Local News
Fringe show asks: Was giving the secret to the atomic bomb to the Russians morally justifiable?
By BERNIE BELLAN When I took a look at at the Fringe Festival shows I was going to be previewing on this website (also in the print edition of the Jewish Post), one show intrigued me in a different way than the others: Jem Rolls’ one-man show: THE KID WAS A SPY.
In his blurb describing the show, Jem wrote:
The true story of Ted Hall.
Brooklyn, October 1944. The youngest physicist in the Manhattan project asks himself a very big question.
Will the world be safer after the war if he gives the bomb to the Russians?
And he does.
• Events take place in the world of OPPENHEIMER
This show takes the audience from the murky world of spies to the idyll of young love. From teenage friendship to stark treason. From big decision to deep consequence. From high idealism to extreme cynicism. And from pure science to Hiroshima and the electric chair.
The show also brings in the stories of Klaus Fuchs, the greatest atomic spy; and Ethel Rosenberg, executed yet innocent.
THE KID WAS A SPY is the third in Jem Rolls’ series of shows about Jewish Nuclear Physicists no-one has ever heard of.
Which is, to put it mildly, the niche of a niche of a niche.
One only realistically enterable in the unique world of Canadian Fringe.
Which most Canadians do not realize is unique.
The first two shows in the series, THE INVENTOR OF ALL THINGS, about Leo Szilard, and THE WALK IN THE SNOW, about Lise Meitner, have each seen multiple sellouts and five star reviews.
I’m sorry I hadn’t seen the first two shows in what must be one of the strangest series of Fringe shows (which itself extols “strange”), but when Jem Roll happened to contact me prior to this year’s Fringe Festival – which he had never done before, I thought to myself: “Now this is a show I’ve got to see.”
So, on the first night of the Fringe Festival I got on my bike and headed to the Fringe – of course ending up at the wrong venue – something I’ve done quite often before. I raced to the correct venue and, after taking a very creaky elevator to the 4th floor of a building in the Exchange District, arrived just in time to catch the beginning of what turned out be a fascinating 57-minute monologue.
I rather doubt that anyone else in the audience had heard of Ted Hall before this show either – but, after listening to Jem Rolls describe Hall, he certainly seemed a familiar enough character for anyone who knows their history. I had read quite a bit about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg – going back to when I was still in high school and I read a book called “The Implosion Conspiracy,” about the Rosenbergs, by lawyer Louis Nizer. I’ve read many articles about Soviet spies, but had never heard of Ted Hall prior to Jem Rolls’ show.
Several years ago I also read a terrific book by Canadian Ben Macintyre, titled “Agent Sonya,” about another Jewish spy for the Russians of whom I had not heard, whose full name was Ursula Kuczynski. (You can read my review of that book here: Agent Sonya)
So, when I read what Jem Rolls’ show was going to be about, I decided I wanted to make it the first Fringe show I would see this year.
Rather than simply telling what in and of itself is a fascinating story, Jem asks members of the audience to keep their minds open when it comes to assessing the morality of what Ted Hall did.
As Rolls explains – in his typically animated style, Hall was a precociously brilliant student who was tapped to be the youngest member of the Manhattan Project – made famous last summer with the release of the film, “Oppenheimer.”
Yet, amazingly – as Rolls goes on to note, Hall was an avowed Communist – something that should have excluded him right from the start from participating in a project that was shrouded in the utmost secrecy. In fact, Hall’s attempts to collaborate with the Russians were met with disbelief by the KGB at first; here was a pimply-faced kid offering to give them (and not sell them) the keys to the deadliest weapon ever devised by man to that point.
Without going into too much detail about how Rolls develops the story, he does say that he himself couldn’t figure out how it was that Hall was never arrested by the FBI, nor later by MI6 in Britain, which is to where he had moved later in his career.
Rolls concludes that Ted Hall’s brother, Ed, who was an even more brilliant scientist than Ted, must have intervened to save his brother’s skin. (In talking to him afterwards though, Rolls conceded that his conclusion is based on surmising; no one has been able to establish conclusively how Ted Hall was never arrested – although he was interrogated by both the FBI and MI6.)
Throughout the show Rolls reminds the audience how views of Soviet Russia changed over time – and how someone young and idealistic – as Ted Hall was, could have thought it was not only justifiable to give the secret to the atomic bomb to the Russians, given everything we know about how abominably the US has behaved in so many ways over the years, perhaps we should be treating him as a hero rather than a villain.
In fact, at the very end of the show, Rolls asks the audience to vote on that very question: Was Hall right to give the secret to the bomb to the Russians? I won’t tell you how the audience voted on opening night, but Rolls did say that the vote conformed with how other audiences have voted.
THE KID WAS A SPY is on at Venue 22, 245 McDermot Avenue, 4th floor, through July 28.
Local News
Adam Buchwald Competes for Canada at the World Junior Speed Skating Championships
By MYRON LOVE Winnipeg-born speedskater Adam Buchwald has had a season to remember. At the start of the Long Track Speed Skating Season last fall, the 19-year-old second-year student at the University of Calgary had one goal: to qualify for the World Junior Speed Skating Championships.
Mission accomplished.
In December, at the Canadian Junior Championships in Fort St. John, BC, Buchwald won gold in the 5000m, becoming Canadian Junior Champion in that distance. This, combined with his performance in the 3 other distances in which he raced, resulted in Buchwald placing 3rd overall out of the field of the top 30 Junior athletes in Canada and was named to the Canadian National Junior Team.
Along with three other men and four women, Buchwald represented Canada at the World Junior Championships and the Junior World Cup, which were both held in Collalbo, Italy from January 31 – February 9, 2025. At the World Junior Championships – against the world’s best, Buchwald placed 14th overall out of the field of over 65 athletes.
Buchwald, the son of Richard Buchwald and Tracy Leipsic, began speedskating at the age of 4, when he insisted on doing the same activity as his older sisters, Rachael and Serena. His mother was his first coach. Leipsic, a decorated speedskater in her own right, represented Manitoba and was a medalist at the Canada Winter Games in 1987. Once her speedskating career ended, Leipsic turned to coaching and officiating, through which she has served as an inspiration for many Manitoba speedskaters over the years, including her son.
Buchwald says that as he has progressed to the high-performance level of the sport, his mother has always been able to strike the right balance between former coach and mentor. In a 2023 interview, Buchwald was quoted as saying, “My mom has always been a really good mentor. If she’s coaching, then she’s a coach before a parent, and if she’s not my coach, she’s always a parent before coach. I think that’s been really helpful and a really good influence on me.”
The competitive side of Adam started when he was 10 years old. In his younger years, Adam was a national level Short Track speedskater. Short Track is skated on a 111 metre oval while Long Track takes place on a 400 metre oval.
It wasn’t until high school that Buchwald decided to focus exclusively on Long Track speed skating, where he specializes in the longer distances. At the senior level, the longest distance raced is 10,000m. This is not a distance that is raced at the Junior level. Nevertheless, Buchwald has always wanted to try the 10,000. After repeatedly asking his coaches for the opportunity, he finally got his wish in January 2023, at the outdoor oval at the Cindy Klassen Rec, Centre in Winnipeg. Buchwald not only survived the gruelilng distance, he broke the track record set way back in 1992. Buchwald has only had two other opportunities to skate the 10,000m in competition since then, most recently placing 5th at the Senior National Canada Cup in Quebec at the beginning of March. Buchwald was the top Junior skater in 3 races – the 1500m (13th), 5000m (9th) and 10000m races, involving over 30 of Canada’s top skaters.
Buchwald trains six days per week, twice a day, at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, where he is coached by former Winnipegger and 4-time Olympian, Mike Ireland.
He recently had to take time off from his regular routine to have a minor heart procedure. However, Buchwald reports that he is now good to go and has resumed his training.
Buchwald has certainly had an exciting season, from being crowned National Champion to realizing a goal of representing Canada at the World Championships. One of Buchwald’s many goals is to pursue a career in speedskating and compete in the Olympic Games for Team Canada.
Local News
Former Winnipegger Benjie Cooperband hoping to return Mezieritcher shul name plate to our community
By MYRON LOVE I grew up in the late 1950s and the 1960s in the old North End – the corner of Prichard and Powers specifically. At the time, there were four Orthodox shuls within walking distance of my house – one of which was the Ateres Yisroel – also known as the Mezericher shul – because many of its members – including my baba’s best friends, Pete and Faiga Goldman – were among the founding members.
Another of those founding families was the Cooperband family. About a month ago, I got an email from Benjie Cooperband with an interesting store to tell.
Cooperband, who is an oral surgeon in Toronto, told me that he has the sign – the name plate – from the Mezericher shul. In a labour of love, he has spent the past year restoring the sign and is now looking for a Jewish institution in Winnipeg which may be willing to display it.
The Mezericher Shul was founded in 1912 on Powers near Manitoba. In the late 1930s, the congregation moved about a block away to the former Jewish Old Folks Home on Manitoba near Salter. In 1976, the congregation merged with the Hebrew Sick Benefit Association to form the Beth Israel in Garden City. In 2002, the Beth Israel merged with the Rosh Pina and Bnay Abraham congregation to create Congregation Etz Chayim.
Cooperband reports that, at its peak, the Mezericher shul had about 250 members.
“I always loved to go to shul,” says the former Winnipegger.
His zaida, Beryl Cooperband, he says, always sat next to the bima overlooking the congregation, while his baba, Faiga, in the ladies;’ section upstairs. every now and then began clapping for quiet when it got too noisy.
“At shul, I would sit with my father (Mickey Cooperband) at the front overlooking the crowds. We sat at Zaida Beryl’s standard seat where he used to keep his Tallis and machzer. I have them to this day in my house as a memory of my zaida.”
Every year, he remembers, there would be a bidding war for the privilege of reading Parsha Jonah – a competition that his baba always won.
He also recounts standing on occasion at the gate of the Hebrew Sick Cemetery with his baba when burials were to take place. His baba would solicit donations for Hadassah as people were coming in or leaving.
“She got them coming or going,” he quips. “My dad also collected donations for Hadassah from his customers at Silverman Jewelers. Everyone marvelled at how this little old lady always managed to be Hadassah’s top fund raiser in Winnipeg.”
Growing up in Garden City, Benjie Cooperband attended Talmud Torah and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate before finishing high school at the University of Winnipeg Collegiate. He earned his dental degree from the University of Manitoba in 1981. Initially, he bought Dr. Jack Rosove’s practice at the corner of Selkirk and Salter.
After a couple of years, Cooperband returned to school and became an oral surgeon. He has been living in Toronto for the past 40 years.
After the Mezericher Shul closed in 1976, Cooperbanjd reports that his father moved the sign that stood outside into the top floor of the Silverman Jewelers store. Cooperband closed the store in 1981. A couple of years later, the Silverman Building was expropriated and Mickey Cooperband passed away shortly after. Benjie reports that his younger brother, Joel, took the sign home and stored it in his garage for the next 40 years.
(Joel Cooperband sadly passed away last October.)
About a year ago, Benjie, now semi-retired, took the sign back with him to Toronto and restored it to its former glory. Now, he is trying to find a more permanent home for this piece of Winnipeg history.
He notes that a Chabad rabbi who is planning on building a new shul in Toronto has expressed interest in incorporating the 12 foot long and 2,5 feet high sign into the new shul. Cooperband, however, says that he thinks it would be more appropriate to have the sign on display in Winnipeg.
“I have been in touch with Stan Carbone from the Jewish Heritage Centre who has said that the JHC would be willing to store the sign,” Cooperband says, “But I am hoping to make contact with a community institution that would be willing to put it where it can be seen.”
He is open to suggestions from readers. Readers can contact him at drbencoop@gmail.com.
Incidentally, Benji Cooperband is still a regular shul goer and attends a shul in Toronto – the Kiever Shul – a modern Orthodox congregation which, like the Mezericher shul – has the bimah in the middle, with men sitting around it on the main floor and women in the balcony upstairs.
“I still love going to shul,” he says. “And it’s nice having my children coming with me.”
Local News
Ben Carr visits Simkin Centre
The Liberal candidate for Winnnipeg South Centre, Ben Carr, visited the Simkin Centre Personal Care Home on Thursday, April 2. While there he met with many residents in the atrium of the centre.