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Lessons in Fusion” speaks to the fluidity of Jewish identity in the contemporary world
Reviewed by BERNIE BELLAN In preparing to write this review I searched our archives to see whether we had ever published anything previously about Primrose Mayadag Knazan; sad to say, we hadn’t.
It’s about time we made up for that oversight, as Primrose had already established herself as a playwright of considerable talent, having had her three plays been awarded “Best of Fest” at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival on each occasion she premiered a new play at the Fringe.
Her plays have also been produced by the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, and Sarsavati Productions.
With “Lessons in Fusion”, Primrose enters into the world of fiction writing and, while the book is described as a “Young Adult” novel – not being a young adult myself, I wondered whether I would be as interested in this particular book as much as someone who was in their teens.
It turns out that “Lessons in Fusion” would hardly be limited in its appeal to young readers. As someone who has blended two different cultures in her own life: Filipino and Jewish, Primrose Mayadag Knazan offers readers who might come from a more traditional background tremendous insight into identity, how it is forged over time, and the challenges faced by individuals who, because of the way they look, are stereotyped by others.
The storyline of “Lessons in Fusion” takes place in the pandemic world in which we all now find ourselves, although the action moves back and forth in time as we begin to develop a better understanding of the novel’s protagonist, 16-year-old Sarah Dayan-Abad.
Sarah is a precocious young woman who has developed a keen fascination for “fusion” cooking – blending ingredients from different cultures to create dishes that are an amalgam so totally original they lead to her developing quite a following on a blog she had started when she was 14 years old, titled “fusiononaplate”.
Here is how she describes her blog, when asked to give some information about it by the creators of a new online cooking show in which Sarah would like to participate: “Fusion comfort food, a mash-up of East and West and everything in between. Easy recipes of our classic cravings with a twist.”
Now, given Sarah’s interest in food, one would ordinarily expect that is something she might have inherited from her mother, Grace, who is “Filipinx” (the proper term for someone of Filipino descent, we are told, rather than “Filipino”). Grace, however, has almost no interest at all in cooking, especially Filipino food. The reasons for that become clearer as the story develops.
The reviews that I’ve read of “Lessons in Fusion” to date all make a big fuss over how the author introduces each chapter in the book with a recipe. Apparently Primose Mayadag Knazan is quite the food connoisseur, writing a regular column for the Filipino Journal about food in Winnipeg, as well as maintaining an Instagram account devoted to food,@pegonaplate.
As the story unfolds, Sarah is accepted into a competition known as “Cyber Chef”, in which five young people – all under 20, will compete on a weekly basis until only one is left. By the way, the chapter in which the competition is explained in some detail starts with a recipe for Chanukah latkes, so if this review is just a tad too late to influence your latke recipe, you might want to consider buying the book for next year. Just consider some of the ingredients in Sarah’s latke recipe: “sweet potatoes instead of russets. Instead of traditional sour cream or applesauce…raita made with yogurt, green apple, and mint” – I think you get the idea why the book is titled “Lessons in Fusion”.
Now, I’ll be honest: I barely looked at the recipes in this book, although they seemed tantalizing enough. Yet, for anyone who’s really into cooking, I’m sure the recipes in the book would be reason enough to buy it, as many of them are traditional Jewish recipes turned into something so imaginatively different from what I think most of us have come to accept that we would have a hard time recognizing them.
But, more than the recipes and the fastidious attention to food details that the book incorporates, “Lessons in Fusion” is a coming of age story that is so contemporary in its being set during the pandemic that it offers many real life lessons which can be useful for all of us.
Sarah, for instance, is a good student, yet she’s been forced into online learning as a result of the pandemic. Cooking is a diversion for her – as it had become for so many others once we found ourselves being confined to our homes during the many lockdowns that characterized the first year of the pandemic. While she has two good friends, with whom she communicates online (and you have to appreciate how thoroughly the author is familiar with what is known as “textspeak”), we can still appreciate the extent to which the pandemic has truncated what should have been some of the best parts of young people’s lives.
I don’t want to go into any further detail about the cooking show in which Sarah participates, lest I spoil any surprises for readers.
What I was most interested in reading is how Sarah develops her identity as a Jewish Filipinx. She and her siblings all attend what is described as a “Hebrew Immersion program” in a “private school”, where the students wear uniforms, so I’m assuming it’s based on Gray Academy. Sarah has had a bat mitzvah and is quite proud of her being Jewish.
Yet, beyond her interest in Jewish food, what seems to drive Sarah’s Jewish identity more than anything is her closeness to her baba. At the same time though, the book does describe Sarah’s more tenuous relationship with her Filipinx grandmother, her “lola”, and how cooking also brings the two of them together eventually.
One aspect of the book that might serve as a wake-up call for some readers is how Sarah is stereotyped because of her appearance and, although she can understand how she is regarded by almost anyone she meets (including online) as Filipinx, she herself regards her identity as first and foremost Jewish.
At one point Sarah is asked whether she considers herself “White or Filipino”?
She answers: “Jewish” – to which the questioner responds: “That wasn’t my question.”
So Sarah launches into a more detailed explanation: “But that’s what I am. My parents are Jewish. (Grace had converted when she married Sarah’s father.) I was raised Jewish. It’s not just my religion. It’s my culture. I get all the jokes. I celebrate the holidays. I eat and cook all the food. I even speak some Yiddish. I had family that died in the Holocaust. Go back far enough, I had family that were chased out of Russia. It’s in my blood. I carry it on my shoulders. I. Am . Jewish.”
That exchange goes on, with the questioner insisting on finding out whether Sarah identifies as “White” or not, and with Sarah not sure how to answer the question.
As someone who has been writing extensively about identity in this newspaper, and how much Jewish identity is evolving so rapidly as more and more individuals who have either converted to Judaism or live with someone who is Jewish bring with them backgrounds that are not Jewish, I find it quite fascinating to read a quite authentic description of how confusing it must be for a young person who comes from a blend of ethnic identities when asked to explain their own identity.
For that reason alone I would recommend “Lessons in Fusion” as a real eye opener to so many in our community – and well beyond the Jewish community, in helping to understand how someone might identify strongly as Jewish even when that person’s identity is rooted in a background that is quite different than something with which many of us are familiar.
As for how well written “Lessons in Fusion” is, as a first-time novelist, Primrose Mayadag Knazan shows remarkable talent, although given her success as a playwright to date, it should come as no surprise that she has made the transition to fiction writing so successfully.
“Lessons in Fusion”
By Primrose Mayadag Knazan
Published by Great Plains Publishing , 2021
288 pages
More about Primrose Mayadag Knazan
Primrose Madayag Knazan brings an interesting perspective to what it means to become Jewish
By BERNIE BELLAN
As someone who had already established a solid reputation as a successful playwright, Primrose Madayag Knazan knew that she was taking on a challenge of quite a different sort when a publisher proposed that she consider writing a book of fiction aimed at the Young Adult market.
“Writing plays was easier than writing a novel,” Primrose told me during the course of a lengthy phone interview.
“But Great Plains (her publisher) approached me with the idea of writing a book. They said I’ve always been so successful with plays, why don’t I write something – either non fiction or Young Adult?”
The timing was right for her to begin thinking about writing a book, she says. It was the fall of 2020, the Covid pandemic had set in, and she actually had more time to write since she was working from home. Her two young boys were both in school and, while she was certainly busy enough – she had begun writing a food blog as well as writing a regular column for the Filipino Journal about food, Primrose says that she didn’t have any plays in the works, so the idea of writing a book at that time appealed to her.
Around the same time, the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis happened, Primrose notes. “It opened people’s eyes about diversity and representation.”
So, the idea of tackling those themes, along with her passion for writing about food, jelled into the basis of “Lessons in Fusion”.
As I explain in my review of the book, the story centres around 16-year-old Sarah Dayan-Abad. The fact that Sarah’s name is a blend of Jewish and Filipino names is no coincidence. And yet, while there are distinct parallels in Sarah’s life to Primrose’s, Primrose wanted to make clear that Sarah is largely an imagined character.
Having grown up in Winnipeg herself, Primrose says that, while she was raised Catholic, she didn’t find the Catholic church appealing.
“I grew up at a time when I didn’t fit in with other Filipino kids,” she says.
For instance, she notes that she “always wanted to be a blonde. I knew a part of me always wanted to be White.”
At the same time, she says that “ever since I was a kid, I wanted to write plays, books, poetry.
It was while she was in university here – where she was taking a double major in psychology and sociology, that she also had her first immersion in theatre. Primrose says she fell in love with the theatre and, years after she graduated, she became involved in it again, as an actor, as a producer, and as a playwright.
Her first plays were written for Winnipeg’s Fringe Festival (the first one was written in 2000) and each time she entered a new play there (three times altogether), her plays went on to win “Best of Fest”.
It was also while she was in university that she met the man who would eventually become her husband, Josh Knazan.
Yet, while Josh came from a firm Ashkenazie Jewish background, he didn’t insist that Primrose convert to Judaism before they married.
“It was after he proposed to me that I told him I wanted to convert to Judaism – not before,” Primrose explains.
Ever since converting – in 2002, under Rabbi Alan Green’s tutelage, Primrose says that she has become “very comfortable in being a part of the Jewish community.”
“Judaism is such a beautiful religion that I fell in love with it. With Catholicism there are no shades of gray. Everything is black and white. Judaism is so much more nuanced.”
“I’m an outgoing person,” she says. “I’ve been able to be involved in the synagogue (Shaarey Zedek). I have a lot of new friends.”
And, while Primrose says that she has made sure that her two kids will grow up in a Jewish milieu – her older son was just recently Bar Mitzvahed, she says, the notion of “fusing” Filipino and Jewish culture is something that she is keenly interested in doing.
The story in “Lessons in Fusion” centres around food – and not just Filipino or Jewish food.
Raising two boys, especially one who was now a teenager, did give Primrose a certain insight into how young people think – and how they communicate, especially through texting.
Portions of “Lessons in Fusion” have some of the young characters texting with each other. “When I showed it to my son, he told me that I had it all wrong. No one texts in full words,” he said. “I had to learn textspeak from him.”
Something that Primrose wanted to avoid though, in writing a Young Adult novel, was “writing anything dystopian”. She says that she didn’t want to write yet one more book about “the end of the world”.
At the same time that she wanted to tackle issues of “diversity and representation” in her book, Primrose says that her older son was an “inspiration” for her when he told her he “didn’t want to read ‘issue books’ or books about ‘racism’.”
And, while Primrose and Josh are determined to give their two boys a solid Jewish upbringing, they both want them to be exposed to Filipino culture as well, Primrose says.
“They were both in the Hebrew Bilingual program at Brock Corydon” – the older boy has now graduated and is at Grant Park, but they’re both also involved in “Filipino dance”.
Unlike the character Sarah in “Lessons in Fusion”, moreover, who does not have a close relationship with her Filipino relatives – save one aunt, Primrose and Josh’s boys have close relationships with both their Jewish and Filipino relatives.
Sarah, however, identifies entirely as Jewish. The idea of creating a character who, even though she looks Filipino, doesn’t think of herself as Filipino at all, came to Primrose when she herself wondered what she would have been like had she been “raised exclusively Jewish”?
As noted, Primrose has a real passion for food – experimenting with it, writing about it and, as she explained to me, helping to promote local Filipino restaurants and stores.
“My head is focused on food blogging and promoting Filipino food,” she says.
“But when the pandemic happened,” so many restaurants had to close down, including many Filipino ones, she observes. So, her blog and column in the Filipino Journal became even more important to Primrose. She says that “in the past two years I’ve taken the food blogging seriously. I’ve always wanted to feature Manitoba products” as a way of helping local producers.
And, while “Lessons in Fusion” is largely a coming of age novel, as Sarah participates in an extremely demanding competition where she is required to come up with entirely original recipes for a TV show on a weekly basis, Primrose observes that “the growth in Sarah’s recipes parallels the growth in Sarah as a person to the point where she blends her two cultures” – and feels wholly comfortable in both.
That’s also the story of Primrose Madayag Knazan’s life: Someone who feels totally comfortable in her own skin as she blends Filipino and Jewish cultures into a unique amalgam. And, for someone who is as interested in identity as I am – and how fluid it is, having Primrose as part of the Jewish community offers one more reason why other members of our community should feel warm in the knowledge that the Jewish community is a blend of cultures and one in which people of quite different backgrounds can feel totally accepted.
Local News
Eyal Kraut: continuing the family medical tradition
By GERRY POSNER When you talk medicine and family connections to medicine, one of the families you have to think of almost immediately is the Berbrayer- Kraut family. There are three generations of doctors now in this family, starting with Dr. Peter Berbrayer, of blessed memory, an orthopaedic surgeon (and father of Karla); Dr. Allan Kraut (husband of Karla Berbrayer, an internal medicine and occupational health physician; and Allan and Karla’s son, Dr. Eyal Kraut, an endocrinologist, who now lives in Toronto. Not to be overlooked as part of the Berbrayer-Kraut family medical team is Dr. David Berbrayer, son of Peter, and a medical director in rehabilitation redicine in Toronto. Each of these men has made contributions in his respective field and I expect many readers are well aware of that. Perhaps, because he is still young, Eyal, one of four children of Allan and Karla, is less known – although, because of his participation in the community, I am betting younger readers will know him.
Eyal Kraut was born and raised in Winnipeg. He is a product of the then Ramah Hebrew School and later the Gray Academy. It is fair to say that Eyal was exposed to the Jewish world right from the start in many aspects, not the least of which was by way of his mother Karla’s having run the Music and Mavens Programme at the Campus for many years, as well as being a musical impresario of great renown. In his high school years, Kraut was active in multiple leadership positions, including student council and the Jewish Federation’s P2K committee ( now P2G).
And, he was not just limited to school activities as he was what might be called a “player” at the Herzlia Synagogue, where he often led services, not to mention his talent as a shofar blower ( no small skill; I know that from trying for a week without making a sound). Moreover, Kraut taught Bar/ Bat Mitzvah lessons, was on staff at the Rady JCC during his school days, also staff at Camp Massad. In short, Kraut was the full package coming out of high school. He attended the University of Manitoba and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. While at the university, he served as president of Hillel. Subsequently, he entered the University of Manitoba Medical School.
In 2014, Eyal Kraut graduated with his MD degree. During his time as a medical student he participated in the Manitoba Medical Students Association and also sat on numerous committees. Upon graduation, Kraut was off to Queen’s University for his residency in internal medicine. It was in Kingston that he met his future wife, Zoey Katz, who was from Toronto. The couple returned to Winnipeg for Eyal’s clinical fellowship in endocrinology, which is the specialty focussing on diabetes and hormones. While he was busy with becoming a doctor, his wife Zoey was a nurse at Children’s Hospital. Now that is taking togetherness to a new level. Even then, Eyal and Zoey helped to lead services at the Simkin Centre.
In 2019, the couple made the decision to move to Toronto. Currently, Eyal works at a clinic in downtown Toronto, while at the same time he also has a weekly clinic at Mount Sinai Hospital. Yet, even with the move to Toronto, Eyal retained his medical license in Manitoba and for several years, he returned to Winnipeg for several days every two months to run a small endocrinology clinic in Winnipeg, located at Confusion Corner, called Cardio 1 Lifesmart. That is what I call staying connected to your roots. Even then, Eyal used his spare time to head to the Rady JCC, as JCC memberships are honoured everywhere there is a JCC. The routine of trips to Winnipeg ultimately concluded just recently – at the end of October. Eyal and Zoey now have a two-year-old son, Asher, with another baby on the way, so the trips to Winnipeg are no longer as feasible as they were. Still, Eyal is clear that he intends to make regular visits (to see family of course,) also to show his kids what life is like in Winnipeg. This is one guy who appreciates from whence he came.
Even with his impressive background, what really makes Eyal stand out is a talent that no one likely knows about and that is Eyal’s ability to recognize people. It was at Beth Tzedec Synagogue in Toronto not long ago – at Yom Kippur services, and with a full sanctuary, when out of the blue, a guy whom I did not know tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was Gerry Posner. He just picked me out from my photo in the Jewish Post. That photo has me with a baseball cap on my head, but at synagogue I had a kippah on. Now, that is a rare talent. (Ed. note: Oh come on Gerry – you’ve written before how Winnipeggers, including the equally famous Rabbi Matthew Leibl – before he became a rabbi, have spotted you in baseball stadiums across North America and come up to you . You’re world famous for sure!)
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Latest Jewish Foundation Endowment Book of Life signings took place November 3rd
By MYRON LOVE Almost everyone has a story to tell. And, for the past 25-plus years, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba – through its ongoing Endowment Book of Life program – has been assembling stories of current and former members of our Jewish community.
As explained on the Foundation website, “the Endowment Book of Life program is a planned program that offers participants an opportunity to leave both a financial and historical legacy to the community.”
Donors promise to leave a bequest to the Foundation, in return for which their family stories are inscribed in the Book of Life.
The annual official unveiling of new stories this year was held on Sunday, November 3, at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue and included brunch, some musical entertainment featuring a talented quartet of singers – including Josh Bellan, Alyssa Crockett, Julia Kroft and Hailey Witt (who have seemingly been the young go-to performers at Jewish community functions over the past year or two) – as well as a poetry reading by members of the StudioWorks Players – and comments by Rabbi Alan Finkel as to why he chose to add his and his family’s stories to the Endowment Book of Life.
In his remarks, Finkel, the recently retired rabbi of Temple Shalom, spoke of his family’s stories – in this case, his family’s stories of the Holocaust. “My family has always shared their stories,” he noted. ”Their stories are part of the Shoah Foundation’s collection of stories. And both my mother (Carmela Finkel – who passed away three years ago) and my Aunt Betty (Kirshner) have shared their stories with hundreds of students at the Holocaust Education Centre. Later, my mother was honoured to have her story included as part of the video displays at the Canadian museum of human Rights.
“But, even as I embraced the power of those survivors’ stories,” he continued, “I could see that the list of story tellers was getting ever shorter. I wondered how those stories would continue to be told once there was no one left to tell them.”
Shortly after his mother’s passing, he said, the family came together to discuss how to continue their mother’s legacy. Their response was to create the Carmela Shragge Finkel Holocaust Education Endowment Fund at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba – with proceeds directed toward the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada.
“My page in the Endowment Book of Life is more about my personal life journey that led me to become a rabbi at 65,” he said, “but really, behind it all there are a lot of different threads and stories of Jewish community that intertwine and bind us to each other and to our Jewish community. This, to me, is the real gift of the Endowment Book of Life project – allowing each of us to here to tell our own stories in our own ways, to find our own unique paths of building our Jewish community here in Manitoba – and to celebrate how we are all part of klal Yisrael.”
Signatories to the Book of Life this year included: Dr. Sharon Goszer Tritt and Dr. Stephen Tritt; Brenda Honigman – in memory of her late father Sam, and late brother Archie; Ellie Kives – in memory of her husband Philip; David Wilder; Alisa Abrams; Marlene Reiss and Perry Rose; and Moshe Selchen, in memory
of the late Saul Feldman, a friend of the Selchen family. Feldman was a little-known member of our Jewish community who passed away a couple of years ago and left $2.6 million in his will to the Jewish Foundation.
In his introductory remarks, John Diamond, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s CEO, described the Endowment Book of Life program, as “one of our most successful. We last hosted this event in 2022,” he noted, “and, I’m proud to say, I was a signer that year.”
Diamond explained why he and his wife, Heather, chose to commit to our community’s future. “In 2022,” he recalled, “we were beginning to glimpse what the world would look like post-pandemic. That prolonged period of uncertainty gave us the opportunity to think about our community’s future. If the generations before us had not been forward-thinking, prioritizing the next wave of Jewish Winnipeggers, where would we have been during the pandemic? How would our community have looked?
“Simply put, we were and are very fortunate. Thanks to that forethought, we were able to navigate that uncertainty. We need to continue putting future generations in a similar position to what we find ourselves in now.”
In her closing remarks, Dafna Shore, the JFM’s vice chair (who was filling in for chair Dan Blankstein, who was unable to attend), reported that the Endowment Book of Life currently contains over 800 stories.
“Each story is deeply personal and uniquely individual,” she pointed out. “What makes this program so special – and why it resonates with so many people – is the change to immortalize stories that otherwise might go untold.
“Every family has stories, some hidden away about what makes them exceptional. Very few are known beyond those who lived them. Sharing these stories in the Endowment Book of Life celebrates the lives lived in our community. They are an encyclopedia of what makes our community so rich in history, compassion and generosity.”
Shore thanked this most recent group of story tellers for sharing their stories and for committing to making a legacy gift. “Your gesture,” she said, “will serve to inspire the next generation to do the same. As long as our community has individuals who choose to put their community’s longevity at the top of their priorities, our community will continue to thrive.”
Local News
2024 Yom Tov attendance meets expectations
By MYRON LOVE Congregational leaders in our community are, for the most part, quite pleased with Tom Tov attendance this past Yom Tov.
“We sold out our seats,” reports Dr. Rena Secter Elbaze , the Shaarey Zedek’s executive director.
The remodeled and expanded Shaarey Zedek, our community’s oldest and largest congregation, has a capacity of about 900 in the main sanctuary – with an additional 250 for the separate Family Service downstairs.
Once again, this year, the popular Rabbi Emeritus Alan Green – who was the Shaarey Zedek’s senior rabbi for 18 years – returned to lead Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services in the main sanctuary with Cantor Leslie Emery, the Quartet, and the Ruach Volunteer Choir. Rabbi Anibal Mass led the popular family service with Noah Trachtenberg, a Youth Band and the Dor Chadash Youth Choir.
Shaarey Zedek has, over the past few years, built a substantial following for its Shabbat and Yom Tov services online. Elbaze notes though that the number of people participating in Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur servicers online this year was considerably lower. That was because, she says, many of those congregants were eager to come back to the shul – which just re-opened a couple of months ago after being closed for three years due to construction – and daven in person.
“We were essentially sold out for Yom Tov by early September,” reports Jonathan Buchwald, Congregation. Etz Chayim’s executive director. “Our members were really excited about our first Yom Tov in our new building.”
By necessity – in reflecting the congregation’s slowly declining membership numbers – the new Etz Chayim – at 1155 Wilkes Avenue – is considerably smaller than its predecessor. To accommodate the demand for Yom Kippur seating in particular, Buchwald had earlier reported, the Kol Nidre service was to be held at the Holiday Inn Express at the airport – and there were two services for Yom Kippur day.
Buchwald notes that 335 were in attendance for the first services on Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur service and 120 for the second service on Rosh Hashanah – with 450 for Kol Nidre at the hotel. There were 250 for Neilah and 50 for the Young Family services. About 150 followed online.
As usual, Rabbi Kliel Rose and Cantor Tracy Kasner led Etz Chayim’s High Holiday services – with a separate family service geared toward families with young children as well as a Junior Congregation.
Over at Temple Shalom, our community’s 60-year Reform congregation,Past President Ruth Livingston says that there was “good enthusiasm” for Yom Tov and that the congregation members were very happy with the services led by cantorial soloist Janet Pelletier Goetz as well as long time Temple Shalom member Myriam Saitman – who is set to begin training in September toward her rabbinical ordination – and, for the first time, choir leader Erica Tallis –a 2020 graduate of the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba.
For the second year in a row, South end Winnipeg further offered a fourth liberal Jewish option in the form of Rabbi Matthew Leibl’s “Services on the River: A Modern High Holidays.”
The former Shaarey Zedek – and now independent – rabbi’s services were held once again at The Gates on Roblin – which can accommodate up to 300. Last year, Leibl reported in an earlier interview, about 250 people attended his service. He was expecting to have similar number this year.”
“Services on the River: A modern High Holidays” services were scheduled for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, Erev Yom Kippur and Yom Kippur morning. The services also featured the husband and wife cantorial team of Justin Odwak and Sarah Sommer.
All services were 90 minutes.
Still with the South End, Jack Craven president of Orthodox congregation Adas Yeshurun Herzlia says that people are happy that things are back to normal. “We had a good crowd for Yom Tov,” he says.
The congregation – led by Rabbi Yossi Benarroch – has a membership of about 100 and can accommodate up to 250.
“We were filled up for Rosh Hashonah and Yom kippur,” notes Rabbi Avroham Altein, Winnipeg’s senior Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi of the south end Lubavitch Centre. “We also had a full house for Erev Simchas Torah.”
The Lubavitch Centre has a capacity of between 200 and 300.
The Simkin Centre also held Yom Tov services – on all three days – that were open to the general public. The services were led by Steven Hyman with the Simkin Centre Choir under the direction of Bonnie Antel.
In the North End, the Conservative egalitarian Chevra Mishnayes congregation – the largest congregation in that part of the city with the relocation of Etz Chayim south – saw a bit of a bump in attendance.
“We had 20 new people this year,” reports Chevta Mishnayes President Rob Waldman. “This is the first time that we have seen an uptake in attendance for Yom Tov since before the Covid lockdowns.”
Last year, just under100 came to the Garden city shul for Yom Tov.
This year’s service were once again led by Al Benarroch.
About 18 months ago, a new North End Orthodox congregation came into being as a result of the merger of the struggling Chavurat Tefila and Talmud Torah Beth Jacob members. The renamed Chavurat Tefila Talmud Torah Congregation – located at on the corner of Hartford and McGregor in West Kildonan – attracted between 40 and 50 daveners for its first Yom Tov services last year last year and about the same number this year.
Services at the shul this year were led by Cantor Menachem Frenkel from Silver Spring, MD.
“Cantor Frenkel was recommended by a friend and member of the shul,” says Cary Rubenfeld, the shul’s treasurer and spokesperson. “He was quite well received by the congregation. He is a multi-talented ba’al tefilah. He brought with him an extensive range of traditional and contemporary melodies which the congregants enjoyed.”
The venerable House of Ashkenazie, the last of our community’s old-style Orthodox congregations, was once again the only shul to report a bit of a decline in attendance from last year – with attendance for Yom Tov hovering around 30. Shul President Gary Minuk avers though that the Ashkenazie – which still holds services throughout the year on Thursday mornings – will continue to carry on “as long as we can still make minyans.”
Our community’s most northerly High Holiday services were held at Camp Massad. After a two year absence due to the Covid lockdowns, Camp Massad resumed its innovative Rosh Hashanah service last year. In pre-Covid times, Massad executive director Danial Sprintz noted last year, Rosh Hashanah at Massad had attracted as many as 150 participants. In 2023, 90 attended. This year’s attendance, he reports, was slightly higher.
“Our people were excited to come together,” he says. “We always offer a creative and interactive service that combines some traditional prayers with contemporary readings, folk music and our usual Camp Massad shtick.”
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