from several academic institutions, including Manhattan School of Music in New York, Mozarteum University in Salzburg, and Glenn Gould School in Toronto. Melanie is an internationally-acclaimed performer and has sung at Lincoln Center and Royal Albert Hall. She has also written several plays featuring historic music and “Ingenue,” about Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland, had a sold out Off-Broadway run at SoHo Playhouse and won a Best Musical Award at the Adelaide Festival. Melanie divides her time between Alberta, Canada and New York City. She also hosts the Savvy Girls Podcast with her sister.”
As a personal aside I first met Melanie in 2015 at that year’s Winnipeg Fringe Festival. It has been my practice for years to give any Jewish performer at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival some advance publicity – both on this website and within the pages of The Jewish Post & News (now called The Jewish Post). I’ve had a chance to talk with Melanie before, but until this year she had never mentioned that her being Jewish had caused any problems for her.
This year was different, however. While there were several other Jewish performers at Winnipeg’s Fringe Festival I didn’t hear of anyone else being subjected to an organized campaign of harassment the way Melanie was. I did receive an email on July 20 from another Jewish performer by the name of Randy Ross who told me he was upset by seeing a pro-Palestinian demonstration march through Exchange Square – the centre of Fringe activity. Randy said that he and “another Jewish woman told fringe folks we were offended. Festival staff was nice and receptive.”
I hadn’t heard of anything else that might have been construed as antisemitic until I happened to be speaking to another Fringe performer by the name of Jem Rolls (who isn’t Jewish) after the Winnipeg Fringe was over. During the course of our conversation Jem asked me whether I was aware of what had been happening to Melanie Gall? When I said I wasn’t, Jem told me that not only had she been subjected to harassment in Winnipeg, but that she had encountered an even worse form of harassment in Edmonton, which is where she is scheduled to next appear.
As a result I contacted Melanie and asked her to describe what had happened to her in Winnipeg, also what was going on in Edmonton (where that city’s fringe festival is not slated to begin until August 15.)
Melanie explained that she has not been shying away from maintaining a very strong pro-Israel stance on social media, specifically Instagram. “Nobody (in the fringe circuit) has been quite as vocal online as I have the past nine months,” she said. Melanie added though that “I have not said anything against Palestinian rights. I have said ‘What about the hostages?’ “
But these day anyone who is brave enough to post support for Israel on social media is setting themselves up for vicious condemnation – which is something Melanie had been quite aware of, but which has not led to her backing down from her position.
Still, she realized that certain venues this year would be far too hostile for her to consider participating in those fringe festivals. As she told me, “I purposely didn’t do any shows on the West Coast because everyone (who’s a fringe festival performer) I know on the West Coast is a virulently anti-Israel performer.”
As well, Melanie ruled out performing in two other fringe festivals where she had performed in previous years: Halifax and Orlando.
“Halifax was posting antisemitic things so I wasn’t going to go to Halifax,” she noted. As for Orlando – “the Queers for Palestine came in,” so she decided not to go to Orlando either.
But, in contrast with those two fringe festivals, Melanie had been assured that Winnipeg’s Fringe Festival would not tolerate the kind of harassment that she knew she would receive in those other cities.
The director of Winnipeg’s Fringe Festival is Chuck McEwen, who has been in that role since 2008. (Prior to coming here McEwen was the director of the Toronto Fringe Festival.)
Winnipeg’s Fringe Festival has traditionally been the second largest fringe festival in North America, surpassed only by Edmonton’s.
And, to be fair, when Melanie Gall began to experience overt antisemitic behaviour on the part of some Winnipeg Fringe volunteers and online during her recent stay here, she did say that her interaction with Chuck McEwen was quite positive. “Chuck was wonderful,” she said. “I have a few emails from him apologizing for what had been happening.”
So, what happened to Melanie during her stay in Winnipeg, from July 17-28?
To begin with, Melanie explained, she “was told no one was allowed to wear pro-Palestinian symbols if they were on staff. I showed up to my first performance (at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People) and my tech was wearing a pro-Palestinian pin. The next day a volunteer at my venue was wearing a kaffiyeh.”
Still, even with that, Melanie wasn’t sure that she was being singled out for harassment.
However, on the third day, she said, “the site supervisor came and was wearing a pro-Palestinian symbol” and told Melanie that he was wearing that deliberately because he was coming to Melanie’s venue.
He told her, “that stance you’re taking (on social media) is a political symbol.”
“That person was relieved” from his duties after Melanie complained to the Fringe office staff, she noted.
Melanie was also the target of an organized campaign on pro-Palestine social media calling for her shows to be boycotted.
On her last day of performing at the Winnipeg Fringe, Melanie says, her “tech came wearing a pro-Palestinian symbol. He was walking back and forth with that symbol.” (She didn’t say what the symbol was.)
Yet, despite what was happening toward her, Melanie says “at no point did I ever demand that they (volunteers or paid staff) take off” their pro-Palestinian pins or other symbols of support for Palestine.
Notwithstanding Melanie’s not having demanded that anyone remove pro-Palestinian symbols, a site supervisor by the name of Eric Rae posted on social media words to the effect, “We have a Zionist in our midst harassing pro-Palestinians.”
As Melanie said during our phone conversation, “This is so ridiculous. I’m being harassed and bullied because I’m Jewish…it’s not about Israel.”
And, while Fringe Festival organizers in Winnipeg took her complaints very seriously, according to Melanie, “it still went to hell.”
The Edmonton Fringe Festival is adding an entirely new dimension of antisemitism to what she has already experienced, Melanie observed. The show she is planning on performing was actually written by her mother, Karen Gall. It’s a show about funny Alberta landmarks.
In order to enhance the show, Melanie and Karen asked the Edmonton Fringe for a designer who could contribute a digital component to the show.
But, as part of her show, Melanie wanted to include a picture of her working on a kibbutz in Israel. After she told that to the artistic director of the Edmonton Fringe Festival, Murray Utas, Melanie says, the next day she was told by Murray that “the designer had pulled out. It was against their ideology to work with us.”
What also concerns Melanie is the possibility that the pro-Palestine network in Winnipeg will have established contact with a similar network in Edmonton to call for boycotting Melanie and Karen’s show.
As she says, “it’s one thing for them not to work with me – which is egregious in itself” (as the designer who was supposed to work with their show decided), “now I’m known as a Zionist. I’m no longer under the radar here.”
Local News
This man – Michael Kalo – has been defaming prominent Winnipeggers online for years, but now he’s getting a taste of his own medicine
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted May 3, updated May 8, updated May 11) There’s a particularly ugly side that often comes with being in the public eye – and that’s being on the receiving end of some of the most vile and awful comments, often threats – sometimes on social media, sometimes in emails, and sometimes on websites.
For years now many prominent Winnipeggers (almost all of them Jewish) have had to endure just that kind of vicious attack from someone by the name of Michael Kalo. But how do you fight back against someone who writes some of the most awful things – and then sends them out to various members of the media (including me), all the while hiding behind a series of aliases? There’s no point in suing him for defamation; he’s penniless. (The police have seized his computer in the past and are well aware of him, but the individuals whom he has defamed have always been reluctant to have the Crown press charges, thinking that it will only draw more attention to him – which is what he seems to want.)
But I’m different – and I’ve finally had enough of his crap.
In my original column I had posted the email Kalo had sent out to a great many individuals in which he defamed Jacob Brodovsky, who was forced to resign as co-executive director of BB Camp after a website called the j.ca launched a series of attacks on Jacob over his perceived “anti-Zionist” attitudes. I suppose these days who defines “Zionist” is a decision made by certain individuals who reserve for themselves the right to define what support for Israel means. I guess all those hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been marching on the streets protesting Netanyahu’s deliberate strategy of letting the remaining hostages linger in tunnels in Gaza – however many may still be alive) are also “anti-Zionist.”
Anyway, I’ve now removed that vile email. If anyone still wants to see it, email me at jewishp@mymts.net and I’ll send it to you.
Something else I’ve now removed from this article is my referring to Michael Kalo’s very accomplished daughters. My intention was to attempt to induce them to use their influence to sway their father to stay off the internet and stop defaming members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community. But then I received an email from a prominent member of our community who asked me to remove my references to Michael Kalo’s daughters. That person wrote, in part: ‘His daughters don’t have anything to do with him. They don’t talk to him.”
Well, if his daughters don’t want anything to do with him, then I suppose there’s no point in retaining what I had written about them – so that’s gone too.
What’s left now though is a video of Michael Kalo that gives anyone who has never heard of him – or seen him in pubic, a clear idea of what type of person he is.
The video that was sent to me shows Kalo engaging in an argument with someone (and the identity of that person was not revealed to me by the person who sent me the video.) In it you can hear Michael explain why he’s consistently called Ben Carr a “kike”, “a spoiled Jew boy,” along with some other choice epithets. (Kalo has sent out numerous emails defaming Ben Carr using the name “Mohammed Greenberg” as the sender.)
But, I did respond to Kalo, whom I’ve know for many years, starting with when he achieved notoriety by being banned from entering the Asper Campus over 30 years ago. Here’ what I wrote to him:
“You know what I’m going to do Michael. I’m going to print your letter on my website – but I’m going to say that it was sent by someone named Michael Kalo, who has been defaming various Winnipeg Jews for years. That way it will have the opposite effect of what you’re intending. I’m also going to post the video in which you call Ben Carr (and the person filming the video) a kike. And if you want to come after me the way you’ve been going after anyone and everyone who provokes your ire, go right ahead. (You seem to have a real hate on for successful Winnipeg Jews. Is it because you’re such a failure in life yourself?) And I’m going to bcc this email to some of the people you’ve been defaming so that they can see how much of a fool you”ve been making of yourself for years.
-“Bernie”
Here’s the video of Michael (who is apparently walking away with a Ben Carr sign tucked under his arm):
Local News
Rabbi Matthew Leibl’s Friday afternoon service at Simkin Centre has grown in popularity
By BERNIE BELLAN In November 2023 I published a story in The Jewish Post & News about the first-ever Friday afternoon “Erev Shabbat” service at the Simkin Centre, which was held October 27, 2023.
It was an opportunity for me to see how much of an impact the newly spiritual care aide at the Simkin Centre, Rabbi Matthew Leibl, was having on residents. But that was in 2023 – only 2 years after the Simkin Centre had emerged from the most harrowing period in its history.
As you may recall, when Covid 19 began to spread in early 2020, it was personal care homes across Canada that were hit hardest – and the Simkin Centre was not spared the ravages of Covid. A total of 11 residents passed away at the Centre in 2020 and 2021.
Another result of the Covid epidemic was that the number of non-Jewish residents at the Simkin Centre jumped by quite a large number during the epidemic. Here are some figures showing how many more non-Jewish residents moved into the home by 2021 than had been there previously:
2017 – 67 non-Jewish or 33.5%
2018 – 63 non-Jewish or 31.5%
2019 – 71 non-Jewish or 35.5%
2020 – 61 non-Jewish or 30.5%
2021 – 86 non-Jewish or 43.0%
According to Laurie Cerqueti, CEO at the Simkin Centre, as of May 2, 2025, 44% of the residents are non-Jewish while 56% are Jewish.
Rabbi Leibl had been hired in the spring of 2023. His hiring was enabled by a grant from the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. Here is how the Foundation explained what its purpose was in making a grant to the Simkin Centre for the hiring of a full-time spiritual care aide:
“I know how important spiritual care is in our type of setting,” said Laurie Cerqueti, Simkin Centre CEO. “For our residents, our families, and our community.”
Since she took over the CEO role, Laurie’s thoughts had been directed to ‘How can we serve our people even more than we are now? How can we make this bigger and better?’
This sparked the idea that someone should be brought in to look at what they were doing regarding spiritual care to see where gaps and opportunities lay to develop the program.
The Simkin Centre hired Rabbi Matthew Leibl as the person to fill the role, someone Cerqueti thought would be a perfect fit f for what they’were hoping to do.
“As I spoke with Matthew about this opportunity, we see it as an opportunity to make a significant difference for the residents and their families,” said Cerqueti.
This interaction with the Simkin Centre is not Rabbi Leibl’s first. He has been involved with the Simkin Centre for over 15 years, first working there at age 21. That year, he did concerts three times per week for the residents.
“I found that the music and performing was an incredible way to connect with the people there,” said Rabbi Leibl.
He recalled a story from that time frame where he was performing Oseh Shalom, and one resident who had been, to that point, without her memory and less present, began to mouth the words along with him. The song helped her break through what she had been dealing with.
“That moment was truly a game changer for me. I’m so excited to be able to give back to a place that helped people in my own family and was a great place for me while I was figuring out my way many years ago,” said Rabbi Leibl.
“Simkin is such a special place, and what they’re doing there is awesome.”
In the year and a half since I was present at Rabbi Leibl’s first ever Friday afternoon service at the Simkin Centre much has changed. Most of the new residents who have moved into the centre have, once again, been Jewish. But, in recognition of how many residents are not Jewish the centre has begun offering services for different denominations as well. The May calendar of events lists a Catholic Mass, an Anglican service, a Christian Bible Study, and a Hymnsing.
But it was Rabbi Leibl’s Erev Shabbat service I was interested in seeing again – some 18 months after the first service he had conducted, to see whether it had changed – and how many residents came to watch.
The atrium of the centre was filled with residents on Friday, April 26 – quite a few more than that October 2023 service. The increased number of attendees was also a reflection of how many more of the centre’s residents, once again, are Jewish. (In case you weren’t aware, if there’s a vacant unit at the Simkin Centre and someone who is Jewish is on the wait list to gain admission into the centre, that individual will be given first crack at moving into the centre. I had been told by Laurie Cerqueti that the 14 most recent new residents in the centre were all Jewish.)
There was one other aspect to Rabbi Leibl’s service which was brought to my attention. One of the residents at the Simkin Centre, Carol Manishen, also has a son living in a Shalom Residence: Josh Manishen. When Carol’s husband, Wayne, saw me at that Friday service he told me that he often comes early with Josh – before the start of the regular service at 4:00 pm, and Josh sings various Hebrew prayers, accompanied by Rabbi Leibl on the keyboard. To watch a video of Josh singing, click here:
Two more things to add though: First, Rabbi Leibl is now a regular participant on a podcast that is put on by CJN (what used to be known as the Canadian Jewish News) called “Not In Heaven.” You can find it simply by Googling CJN and scrolling down under the Podcasts link.
Also, since Rabbi Leibl and I go a long way back – and we both have a fond taste for sarcasm, he singled me out from among the audience and said to everyone there: “We’ve even got a reporter from the Jewish Post here.”
I couldn’t help but respond – in my usual facetious manner, that I was there to do an exposé.
To which, Rabbi Leibl retorted: “You can call it “Sex, Drugs, and Candlesticks.” Hmm, I wonder how much more there is about the Simkin Centre that I haven’t learned yet?
Local News
Well, that didn’t take long…BB Camp Board announces hiring of two new co-directors
(Posted April 27) In a span of a little more than two weeks, BB Camp has gone from parting ways with one of its co-executive directors, Jacob Brodovsky, to the hiring of two new co-directors. (We have been attempting to ascertain the status of Lexi Yurman, who was also camp co-executive director with Jacob – who also happened to be her husband, and who is now on maternity leave. Would she be entitled to return as co-executive director once her maternity leave is up, we wonder?)
The BB Camp board released a press release announcing the new hires at 12:42 pm today. Interestingly, there is no mention whether the positions that are to be filled by the two individuals, Sarah Gould and Aliza Millo, are to be permanent or temporary. Also, the two women are referred to as co-camp directors, not co-executive directors. Is there any significance to that, we wonder? Since no one from the BB Camp board has responded to any questions we have posed to them since this whole mess began, we won’t hold our breath waiting for answers to any of the questions we’ve just asked here either.
Here is the complete text of the BB Camp board announcement:
Dear BB Camp Community,
On behalf of the Board, we wanted to let you know that we acknowledge that the last week has caused much stress and uncertainty. We have felt it too and have been working very hard to ensure that the summer season unfolds as we all expect.
We are extremely excited to share with you that our 2025 summer senior Camp leadership team is now in place!
Please give a BB Camp W-E-L-C-O-M-E to Sarah Gould and Aliza Millo!
Sarah Gould: co-Camp Director (Wilderness and Operations)
Sarah is returning to BB Camp as co-Camp Director (Wilderness and Operations). Sarah’s history with BB Camp stretches back decades. She spent many formative summers on Town Island—as a camper, counselor, canoe instructor, and AC out-tripper. After BB, she took her skills to Camp Hatikvah in BC, where she helped develop and expand their wilderness and out-tripping program. Sarah has an intimate knowledge of wilderness programming, the importance of integrating Jewish values into outdoor education, and as camp alumni and a current camp parent, has a clear understanding of our community’s interests and hopes for BB Camp’s future.
Sarah has been fortunate to spend every summer of her life at Lake of the Woods. Her family cottage is on Channel Island, directly across from Town Island. She has strong ties to our Lake of the Woods neighbours and an ability to navigate the lake and Kenora. Sarah also was a key volunteer on the Friends of Town Island campaign, through which Camp was able to successfully partner with the Nature Conservancy of Canada to have Town Island designated as a protected area—ensuring its legacy for generations to come.
Professionally, Sarah has years of experience in education, research, and community organizing. She taught anthropology and international development at Trent and the University of Toronto and now works as a researcher and consultant in health studies. In her community life, she leads a neighborhood organization in Toronto, where she has spearheaded grassroots initiatives—from building a skating rink to coordinating with city officials and local stakeholders on community improvement projects. Sarah is also active in the Jewish community, including advocacy for Israel and supporting students facing antisemitism on campus.
Sarah is excited to be returning to Town Island and the BB Camp family for an amazing summer of 2025.
Aliza Millo: co-Camp Director (Programs)
Aliza’s history with BB Camp dates back decades as well. She spent many years at Camp as a camper, counselor, section head, and LTP Coordinator. After Camp, Aliza pursued a career she felt was most adjacent to working at Camp and transitioned into the classroom. She moved to Toronto to pursue her education degree, where she also completed a Jewish Education Certificate at York University.
For the next seven years, Aliza taught at the Toronto Heschel School, a school dedicated to tikkun olam and social justice, with a particular focus on environmental stewardship and sustainability. While there, Aliza taught grades three through seven, with a greater focus on the upper elementary years, teaching Judaics, Hebrew, and General Studies in a pluralistic, integrated setting.
After 10 years in Toronto, Aliza was happy to move back home to Winnipeg. Aliza met her future husband David Azuelos at BB Camp many years ago; to get a sense of how important BB Camp is to Aliza, she had her wedding on Town Island. Since her return to Winnipeg, Aliza has worked at St. John’s-Ravenscourt School, teaching Grade 4, cultivating an environmental leadership team at the Junior School level, and even bringing groups of Grade 4 and 5 students to Town Island for Outdoor Ed. Aliza has also helped organize and fundraise for Kendra’s Walk, a student-led initiative at SJR supporting teens living with cancer.
Aliza’s true passion lies in building community, whether in the classroom or at Camp. Since her time as a camper, she has enjoyed returning to the island for Work Weekend, volunteering in the kitchen, and serving on the Alumni Committee ahead of the 70th Alumni Weekend. She is most passionate when working with children and believes in strong communication with parents to build meaningful and supportive relationships. Having worked in a kindergarten to Grade 12 school setting, she has enjoyed maintaining lifelong relationships with students and families in the community.
Aliza is excited to be bringing her two boys, Judah and Dubie, to Camp. She is thrilled to be returning in this position — working with and mentoring the already incredible staff, and helping to foster deep and meaningful connections to Jewish values, traditions, and culture. Aliza looks forward to helping build a strong, nurturing community where every camper feels a sense of comfort, belonging, and pride in who they are — and in being a BB Camp camper.
***
The Camp Board of Directors is grateful that Sarah and Aliza, two lifelong BB Campers who together have an exceptional skill set, will be leading our community’s beloved Camp this summer. We are looking forward to another great Camp summer, full of amazing Camp memories. We will be reaching out directly to Camp families with more information. Please bear with us as our new leadership team gets up to speed and starts working with our current staff. Reach us at info@bbcamp.ca
Ed.note: Here’s a comment we received through our “contact us” link: (Readers of this website should be aware that it is run independently of The Jewish Post newspaper. I will forward any comments sent to me that are meant to be letters to the editor of the paper, but the proper email address for the paper is contact@thejewishpost.ca)
Letter to the Editor re BB Camp
I am a former member of the Board of BB Camp and served as Board Chair for a number of years. I am disgusted in the manner in which the current Board responded to to the public assassination of its Executive Director by dishonest Israeli extremists in our community. I am equally disgusted that what should have been a private internal human resource issue at the Camp was made public by the Board through its e-mails to the community which essentially made it impossible for the Executive Director to continue in his position and which likely tarnished his reputation. All I can say that is that I hope Jacob received a large monetary settlement from BB Camp.
-Irwin Corobow