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Jewish Heritage Centre to present talk on Western Canadian Jewish anarchists, including Feivel Simkin
By BERNIE BELLAN Maria Tarasova-Chomard is a young (24 year old) student, originally from Russia, now living in Paris, who will be presenting a talk on Western Canadian Jewish anarchists for the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada on Sunday, October 3rd.
In the September 1st article I noted that I would have more about my interview with Maria in our September 15 issue, including some detailed information about certain Jewish individuals who were leading anarchists in Winnipeg in the early part of the 20th century.
I should also note that Maria is the first student winner of the Switzer-Cooperstock prize, given for an original essay on a subject relating to Western Canadian Jewish history. The Switzer-Cooperstock prize is awarded biennially, with the new student prize awarded in alternate years.
Returning to my conversation with Maria, which occurred over Zoom on August 24 while Maria was in her Paris home, I asked her “whether there were any names of well-known Jewish anarchists from Western Canada that” she could “throw out for the benefit of readers”?
Maria responded: “Yes, there were the Prasow brothers – Zalman and Israel – they were the leaders of the movement actually. Then there was Feivel (Frank) Simkin.”
Saying the name “Feivel Simkin” certainly triggered a greater interest on my part, since the Simkin name is so well known within the Jewish community. While I don’t want to preempt anything Maria might have to say during her talk on October 3rd, I’m sure reading the name “Simkin”, followed by the word “anarchist” might come as a bit of a surprise to at least some readers.
Following my conversation with Maria, I sent an email to Stan Carbone, curator of the Jewish Heritage Centre, in which I noted that Maria had said that Feivel Simkin was a leading anarchist in Winnipeg – which came as a surprise to me. I had known that Feivel Simkin had been the publisher of the Israelite Press, but beyond that, I knew nothing about the man.
So, Stan sent me a transcript of an interview that Roz Usiskin had conducted with Feivel Simkin in 1977, in which he tells his life story – also how he defines “anarchism”. Here is what he said at one point in the interview: “They believed that you should educate yourself, and then you didn’t need government to look after you.”
I said to Maria that I’d always been a little unclear how to define “anarchist”. I said to her that I thought the anarchist movement had begun in the late 19th century, but she said it actually began earlier than that – “in the beginning of the 19th century”, but the “period of the flourishing of the movement was really toward the end of the century”.
I asked Maria to give me “a Cole’s Notes definition of ‘anarchism’”.
Maria answered: “The most important aspect is that it’s a movement that believes in a society based on community, based on unity, and denies constraint and privilege.”
I asked: “But doesn’t it reject most forms of government authority?”
Maria responded: “Yes, but that comes from a rejection of constraint and privilege. Every state, every government (according to anarchists) is based on constraint and privilege – and hierarchy.”
As our conversation continued, I asked Maria how easy is it to actually identify individuals in the early 20th century in Winnipeg as “anarchists”?
She said it is difficult to do because “there are very few records and since the movement was essentially clandestine, they were actually paying attention not to keep evidence as to who was an anarchist, but when I talk about the ‘anarchist’ movement’ in my work, I talk not only about those who were directly involved in the organizations and activities of the organizations, but also everyone who was interested in the ideas – who called themselves radicals or libertarians.
“We can distinguish two circles. There was the core – the actual activists, the organizers – and there were those who participated in events, were sort of around”, but who couldn’t necessarily be described as ‘anarchists’.”
I asked what documentation might have existed that would have led Maria to conclude that the Prasow brothers and Feivel Simkin were the leaders of the anarchist movement?
Maria said it was mostly through “correspondence” among those three figures, especially correspondence between the Prasows and the leading American anarchist at the time, Emma Goldman (who actually stayed with the Prasows in their house at one time when she visited Winnipeg, Maria noted).
I wondered though, whether that correspondence would have been conducted in English or Yiddish – since Yiddish would have been the mother tongue of those early 20th century anarchists.
Maria explained that English was the preferred language of the anarchists, especially since Emma Goldman had insisted that anarchists’ writing be in English, so that it would be understood by “the generation born in America”.
As a result of this emphasis on the next generation, “a lot of their effort went into education,” Maria said.
Given the anarchists’ objection to governmental authority, I wondered whether there was a convergence between anarchism and the kibbutz movement, for instance, which was also predicted on a rejection of authority?
Maria suggested though that there was a fundamental divide between anarchism and Zionism. For anarchists, “the nation should either not exist or should only exist until there are not any nations at all. The Zionist movement (in contrast) was about Jewish nationalism. For anarchists, building the nation or an ethnic movement was not important at all.”
But, just how many identifiable anarchists were there in Winnipeg in the early part of the 20th century, I wondered? “Would they have been in the hundreds?” I asked Maria.
“Oh no,” she answered. “I’ve been able to identify only five or six of them.” (And yet, in Roz Usiskin’s interview with Feivel Simkin, he referred to Emma Goldman filling a hall with 700 attendees when she spoke in Winnipeg, so surely that must have been more than a passing interest in anarchy among a great many Winnipeg Jews in the early 20th century.)
Still, as Maria pointed out, “they may have been people who were simply interested in going to a talk.”
Was anarchism more than a “fringe movement” then? I asked.
“Oh yes,” Maria responded. “They were noticeable in the ideological landscape of the time, especially before (the Winnipeg General) Strike, in 1919. They were bringing about real change in the sense that their influence, their contribution to real projects, to social education was pretty noticeable –and pretty impressive, for the time. It wasn’t just a marginal group, even though it was a lot less numerous than some of the other currents.”
During our entire conversation, the discussion was confined to Jewish anarchists. I wondered, however, whether Maria had come across any references to non-Jewish anarchists during that period in the early 20th century?
“It’s not something I have found a lot of mention about,” Maria answered. “I know there was quite a lot of cooperation in the United States between Jewish and Italian anarchists – and with Spanish anarchists toward the 1930s, and with German groups” as well, “but in Canada it’s truly hard to say (whether there was much involvement by non-Jews in the anarchist movement). “I have not been able to find any mention of that.”
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Limmud speaker Dan Ronis to introduce alternative way of learning about Jewish history
By MYRON LOVE The study of Jewish history – actually history in general – can be approached in any number of ways. There is the traditional yeshiva way of study, for example. Or, there is the conventional, modern, secular approach – as exemplified by Daniel Kroft (who was profiled in the last edition of the Jewish Post) – who accessed online lectures and university courses as well as readings to prepare himself for the launch of his relatively new Jewish history podcast.
Dan Ronis, who, like Kroft, will be presenting at Lummud Winnipeg on Sunday, March 23, is taking a decidedly different tack in learning about and teaching aspects of Jewish history.
A plant breeder and plant geneticist by training, Ronis, who currently lives in Saskatoon, will be giving two presentations at Limmud. His afternoon seminar will be about presenting Jewish history through the lens of a board game – specifically a visual recreation of the 70 CE Roman siege of Jerusalem.
Now board games recreating historical battles have been around for decades. (I remember as a teenager recreating the Allies’ D Day invasion of Normandy in June, 1944.)
“I have always loved chess and other board games involving strategy,” Ronis says. “With board games that recreate significant historic battles, you can actually see the disposition of the different armies in relation to each other. You can visualize the Roman siege towers, for example, the battering rams. You can visualize Judean forces sneaking out of the besieged city from time to time to launch surprise attacks on the enemy. It helps the players to understand how hard it was for both sides.“
(Ronis notes that there are other board games emulating each of the wars of modern Israel.)
Ronis’s morning presentation will be more esoteric” “No Forbidden Fruit – No Angry God” – which is also the title of one of two books he has written – the other being “Women of the Hebrew Bible: Their Stories”, (both of which are available on Amazon).
“No Forbidden Fruit – No Angry God” tells the stories of the Torah, from information he has gleaned through the practice of “channeling” through a professional medium.
“The women and men who led the way of faith, are more magnificent than is told in our writings,” Ronis claims. “That is what I believe after composing two channelled books which present those people and the events in a different light. I am pleased to be able to share some of these stories at Limmud.”
For readers who may be unsure of who or what a medium is, think of Theresa Caputo of television fame. Mediums claim to be able to converse with those who have passed on through a spirit guide. While many may be skeptical, there are also many believers.
Be that as it may, what Ronis has learned through his medium about the personalities in the Torah is certainly food for thought.
The medium through whom he gained his information is Donna Somerville, with whom he first came into contact while working for McCain Foods in New Brunswick as a potato breeder.
“I got to know some people who had consulted Donna and found what she had to say interesting,” he recalls. “Three or four years ago, I went to see her about some relationship issues and family matters. We became good friends.”
So, a few short years ago, Ronis – who grew up in Washington, D.C. within a Reform family, decided to see if Somerville, who now lives in Halifax, could also channel biblical figures. “We had nine or ten sessions and the results were fascinating,” he recalls. “She described real people.”
The sessions, he notes, focused largely on the five books of Moses. He reports, for example, that she vouched for the reality of Adam and Eve – but suggested that Noah was an amalgam of three God-fearing men who each built arks. One of the three was the story-teller.
He adds that the flood was largely restricted to the northern hemisphere.
“My questions were open-ended,” he says. “Donna, for example, provided intriguing new information about the story of Esther.”
Ronis notes that he was particular interested in stories of women in that long ago era because they have been largely overlooked in Jewish writing.
For the first book he recounts, he recorded the sessions on audio and video before transcribing the information. For the second book, he had free software which allowed him to change the text on the fly.
Readers who may be interested in attending Limmud this year can call 204 557-6260 or email coordinator@limmudwinnipeg.org. Ticket prices are $55 for the full day (which includes lunch and snacks) or $30 for a half day.
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Congregation Etz Chayim’s new Chief Operating Officer is embracing the meaning of Jewish life
By MYRON LOVE In her new role as the Chief Operating Officer of Congregation Etz Chayim, Morissa Granove is focused on the future of synagogue life. She is also committed to creating meaningful Jewish experiences for herself, the synagogue’s members, and Winnipeg’s Jewish community. “We will be working to create something special for everyone at every age with a special focus on engaging the younger members of our community,” she says.
Granove, who was appointed to the position just six weeks ago, is herself an example of a younger person who has rediscovered meaning in community and has taken on a leadership role. It is heartening to see a growing number of younger community members assuming leadership roles in our communal institutions and bodes well for the future of our Jewish community.
The daughter of Bruce and Dina z”l Granove, Morissa grew up in Garden City. She attended Peretz School, Talmud Torah, and Joseph Wolinsky until the end of Grade 9, before attending high school at Garden City Collegiate. After finishing school, she joined her father in business at the Work Boot Factory Outlet Store Ltd. on Regent Avenue, which first opened in 1989. Over the years, Morissa came to assume the management responsibilities.
In 2015, she reports, she stepped back from day-to-day management of the business. Her father Bruce was retired, and her wife, Laurie McCreery, took charge of the daily operations, while Morissa continued to have input and oversee things from afar.
Morissa Granove has been on a spiritual quest since 2003. She notes that she has studied various Eastern philosophies and healing practices over the past 20 plus years. In 2015, she began a private practice that she still maintains in which she helps others overcome being overwhelmed emotionally, using easy-to-learn skills and simple steps that continue to support Morissa herself daily. “I was learning what it means to live a truly good life, and as a deeply sensitive person, I was seeking out how to better control my emotions so they would no longer control me,” she says. Many of the same skills that have supported her personally were also key to her success in business, she adds.
While Granove grew up attending the Beth Israel Synagogue, which later merged with Congregation Etz Chayim (and the Bnay Abraham Synagogue) 25 years ago. She, as with many of her contemporaries, had drawn away from Jewish life as it relates to synagogue attendance. It was the sudden passing of her mother, Dina z”l, that brought her back to shul, she explains.
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“I found coming back here after mom died gave me a great sense of comfort and a strong feeling of belonging,” she recalls. “I didn’t expect that.”
Initially, she took on the role as the Etz Chayim’s “Spiritual Concierge & Director of Lifecycle Events.” “I am looking forward to building on our traditions and history,” she says.
It is just over a year since Congregation Etz Chayim moved into its new home at 1155 Wilkes Avenue in south Winnipeg, after 70 years on Matheson Avenue in north Winnipeg. The move was a long time coming. The building needed a lot of upgrading and, with 70% of the membership and 80% of the younger families living south, it made sense to relocate to where the membership is.
“By being closer to our membership, it has made it easier for more people to be involved.” the new Chief Operating Officer notes, “We are getting good numbers coming for Shabbat services. We are seeing more people coming by the office. We are getting a steady stream of new people coming in for exploratory visits, and we are having more young families getting involved in our incredible programs.”
Granove has observed that moving Etz Chayim south has turned out to be so much more than simply moving from point A to point B. Rather, she notes, “the move gave us the opportunity to look at how we can operate more efficiently and effectively. This is so much more than a new location. It is a new opportunity.” At the new Etz Chayim, she continues, “we are able to offer meaningful Jewish events and programming for all age groups in a convenient location.”
She cites, for example, the synagogue’s new USY (United Synagogue Youth) program – in conjunction with the USCJ (United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism) – of which Etz Chayim is a member – for teens which, she reports, has drawn a good number of participants, and is growing. She has also had requests for more seniors’ programming and is excited to be working on some new initiatives for the coming months. As she often says, “Stay tuned.”
“I have been wondering for some time if the synagogue (in the generic sense) could go back to the days when it was a centre of community life,” she muses. “I think we can!”
“I hope that our members come to view Etz Chayim as a home away from home for themselves and their family, just as I have,” Granove says. “I am committed to working for our community and we will continue to create more and more reasons for others to choose Congregation Etz Chayim as a home for their religious needs and community connection.”
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Young pediatrician Daniel Kroft and his Jewish history podcast
By MYRON L0VE It has been said that if you want to make sure to get something done, give the task to the busiest person in the room. That adage would certainly apply to Daniel Kroft.
Although only 30 years old, Daniel, the son of community leaders Jonathan and Dr. Cara Kroft, has emulated both of his parents by being a community leader as well as a pediatrician. In the former category, Daniel is a member of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s Community Planning Committee (His father, Jonathan, is a Past President of the Federation).
The younger Kroft is also a co-founder of the Manitoba Maccabim – a young Jewish advocacy group. He recently joined Belle Jarniewski, executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Manitoba, in a presentation to the Internal Medicine Department of Health Sciences Center on the subject of antisemitism.
Professionally, the Gray Academy graduate (class of 2012) is a member of a clinic run out of St. Boniface Hospital, is on staff at the Children’s Hospital, puts in time at the Health Sciences Centre, and serves as a consultant pediatrician at Brandon’s regional hospital. He also takes trips to northern Manitoba to offer his services.
In addition, he is a member of the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
With all that on his plate, you wouldn’t think that Kroft would have time for much else. If so, you would be wrong. Four years ago, he launched a new initiative, a podcast – “The Jewish Story” – intended to teach interested listeners about Jewish history.
The idea came to him, he says, back in 2021, when he was still a medical student. “It was the time when Black Lives Matter was in the news,” he recalls. “At med school, we were learning all about Black history and Indigenous history. I realized that I actually didn’t know much about my own Jewish history.”
The first source he turned to was the Anglo-Jewish historian Simon Schama and his book, “The Story of the Jews”. He followed up with online courses from Oxford and Harvard as well as a lecture series led by prominent historian Henry Abramson.
Setting up a podcast, he notes, required another learning curve. “It takes me about a year to do the research and organize my podcasts,” he reports. “I had to learn how to do a podcast and about which equipment to buy. I set up a recording studio in a room in my house.”
On his website (rss.com/podcasts/thejewishstory/), Kroft describes “The Jewish Story” as “a Jewish history podcast for the 21st century”. “We use the latest in archaeology, linguistics and historical methods to sculpt the history of the Jewish People from the exodus from Egypt until the present,” he notes.
He started his series of podcasts going back to the beginning – from the earliest evidence of Jewish existence through the establishment of the Jewish kingdom, its conflicts with neighbouring empires, to its destruction by the Babylonians.
And that is just the first episode.
The first season – seven episodes – encompassed Jewish history up to and including the Roman invasion of Jerusalem and destruction of the second Temple in 70 CE. Kroft points out that some of his podcasts feature guest commentators. In his first season, for example, in the third episode, he interviews Rabbi Matthew Leibl about the relevance to modern Jewish life of the first eight centuries of Jewish history.
In the seventh episode, he discusses with his former elementary school teacher, Sherry Wolfe Elazar ,what lessons modern Jews can learn from the Greco-Roman period for Jewish history.
The second series of podcasts focuses on the development of Jewish life in the first centuries after the Diaspora and the effects of the new Christian and Muslim religions on the Jewish people. The seventh and last episode of season two features Rabbi Anibal Mass, the spiritual leader of the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, talking about a wide range of subjects ,including the breakaway Karaites, he definition of Jewish music, and how technology has shaped modern Jewish practice.
The third season covers the 11th-15th centuries while the most recent series of episodes spans the period from 1500 to 1650. Kroft reports that the next group of podcasts will provide an overview of Jewish life in the 17th and early 18th centuries, including the beginnings of Jewish life in North America.
I asked Kroft when he finds the time to work on his podcasts. His response: in his spare time – weekends and holidays.
The podcaster reports that when he started, he was getting 30-40 listeners per episode. Now his numbers are up to 200-300 from all over the world.
For readers who may want to hear Daniel Kroft’s story in person, he will be one of the presenters at the upcoming Limmud Winnipeg. Kroft will be presenting on Sunday, March 23, at 1:30 at the Campus.
For more information aboutLimmud, contact coordinator@limmudwinnipeg.org or 204-557-6260
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