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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
New young (and not so young) talent added to list of Jewish high achievers at most recent Winnipeg Music Festival
By MYRON LOVE The most recent (107th annual) Winnipeg Music Festival – which takes place annually in March – produced another group of Jewish musical stars – including several who were new to the competition. Joining repeat high achievers – such as Yale Rayburn-Vander Hout, Gregory Hyman, Alex Schaeffer, Juliet Eskin and Noah Kravetsky – this year the winner’s circle also included: Lyla Chisick, Lotan Berenstein, Benji Greenberg and Shani Groisman..
While the overwhelming majority of the music festival entrants are pre-teens and teenagers, Greenberg, who is 38, and Groisman – who recently celebrated her 20th birthday – are exceptions to that pattern.
Shani, who finished first in the PIANO SOLO, LATE ROMANTIC COMPOSERS, GRADE/LEVEL 10 category – is an accomplished pianist, singer, and music teacher, who has participated in numerous international and local festivals and piano competitions. As a teacher, she teaches students ranging from beginners to Level 5.
The daughter of Marina and Boris Groisman arrived in Winnipeg from Israel 10 years ago. Shani says that she began taking piano lessons when she was 5.
“This competition was something new for me,” observes the Grant Park High School graduate. . “I entered for the challenge. David Moroz, my teacher at the (University of Manitoba’s) Desautels School of Music was very supportive. I am looking forward to next year’s festival.”
Benji Greenberg reports that it was her singing teacher, Geneva Halverson, who encouraged her to enter the competition, A lawyer by training, who currently works as a children’s advocate for Manitoba Advocate for children and youth, Benji notes that while she has always enjoyed singing and has appeared over the years in musical productions in high school and shows staged by the Manitoba Bar Association, it was only about a year ago that she decided to take singing lessons “to learn to sing properly”.
The daughter of Debbie and Harley Greenberg, Benji competed in two categories – Musical Theatre 1965 to 2000, and Musical Theatre pre-1965 – for singers 16 and over. In both categories, she was runner-up to Yale Rayburn Vander Hout, a veteran of four years now in the competition.
“I loved being on stage,” Benji says. “I am looking forward to the next year’s competition.”
Yale Rayburn-Vander Hout continues to build on his accomplishments at the yearly festival. Last year, his third year in the competition, the 18-year-old son of Samantha and Peter was awarded the prestigious Gilbert and Sullivan Society Trophy – awarded for the most outstanding performance in a competition of winners of Gilbert & Sullivan classes.
A former Gray Academy student, he graduated from the University of Winnipeg Collegiate, and is currently in his first year at the Desautels Faculty of Music, where he is studying under the guidance df Donna Fletcher, the co-founder of Dry Cold Productions.
Yale – who has already graced our local stages, notes that he is hoping to pursue a career in musical theatre.
Gregory Hyman is a multi-faceted artist who can do it all. The 17-year-old son of Hartley and Rishona Hyman is a singer/songwriter/musician (guitar) who records and performs under the stage name, GMH. His versatility shone through once again in his seventh Music Festival, in which he registered three first-place finishes – once for guitar (20th and 21st century composers), and twice for vocals (popular and contemporary music and TV and movie music).
The St. John’s-Ravenscourt student has been busy on stage the past couple of months – headlining his own show at Sidestage on Osborne on March 2 and opening for musician/singer/’songwriter Goody Grace at the Park Theatre on March 16. His next solo performance was scheduled for the Rec Room on Friday, May 9.
Gregory has put out three albums – which readers can check out on any of the music streaming platforms as well as his own Instagram page (thegmh). He also continues to host his own podcast – “Talk and Rock with GMH”- now in its fifth season – in which he interviews various people in the music business across Canada.
Fifteen-year-old Alex Schaeffer registered one first place finish this year in the Canadian musicals 16 and under category. For the son of Marc Schaeffer and Kae Sasake, this was his fourth year competing in the festival
Both Alex and his older sister, Hannah (both Grant Park students), continue their nascent careers on stage. Alex made his big stage debut last year as one of the Von Trapp children in MTC’s production of “The Sound of Music” – followed by an appearance in the Manitoba Opera production of Carmen as a member of the children’s chorus.
Both Hannah and Alex recently performed in Grant Park High School’s production of A Chorus Line (Hannah played Cassie, and Alex played Paul), and Meraki Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night (Hannah played Malvolio, Alex played Antonio).
This summer Hannah and Alex will be performing in three different shows with Meraki Theatre and Rem Lezar Theatre at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival.
In the fall. Hannah will be off to to Oakville. Ontario to attend Sheridan College where she will be studying Musical Theatre Performance.
Juliet Eskin, 15, also stood out. In this her fourth go-round at the festival, the daughter of the musically talented Kelly Robinon and Josh Eskin took home three golds in: the viola solo, level 7 categories; Romantic composer, Baroque and Concerto; and was recommended by the adjudicator to compete for the Swedish Musical Club Trophy.
Juliet originally took up violin – adding the viola a couple of years ago. Outside of the music festival, she is the violist in the Assiniboine String Quartet and just finished performing in Evil Dead the Musical at MTYP, as well as singing the role of Sheila in A Chorus Line.
Rounding out this year’s returning Jewish WMF star was pianist Nate Kravetsky. playing piano.
Twelve-year-old Nate and older brother Noah, 15, the sons of Dr. Azriel Kravetsky and Dr. Carrie Palatnick, both attend Gray Academy – and have been taking piano lessons from Erica Schultz since they were five years old. Last year, Nate won gold in three classes: Baroque, Sonatina and Canadian Composer. In this year’s music festival, he completed in two classes: sonatina and own choice. He won gold in both classes.
His favourite thing about learning piano, Nate says, is getting to express himself and play a contemporary piece from a movie or video game when the festival is over.
This year’s music festival was the first for 11-year-old songstress Lyla Chisick – and the daughter of Daniel and Baillee Chisick acquitted herself quite well. She competed in five categories and achieved gold in three: solo performances in Own Choice; Musicals, 2965 to 1999; and 20th and 21st century English Art Song.
Lyla reports that she began taking voice lessons from Jessica Kos-Whicher abougt 18 months ago. “I really love singing,” she says. “It is a great activity.
“I am looking forward to next year’s festival.”
Lyla, Gregory and Yale were also recommend for the Provincials which will be held the weekend of May 24-26. Yale was recommended in the musical theatre category, while Gregory and Lyla were recommended in the TV and Movie category. Gregory was also recommended in the Popular Contemporary category, while Lyla was further recommended in the Vocal Primary category.
We look forward to the continued musical success off Yale, Gregory, Shani, Benji, Alex, Nate, Juliet and Lyla and what new talent may be unveiled at next year’s Winnipeg Music festival.
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Belle Jarniewski recognized by Manitoba Legislature for leadership in combatting antisemitism and raising awareness of the Holocaust
By MYRON LOVE This year’s community commemoration of Yom Hashoah began on Erev Yom Hashoah – April 23 – with with the Megillat Hashoah interfaith reading of the Holocaust Scroll at Congregation Shaarey Zedek the night before.
Yom Hashoah, Thursday, April 24, began, as usual, in the morning with B’nai Brith’s “Unto Everyone There is a Name” – at the Legislature – during which members of our community – including a group of Grade 11 students from Gray Academy – and leaders of the greater community took turns reading out the names of relatives of local Holocaust survivors.
Gray Academy Grade 11 and 12 students also participated in the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s annual public commemorative service over the noon hour – also inside the Legislative Building – with students Alex Stoller and Aaron Greaves leading the 200 or so attendees in singing our national anthem and Hatikvah. Later in the program, they also performed “April Wind.”
Political leaders representing the three levels of Government and Jewish Federation leaders paid their respects leading to the service’s climax – the candle lighting. The ceremony was introduced by Belle Jarniewski, the executive director of the Jewish Heritage Society of Western Canada– with local survivors Saul and Rachel Fink, Susan Garfield, Faye Hoch, Edith Kimelman and Nehama Reuter participating.
The service ended with the traditional El Malei Rachamim prayer (recited by Congegaton Etz Chayim Chazan Tracy Kasner) and Kaddish, led by Rabbi Yossi Benarroch of Adas Yeshurun Herzlia.
This year’s Yom Hashoah commemoration concluded with a special honour for Belle Jarniewski who, later in the afternoon, was publicly recognized in the Legislature for her leadership in Holocaust awareness and the ongoing fight against antisemitism.
In recommending her for special recognition in the Legislature, Tuxedo MLA Carla Compton noted how Jarniewski’s upbringing as the daughter of Holocaust survivors instilled in her a passion for tikkun olam and spurred her to dedicate her life to teach people of all ages about the Holocaust and other genocides.
“Through her work as executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada,” Compton noted, “Belle brings education about the Holocaust to thousands of students, teachers, administrators and professional groups each year. She has partnered with Manitoba Education and Training numerous times. She is also a writer who has been published in numerous Canadian, Israeli and European newspapers.”
Compton cited, in particular, Jarniewski’s 2010 book, “Voices of Winnipeg Holocaust Survivors,” which documents the histories of 73 local survivors before, during and after the Shoah and can be found in the libraries of every secondary school in Manitoba and in university and national libraries in several countries.
“At a time when antisemitism is on the rise, we must do whatever we can to combat it,” Compton stated. “Belle is doing this great work every day. Today, on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, I cannot think of a better person to celebrate and honour.”
In response to this most recent honour, Jarniewski stated that she “feels tremendously humbled and honoured by Tuxedo MLA Carla Compton’s Member Statement in the Legislature about me. Carla has been a true friend, supporter, and ally to our community.”
She added that she met Compton when the latter was running for office about a year ago in the byelection to replace the former MLA from Tuxedo and former premier, Heather Stefanson.
“I feel very fortunate to be able to honour the memory of my parents and that of the many members of my family who were murdered in the Shoah – through my work. I’m sure my mom (Sylvia) and dad (Samuel) would never have imagined that our provincial government would one day rise to honour their daughter for working to combat antisemitism and remembering the Holocaust.”
As mentioned earlier, this was the most recent of several awards that Jarniewski has received over the past few months. Last month, she was one of several Jewish Winnipeggers who received a King Charles III Coronation medal. Hers was presented by the Manitoba Government.
Last September, our Jewish Federation – at the annual Shem Tov Awards evening – bestowed on her the Larry Hurtig Communal Professional Award in recognition of her outsized leadership role in Winnipeg, nationally and internationally, in preserving the memory of the Holocaust and fighting antisemitism.
“About 15 years ago,” she recalled at that time, “Joe Riesenbach, a survivor, reached out to me to help move a project forward that had literally been collecting dust. Before I knew it, I was a member of the Holocaust Education committee and was then named to the federally appointed delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), as a member of the Academic Working Group, the Education Working Group and the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. The committee elaborated the first intergovernmental definition of anti-Semitism, adopted by consensus at the 2016 IHRA plenary. “
Through her work on Holocaust preservation and education, she was introduced to the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada. She was appointed the JHCWC’s executive director in 2018.
“The Jewish Heritage Centre is the key to our past and our future,” she noted. Exploring our archive is like walking back in time. It’s a treasure trove reflecting the incredible history and diversity of our wonderful Jewish community stretching back 125 years- the challenges and the many triumphs that have shaped who we are today. As the saying goes, you need to know the past to understand the present.
“The Winnipeg I grew up in was a golden age for Jews-a tapestry of multiculturalism with shared values,” she continued. “We thought that the kind of antisemitism earlier generations had faced was gone forever. While we may not be able to bring back the wonder years, we must stand united as a community and be strong in our convictions.”
Jarniewski is particularly pleased with the recent announcement, made by our provincial government on Yom Hashoah, reiterating its new partnership with the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada to put into place Premier Wab Kinew’s earlier promise to create and roll out a Holocaust education curriculum in Manitoba schools.
In an April 24 press release, Kinew said that “we are one Manitoba that cannot be divided by hatred. Now, more than ever, we must honour the diversity and inclusivity in our province and commit to learning the lessons of history so that they cannot be repeated. Learning lessons from the past protects some of the intrinsic values of our province – diversity, inclusion and human rights. The best way to uphold that basic understanding is to help foster these values in our young people.”
Beginning in the fall, the grades 6, 9 and 11, social studies curriculum will be updated to include mandatory Holocaust education in all schools across the province.
The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada has been tasked to develop new curriculum guidance on Holocaust education, including implementation tools, supports and resources.
“Recent surveys have demonstrated that most Canadian students know very little about the Holocaust,” said Jarniewski. “With increased hate-fueled violence and incidents of antisemitism, Holocaust education is a key tool for countering prejudice and cultivating inclusion. We at the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada are tremendously grateful for the opportunity to partner with the Manitoba government in strengthening Holocaust education in Manitoba through the creation of a mandated curriculum. We know that Holocaust education encourages critical thinking and reflection on how individuals could or should act in society and provides important lessons from the past to learn for the present and the future.”
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This man – Michael Kalo – has been defaming prominent Winnipeggers online for years, but now he’s getting a taste of his own medicine
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted May 3, updated May 8, updated May 11) There’s a particularly ugly side that often comes with being in the public eye – and that’s being on the receiving end of some of the most vile and awful comments, often threats – sometimes on social media, sometimes in emails, and sometimes on websites.
For years now many prominent Winnipeggers (almost all of them Jewish) have had to endure just that kind of vicious attack from someone by the name of Michael Kalo. But how do you fight back against someone who writes some of the most awful things – and then sends them out to various members of the media (including me), all the while hiding behind a series of aliases? There’s no point in suing him for defamation; he’s penniless. (The police have seized his computer in the past and are well aware of him, but the individuals whom he has defamed have always been reluctant to have the Crown press charges, thinking that it will only draw more attention to him – which is what he seems to want.)
But I’m different – and I’ve finally had enough of his crap.
In my original column I had posted the email Kalo had sent out to a great many individuals in which he defamed Jacob Brodovsky, who was forced to resign as co-executive director of BB Camp after a website called the j.ca launched a series of attacks on Jacob over his perceived “anti-Zionist” attitudes. I suppose these days who defines “Zionist” is a decision made by certain individuals who reserve for themselves the right to define what support for Israel means. I guess all those hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been marching on the streets protesting Netanyahu’s deliberate strategy of letting the remaining hostages linger in tunnels in Gaza – however many may still be alive) are also “anti-Zionist.”
Anyway, I’ve now removed that vile email. If anyone still wants to see it, email me at jewishp@mymts.net and I’ll send it to you.
Something else I’ve now removed from this article is my referring to Michael Kalo’s very accomplished daughters. My intention was to attempt to induce them to use their influence to sway their father to stay off the internet and stop defaming members of Winnipeg’s Jewish community. But then I received an email from a prominent member of our community who asked me to remove my references to Michael Kalo’s daughters. That person wrote, in part: ‘His daughters don’t have anything to do with him. They don’t talk to him.”
Well, if his daughters don’t want anything to do with him, then I suppose there’s no point in retaining what I had written about them – so that’s gone too.
What’s left now though is a video of Michael Kalo that gives anyone who has never heard of him – or seen him in pubic, a clear idea of what type of person he is.
The video that was sent to me shows Kalo engaging in an argument with someone (and the identity of that person was not revealed to me by the person who sent me the video.) In it you can hear Michael explain why he’s consistently called Ben Carr a “kike”, “a spoiled Jew boy,” along with some other choice epithets. (Kalo has sent out numerous emails defaming Ben Carr using the name “Mohammed Greenberg” as the sender.)
But, I did respond to Kalo, whom I’ve know for many years, starting with when he achieved notoriety by being banned from entering the Asper Campus over 30 years ago. Here’ what I wrote to him:
“You know what I’m going to do Michael. I’m going to print your letter on my website – but I’m going to say that it was sent by someone named Michael Kalo, who has been defaming various Winnipeg Jews for years. That way it will have the opposite effect of what you’re intending. I’m also going to post the video in which you call Ben Carr (and the person filming the video) a kike. And if you want to come after me the way you’ve been going after anyone and everyone who provokes your ire, go right ahead. (You seem to have a real hate on for successful Winnipeg Jews. Is it because you’re such a failure in life yourself?) And I’m going to bcc this email to some of the people you’ve been defaming so that they can see how much of a fool you”ve been making of yourself for years.
-“Bernie”
Here’s the video of Michael (who is apparently walking away with a Ben Carr sign tucked under his arm):
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