Local News
In Winnipeg, Everything’s “Coming up Roses”
Ed. note: Elsewhere on this website we have a story about Rabbi Carnie Rose having recently become the senior rabbi for Shaarey Zedek Congregation. At the time that story appeared, Gerry Posner was not aware that Myron would be doing a profile of Rabbi Carnie Rose, so he sent us his own story about the Rose family. But, in his own inimitable way, Gerry Posner tells the story of the Roses.
By GERRY POSNER With the recent arrival of Rabbi Carnie Rose to serve as senior rabbi for Shaarey Zedek Congregation and with his brother Kliel having served as spiritual leader of Etz Chayim Congregation since 2018, one should realize the full significance of having two brothers both serving as rabbis – for different congregations, in the same city.
You really have to go back 58 years ago – to the summer of 1967, when Rabbi Neal Rose and his wife Carol came to Winnipeg. Neal had come here to take a position in the Judaic Studies Department of the University of Manitoba (from 1967-2000).
Neal Rose had a tremendous impact upon the Winnipeg Jewish community – in the many roles he played. For instance, just ask anyone who was part of the alternative minyan which he led at the then Rosh Pina Synagogue during the High Holidays. You could also chat with anyone who was around during the 13 years when Rabbi Neal Rose served an an instructor in family therapy at the University of Winnipeg’s Department of Spiritual Care (from 2000-2013).
That was “Rose 1.0” (as in the Winnipeg Jets 1.0). As it turns out, Rabbi Neal and Carol are making a return engagement to Winnipeg (which I call “Rose 2.0”) to live here later this year – after some ten years living in St. Louis, Missouri, where Neal worked as a rabbinic scholar at Congregation B’Nai Amoona.
Now, with all of that said, one must not overlook the fact that the Roses and the rabbinate go beyond even sons Carnie and Kliel. Would you believe that the eldest son, Avi Rose, is a rabbi in Israel? Rabbi Avi Rose embraces what might be called the humanist aspect of Judaism. He is actively involved in leading life cycle events, teaching, assisting in rituals and indeed participating in Jewish calendar events. What Rabbi Avi Rose does is to focus on the person in his interaction with his congregants and fellow worshippers, inside and outside of the synagogue.
Then, there is Rabbi Or Rose. He is a rabbi, writer and social activist, and is the founding director of the Centre for Global Judaism at Boston’s Hebrew College. His writing skills likely emanate from his mother Carol, a well known poet. If going for 4 for 4 in the rabbinate for Neal and Carol was not enough of a rabbinical feat, add to that total the fact that daughter Adira is married to a rabbi, Michael Rose Knopf, the senior rabbi at Temple Beth-El in Stamford, Connecticut.
Of course, each of the Rose kids is a story. But one cannot just ignore the reality of the two Rose brothers holding leading rabbinic positions at the two largest synagogues in Winnipeg at the same moment in time. How did that come to pass? is the question congregants are lined up to discover – even if that means an early Shachrit service to get the answer.
Rabbi Kliel Rose has been at the helm of Congregation Etz Chayim since 2018. He returned to Winnipeg after a period of over 25 years away from this city. A graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary, also a former spiritual leader in several congregations in the USA, then the rabbi at Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton, the attraction for Rabbi Kliel Rose to come back to his roots in Winnipeg was palpable. After nearly seven years back with the congregation with which he grew up, he is conscious of the debt he owes to his parents, who were major role models for him. He is also aware of the relationships he developed in his growing-up years and the fact he was able to resume many of those connections so easily. During his time in the pulpit Rabbi Kliel has been honoured to receive a prestigious Human Rights Hero Award from “Truah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.” Like his brother Carnie, Kliel is deeply involved in multifaith dialogue.
Kliel acknowledges the very unusual aspect of the two brothers working in the same city as rabbis of major congregations. He says that there was just no way for him to have imagined this scenario. He emphasizes the closeness he has with his older brother, referring to the fact that they often speak twice a day on matters rabbinical – or not. One of the comments Rabbi Kliel made about the future in Winnipeg with both Roses leading the way is that he sees this as a collaborative opportunity and not a competitive one. Interestingly, Rabbi Kliel Rose attributes his love of learning of Torah to his mother, who was his very first teacher. Kliel and wife Dorit Kosmin are the parents of five children. (Is there a future rabbi in the mix ?) He says that he benefitted from his parents in that they did not put any pressure on him or his siblings to enter the rabbinate. It just evolved.
Older brother Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose, now 59, only recently conducted his very first Shabbat service at Shaarey Zedek. (I was there). He has had positions all over the world – in Canada, the USA, Israel, also the Far East, i.e., Japan, and Europe. Like Kliel, he was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He spent over 30 years in the rabbinical trenches. About 18 months ago he ventured into the Jewish organizational world when he assumed the role of President and CEO of the Mandel Jewish Community Centre in Cleveland, Ohio.
But, the pull to return to the synagogue and to Winnipeg was too great for Rabbi Carnie and his wife Paulie Zimnavoda Rose. After all, his whole career was centred in the synagogue. One aspect of Rabbi Carnie’s approach to his rabbinical duties is his emphasis on interfaith dialogue and relationships. He credits his parents for his firmly set belief in the importance of reaching out to the broader community. Most of all, he makes clear that it was Neal and Carol who nurtured his and indeed, all of the Rose family, with the love of Judaism. He, too, is amazed at the turn of events that has brought him and his brother together now. As Rabbi Carnie put it: “Winnipeg gave me grounding and an opportunity. I felt an obligation to return. I will gain if I can give back to those who gave to me.”
Carnie did return to live on Matheson Avenue, where he grew up, as he and Paulie took up residence in the south end of the city, closer to the Shaarey Zedek. The couple are the proud parents of four children, all of whom are now in their twenties, and all of whom are away at university, so Carnie and Paulie are now much sought after by Kliel and Dorit’s children – who finally have an aunt and uncle in the same city with them. Not so surprisingly, one of Carnie and Paulie Rose’s children, son Zakai, is preparing to follow in the family business, as he is a student at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Even the family of the legendary Gordie Howe of hockey fame could only produce two generations of NHL players.
What I came away with after talking to the two Rabbi Roses was first, how much they sounded like each other in voice; second, how close was their attachment to one another; and third, how much joy they anticipate working together from time to time in Winnipeg. At the time that I talked with both of them, for instance, they were excited about their plans to hold the first joint Tiisha B’Av service for Etz Chayim and Shaarey Zedek. They made me feel good about the future of Judaism in Winnipeg.
So what did the parents of these rabbis have to say? The patriarch of the family, Rabbi Neal Rose, was clear in attributing to his wife the fact that he and Carol have four sons who are rabbis and how it was that two of them ended up in the same city at the same time. He says that Carol had a huge influence on the children – right from an early age, in introducing the blessings and inculcating Jewish values. It was Carol, Neal says, who created an environment of learning which had such an impact on sons Carnie and Kliel. Her role in creating a Jewish home in Winnipeg for many years was instrumental in both Carnie and Kliel being open to returning to their original home of Winnipeg. True enough, the Rose boys both had a desire – in both their return engagements here, to serve as pulpit rabbis and, in doing so, to utilize one of their biggest assets: their strong interpersonal skills. Both are very comfortable in and enjoy that congregant to rabbi relationships -so critical in any successful synagogue.
As for the matriarch, Carol Rose, she agrees that this return to Winnipeg could not have been anticipated. She credits Winnipeg’s Jewish schooling and network of close friends for helping to secure a strong Jewish foundation for her sons. As she put it so succinctly, “The family had opportunities to grow up Jewishly.” With four sons now rabbis, and with their only daughter married to a rabbi, Carol clearly made an impact on her children. She admits that when she and Neal return this fall to Winnipeg, their biggest challenge will be to figure out which synagogue to attend each Shabbat. She also recognizes that even though Neal Rose has no plans to return to the pulpit, it is possible he might bless either or both congregations from time to time with his wisdom through occasional Divrei Torah or by teaching classes.
Some readers will recall the late Ethel Merman, who, without knowing it, foresaw this unusual moment in Winnipeg Jewish history appropriately in her song, “Everything’s coming up roses.”
Local News
A response to Isha Khan’s op-ed in the August 1st, 2026 issue of the Winnipeg Free Press
By SIMONE COHEN SCOTT Ed. note: Isha Khan is the CEO of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. In the August 1st issue of the Winnipeg Free Press Ms. Khan wrote an op-ed defending the museum’s decision to mount the exhibit titled “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present.” The Free Press has published many letters about the exhibit, but some readers of that paper are frustrated that their letters were not published. We were asked by Simone Cohen Scott whether we would print a letter that she had sent to the Free Press, but which was not published.
Since there is always room on this website to publish as many articles as we’d like, we agreed to publish Simone’s letter, which follows here:
Isha Khan states in her op-ed piece that the choices of what to exhibit, what to examine, what to feature, were made according to certain parameters, which she called a “framework.” What, specifically, comprised this so-called framework? It is obviously exclusive of elements relative to the history of the period displayed. She said the purpose of the exhibit was….”to promote reflection and dialogue.” Reflection and dialogue about what? Did the Arabs who left the area know that the United Nations had offered them a state too? If they had known, would they have wanted to accept? If, given the choice, would they have stayed and lived beside the Jews? Or, did they indeed, want five Arab nations to attack the Jews? Such questions as these would have promoted “reflection and dialogue.”
What is the understanding implicit in the exhibit? Khan quotes from a banner that hangs in the museum: Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “We are all born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Should the Jews have rights? If so, what should they be? May they have a state? When a people is attacked by 5 nations, as Israel was in 1948, wherein lie the human rights?
Why did Khan’s advisors choose to use the word Nakba in the exhibit title? The original use of the Arab word ‘nakba’, meaning disaster, was intended to depict, that in spite of being assured by the Arab/Islamic leaders that it would be a quick war and that they would win, that did not happen. The word disaster was meant to mean the shock and the disappointment. The real disaster, or tragedy, ‘Nakba’ if you will, is that the Arab/Islamic countries in the world, (and there are plenty of them), have refused to welcome refugees of a war their own leaders chose to start. They have allowed these displaced persons to stagnate in UNRWA, an industry in itself. Where are the stories of the people in UNRWA housing? Another group it would have been enlightening to hear from is today’s Israeli Arab population – the doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers, judges, entrepreneurs, business moguls and more, the descendants of those who stayed in the country in 1948, who had and whose offspring have had the same opportunities as every Israeli citizen. There is much easily accessible research that has been neglected in the preparation of this exhibit. This blatant lack of effort is shameful.
Kahn explained, when asked, that the context of the conflict of the time is too complex to have been included. Is she saying that people who go to museums can’t handle broad, multi-faceted ideas… that she deliberately designed a walk-though soundbite, not a process for mind-expanding grasp of history?
Simone Cohen Scott,
(sent to the Free Press August 13th, 2026)
Post script from Bernie Bellan: This website has never refused to carry any post that may be critical of the CMHR, despite what some readers of this website might think. We do allow comments to articles, but anyone commenting through our “Comment” portal has to register by giving their name and email address so that we can confirm they are a real person. In addition, we welcome longer contributions from readers. Many of the posts you will find on this website come from regular contributors, such as Henry Srebrnik. If you have something you’d like us to consider publishing – and the only criteria are that it be reasonably well written and void of slanderous remarks, email to us at jewishp@mymts.net.
Local News
Young Winnipegger Dr. Yale Michaels receives $550,000 Canadian Cancer Society research grant
By MYRON LOVE It has been shown on many occasions that a teacher can have an outsized role in shaping a young person’s life. Dr. Yale Michaels’ life story is one example.
During a recent interview with the young cancer researcher – the son of John Michaels and Karen Stern – Yale recounted how a Grade 7 teacher at Grant Park High School was largely responsible for his decision to pursue a medical career in medicine.
The young Michaels attended Brock Corydon Elementary School and was a long time Massad camper. In junior high school at Grant Park, however, he recounts, “I was having a tough time staying on task. Thankfully, my Grade 7 science teacher suggested that I might find it interesting volunteering to help in a cancer research lab. He had a contact and got me in. I loved it. It was a good fit for me. I never looked back.”
Michaels (whose zaida, Leon Michaels, was a leading cardiologist here) spent much of his free time during his high school years volunteering in the lab. After graduation, he enrolled in Harvard –with help from the university’s financial aid program – where he earned his Bachelor’s degree. He followed that up with a Ph.D. from Oxford in 2019, followed by three years as a post-doctoral Fellow – before returning to Winnipeg in 2023 to work at Cancer Care Manitoba, as well as teach at the University of Manitoba.
“I enjoyed my time both at Harvard and Oxford,” he says. “What made England even more enjoyable is that Yale has family there. His grandparents – Leon and Joan Michaels – were born and raised in London and Yale’s time there overlapped for a few months with his brother Jamie (about whom there was a story in a July issue of the Post), who earned his Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at the University of London.
This past June, the young researcher learned that he was to be the recipient of a $550,000 Canadian Cancer Society Emerging Scholar Research Grant, covering five years of research.
Michaels’ field of research focuses on new ways of combating blood cancers – specifically in the new area of immunotherapy. He is being aided in his research by lab tech Dana Segal and graduate student Serena Dembowksi.
Michaels adds that he is collaborating with a number of other researchers from Winnipeg – and throughout Canada, including Drs. Harinad Maganti, David Szwajcer, Jody Haigh, Versha Banerji, and David Knapp.
Using the patient’s own immune cells – specifically CAR T cells -to treat blood cancers was first approved in 2017, Michaelsreports. “The treatment has shown itself to be really successful. Many patients go into remission and some may have the potential to be cured.”
One of the drawbacks, he explains, is that the treatment is prohibitively expensive. Each dose costs about $500,000 U.S.
“What we are trying to do in my lab and elsewhere is find a way to greatly reduce the cost,” he explains. “It becomes a matter of scale. Other drugs used in treating cancer can be produced in amounts of 1,000 doses per production run. But right now CAR T therapy is made on a one-off basis with an individual manufacturing run for each patient. We are attempting to instead make CAR T cells from stem cells – which can be grown in large quantities. We are trying to use genetic engineering to manipulate them so that they can be administered safely to patients.
“We (Michaels and fellow researchers) are making good progress in this area,” he adds.
He cautions that the research is still in the formative stages and that clinical trials are still several years away. “Our research so far though has shown that our treatment would seem to be effective at killing cancer cells,” he reports. “This grant from the Canadian Cancer Society will help us to further that research.”
Outside of work, Michaels notes, much of his time is spent with his family – Dr. Allison Marmel and their two-year-old daughter, Rose.
(Ed. note: We should note that Yale Michaels was also the punter for the Harvard University football team – by far his greatest achievement.)
Local News
Rabbi Kliel Rose, Etz Chayim’s spiritual leader, taking a new position in Ottawa
By MYRON LOVE It is with mixed feelings that Rabbi Kliel Rose, the spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Chayim for the past eight years, is once again leaving the community in which he grew up. Immediately after Yom Kippur, he, his wife, Dorit Kosmin, and three of their five children are moving to Ottawa, where Rabbi Rose is to become the spiritual leader of Congregation Kehillat Beth Israel (popularly known as KBI).
“My time in Winnipeg has been wonderful,” Rabbi Rose says. “It has been a privilege to have served as Etz Chayim’s rabbi and be part of the Jewish community here. Our Jewish community has a sense of solidarity that is unlike any other Jewish community in North America.”
He wasn’t actually looking to leave, Rabbi Rose explains. “Last spring, I was just having a cursory look at postings for Conservative rabbis and KBI stood out. What attracted me was not simply the opportunity to serve a larger congregation, but the chance to lead a community with such a rich history and such a strong commitment to egalitarian Conservative Judaism, Jewish learning, inclusion and community engagement. KBI is a relatively young congregation that brings together more than a century of Jewish history in Ottawa, and I was very drawn to the opportunity to help shape its next chapter.”
KBI, Rabbi Rose reports, was created in July 2016 through the amalgamation of two long-standing and storied Ottawa congregations: Agudath Israel and Congregation Beth Shalom. The merger brought together the rich traditions of both communities to create a modern, egalitarian Conservative congregation. Today, KBI is the largest Jewish congregation in Ottawa, serving more than 500 families, with a strong emphasis on Jewish learning, inclusion, community engagement and youth and family programming.
“There is a tremendous amount of energy and possibility at KBI,” Rabbi Rose says. “It is a community with deep roots, but also a very strong desire to think about what Jewish life should look like in the future. That is exciting to me as a rabbi.”
As with many rabbis, Kliel Rose’s career path has been a long and winding road. The son of the revered Carol and Rabbi Neal Rose, he first left Winnipeg after graduating from Grant Park High School.
In an interview with the Jewish Post & News in 2018, shortly after he returned here to serve Congregation Etz Chayim, Rabbi Rose credited his parents with being tremendous role models. “They are a dynamic team,” he commented, “but they never pushed any of us (Kliel Rose is the middle child in a family of four brothers and one sister) in any particular direction. They were really nurturing. They were okay with anything we decided as long as we were passionate about it.”
For the longest time as a young man, he noted, he fought against going into “the family business”. But, he said, working in Jewish summer camps, people in leadership positions in the camps saw something in him and convinced him to pursue rabbinic ordination.
Thus, after graduating with a Judaic Studies degree from Gratz College in Philadelphia, Kliel Rose enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary.
He noted that the most important piece of advice his father gave him before he enrolled in a rabbinic studies program was the suggestion that he should work for a time in a large congregation to see what it is like – “both the joy and the underbelly,” as he put it.
“I took his advice,” Rabbi Rose said. “For two years, I worked under the umbrella of a special fellowship at Bnai Jeshurun Congregation in Manhattan. The congregation had 4,000 members at that time. It had been a dying congregation which had been revitalized by Rabbi Marshall Meyer, who had previously helped revive Jewish life in Argentina. Rabbi Meyer, with his vision of social justice, was an inspiration for me.”
Rabbi Rose also spent a year at an Orthodox yeshiva in Israel and a couple of years as a youth director at a large Conservative congregation on Long Island.
Before coming to Winnipeg, Rabbi Rose served congregations in Miami Beach (for three years), Nashville (for five years), and Edmonton (for five years).
The past eight years at Etz Chayim have certainly brought their share of challenges, but Rabbi Rose says they have also been deeply meaningful. Just two years after arriving, the COVID pandemic transformed congregational life. Then there was the congregation’s decision to sell its 70-year-old building on Matheson Avenue and move to a smaller facility in south Winnipeg – a process that was completed just over two years ago.
“It has been really challenging these past few years,” he recounts. “It was difficult leaving behind our old building with so much history. But I think Etz Chayim made the right decision, and I am proud of how our community came together to navigate these challenges and build a new future for the congregation.”
Rabbi Rose says he is particularly grateful for the relationships he has built during his eight years at Etz Chayim and throughout Winnipeg’s Jewish community. “There have been so many meaningful relationships and experiences during my time here. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve this community and to have been part of Etz Chayim’s story during such an important period of transition.”
“I’m leaving with an enormous amount of gratitude,” he adds. “Etz Chayim has given me the opportunity to grow as a rabbi and as a leader, and I hope that I have been able to contribute something meaningful to the congregation and to the wider Winnipeg Jewish community in return.”
Another factor that made Rabbi Rose’s decision to leave difficult is that his parents moved back here two years ago and his older brother, Carnie, returned about 18 months ago to become Shaarey Zedek’s senior rabbi.
“It has been wonderful having my parents and brother here,” Kliel says. “This has been the first time that my children have had grandparents and an uncle and aunt in the same city.”
The Rose family will also miss the many friendships and connections they have made in Winnipeg.
Our community will also miss Kliel’s wife, Dorit. “My wife is a talented and caring individual who has worked in different areas of the community,” he notes. “Most recently, she was working in spiritual care at the Simkin Centre. She has made a tremendous contribution to the community and will certainly be missed.”
For Rabbi Rose, the decision to leave Winnipeg is less about leaving something behind than about embracing a new opportunity. After eight years of helping Etz Chayim navigate a period of profound change, he says he feels ready to take on a new leadership challenge while carrying with him the lessons and relationships he has gained here.
The Rose family will be leaving two days after Yom Kippur. Kliel reports that they have sold their house and have just a few things to wind up.
