Local News
Husband and wife team of Russel and Rori Picker Neiss bringing different aspects of Jewish learning to Limmud Winnipeg
By MYRON LOVE Rori Picker and Rusell Neiss say they are excited about their upcoming first visit to Winnipeg. The couple, Jewish educators – originally from New York, who have been living and working in St. Louis for the past ten years – will be here on the weekend of March 9-10 – as presenters at our community’s 14th annual Limmud Fest.
Russel Neiss is promising Limmud attendees that those attending his presentation will be in the first audience to view the digitized version of “The Story of Purim,” an award winning Jewish educational filmstrip which is part of a recently rediscovered lost cache produced by the NY Bureau of Jewish Education in the 1950s.
“We’ll view the slides and table-read the script together as we see how much the field of Jewish engagement and education has (and hasn’t) changed over the last 70 year,” notes Russel Neiss.
Russel is a 2005 graduate of City University of New York. The recipient – in 2020, of the prestigious Covenant Award (which recognizes educators who have made a noticeable impact on Jewish lives through innovative educational practices and models), served for several years as vice-principal of a Jewish day school in the New York area.
In 2014, Russel changed careers. He became a software engineer specializing in the development of software programming for Jewish educators for an organization called Sefaria. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to digitizing the entire body of Jewish religious writings in order to make them available so that anyone can engage with the textual treasures of our tradition.
“A couple of years ago,” he reports, “I came across a cache of film strips produced by the New York Bureau of Jewish Education in the 1950s. These films would have been shown to students in the 1950s and ‘60s. They have not been viewed for more than 60 years.”
At Limmud, he will be showing a film called “The Story of Purim.” “We’ll view the slides and table-read the script together as we see how much the field of Jewish engagement and education has (and hasn’t) changed over the years,” he says.
His second presentation – on Sunday afternoon – will focus on “what the atheist computer scientist Richard Stallman can teach us about how Torah learning can thrive in the world today while delving into the interplay between Hacker Culture, the Free Software Movement and the teachings of great Jewish thinkers like Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.”
Rori Picker Neiss will also be doing two presentations – one of which will be a study of leadership as exhibited by Moshe Rabbenu in the matter of the Golden Calf. For those who may not know or remember the story in the Torah, some days after leaving Egypt, Moshe climbed Mount Sinai to commune with Hashem. After some time had gone by and he didn’t return, the frightened Hebrews, believing that he wasn’t coming back, gathered together everything they had that was made of gold and created a golden calf to worship – an act of blasphemy that resulted in severe divine consequences – including the Israelites having to wander in the desert for 40 years until the last of the offending generation had died out.
“What we can take away from this episode,” Rori observes, “and what Hashem made clear to Moshe- is that leadership is not about the leader and fame and glory. Leadership should be about doing what is in the best interests of the people.”
Her second presentation will be an exploration of what the early rabbis thought about Jesus and Christianity as seen through a censored Rabbinic passage.
Rori Picker Reiss has the distinction of being one of the first half dozen Orthodox women to be ordained – through the Yeshivat Maharat organization – founded in 2009 – to serve as clergy.
“I welcomed the opportunity to study Talmud and our religious texts,” she says of her decision to enroll in the Maharat program. ‘My ordination presented me with a number of different ways to serve our community.”
In St. Louis Maharat Rori served as Director of Programming, Education and Community Engagement at the modern Orthodox Bais Abraham Congregation. She was also Rabbi in Residence at Holy Communion Episcopal Church, chair of the cabinet of Interfaith partnership of Greater St. Louis and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
Previously, she worked as acting Executive Director for Religions for Peace-USA, program coordinator for the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, assistant director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, and secretary for the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations.
While there may be some among the Orthodox community who may be uncomfortable with the concept of women serving as clergy, Rori reports that she was generally well-received in St. Louis and was able to build many relationships both within the Orthodox and the wider communities.
Rori and Russel have recently moved back to New York City where Rori has been appointed the Senior Vice-President for Community Relations for the Jewish Council for Public affairs.
For more information about this year’s Limmud and to register, please visit www.limmudwinnipeg.org or contact coordinator@limmudwinnipeg.org or 204-557-6260
Local News
U of M event commemorating October 7 attracts small crowd – and no protesters
By BERNIE BELLAN Is it noteworthy to lead a story by noting that an event at a university in North America which centered on Israel did not attract a single protester?
Such was the case at the University of Manitoba on October 7.
On that day, at noon, a small crowd that might have numbered 100 at its peak – made up largely of older adults, but with a sizable number of students as well, heard from various speakers marking a full year since the massacre of October 7.
It was a gloriously sunny day and, as attendees gathered in front of the university administration building, we couldn’t help but wonder whether the event would be disrupted by anyone. There was a fence barricade at some distance from where people had gathered – apparently to keep a distance between those who were there to mark October 7 and anyone who had it in mind to disrupt what was happening. While there were some students who did station themselves behind that barricade, there was nary a peep – or at least a peep loud enough to be heard by anyone, from any of them.
Speakers at the university event included Belle Jarniewski, Executive Director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, and Rabbi Kliel Rose of Etz Chayim Congregation.
But, what was most remarkable about this event was not that it was a relatively quiet affair, rather, in contrast with what is currently going on – again – on some campuses in the U.S. – in particular at Columbia and Berkeley -where the massacre of October 7 is now being glorified, the U of M was a model of restraint that day..
We’ve noted before that, while some Jewish students have been concerned for their safety at the U of M – relative to other campuses across North America, the U of M has not seen the kind of rabid antisemitism that has marked so many other campuses.
Local News
Scenes from the walk for Israel in Winnipeg October 7
On October 7 over 1500 individuals participated in a walk for Israel – exactly one year after the massacre by Hamas terrorists of 1500 individuals, along with the taking hostage of another 250 individuals.
Local News
Marty Morantz’s remarks at the Walk for Israel October 7
One year since the world witnessed the worst attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust, when the genocidal, evil death of Hamas invaded Israel. One year, a brutal captivity for hostages taken only because they were Jewish. One year of shameful demonstrations by anti Semitic, too hating mobs, and incited hate in our streets.Today, we commit our memory to the 1,200 Israelis who were brutally murdered by mobs that day. Today, we stand in solidarity with the survivors, and we pray. For the safe return of all those still being held to Hamas, I say it’s time to let them all go. To Hamas, I say Israel is winning. And your genocidal plan to destroy Israel has failed. To you I say, from the river to the sea, the existence of Israel shall always be. This past year, synagogues have been fired on. Bullets have been fired at Jewish schools. Jewish students have been harassed on Canadian campuses. Jewish owned businesses have been vandalized. Anti Semitism is sadly out in the open. It is the world’s ugliest and most enduring form of hatred. It is an evil along with the evil Hamas death cult, will be defeated. Last November, I traveled to Israel to witness firsthand the devastation wrought by the monstrous murderers of Hamas. I visited and saw the burned up, shot up, blackened homes of the people of Kfar Ezzat. More haunting images I have never seen. I met the families of those killed and taken hostage. I made a promise to them, that I would bear witness to their suffering, to their pain, and to work to bring their loved ones home. Ours is a promise to keep, to bear witness, to work until every single hostage is home, and to not rest. Do not rest until every Jew, no matter where they live, and no matter where they work, and no matter where they go to school, lives safe and lives free. My friends, we can take comfort in knowing that despite the forces of evil, Jewish institutions in Canada still stand. Israel still stands. And I know. That 1,000 years from now, the echoes of millions of Jews around the world will still be heard saying now and forever. Am Yisrael Chai!
You must be logged in to post a comment Login