Local News
Jeff Lieberman discusses how, after years of serving as chair of major organizations, he’s actually going to be CEO of one: The Jewish Federation
By BERNIE BELLAN Longtime volunteer – and successful businessman Jeff Lieberman was the surprise choice to be the next CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.
I say surprise because, after years of serving on numerous quasi-public boards – often as chair of those boards, one would not have thought that Jeff Lieberman was actually interested in becoming the full-time CEO of one of those organizations. But, that he’ll soon be.
Recently I chatted with Jeff about how he came to throw his hat into the ring for the position of Federation CEO.
I’ve known Jeff for many years now – and, along with Avrom Charach, I can’t think of anyone in our Jewish community who has committed themselves longer to serving our community in so many different capacities.
Among various volunteer positions Jeff has held, he’s been the President of Folklorama, Chair of the University of Manitoba Board of Governors, President of the Rady JCC, President of the University of Manitoba Alumni Association. He currently serves as a Board Member of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba and the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.
Jeff, now 63, is married to Robyn (née Buchwald), who is the Membership Manager of the Rady JCC. Jeff and Robyn have three children: Amy, 31, who is a teacher at Gray Academy (and who just had a baby December 31, making Jeff and Robyn grandparents for the first time); Josh, 28, who is a lawyer; and Noah, 24, who has now written two books – among other things (and who was profiled in our last edition – before we ever knew about Jeff’s becoming CEO).
I was curious to find out from where Jeff derives an abiding sense of service to the community, but we began our conversation by my asking Jeff about his long-time ownership of his company, “Great Canadian Promotional Products.”
Jeff said he started the company in 1989. “We sold clothing for local companies and organizations,” he said. Eventually, “people started asking for different promotional products…and I’ve been selling promotional products since then.”
“Around 18 years ago I associated my company with a really large promotional products company – Talbot Marketing… and it’s been really great – lots of staff and support, and it’s really made my business life simple.”
Jeff explained that he thought he would stay in business, eventually work less, then retire, “but the last couple of months (in which he began to think about applying for the CEO position) really changed that.”
His goal before was to sell the company in about a year’s time, he said, but not retire from marketing. With everything that’s now happened, however, he’s had to move much quicker to sell his company.
He said that he’s “spoken to a couple of people in the past couple of weeks” and he’s “hoping to sell it” before he steps into his new role on August 14.
At that point I turned the conversation to the process that led Jeff “to throw his hat into the ring.” I said to him: “I’m guessing you were approached to put your name forward. Is that correct?”
Jeff said that he had been the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s representative on the Jewish Federation Board the past couple of years and had been aware for quite some time that Elaine Goldstine was planning on retiring as Federation CEO.
“But, to be honest,” Jeff noted, “I had no interest in putting my name forward. I was happy with what I was doing – and had never even considered it (applying for the CEO position.”
He went on to say that he’s not sure exactly what led to his being approached, but “a few people in the community had approached me and asked whether I’d be interested. They thought I’d be a really good person for the position,” he said, “and I was really complimented. When the first person asked I was kind of surprised because I had never really thought of myself that way, but a few months ago two or three other people came up to me and said the same thing, so it gets you thinking a little bit. I knew that the search was still on and eventually I decided to put my name forward.
“I guess there were a number of people that they were interviewing and I was put in the interview process at the same time – and, amazingly, I was told that the search committee had decided that they’d like me to be the CEO. I certainly didn’t expect it and, as a matter of fact, when I did the interview I said: ‘I hope I’m not wasting your time.’
While Jeff has served – and headed, various boards of organizations in the quasi-public sector – as I noted at the beginning of this article, I suggested to him that he would be the first CEO of the Jewish Federation coming from the private sector, and I wondered how different it would be becoming “the CEO of a quasi-public sector organization as opposed to being the owner of a business?”
“It will certainly be different,” Jeff answered. “What I said in my job interview is that if you’re looking for someone who’s there to build relationships and be a good people person, honest, hardworking – that’s what I am – a person of integrity…and a humble person – that’s what I really am. That’s what I think I bring. I know a lot of people in our community and they know me. I think I’ve got a good reputation.
“I may not bring the most amount of management skills, but I think what the Federation – and other organizations, need, are people to build relationships and build upon a future, because it’s all about the next generation. I think I can relate to younger people. I’m 63, but I feel like I’m 43…I’ve got lots of energy.
“They asked me in the interview how long I thought do I think I could work in this position? and I said, ‘Yah, I think I could work five – ten years.’’’
I asked whether there is a term attached to the CEO position?
Jeff said, “not really,” so I said “sort of like Vladimir Putin – you could just continue on as long as you want.”
I said though that, while I would want to discuss where Jeff thought changes were needed most at the Federation, I would give him a chance to “get his feet wet” before I’d ask him to start answering those types of questions.
What I wondered about though, is from where Jeff derived his strong sense of volunteerism? Was it something he grew up with? I asked.
“Not really,” Jeff responded. “My parents were hard working and they didn’t do a whole lot of volunteering. My mum (Dora, who died in 2011) did a little bit of that. My father (Aron, who died in 2022) was born in Poland. His family was all killed (in the Holocaust). When he had a chance to come to Canada, he came – on a boat. He was sick the whole way. When he got to Montreal he was told to come to Winnipeg. He was put on a train – didn’t speak a word of English. He worked in a factory all his life, worked hard. It was all about providing for my brother (Garry) and me – providing an education.” There was nothing specific in Jeff’s upbringing that led him to want to give back so much to the community, he added.
But, when he was much younger, he “was invited to go on a Federation mission – I think it was in 1988, and really after that I got the bug to volunteer. I started off at the Rady JCC – which then was the Y – and was on the board.
“Certainly I put in lots of hours volunteering, but I get so much out of it. I’ve met so many great people and experienced so many fantastic things.”
I said to Jeff that he’s such a nice guy, I wondered how it was going to be for him when he had to start saying “no” to a lot of people and organizations when they would be coming to the Federation with requests – especially for money. I noted that Bob Freedman, who had been CEO for 28 years, had a reputation for toughness – and wasn’t afraid to be confrontational at times. (I don’t recall hearing that Elaine Goldstine could be tough in the same way that Bob was tough but, on the other hand, the Goldstine reign is not quite over – and just like retired presidents, maybe the dirt will surface once Elaine has fully retired. Anyone who’s familiar with this newspaper knows that I like nothing more than to trade in gossip and innuendo, so watch out Elaine: We’re coming for you!)
I also mentioned to Jeff that I go back long enough to remember when the late Izzy Peltz basically ran what was then the Winnipeg Jewish Community Council as a one-man show.
Jeff recalled that “in those days, Robyn’s grandfather, Ralph Hamovich (whose daughter is Mira Buchwald, Robyn’s mother), was the other member of the team with Izzy (Peltz). I think Izzy ran the office, while Ralph ran the Combined Jewish Appeal part of it.”
“Yah,” I suggested, “it was really a small organization back then. You could have a two-man show.” (Boy, from a small seedling, mighty organizations with large staffs grow.)
And, speaking of staff, I noted that there have been many changes at the Federation recently, including two recent changes that were announced in our last issue: Sharon Graham as Community Planning and Allocations Lead (a position that had been vacant since the retirement of Faye Rosenberg-Cohen in December); and Graciela Najenson, as Interim Chief Development Officer (taking over from the recently departed Rebecca Brask).
Those are two hugely important positions in our community and, although both previous occupants of those positions may not have commanded a lot of attention outside of the Jewish organizational level, both Faye Rosenberg-Cohen and Rebecca Brask played key roles in determining how much money was available for the 12 beneficiary organizations of the Federation and how that money was distributed.
I said to Jeff though that I thought Elaine Goldstine’s last day as Federation CEO was going to be August 31. He said it was, “but that we’re going to have a few days together. Elaine and I have known each other forever. She has been so helpful. We’ve spoken every day and she said to me, ‘Jeff, I’m a phone call away and if you have any questions after that, just ask.’ I really appreciate that.”
On an end note, I said to Jeff that I thought his being hired was a refreshing change for the Federation and, while the piece I was going to write was going to be all “flowery,” (which this has been), “the muckraking was yet to come.”
Local News
Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Synagogue hosts moving farewell for departing rabbi Yossi Benarroch
By MYRON LOVE It was a bittersweet evening Sunday, July 27, as about 300 members of Adas Yeshurun Herzlia and other community members gathered at the synagogue to express their appreciation to retiring Rabbi Yossi Benarroch for his service to the congregation – and the larger Jewish community – over the past nine years.
Although Benarroch had officially retired at the end of July, he had already returned to his family in Israel. The congregation paid to fly him, his wife, Elana, their daughters Ruchama and Tiferet and Tiferet’s infant daughter, Agam, back to Winnipeg for the moving tribute evening.
As this writer noted in an interview with Yossi Benarroch earlier this year, his assuming the spiritual leadership of Adas Yeshurun Herzlia was a match made in heaven. He grew up in our community, one of four sons of the revered Solomon and Mary Bennarroch. The future rabbi earned a physical education degree from the University of Manitoba in 1984, following which he made aliyah. He studied at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva (among others), receiving smicha in 1991. In 1999, he and his wife, Elana, and their children moved to Vancouver.
He and his family were back living in Israel in 2016 when the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia pulpit became vacant. “I saw it as an opportunity to fulfil what I felt was my obligation to give back to the community which had given me so much in my early years,” he says.
A second motivation was that he would be able to spend more time with his aged parents and two brothers in Winnipeg.
In his remarks on the 27th, Rabbi Benarroch thanked many people in our community who had played an important role in his life. First and foremost, he thanked his wife, Elana. While she didn’t want to leave Israel, he noted, she understood how important this was to him.
The arrangement that they agreed upon was that he would spend blocks of nine weeks in Winnipeg followed by three in Israel. He always made sure to be home (Israel) for Pesach, Sukkot and half of Chanukah. Now, nearing 68 years old, and with his parents both having passed away, Yossi Benaroch feels that it is time to go back permanently.
“I really appreciate the sacrifice that Elana was willing to make – giving up the love of her life for nine months a year for nine years so that I could fulfill my lifelong dream to return to and give back to the community I love so dearly.”
It was also very important to him, Rabbi Benarroch added, that some of his children were able to meet his community in Winnipeg and see what this community meant to him.
Among the many individuals he thanked were the late Dr. Earl Hershfield who – as president of the congregation – persuaded him to come back here; current president Jack Craven; long time congregational leaders Abe and Barbara Anhang; and members of the congregation as a whole – who welcomed him into their homes and lives.
“I have felt a tremendous love here,” Rabbi Benarroch said. “I can honestly say that in nine years, I never had a single argument with anyone in the congregation.”
He noted how much he cherished being able to spend time with his family in Winnipeg – his late parents, his brothers, Michael and Albert, his nephews and nieces and cousins.
Rabbi Benarroch also spoke about his positive relationships – friendships – with his rabbinical colleagues and the leadership at the Federation.
While Rabbi Benarroch noted that he is happy that he is going to be home full time now with his family – including three other children and numerous grandchildren – in Efrat, he added that he is not finished here quite yet. He announced that he will be back one more time to lead yom tov services.
The tribute for Rabbi Yossi Benarroch and his family on July 27 was not the only reason for celebration. The evening also marked the rededication of three of the six Talmud Torah Beth Jacob Synagogue stained glass windows.
Five of the windows were installed at the Talmud Torah Beth Jacob Synagogue – which was then located on Matheson Avenue in the North End (where it shared space with what was then the Talmud Torah School) – in May of 1970. Three of the windows were in commemoration of the late Rabbi Avraham Kravetz, Cantor Benjamin Brownstone and philanthropist Joseph Wolinsky – all of whom played an outsized role in shaping Jewish education in our community. According to an article I wrote for the Jewish Post at the time, the windows were created by Ron Henig, a Toronto-based artist. Marcus Bressler, a Talmud Torah past president, had seen Henig’s work in Toronto and persuaded the Simkin and Chait families to memorialize their loved ones by funding the installation of two windows in the Matheson Avenue shul. So eye-catching were the windows, some other members of the shul decided to have three more windows created in memory of Rabbi Kravitz, Cantor Brownstone and Wolinsky.
The windows moved with the Talmud Torah Beth Jacob Synagogue in 1997 to its new location on north Main Street after the community sold the Talmud Torah/Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate building and centralized Jewish private education in our community at the new Asper Campus.
Winnipeg artist Irma Penn created a sixth stained glass window for the Talmud Torah about 20 years ago at the new location.
Two years ago, facing declining attendance over several years, the Talmud Torah congregation merged with the 53-year-old Chavurat Tefila congregation – which was also dealing with declining attendance – at the latter synagogue on the Corner of Hartford and McGregor.
After the Talmud Torah building was sold last summer, three of the windows – the Irma Penn window and those that were dedicated to Joseph Wolinsky and the Chait Family followed the congregation members to the new Chavurat Tefila – Talmud Torah shul.
The Rabbi Kravetz, Brownstone and Jean Simkin windows were passed on to the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia congregation, where the Rabbl Kravetz “Shoah” window was rededicated in memory of the late Leon and Faye Raber by their children, Frayda and Label Raber.
In rededicating the “Shoah” window n memory of their parents, Frayda Raber pointed out that the window incorporates the Gorenstein (Faye’s) family’s relationship with the Adas Yeshurun shul from its beginnings in 1909 and their father’s survival of the Holocaust.
“Label and I grew up at the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia,” recalled Raber. “We went to elementary school here, attended junior congregation here, Shabbat and Yom Tov services, and celebrated our life cycle events. Despite living away, Label in Vancouver and me in Ottawa, the synagogue has remained our home away from home all these years.”
She added that her mother maintained her membership even after moving away in 2017 after Leon’s passing, and remembered the synagogue in her will.
Faye Raber passed away last September at the age of 103.
Frayda thanked Rabbi Benarroch for bringing the opportunity to refurbish the Shoah window to the family’s attention. “I believe that having this stained glass window displayed so prominently will help keep this part of our history in the forefront for current and future generations,” she said.
Abe and Barbara Anhang rededicated the two other windows – the Or V’Talmud Torah and Shir U’Shvacha windows – in honour of the Benarroch Family. As Barbara Anhang noted in her remarks:
“It was Shammai in the first chapter of Pirkei Avot who pointed out the necessity of daily Torah study, of saying little and doing much, and of receiving everyone with a pleasant countenance. These traits were second nature to Mary and Solomon Benarroch, who, when learning of Winnipeg’s search for a community shochet (slaughterer), jumped at the chance to leave Morocco and came to Winnipeg.”
Shlomo Benarroch, she noted, served as one of Winnipeg Jewish community’s shochetim for over 50 years. He was also a Torah reader, sofer (scribe), mohel (as needed), chazan and educator.
“He was a soft-spoken gentleman who said little but did much,” Barbara said, “and cared deeply about serving his adopted community.”
She described Mary Benarroch as “the consummate Jewish homemaker who provided a loving, supportive home for her husband, twins Yossi and Yamin, Michael, Albert, and their extended Canadian family. Her sons were her treasures.
”She succeeded in nurturing them to grow into observant, caring people who excelled in education and community service.”
Barbara went on to thank “Rabbi Yossi for his inspiring Talmud and parsha classes, his kashrut supervision at Schmoozer’s and Gwen Secter kitchens, Gunn’s Bakery, and Sunday morning Maimonides classes, bar/bat mitzvah preparations and drashas.”
She further thanked Elana Benarroch for her love and devotion in caring for their family in Israel while he was here, that made it all possible.
“Elana, we are all eternally grateful,” Barbar said. “Thank you. Both of you have shown us by example the joy of performing a mitzvah and that Jewish life cannot be sustained without Israel at its core.
“We were blessed to have you as our role models. Every one who had the honour of getting to know you and your dear parents, and seeing how you and they chose to live your lives, was, and is, changed for the better.”
Sid Halpern added his praise for the Benarroch Family: “We are honoured to rededicate these windows in the name of the Benarroch Family,” he said.
“Several weeks ago,” Halpern continued, “in his usual inspiring droshe, Rabbi Yossi in Parsha Balak, taught us that G-d sends us messages in different means from different messengers. The stained glass windows we rededicate today represent passionate messengers – visionaries who built the community we enjoy today with messages if our ears and eyes and hearts are open and receptive. Among the most consequential of these messengers were Shhlomo and Mary Benarroch, who created a new world for themselves in our community just as their community in their native Morocco was being largely destroyed. Their sons, Yamin, Yossi, Michael, and Al, continue to revitalize and inspire communities in Israel, Canada and the world.”
Halpern reIated that, in a reply to a question from his late wife Esther to Mary Benarroch how Mary had achieved such overwhelming success in raising her family, Mary’s response was “with love” which, Halpern noted, is the strongest force on the face of the earth, according to none other than Albert Einstein.
Halpern also had kind words for Faye and Leon Raber – whom he remembered as supporters and builders of Herzlia. “While Leon always sat in the back benches,” he recounted, “he and Faye were always on the front benches when the shul needed their support.
“It is great to have their children, Label and Frayda, with us whom I remember as regular attendees in their younger years and who were always respectful to and caring for their parents.”
Addressing Elana Bennarroch, Halpern said: “While we knew and felt your pain of aloneness for the past nine years, Rabanit Elana – especially in such stressful times, we want you to know how grateful we are to you and your family for lending Reb Yossi to us.
“This is a a time not for farewell but, rather, for Lehitraut, Reb Yossi and Elana, till we meet again Thank you Reb Yossi for your beautiful messages. Keep them coming from Tziyon from whence the Torah will come.”
Speaking on behalf of the Benarroch Family, Kim Bailey, wife of University of Manitoba President Michael Bernarroch, talked about the family’s strong connection with the Talmud Torah Synagogue.
All four brothers had their bar mitzvahs at the synagogue, she noted, her fasther-in-law was the long time Torah reader, and her mother-in-law was a part of the shul’s Emunah women’s group..
“One of my favourite memories,” Bailey recalled, “was listening to my father-in-law read the Megillah every year at Purim.
“That synagogue was central to the whole Benarroch family and they were beloved pillars of the Talmud Torah community,” she added.
While Solomon and Mary moved with the Talmud Torah after the congregation was forced to relocate, Bailey noted, they did move eventually move south to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
“I can imagine the members of the Talmud Torah who are no longer with us would be pleased to see that these windows have found such a beautiful new home and that they are being dedicated to the Benarroch family,” she said. “These windows are a reminder that while many things have changed in our community, the essential things such as Torah, prayer, song, love and respect for family and community don’t.”.
Local News
Shaarey Zedek brings Carnie Rose back home to serve as senior rabbi
By MYRON LOVE The growing family of Roses is continuing to return to Winnipeg.
For more than 45 years, Rabbi Neal and Rebetzin Carol Rose, along with their children, played a prominent role in our community’s religious life. Neil and Carol originally came here in 1968 at the behest of their mentor, the late Rabbi Zalman Schachter- Shalomi. While Rabbi Neal’s “day job” was as a member of the University of Manitoba Department of Judaic Studies, he also served the community as a rabbi – filling in at major synagogues when those synagogues were between rabbis, also performing weddings and funerals.
Of particular note, Neal and Carol and family for several decades led a popular alternative Yom Tov service in the lower level of the Rosh Pina/Etz Chayim synagogue.
As happens in many families though, as each of their five children grew up, the children left Winnipeg. Finally, ten years ago, Neil and Carol also left – moving to St. Louis, where their second son, Rabbi Carnie Rose, was the spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Amoona, an historic synagogue with about 850 member families.
Eight years ago, Rabbi Kliel Rose, Neal and Carol’s third son, was the first of the family to come back to Winnipeg as the spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Chayim. Now, Kliel has been joined by older brother Carnie – the new senior rabbi at Shaarey Zedek.
In mid July, I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Carnie about his career, his decision to come back to Winnipeg and his hopes for the future here.
“I am really excited to be back,” he says. “I remember so many people here – the teachers as well as the characters – who were so much a part of my life growing up here. I feel like I have come home.”
Armed with an MA and Doctor of Divinity degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rose began his rabbinical journey 30 years ago in Columbus, Ohio. In 1997, he and his wife, Pauline, moved to Tokyo, where Carnie served as the rabbi for Tokyo’s Jewish community. From there, his road led to a small congregation in New York. He became the spiritual leader at B’nai Amoona in St. Louis, in 2005.
Three years ago, he notes, he decided to try something different. An opportunity arose for him to take the reins of the Mandel JCC in Cleveland as president and CEO. “It was a chance to try something new, to experience a different aspect of Jewish life,” he observes. “But I found that I didn’t enjoy being an administrator. I missed the personal contact with people and families. I wanted to return to congregational work.”
It was the right time for the Shaarey Zedek to come calling.
“Rabbi (Alan) Green reached out to me,” Rose reports. “I had my bar mitzvah at Shaarey Zedek. I saw the potential here. The Shaarey Zedek has a large and growing congregation, and I decided that I want to be part of its revival. The new sanctuary is beautiful. I love the way the windows have been opened up to allow more natural light in. The catering is top notch. The staff members are great. I also like that there is a day care here again.”
He adds that having his brother, Kliel, here was a further inducement and is looking forward to having their families spend time together.
Rose commented on the most important changes he sees in our community since he left. “The synagogues and other Jewish institutions here seem to be much more open to collaboration,” he observes. “With the community centered around the campus, there seems to be a lot of positive energy.
“I am looking forward to Shaarey Zedek continuing to work together on joint programming with Kliel and Etz Chayim and our other congregations (such as an upcoming joint Tisha B’av program). I am also expecting to work with the Campus, Grey Academy, the Gwen Secter and others.”
He describes himself as an individual who is open to creative ideas and innovation. “Just because we have always done something in a certain way doesn’t mean that we can’t change,” he points out. “Reinvention has been an ongoing aspect of Judaism through the millennium.”
He quotes the revered Rav Kook as saying that it is important to “let the old become new and the new become sacred”.
“I think that is quite powerful,” he comments.”That will be the theme for our high holiday season this year at Shaarey Zedek.”
For Carnie Rose, while he recognizes that each congregation has its own distinct flavour or culture, dialogue among them and unity is most important.
He reports that Carol and Neal will soon be back home and (looking forward to be part of the community again.)
Local News
GrowWinnipeg celebrates 25th anniversary
By MYRON LOVE On Wednesday, June 25, about 250 Jewish Winnipeggers – comprising lifelong residents as well as newer arrivals, came together at the Asper campus to celebrate the 25th anniversary of GrowWinnipeg, an initiative that has revitalized our Jewish community – in our camps, school, synagogues and other institutions and given our community a much more international flavour.
Our community’s population peaked in terms of population in 1961 when Winnipeg Jewry numbered around 20,000. The years after had been a period of steady decline. By 1961, most of the Jews living in smaller communities in the Prairie provinces – the source of much of our ongoing population replenishment up to that point – had largely disappeared.
A s Bob Freedman, the former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (and its predecessor, the Winnipeg Jewish Community Council), noted in his remarks at the 25th anniversary party, by 1986, community leaders recognized that ours was an aging and shrinking community with aging infrastructure.
“We recognized that something had to be done,” he recalled.
The first stage, he pointed out, was the planning and construction of the Asper Campus, which brought our major institutions and organizations under one roof in an attractive new building.
The next challenge was to attract more people to our community. GrowWinnipeg was created to take on the challenge. GrowWinnipeg is unique in its efforts to reach out to young Jewish families throughout the Western world .
The genesis was a chance meeting on an airplane almost 30 years ago between former Manitoba Lieutenant-Governor Janice Filmon – at that time the wife of then-Manitoba premier Gary Filmon, and a Jewish businessman from Argentina who was contemplating moving to Toronto. Filmon persuaded him to consider Winnipeg instead. He was impressed by what he saw and suggested that the community send representatives to Buenos Aires to meet with other Argentinian Jewish families who were considering leaving.
That planted the seed.
Shortly thereafter – in 1998 – Larry Hurtig – then the president of the Federation, his son, Jack, and a representative of the provincial government, made an exploratory visit to Buenos Aires to gauge what interest there might be among young Jewish families to consider moving to Winnipeg.
GrowWinnipeg was officially launched in 2000. Our community opened its arms in welcome to the new arrivals who began to arrive, hosting them in our homes and helping them become acclimatized to their new surroundings.
Evelyn Hecht became the principal contact for the newcomers. “I was lucky that I happened to be working for the Federation when we opened the campus and turned our energies to repopulating our community,” Hecht noted in her remarks at the recent celebration. “Fortunately, the pieces fell into place at just the right time.”
Those pieces, Hecht related, included: the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program – which allowed community support groups to recruit specific immigrants; the arrival of a small number of Jewish families from Buenos Aires who encouraged community leaders to look to their former home as a potential source of Jewish immigrants; and the availability of email and the internet.
The initiative – led by Hecht – recruited a group of local Jewish families who were prepared to host potential immigrants who had begun to come for exploratory visits. The connections made by the new arrivals and their local hosts resulted in many long–lasting friendships, Hccht noted.
She praised Jewish Child and Family Service for helping the new arrivals to become established here and integrate into the community.
Efforts were also made to build a data basis of potential employers for the newcomers.
GrowWinnpeg was kicked off by two visits to Buenos Aires – visits Hecht describes as “exciting and exhausting” – in the early 2000s, when Hecht and other Winnipeg representatives met with potential immigrants and heard their concerns about life and personal safety in Argentina and hopes for the future that Winnipeg might be able to give them.
“I remember,” she said, “the numerous meeting I held in my office on the third floor here listening to people’s excitement and concerns and answering questions about life in Winnipeg, our Jewish identity, schools, synagogues, employment, housing and especially, safety. I always emphasized that they would encounter struggles, disappointment and possibly, crises – but I assured them that we would be here to help.
“And I remember feeling so much happiness when people would show up at my door to share good news about babies born, bar and bat mitzvahs, graduations and new jobs – and the numerous times I was in Citizen Court where so many were so proud to receive their citizenship certificates. “
And they are still coming. Dalia Szpiro, Hecht’s successor, reports that, over the past 25 years just under 7,000 people have come here under the aegis of GrowWinnipeg – and not just from Argentina. We have had families from Brazil, Uruguay and other South American countries, Mexico, Europe, and, in more recent years, especially from Israel.
For former Israelis I spoke with on the 25th, such as Slava and Karina Pustilnikov, Irena Oz and Marina Shapiro and her 19-year-old son, Adam, all of whom have been here for 10 to 15 years, the primary motivation was being in a safer environment.
For Ori Rahima and his wife, Anna Shapiro, who have been here for seven years and have three children under six, the pull was greater opportunity and a better standard of living.
Then there is Esther Barna, a teacher by training, newly arrived from Budapest. “Hungary is not a good place to be a Jew,” she says. “There is a lot of antisemitism. I was looking online for a better place to go and came across the GrowWinnipeg website. I love it here.”
In her concluding remarks, Dalia Szpiro, herself an immigrant from Uruguay about 20 years ago, thanked the many Jewish organizations and individuals in the community who have helped to make GrowWinnipeg the success that it is.
“Over 250 volunteers each year meet with our exploratory visitors – opening their homes, their hearts, their time, their insights and their networks,” she noted. “There is something very special about our community and our province. Every exploratory visitor who comes here as part of their immigration journey discovers it.
“This 25-year milestone is a reason for pride and celebration – and a renewed commitment to the future. We are already working on new strategies – to strengthen what we have built, support immigration, foster inclusion and create more opportunities for newcomers to grow and prosper.”