Local News
International President and CEO of Bridges for Peace, Rebecca Brimmer, visits Winnipeg
By BERNIE BELLAN Two years ago we ran a press release from Bridges for Peace, in which the organization announced that an interview that I had been planning on doing with BFP International President and CEO Rebecca Brimmer when she was slated to arrive in Winnipeg that April had to be postponed because of – you guessed it: the onset of Covid.
That seems like eons ago, but when I was invited to attend a luncheon at the Asper Campus to hear from Becky (which is what everyone who knows her calls her), along with other representatives of BFP, I was only too glad to do so (although, as I explained to the person who contacted me from BFP: I wanted to be absolutely sure that proper protocols were in place, including safe distancing, also that I would be wearing a mask. I said that I’m still not comfortable being in public places where there are large groups of people, when not everyone is masked.)
As it was, it was only a very small group of invited guests, representing various Jewish organizations, who were on hand to hear from Becky, also from Peter Fast, Executive Director of BFP Canada (and soon to be CEO of BFP International, taking over from Becky next year). We were also told that we were going to be hearing from one more speaker: Tom Brimmer (Becky’s husband), whom I had the pleasure of meeting – along with Becky, in 2011, when they were both here to attend a function at the Shaarey Zedek honouring then-Executive Director of BFP Canada John Howson, upon his retirement from that position.
Tom Brimmer, by the way, is a licensed tour guide in Israel. I told him that I recalled meeting him back in 2011 when he was wearing a plaid shirt and heavy boots. I told him that he looked like a lumberjack back then. If you take a look at his picture here, I think you’ll agree that he is still not likely to make the cover of GQ.
For those of you not familiar with Bridges for Peace, it’s a Christian organization whose purpose is to foster good relations between Christians and Jews and to provide a range of services for Israeli citizens (of all denominations) who are in need of assistance. Through food banks which it operates in two Israeli cities (Jerusalem and Karmiel), BFP provides over three tons of food a day to over 24,000 Israelis. Now, with the influx of refugees from Ukraine, BFP has stepped up its food donations to meet the needs of many of those refugees, also refugees who have arrived from Ethiopia, Becky explained during her talk. In addition to food banks, BFP volunteers also do home repairs, and help Israelis with medical and dental needs.
During Becky’s talk, she told of her own experiences with BFP in Israel, where she has lived since 1993 (although she and Tom have now moved to Missouri, she told me during lunch, but they both travel back and forth from there to Israel on a regular basis).
Explaining what it is that BFP is attempting to achieve, Becky said the primary purpose is “having a future when Christians and Jews are good friends. There are so many things we share in common.”
While Peter Fast’s role in Canada has been to promote good relations between Jews and Christians, primarily by reaching to members of over 500 churches across Canada, Becky noted, her role in Israel has been “on the other side of the bridge” – reaching out to Jews to demonstrate how supportive so many Christians are of the State of Israel.
By doing so, she continued, “We are doing everything we can to educate the Christian world to undo the damage done in the past. We want to show a different face (to Jews) by acts of kindness.”
While one may have thought that, with the advent of Covid in 2020, donations to BFP and subsequently, support for Israel, might have dried up, just the opposite has happened, Becky observed.
“Christians saw the need to give more,” she stated. In 2022 already, “we’ve raised 50% more than we had budgeted” as a result of the generosity of donors. Becky gave the specific example of BFP in Japan, which has only a very small Christian community. Since the war in Ukraine began, however, and thousands of Ukrainian Jewish refugees have arrived in Israel, over $500,000 has been donated to BFP Japan, she said.
Referring to the Holocaust and how few Christians intervened to help save Jewish lives, Becky noted that many people like to say: “If I had been alive then I would have helped.”
“Well, this is my time to help now,” Becky said. Bridges for Peace “will help as many Jews from Ukraine as we can, also Jews from Ethiopia.”
Since Bridges for Peace officially began (in 1976), it has helped over 100,000 individuals make aliyah to Israel, Becky noted.
Following Becky’s remarks, her husband Tom took the podium. Tom explained that he wanted to talk about tourism – and how much of a hit Israel has taken to its tourism industry since Covid first emerged worldwide in 2020.
For Tom Brimmer, tourism has given him the opportunity to show Christian tourists what Israel is all about, he said. “Tourism changes people,” he observed.
“Christians come to Israel with every kind of attitude you can imagine,” he said, “but they leave with a changed attitude.”
“The tourism industry,” in Israel, he added however, “has suffered a terrible blow the last two years.”
Yet, while it now appears that tourism is set to make a huge rebound in Israel, as Covid restrictions have been lifted, there is one huge problem, Tom suggested: Almost all the tour guides who lost their jobs as a result of Covid have found other jobs in the meantime. Will they want to leave those new jobs and return to being tour guides? he wondered.
Further, “90 percent of the restaurants that depended on tourists closed,” he added.
Something else Tom noted: Seven hotels were transformed into Covid hotels exclusively. Are they going to revert to normal hotel operations now?
Still, he was optimistic. “We’re going to make a comeback. It’s going to be okay,” he predicted.
As of this moment, “it’s hard to book a tour – they’re in such great demand,” Tom said. On top of that, he said, “we’re training a whole new crop of tour guides, but it does take two years to train a tour guide.”
At that point Tom switched gears and began talking about a Bridges for Peace program with which he’s been heavily involved since it first began in 2006, something called the “Zealous Israel Project.”
How that project began, Tom explained, was with his idea of taking a leaf out of the very successful Birthright program, and bring groups of from 18-30 young Christian adults to Israel for 10-12 days at a time.
In time the project morphed into something quite a bit more comprehensive when it was transformed into an 11-month internship program, based in Jerusalem, with ten different young adults participating at a time. (The mix is usually five males and five females, Tom noted, although it doesn’t always work out that way.)
“We want participants to see the land and experience training sessions with Israelis,” he added. “We teach young Christian adults why Israel is important.”
One of the first graduates of the program was none other than Peter Fast, who has gone on to become Executive Director of Bridges for Peace Canada and, as noted, is about to step into the role of International CEO of BFP.
In his own remarks, Peter Fast paid tribute to two of his predecessors who served as Executive Director of BFP Canada: John Howson, who was Executive Director from 1997-2011 (and who hardly looks much older than when I first met him over 15 years ago) and Eric Malloy, who served in that role until 2019.
Peter said that he and his young family will be moving to Israel in January next year and that he hoped to visit Winnipeg often once he moves into his new position in Israel.
Local News
First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
Local News
Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
Local News
Team Schvesters teammates Benji Harvey, Kim Gray once again among top ten fundraisers in this year’s CancerCare Manitoba Foundation Challenge for Life event
By MYRON LOVE This year’s annual CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s Challenge for Life walk at Assiniboine Park is scheduled for Sunday, June 13 – and, once again, in terms of fundraising, Team Schvesters is sitting in second place overall – having raised just over $30,500 as of May 26 – which is $5,000 more than the team members had raised by the same time last year.
As well, team members Benji Harvey and Kim Gray are once again in the top ten among individual fundraisers. Harvey this year sits in fifth place, having raised a little over $16,000 as of May 17 – while Gray has raised just above $8,000 – putting her in seventh place.
Harvey reports that, -over the past 18, years participating in CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s Challenge for Life, she has personally raised $180,000 for cancer research, while her team as a whole has brought in $367,000. In discussing her success as a fundraiser, Harvey says that she has made a lot of friends over the years and believes in giving back to the community.
The “Schvesters” are the Greenfeld sisters: Harvey and sisters Lesly Katz and Debra Lewis – the daughters of Lil and the late Ike Greenfeld. Two of the sisters are cancer survivors.
There is one other team member – in addition to Kim Gray. Judge Rocky Pollack first joined Team Schvesters in 2023. After a year away in 2024, he returned last year. Pollack lost his wife, Sharon, to cancer in 2014 after a multi-year struggle.
Nancy’s Nightingales has been a top 10 community fundraising team for Cancercare Manitoba and the Challenge for Life since its inception in 2008. As a team, they have walked together since 2006 when they walked 60 km in two days in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer.
Last year, the team – including Louise Raber, Joanne Katz, Rhonda Youell, Connie Botelho and Harriet Lyons – finished fifth in fundraising. So far this year, the team is again sitting in fifth place –having raised just under $12,500 (as of May 26) – a couple of thousand dollars more than last year, and just about $300 behind the fourth place team.
The Nightingales are named after a nurse who is a cancer survivor- and a friend of Louise Raber, Nancy’s Nightingales team leader.
“Our goal, as always, is to raise at least one dollar more than last year,” says Raber.
Team Jason’s Journey team leader Jason Gisser has experienced a more intimate and longer-lasting relationship with cancer than many of the other Challenge for Life participants. He was first diagnosed with cancer when he was 18. “I am a proud cancer fighter, having lived and battled a chronic cancer diagnosis for the last 23 years,” he said in an earlier interview. “I participate in the Challenge for Life not only to give back for the care and treatment which I have and continue to receive through CancerCare Manitoba, but to ensure that others do not have to endure the journey which I have endured.”
This is the ninth year that Gisser has taken up the Challenge for Life. His teammates are returnee Nora Fien, as well as friends Danial Sprintz, Wendy Martin White and Jason Roberts, also his mother, Judge Freda Steele. He has personally raised about $5,500 this year, while the team as a whole has raised just over $7,000.
“The Challenge for Life is great opportunity to raise valuable dollars for cancer research and treatment,” Gisser notes.
Readers can make donations to their preferred team by going online to CancerCarefdn.mb.ca and click on Challengeforlife.ca.
