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Gray Academy sets the pace for all other schools in Manitoba by instituting vaccine requirement for all students 12 and up

Lori Binder
Head of School, Gray Academy

By BERNIE BELLAN I had intended to speak with Lori Binder, Head of School at Gray Academy at a pre-arranged time on Wednesday, August 25 when, on Tuesday afternoon I received an email from Lori informing me that she wanted to share with me a communication that had just gone out to all parents.
Following are excerpts from that communication:

n keeping with Gray Academy’s mission, vision and values as a Jewish day school and with the health and safety of the entire school community as our top priority, the Winnipeg Board of Jewish Education (WBJE) has implemented a mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine Policy for Students. This new policy for students is consistent with and complementary to the WBJE Vaccine Policy for Employees, Third-party Providers, Volunteers and Visitors.”



”COVID-19 Vaccine Policy for Students


”This policy requires that all students turning 12 by December 31, 2021, must be fully vaccinated to attend Gray Academy for the 2021-2022 school year. 
 
This policy is not applicable to students aged 11 and younger, as a vaccine has not yet been approved in Canada for this age group. Once vaccine eligibility for this age group is approved, the WBJE will re-evaluate the specific requirements of its COVID-19 Vaccine Policy for Students.
“Students turning 12 within the 2021-2022 school year will be required to be vaccinated once they become eligible.
 
Submitting proof of vaccination 
Families will be required to submit proof of vaccination by 5 p.m. September 2 to  for all eligible children attending Gray Academy this year to health@grayacademy.ca. This is a secure address that will be monitored on a strictly private and confidential basis. Once proof of vaccination has been confirmed, this information will not be retained by Gray Academy, and proof of vaccination will not be kept on file.
”

Good for Gray Academy, I thought – taking the lead on an issue that absolutely needs to be addressed, and not in the hesitant way that our provincial government has shirked its responsibility to impose vaccination requirements much more widely than it has.
Of course, with a directive such as the one just issued by Gray Academy on August 24, it was bound to dominate what I had thought would be a much wider discussion about how the coming school year was shaping up at Gray Academy.

Given the somewhat controversial stance that Gray Academy was taking however, I began our conversation by asking Lori whether she had heard about a letter that had just been issued by Winnipeg’s Council of Rabbis that also dealt head on with the issue of vaccination. (You can read the full text of that letter on page 6.)
Lori said she had not heard of that letter, so I told her that the letter gave a reasoned explanation why, in keeping with Jewish law, it is fundamentally important for individuals to be vaccinated.
I told her that I had asked Rabbi Yosef Benarroch, of Adas Yeshurun-Herzlia Congregation, who forwarded me the letter, what prompted the issuing of such a letter?

Without naming names, Rabbi Benarroch told me there are certain elements within the Jewish community who are decidedly opposed to vaccinations against Covid. As Rabbi Benarroch put it: “We were approached by members of the community telling us that there is a segment of the Jewish community that is anti vax.”
Further, Rabbi Benarroch wrote, “Apparently lots of friction at the school as a result.” He also wanted to make clear, however, that the letter issued by the Council of Rabbis was in no way related to anything happening at Gray Academy. (It turns out that it was entirely coincidental that Rabbi Benarroch emailed me the letter from the Council of Rabbis shortly after Lori Binder had emailed me Gray Academy’s new directives to parents re vaccinations. As it happened, I was the conduit for both Rabbi Benarroch and Lori Binder finding out about the communications that had been issued by the respective parties.)

But, when I asked Lori whether there was anything to the suggestion that there was “friction” at Gray Academy over the issue of vaccination, she dismissed that notion, saying “we have had a handful of queries coming my way since the communication went out. We have had a lot of notes of gratitude,” she continued.
Yet, Lori added that “We are certainly aware there might be a demographic out there that may have hesitation for vaccines…We will continue to have conversations. These are unprecedented times. We are only looking to protect the children in our care in what will potentially be a fourth wave.”

“But you must have had an inkling there was going to be some push back on this policy, didn’t you?” I asked.
“The board made this decision with great care,” Lori responded. “There comes the notion that there may be challenges. What we learned all through the summer about the Delta variant was not known to us in June. It is a courageous decision by the board.”
“More than 50 percent of the kids in our school are under the age of 12,” she pointed out. “They’re the most vulnerable.”
I asked though whether “anyone had specifically said they would not send their kids to the school as a result of this directive?”
“Not yet,” was Lori’s answer, “but that could still happen.”

I suggested that the opposite of parents refusing to send their kids to Gray Academy because of the vaccine requirement would be that some parents who were leaning toward sending their kids there would now be motivated to do so specifically because of Gray Academy’s very pro-active approach toward vaccinations.
“I could can say we have had that,” Lori responded. “We came in this morning and we have had at least a few inquiries so far.”
What also might ease any pressure that Gray Academy will be facing as a result of the very forceful approach that the school has taken with regard to requiring all students 12 and up to be vaccinated would be for the province to follow suit in ordering all schools to adopt the same policy, I suggested.
“It would make life easier,” Lori agreed, with Gray Academy not having to serve as the pacesetter in requiring vaccinations in all senior high students.

In the last school year, there was only one case of Covid reported at Gray Academy, which is rather remarkable given the track record of almost every other school in the city, where some schools had to shut down entirely while others had to have entire classes put into quarantine.
“And that one case was a very minor case,” Lori noted. No classes were required to quarantine.
“There were just a handful of close contacts who had to isolate,” she added. “They were all healthy.”

Turning to other aspects of how Gray Academy will be dealing with Covid this coming school year, Lori explained that “We’ll be masked from kindergarten on up. That’s a bit of a change” from what the province required last year, which was that all students in Grades 4 and up be masked. “We still have the two-meter physical distance in elementary. In high school we have a two-meter distance available at all times, but we are now able to bring our students into a classroom where we have one and a half meters to the greatest extent possible,” Lori said.

“What about the cohorts? Are you still maintaining them?” I asked.
“We’re maintaining cohorts for elementary and for high school. Our digital health screening will also continue. That was very effective last year for staff and students. Recess will have students in masks and cohorted,” Lori said.
“It’s easier to get those routines set and maybe if things ease up (on the Covid front), then maybe we can ease up” on all the quite stringent rules that will be in place regarding mask wearing and social distancing, Lori explained.

I wondered whether there was going to be any further continuation of the online education program which, you may recall, Gray Academy first entered into in the spring of 2020 with its very successful “Gray Away” program, when all high school students were forced to take classes online.
“We will have that if a child is forced to quarantine or isolate,” was Lori’s response, “if they’re a close contact or if someone in their home has Covid.”

I wanted to pivot to something more positive to report, so I asked: “Are there any new teachers in the school this year?”
“We’ll have a number of new staff members – in elementary and high school, in both general studies and Judaic studies,” Lori answered. “We’ll be sharing that with our school community on Monday (August 30).”
“Have you had any staff either retire or switch careers because they just can’t deal with all the pressure that comes with all the restrictions as a result of Covid?” I asked.
“No,” was the short answer.

On another positive note, moreover, Lori noted the fact that students in the high school will now all be vaccinated may allow more flexibility in terms of allowing those students to leave campus during lunch hour – get some fresh air, go for a walk to the store – of course all while still wearing masks, but that would have been something that would not have been allowed last school year.
I suggested it’s a good thing Gray Academy is located in Winnipeg, not in Winkler. “You might have a tougher time with parents there,” I remarked. Lori did not comment.

I asked whether there was anything else Lori wanted to add.
“I’m glad some of our kids had a chance to be at summer camp this year,” Lori said.
Between the kids who were able to go to day camp, BB Camp as campers or to Massad for its leadership training program, a good number of high school students were able to experience camp this past summer, Lori pointed out.
“It makes a huge difference being able to come back to school after a summer where there was some purpose,” she said in conclusion.

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Two Jewish athletes receive prominent recognition in the Winnipeg Free Press – on the same day!

Curler Kyle Doering (left) and hockey player Zach Hyman

By BERNIE BELLAN When’s the last time two Jewish athletes received widespread recognition on the sports pages of the Winnipeg Free Press on the same day?
In today’s (March 26) issue, there are stories about Edmonton Oilers hockey player Zack Hyman and Winnipeg curler Kyle Doering.
Hyman, who’s in town today as his team plays the Winnipeg Jets, has achieved a special renown for having scored 50 goals this year. As the Free Press story about him notes, he’s the third oldest player ever to achieve that milestone for the first time.
As for Doering, his recognition today comes from his having been selected by Canadian Men’s Curling Champion Brad Gushue to serve as the fifth man on Gushue’s team in the upcoming Mens’ World Championship in Switzerland.
But, rather than focus on their most recent accomplishments, we thought we’d look back at some past stories that had run about both Hyman and Doering, both of which tell us something about their connections to the Jewish community.


As a personal aside, I had met Kyle many years ago when he was nominated for the Rady JCC Jewish Athlete of the Year. Then, in 2017, I happened to meet up with him again when he was practicing curling at the Granite Curling Club in preparation for the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. As I chatted with Kyle – and his curling partner, Ashley Groff, Kyle asked me whether The Jewish Post & News would consider being a sponsor for their team. I agreed – and for two years running, we did sponsor Kyle and Ashley. I never realized though that, as a result, Kyle and Ashley would put the name “The Jewish Post & News” on their jackets! I was impressed that they were willing to go as far as doing that.

Mixed doubles curling team Ashley Groff and Kyle Doering wearing jackets that bore the name “The Jewish Post & News” in 2017 (also in 2018)

Here then are excerpts from stories about both Kyle Doering and Zach Hyman, which give some information about their backgrounds:
From Harvey Rosen’s April 6, 2011 “Sporting Touch” column:
“Was in touch recently with former Winnipegger Billy Lifchus who has been living in Toronto for over 20 years. He tells me that his grandson Kyle Doering, 15, who is his daughter Bonnie’s son, recently skipped his team to a bronze medal over New Brunswick at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax.
Billy’s mom is the late Bella Lifchus, who came over from Europe together with my late mother Sarah Rosen.
Kyle, an East St. Paul resident, made a triple-raise takeout to score a six-ender against Ontario in the round-robin part of the tournament, and his shot was featured across Canada on TSN.
Billy, as any proud grandfather might offer, noted: “Probably the best Jewish curler in these parts since Terry Braunstein and Allan Shinfield.”

From Harvey’s March 1, 2017 column:
Now let’s rock with Jewish curler Kyle Doering (whose grandfather, Bill Lifchus, once wrote a financial column for this paper). When I last spoke with the personable young Doering, who is now 21, it was in 2012 when he was in high school in West Kildonan. The then-skip had just led his team to a Canadian Junior title.
Last year his junior curling team won the Canadian championship and earned a bronze medal in Copenhagen, Denmark at the World Junior Curling Championship.
He was in conversation recently at the Granite Curling Club with our Bernie Bellan and inquired if the Jewish Post & News would be interested in sponsoring his “Mixed Doubles” curling team. The latter game is a new and exciting variation of the sport and will be featured in the next Olympic games.
Needless to say, as many other Jewish kids (athletes) have learned over the years, financial support is a must if they hope to compete, say, in the Maccabiah or Maccabi games, they require support.
In any event, Bellan was prepared to sponsor the team with a gold member contribution of $200. Doering was extremely gratified for Bellan’s generosity and asked me to thank him again.

As for Zach Hyman, there was a terrific story in the Alberta Jewish News’ August 9, 2021 issue, which was written just after Hyman had been acquired by the Edmonton Oilers from the Toronto Maple Leafs. The story was written by Jeremy Appel.

Recent Edmonton Oilers acquisition Zach Hyman says the supportive Jewish environment he was raised in gave him a strong foundation of support for launching and sustaining his professional hockey career. 
“It was very familial,” Hyman, who has four brothers, says of his Jewish upbringing in Toronto. “I had great, supporting parents, who really believed in me and tried to encourage me to follow my dreams and my passions. And I had a great support system of extended family, and of course a very strong community behind me.” 
Hyman, 29, signed a seven-year $38.5-million contract with the Oilers in late-July after playing six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he scored 185 regular season points — 86 goals and 99 assists — as well as 13 playoff points. 
“That was a special time to be able to play for my home team to start my career out, but I’m really excited about this new chapter in my life and this new opportunity,” Hyman said.
He says he’ll be moving to Edmonton in early September in time for Oilers training camp. He plans to grow his family and provide his kids with a strong Jewish communal upbringing, just like the one he had.  
Hyman, who says he knew he wanted to play in the NHL from a young age, describes his Jewish upbringing as secular — he grew up attending shul on the High Holidays and doesn’t consume pork. “For me, being Jewish is more than just a religion. Obviously, there’s a really big communal aspect to it,” he said, describing the distinction between various religious denominations as “blurred”.
He received a full Jewish day school education growing up in Toronto — first at the United Synagogue Day School, and then at the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto Tanenbaum Campus for high school, where he met his future wife, with whom he has an eight-month-old son named Theo and a Siberian Husky dog named Whitey.
After taking a year off to focus on hockey, Hyman spent four years playing hockey on a scholarship at the University of Michigan starting in 2011, where he majored in history. 
While his Jewish education provided him with a strong communal foundation, playing hockey allowed Hyman to expand his social sphere outside the Jewish bubble, interacting with people of various backgrounds, he says. 
“For me, leaving home and going to university outside of Toronto obviously was a change, but I think hockey prepared me for that,” said Hyman. “It was an incredible experience. I learned a ton there, and it really helped propel my hockey career and shape my career too.” 
Growing up, he played for various teams in the Greater Toronto Hockey League — the Toronto Red Wings, the Jr. Canadiens and Mississauga Reps — before moving on to the Ontario Junior A Hockey League, where he played for the Hamilton Red Wings. 


In 2013, he represented Canada at Israel’s Maccabi Games, where he won a gold medal. 
Hyman was number 11 on the Leafs, but he can’t use that number on the Oilers, since it’s retired as Mark Messier’s, so Hyman will be playing as number 18, which is the day in December Theo was born on, in addition to its Jewish significance of chai, the hebrew word for life.
Hyman has published three children’s books with Penguin Random Rouse since 2014 — The Bambino and Me, Hockey Hero and The Magician’s Secret. 
Ultimately, Hyman says the Toronto Jewish community’s support for his ambitions, from his teachers who allowed him to do work outside the classroom to accommodate his hockey commitments to his family’s large network of friends who all wanted to see him succeed, was instrumental in his success. “Everybody was cheering for me and supporting me, and rooting me on,” he said. 

Brothers Spencer (left) and Zach Hyman – who were on Canada’s gold medal winning hockey team in the 2013 Maccabi Games in Israel
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Local News

Canadian survivor of Supernova Music Festival massacre Shye Klein recounts his story to Winnipeg audience

By MYRON LOVE Growing up in democratic countries in Western society, we are fortunate to be able to go about our lives oblivious to potential danger. We go to sporting events, concerts, folk festivals confident that there is nothing to worry about and we can have a good time.
Such was the thinking for about 3,500 young Israelis who converged on Kibbutz Re’im, near the border with Gaza, on Saturday, October 7, for the Supernova Music Festival. In the early morning hours, their idyll was shattered by an onslaught of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists that resulted in the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history.
The number of victims who were murdered was more than 350. Among those who survived was young Canadian photographer Shye Klein – who was in Winnipeg on Monday, March 11as part of a speaking tour of Canada and the United States – to give eye-witness testimony of what he experienced and share his photos and videos of hat horrific day.
Klein’s presentation – in the Rady JCC gym – in front of about 300 people – was sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg,  Hillel, and the Asper Foundation. 
Prior to Klein’s testimony, those in attendance heard introductory remarks by Federation CEO Jeff Lieberman and Federation President Paula Parks, as well as StandWithUs Canada University of Manitoba representative Benjamin Margulets.   The speaker was introduced by University of Manitoba student Matthew Morry.
Originally from Toronto, the 26-year-old Klein made aliyah last April.  He noted that, initially, when his cousin Mordechai told him about the upcoming festival a few week s in advance, the idea of going didn’t appeal to him.
“Just thinking of the people crowding around the stage, the garbage, I wasn’t interested,” he recalled.
Mordechai asked hm again the day before though, and he changed his mind.  “I didn’t know many people in Israel, yet,” he said. “I thought this might be a good way to meet people.”
Klein’s small party of eight arrived at the location around 1:00 A.M. on the morning of the festival, and set up their tent.  “I had no idea how close we were to the Gaza border,” he noted.
 
So, while his cousin and friends were chilling and enjoying the scene, Klein grabbed his camera and began to mingle.   At this point in the presentation, he showed on screen all of the concert-goers whose photos he took throughout the night and early morning – talking a little bit about each one.
He also described the layout, small stages and main stage and the “marketplace”.
He added that, typical of such raves, the smell of drugs was omnipresent.
It was about daybreak – about 7:30 in the morning – when, he noted, people began getting messages on their cell phones about incoming missiles aimed at Tel Aviv, Petah Tikvah and elsewhere.

“The music was so loud that it muffled the sounds of explosions,” he recounted.  “While some people began packing up, the consensus still seemed to be that we were safe. There were no strategic targets anywhere around us.
“Then we start hearing gunfire. It didn’t sound like it was coming from the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). Then explosions.  There was a lot of commotion.”
Klein’s party quickly got to their car. “Of the eight of us, only three were in shape to drive,” he recalled.  “Mordechai drove while I started videotaping what was happening.”
He recalled that there was pandemonium – with people fleeing – in their cars or on foot – in every direction.  Standing in front of a screen showing his video of his group’s frantic efforts to escape,  he described  bypassing a long line of cars and trucks by driving around through a farm field, when they approached an IDF checkpoint where they were advised to go no further in the direction they were driving and to stay in their car no matter what.
His videos showed cars along the side of the road to Tel Aviv pocked with bullet holes. Klein added that there were bodies in some of the cars and along the road.
“We were freaking out,” he said.  “At one point, we were approaching three guys dressed in black and wearing masks. We drove right by them. Thank goodness,. they didn’t shoot.
“As we were driving, we could see smoke from burning houses.”
The group made it safely to Tel Aviv by about 9:45.
“While we were safe, I didn’t know what happened to all the people I had met and taken pictures of at the music festival,” he noted.  “I had exchanged contact information with them so, over the next few weeks, I went about contacting them.”
Happily, he was able to report that almost all of them were safe.  As he had done earlier – showing the photos of his new friends and acquaintances from the festival, he again posted their pictures on the screen and briefly told their stories.  One young woman, for example, had found herself on one of the kibbutzim under attack and hid in a fridge for several hours until she was rescued. Others found safety in the nearby JNF forest until rescued by the IDF.
Five and a half months after that horrendous day, Klein observed, “many people in Israel aren’t doing so well, but we are doing the best we can. No one is alone.  There is also a greater sense of togetherness than there was before the war.”
He also reported that his friends in Israel encouraged him to share his photos and video with the world. As a result, he is currently on a speaking tour of North American Jewish communities.
He said that he is scheduled to return to Tel Aviv on May1.

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Local News

Congregants give new Etz Chayim building two thumbs up

By MYRON LOVE To borrow from the late movie reviewers Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, long time members are giving the new Etz Chayim building the two-thumbs up seal of approval.
“It’s beautiful,” says Brenda Keller who has been an Etz Chayim member – and the Rosh Pina before it – since 1990. “I love it,” the Garden City resident continues. I especially like what we did with the stained glass windows. The building has a nice, haimishe feel.”


Gary Jacobson concurs.   He also really likes how the stained glass windows from the old building have been incorporated into the new.  “The sanctuary is very nice,” observes the St. Vital resident, who has been a member  of the congregation since 2002 when the former Rosh Pina merged with the North End Beth Israel and Bnay Abraham congregation to form Etz Chayim.  “The acoustics and the lighting are both very good.”


The new Congregation Etz Chayim shul – at 1155 Wilkes in the south end – opened its doors at the beginning of March, culminating years of discussions about following our Jewish community’s demographic trends and moving south. Discussions even predating the 2002 merger of the three North end synagogues have been ongoing for several years about a move south.  The issue came to a head about 18 months ago.  Faced with a declining membership, a 70-plus year old (former Rosh Pina) building that needed a lot of work and had become too large for the existing membership combined with the fact that 70% of the members and 80% of the younger members lived south – the decision was finally made to take action.
“We just felt that it made more sense to put our money into buying a smaller, pre-existing building south and renovating it,” said Etz Chayim’s president, Avrom Charach, in an earlier interview.  “We were looking for a location within a ten minute drive from most of our members,” Charach reported.
The congregation was able to purchase just a building – a facility that had been the Khartum Shriners’ headquarters.   Etz Chayim sold their former building to an Eritrean Christian congregation.
The reconfigured new location – designed by leading architect and congregation member Ed Calnitsky – was originally supposed to have been re-opened in early December.  But, as often happens with construction projects and renovations, the best-laid plans rarely go off without some hiccups.
“Our new building feels very comfortable,” Charach says today. “And our acoustics are much better.”


The sanctuary can accommodate up to 350 people – about the same number as could be seated comfortable in the old building.  In the former building the sanctuary though could be doubled in size by removing the barrier that separated it from the auditorium. The 1155 Wilkes location doesn’t have an auditorium – but it does have a kiddush room large enough for 100 people. After Shabbat services, if necessary, the sanctuary can be rearranged for  additional  tables and food stations for Kiddush.
The kitchen, Charach points out, is smaller than the kitchen at 123 Matheson.  “We can still prepare kiddushes and provide for smaller functions with our caterer,” Charach notes.  “For larger simchas and programs,  we have an arrangement with our caterer, Lisa Odwak, who can prepare in a kosher kitchen and bring the food to the shul.”
Overall, Charach observes, the smaller facility is less expensive and easier to operate.
Outside, there is parking for up to 170 vehicles.
The synagogue membership stands at around 400 families, Charach reports.  “We have had a few more join over the past three months,” he says.    
He is happy to report that, for the first Shabbat, more than 200 were in attendance and, while the number was down considerably for the second Shabbat, it was still substantial.
“I think that we can look forward to about 100 daveners on Shabbat going forward,” Charach says.
He reports that two grand openings are in the plans – the first a Chanukat Habayit in early April where the new building will be officially dedicated – and a public opening later with government representatives and other dignitaries in attendance.  

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