Local News
Inaugural Magen David Adom fundraising gala evening recognizes generous donors Ida and the late Saul Alpern
By MYRON LOVE On Tuesday, May 7, the Winnipeg chapter of Canadian Magen David Adom (CMDA) hosted its first ever fundraising gala – billed as “A Night of Appreciation – honouring generous supporters Ida and the late Saul Alpern, as well as recognizing several other individuals who have contributed to the success of the local chapter.
The event helped to raise the profile of MDA in Winnipeg. In addition to funds raised – going towards the purchase by the Winnipeg chapter of CMDA of an ambulance to be stationed in the northern IsraeI community of Kiryat Shemona where a MDA ambulance was recently destroyed by a Hezbollah missile, the event also honoured the memory of the late Yoram (Hamizrachi) East.
Ami Bakerman, the Winnipeg chapter president, reported that, to date, the local group has raised slightly more than $100,000 toward the $140,000 cost of the ambulance.
Over 200 members of the Jewish and Christian communities and other supporters of Israel came out for the evening at Caboto Centre to show their appreciation for the work of the Magen David Adom.
For readers who may be unfamiliar with MDA, the organization doubles as both Israel’s Red Cross and the country’s blood services organization. MC for the evening Kinzey Posen noted that MDA was founded on June 7, 1930 and acquired its first ambulance a year later. The MDA has over 4,000 staff and has on its roster 26,000 volunteers. The organization operates over 2,000 ambulances, first responder scooters, helicopters and life-saving boats.
“It takes 8.2 seconds from the time a MDA dispatcher receives an emergency call to the time that the ambulance reaches the caller,” Posen noted.
The really remarkable fact is that the MDA operates without any financial support from the government of Israel. That is why it is so important that donors such as the Alperns have to step up.
Saul, who passed away in October, 2022, had a particularly strong connection to Israel. His younger brother, Avrum, also the last surviving family member (the others died in the Holocaust) died fighting for the Jewish homeland in the War of Liberation in 1948.
Alpern published his autobiography – “No One Waiting For me” – in 1961. Although most Romanian Jews living in Rumania proper were left in place, in 1941 the members of the Alpern family were among the thousands of Jews living in the northern regions of Bessarabia and northern Bukavina – which had been recently annexed by Rumania – who were deported to neighbouring Transnistria. They were expelled from their homes and forced to walk all the way to Transnistria. Saul Alpern’s parents and older sister died shortly after their arrival as a result of the hardships of the walk – leaving 12-year-old Saul and younger brother Avrum to fend for themselves.
“No One Waiting for Me” is largely an account of the two brothers’ struggle to survive in a hostile environment and desperate circumstances.\
After the war, while Avrum went to Palestine while Saul found his way to Winnipeg – where he eventually met and married Ida (Reiss) and built a successful business as a cattle buyer.
Ida was born in the Jewish farm colony at Edenbridge, Saskatchewan. She was youngest of four children and the own daughter of Ira and Raizel Reiss. The family moved to Winnipeg around 1950.
In October 2020, Ida and Saul donated $160,000 to the MDA to buy a mobile intensive care unit. At the time, Saul told The Jewish Post & News that the couple made the donation in memory of his parents and siblings ,who died in the Holocaust.
Saul added that the gift was “an expression of my love for my family and my love for Israel”.
The couple had been donating small amounts to the MDA for years before that. And, just a few months before Saul’s passing, the couple donated another $170,000 toward the purchase of a second mobile intensive care unit with off-road capabilities.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Ida’s nephew, Cary Reiss, recounted how Sail and Ida met in 1963 and were engaged after just a three-week courtship. “They were married for almost 60 years,” he noted. “They were a great couple. They were always there for each other through good times and bad.”
Reiss further noted that he was in Israel last year with his Aunt Ida for the delivery of the second mobile intensive care unit. He praised the MDA for the great work the organization does in Israel.
He also reminisced about the other focus of the evening, the late Israeli-born Winnipegger, Yoram East, who was a prominent social activist in the wider community.
In Ron East’s description of his father he painted a picture of man who was larger than life – and an individual who overcame early adversity.
Yoram was born in 1932 in Jerusalem to Jewish immigrants from Germany. He struggled in school due to being dyslexic. At 16. he dropped out of school and was accepted into the Israel Defense Forces based on false documents.
“In the IDF, he found a home and a purpose,” Ron East recounted.
He rose through the ranks. After taking a break from the military to study art and build a career as a journalist, Yoram rejoined the IDF in the 1970s. From 1976-82, Colonel Hamizrachi was the IDF liaison with the Christian communities in southern Lebanon.
“My dad quit the IDF in 1982, when Israel went to war with Hezbollah in Lebanon,” Ron East recalled. “He strongly opposed the war.”
Hamizrachi moved his family to Winnipeg where he continued to work as a journalist – with regular columns on Israel in The Jewish Post. He also became a social activist and did a lot of work with Indigenous communities.
“Two First Nations communities made him honorary chiefs,” Ron noted.
In Winnipeg, he helped found the Manitoba Intercultural Alliance and became the co-director of the Winnipeg-based Counter-Terrorism Centre.
In addition to honouring Ida and Saul Alpert, CMDA also recognized several other individuals who have contributed to the growth of the CMDA chapter in Winnipeg – among them:Ami Ba kerman, Ron East, donors Bill and Judy Mahon, Barbara Reiss (for organizing the event) and John Plantz who, along with colleague Roy Hiebert – presented a cheque to the CMDA for $10,000 from the Christian Friends of Israel Ministry.
There was much more to the evening. Sharon Fraiman, CMDA’s director for Western Canada, called for a moment of silence in memory of the MDA personnel who were murdered in the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7. She also screened several short videos of the actions of heroic MDA staff and their actions on that horrific day in fighting back as well as rescuing those tthey could.
There were also remarks by Sidney Benizri, CMDA national executive director, and Wayne Ewasko, PC MLA for Lac du Bonnet and interim Opposition leader.
The evening concluded with a half hour show by New York-based stand-up comic Talia Reiss – who happens to be married to the aforementioned Cary Reiss – riffing on Jewish themes contrasting Reform and Orthodox and Sephardi and Ashkenazi differences, reflecting the different backgrounds that she and her husband have brought to their relationship, as well as commentary on parenthood and schooling. For good measure, she also threw in some Winnipeg in-jokes.
Local News
Richard Morantz and Sheree Walder contribute $1 million to ongoing Shaarey Zedek Synagogue Capital Campaign
By MYRON LOVE “We really welcome the decision of Richard Morantz and Sheree Walder to donate $1-million to our ongoing capital campaign,” said Rena Secter Elbaze, the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue’s executive director, on October 9. “They and their families have a long history of supporting our community organizations and the State of Israel. Their contribution to the Shaarey Zedek is inspirational.”
The husband and wife team officially presented the cheque to Elbaze at a brief ceremony at the synagogue the morning of October 9, in the newly renamed Richard Morantz and Sheree Walder Auditorium.
In their remarks, both Morantz, the president and CEO of Globe Property Management, and Walder, a lawyer who is a former partner in the law firm Myers LLP, spoke of their long family connection to the Shaarey Zedek. “My mother’s family were Jewish pioneers in Winnipeg,” Walder noted. “My great-grandfather, Samuel Cohen, for whom I am named, was an original member of Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. I started coming here with my own grandfather, Sidney Cohen, when I was about two years old. I remember exactly which pew we sat in and how my grandfather helped me to follow along in the siddur during services. Shaarey Zedek has always been a place of great comfort for me.”
Morantz added that his own bar mitzvah took place at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue on April 29, 1972. “I learned my maftir from the legendary Rabbi Berkal,” he recalled. “We continued to celebrate here with our own children’s bar and bat mitzvahs. I am very grateful that we got to watch our own children shine on the bimah.”
It was the Hamas-led assault on Israel and subsequent tsunami of antisemitism worldwide that prompted the couple to consider stepping up and contributing to the Shaaray Zedek campaign in such a magnanimous way.
“I have never been a religious person,” Morantz remarked. “While I may be more secular, I strongly believe in the traditions of Judaism. I had a charmed upbringing in the 60s and 70s in River Heights. It is not the case that I experienced no antisemitism, but those experiences were very minimal. Post-October 7th, I found myself, for the first time in my life, having to judge every situation and every person I came across before divulging the fact that I am Jewish or discussing Israel. I came to the realization, during the process of considering this donation, that a primary driver for us is that this synagogue is a safe place for Jews, where we can comfortably be ourselves.”
Walder pointed out that while her mother’s large family were Jewish pioneers, her father was a Romanian Holocaust survivor, with almost no family after the war. “Family matters a great deal to us,” she said. “In addition to strongly agreeing with Richard that the tragedy of October 7th and continuing and growing anti Semitism are big drivers for us in making this donation, we also want to see Shaarey Zedek be a safe and special part of the lives of our now adult children and the generations that will follow them. It is very fulfilling to us that we are contributing to making that happen.”
Walder further credits the encouragement of her old friend and law school classmate, Neil Duboff, for helping to clinch the decision for her and her husband to make the donation. “Neil has worked so hard for the synagogue and our community for so many years and we applaud his efforts and commitment,” she noted.
(Duboff is a past president of the Shaarey Zedek and chaired the capital campaign.)
Walder also mentioned the support of Gail Asper in making the decision. “I met Gail on our first day of law school in 1981,” she recalled, “and we have been very close ever since. While we can all agree that Gail certainly knows how to talk, she also really knows how to listen. Through all of our discussions with her about making this donation, she listened hard, she came up with solid answers, and she was instrumental in leading us to the decision to donate. Shaarey Zedek is extremely lucky to have such a talented fundraiser.”
“We have to make special mention of Rena Secter Elbaze,” Morantz noted. “Rena literally blew me away when I met her for a tour of the synagogue. Her passion and knowledge are remarkable. We believe that our synagogue is in great hands and we feel much comfort and confidence making this donation.
“We are very proud of the recent renovations and upgrades to the synagogue,” he added. “This place is absolutely beautiful. We also feel privileged to have met with Rabbi Carnie Rose. We know he will be a great asset to the synagogue and all of its members for a long time to come.
“We are so honoured to be here with you today and to feel that we are making a difference to this special place”.
He concluded his remarks with an observation by Elie Wiesel that “a synagogue is a house of memory as well as a house of prayer. It reminds us of who we are and where we come from.”
Local News
Winnipegger Charlotte Kittner traces ancestry back to the Jewish expulsion from Spain
By MYRON LOVE Ladino was long the spoken language of the Jews from the Iberian peninsula and North Africa just as Yiddish was the day to day language of the Jews of Eastern Europe. Charlotte Kittner is most likely the only Winnipegger – and one of the few left in the world – who still speaks Ladino.
But Ladino is just one of eight languages that Kittner, who turned 100 in August, can speak – the others being Bulgarian, Romanian, Czech, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Turkish and English.
Charlette (Sarlota) Kittner was born in Bulgaria – in a Jewish community whose members were largely descended from the Jews who were forced out of Spain in 1492 (and Portugal a few years later) by the Spanish expulsion.
A few days after her birth, that part of Bulgaria became part of Romania. She was so small at birth, she recounts, that the doctor had little hope she would survive more than a few years. She slept in a drawer of a chiffonier lined with many layers of cotton for the first year.
The youngest of three sisters, she recalls growing up comfortably in a warm and observant community. Her father, Avram, who operated a textile factor, attended synagogue on Shabbat and all the Yom Tovim.
The family – along with all the other Jewish families in Romania, fell on hard times with the advent of World War II. Although Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany and was never occupied, members of the Romanian Iron Guard – the local equivalent of the Nazis – could be just as sadistic and murderous as their German counterparts. Although most Romanian Jews outside of Bucharest were murdered, those living in the capital city, while facing much discrimination and many restrictions – were spared internment and deportation.
Kittner notes that mother, Minduch, died in 1945 and she lost her father in 1946.
During the war Charlotte and her sister, Lisa, were assigned to a factory making linens and garments for the Nazis.
She recalls that life was tough after liberation and continued to be difficult after the coming of Communism in immediate post-war Romania.
After the war, Kittner trained as an accountant and found work with a large manufacturer. That is where she met her husband, Mike (Misu) Kittner. They were married in Bucharest in November,1952.
Kittner’s sisters, Suzanna and Lisa, both made aliyah after the war. Charlotte and Mike followed in 1964. They lived in Israel for three years. Charlotte quickly learned Hebrew and found work as an accountant.
But life in Israel was difficult economically in those days. Mike’s brothers, Fred and Serge, had previously settled in Winnipeg and encouraged Mike and Charlotte to join them. They did – in May 1967.
The next year, Chralotte’s sister Lisa and husband, Nick, also moved to Winnipeg.
Their other sister, Suzanna, and her husband, Selu, a well known painter, remained in Israel.
Over the years, Kittner has visited Israel – where she has numerous nephews, nieces and cousins – as well as having taken trips back to Romania and to other European countries.
Once in Winnipeg, she and Mike quickly found work in the garment industry. She was first hired as a bookkeeper by Stall and Son. After a short time she moved over to Silpit Industries, where she served as chief accountant for many years. Kittner has favourable memories of her boss, the late community leader Harry Silverberg. She later worked for another Silverberg firm, Brown and Rutherford, a lumber processing operation.
Mike only worked in the garment industry for a short time. He found his niche in insurance sales – where he excelled. He also founded Broadway Agencies and became a booking agent for budding new performing artists in Europe whom he brought to Winnipeg to appear in popular local night clubs.
Mike and Charlotte’s nephew, Brad Kittner, recalls as a youngster going with his
parents, aunts and uncles to those clubs and watching what he describes as “these fabulous singers.” He says that they inspired him to pursue his own successful career as a karaoke singer and performer for hire.
Charlotte and Mike first lived in East Kildonan for a year, then moved to Partridge Avenue in West Kildonan. A few years later, they bought a new house on Drimes Place, north of Templeton, in northwest Winnipeg.
While Mike Kittner passed away in 1991, Charlotte continued to work into her 70s.
Through the years, she has led a busy social life with family and friends. As Brad Kittner notes, even at 100, “Aunt Charlotte continues hosting friends and family for full course meals and gatherings at her place.”
Charlotte celebrated her hundredth birthday with more than 20 relatives and friends at the Ichiban Restaurant.
Although hard of hearing and somewhat frail of body, her mind remains relatively clear. She still enjoys reading fiction, doing crosswords and looking forward to her weekly card games with her sister-in-law, Sylvia, who also lives at Chateau West on Jefferson, and other friends.
May she live to 120!
Local News
Over 2000 supporters turned out for walk for Israel despite overcast skies, rain
By MYRON LOVE October 5 started out overcast and rainy. The rain – which fortunately stopped just before the Walk for Israel began – didn’t prevent over 2,000 supporters of Israel – both members of our Jewish community and those from outside of our community from turning out for the second annual Walk for Israel commemorating the horrific events of October 7 – two years ago – the darkest day in post-Holocaust Jewish history
As with last year, the 45-minute walk began and ended at the Asper Campus. While last year the walk was followed by speeches from community leaders and various politicians, this year the only speaker was Paula Parks, President of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg, who pointed out that the ongoing anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations- post October 7- have strengthened the bonds within our community and spurred more people to affiliate with our communal organizations. She further noted that more of us are speaking out and we need to continue to do that.
“The number of people who participated was inspirational,” says Gustavo Zentner, the representative for Manitoba and Saskatchewan for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. “We had numerous allies as well as members of our Jewish community. We had people from all walks of life.”
“We had a fantastic turnout,” added Jeff Lieberman, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s CEO. “Paula spoke very well. Her comments were meaningful.”
He expressed his hope that the hostages would be released very soon, the war would be ended, and Israelis can finally live in peace.
The commemoration’s focus this year was primarily on visual images rather than words. The walk featured a number of photos taken by local members of the Winnipeg Jewish community who visited the Nova site in person or attended the Nova exhibit that travelled to various parts of Canada and the United States. The photos were displayed for the day along the fence on Doncaster Avenue – the first stage of the walk. Participants were handed Israeli flags and kalaniot (red anemones) flowers, the official flower of Israel, and were encouraged to place them around the photos on the fence.
As well, as part of the October 7 commemoration, 33 paintings depicting some of those taken hostage on October 7 were put on display along Main Street of the Campus from the week of October 3-October 10. The paintings were the work of well-known Israeli illustrator, cartoonist, humourist, performance artist and political activist, Zeev Engelmayer.
The walk on October 5 concluded with Israeli shimshinim – Israeli youth representatives here in Winnipeg from Israel – and other young people from our community reciting a prayer for the hostages (who were finally freed last week), and members of the IDF, followed by the singing of “O Canada” and “Hatikvah.”