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Lessons in Fusion” speaks to the fluidity of Jewish identity in the contemporary world

Primrose Mayadag Knazan
cover of “Lessons in Fusion:

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.

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2024 Sol and Florence Kanee Lecture with Mike Fegelman of Honest Reporting

The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada is pleased to announce that our 2024 Sol and Florence Kanee Lecturer will be Mike Fegelman, Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief of Honest Reporting Canada. The lecture will be held at 7 pm on Sunday, April 7, 2024 at Adas-Yeshurun Herzlia Synagogue.

Our speaker, Mike Fegelman, is a seventeen-year veteran of the Canadian journalism industry, Mike is the Editor-in-Chief of HRC and is responsible for the day to day running of the organization, its financial management and project development. Mike’s focus is on delivering efficiency and professionalism as HRC moves into new technological and geographical spheres that include the expansion of Honest Reporting’s  media monitoring services to French Canada with the launch of a Montreal office.

Mike was a former editor-in-chief, reporter, and anchor of various news programs and publications. A graduate of Carleton University’s renowned journalism program, Mike specialized in broadcasting and international reporting. Mike brings a marketing savvy to HRC having been a project manager for the market research firm Canmark Technologies for over six years.

Mike has testified before parliamentary committees and has given testimony to the Standing Senate Committee for Transport and Communications to express HRC’s concerns about the CBC’s reporting of Israel and the Middle East. Mike’s opinions and views are widely sought out for by Canada’s media and political elite. Mike’s work has been published in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, La Presse, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen and many more. Mike is a columnist for Huffington Post Canada and the Times of Israel.

In 2013, Shalom Life listed Mike as one of their Top 20 Under 40 due to his dedication and significant contributions to Israel advocacy. Mike is also the immediate past President of the Village Shul and Aish Hatorah Learning Centre.

The annual Sol and Florence Kanee Distinguished Lecture is the Jewish Heritage Centre’s only fundraising event. Tickets are $50 and are available at Eventbrite.ca

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Kadima Dance Company receives rave reviews for Edmonton performace earlier this month

Kadima Dance Troupe Top (L-R): Arielle Block, Jason Cohen, Michael Petrov, Matthew Slusky, Jillian Daien, Valentyna Kabris, Dana Segal Bottom (L-R): Erin Schwartz, Hadera Short, Rinat Mirkin, Emily Kalo, Rotem Keynan, Jenna Senensky

By BERNIE BELLAN Hadera Short has been dancing since the age of three. In an April 2022 story we wrote that Hadera told “The Jewish Post & News that she ‘started doing Israeli dance when I was six. I joined Chai when I was 16.’

“In 2014, at the age of 21, Hadera said, she ‘was accepted into the Jerusalem Academy of Music for a one-year intensive program, where,’ she adds, she ‘studied ballet, contemporary and Gaga styles of dance.’

“Upon returning to Winnipeg, Hadera rejoined Chai, becoming its dance director in 2016. In 2017, after eight years performing with Chai, she retired from the group.

“After a two-year hiatus from dance, however, Hadera said she realized how much she missed performing in front of a live audience. As a result, she had the idea of forming her own dance company.

“Hadera actually began choreographing in her mother’s living room. After sharing the idea of starting a new dance company with other dancers and discussing the concept of forming a new Israeli dance group, Hadera realized the potential success that this group could hold and Kadima Dance Company was born. Kadima, meaning ‘forward’ in Hebrew, had its first rehearsal at Kazka Dance Collective studio on December 1, 2019.

“Asked why she wanted to start her own Israeli dance company, Hadera explained that ‘I started Kadima because I wanted to create a new space for adult dancers who are passionate about Israeli dance and wanted the freedom to express themselves creatively. I encourage the dancers to select their own music to choreograph to, or come to me with potential performance ideas and opportunities. I want to show off everyone’s full potential as dancers, performers and choreographers. One of my primary goals for Kadima is encouraging a balance between professionalism, creativity and fun. Our rehearsals and our relationships outside of the studio are a reflection of just that.’

Kadima in performance at the Westbury Theatre in Edmonton

Just recently Hadera contacted us to inform about Kadima’s most recent experience, when members of the group travelled to Edmonton to perform in an Israeli dance festival, known as Festival Hatzafon, which was mounted by the Aviv Israeli Folk Dance Association (AIFDA) on the occasion of AIFDA’s 18th year anniversary.  According to Hadera, “AIFDA was formed in 2006 by choreographer and artistic director Sari Uretsky.”

The festival, held in the Westbury Theatre in Edmonton,featured Kadima alongside other Israeli dancers and other cultural groups from across Canada in what Hadera said was a “sold out show.”

Currently Kadima has 20 dancers in the troupe, of whom 13 went to Edmonton.

Sari Uretsky (left) with Hadera Short

Their performance elicited this reaction from Sari Uretsky: “You should be so proud!!! You guys are a strong, cohesive group in such a short time! And you’ve already accomplished so much! It was an honour to have you and your company! You are all gorgeous dancers and added so much to our festival! We cannot wait to collaborate with you in the future!”

In addition to having just performed in Edmonton, Kadima also performed in Vancouver last year in what is known as “Festival Harikud.”

Upcoming, according to Hadera, Kadima will also be performing at “MTYP April 4 for the Robyn Braha School of Dance show, and May 14 at the Rady JCC for the 3rd year in a row for Yom Ha’atzmaut.”

In the email Hadera sent to us informing about Kadima’s performing in Edmonton, she added this at the end: Follow Kadima on social media: Instagram @kadimadanceco and Facebook Kadima Dance Company, or email kadimadance@gmail.com for more information or if interested in auditioning. 

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Irwin Isenstein has made a name for himself in two different types of “court”

By GERRY POSNER The name Isenstein is one familiar to many Winnipeggers, particularly for those who remember the late Sheppy and Hannah Isenstein . Sheppy Isenstein was a pharmacist and the owner of McCullough Drugs in St. Boniface. Hannah was a proud member of the Rosh Pina Choir for many years. The Isenstein s, along with older son Norman and younger son Irwin, lived for many years on Forest Park Drive in Garden City.

Irwin Isenstein has become accomplished in two “courts.” The first court relates to his career in criminal law. He is what might be called the “go to guy” for driving offences. I don’t suggest you commit those kinds of offences, but if you do, just know that Irwin has made a real mark in the area, assisting accused people mainly in Ontario, but also in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Alberta, as well as Manitoba.

How did this happen? A graduate of Talmud Torah and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate, Isenstein earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Manitoba in 1978 before earning an LL.B. three years later from that university’s law school. After law school, he received his “real education” at two well known Winnipeg law firms – first with the late Alvin and Martin Corne, and then with Wilder and Wilder, as in Joe and the late Sam. For a variety of reasons, Isenstein felt the pull of the larger city of Toronto and, in 1986, he was called to the Bar in Ontario. After a stint with a firm in Toronto, Isenstein started his own law firm where, 42 years later, he continues to practice as a sole practitioner in criminal law, specializing in motor vehicle infractions, many of which can have serious repercussions, such as losing one’s driver’s license, job or worse.

In addition to his large practice, Isenstein has been active within the profession. He has chaired or co-chaired the annual Law Society Continuing Legal Education program on Impaired Driving for over 10 years. This particular program has been so successful that in his last year of chairing the program, the attendance was over 450 members of the legal profession. Moreover, Isenstein was invited to be the guest speaker on several occasions at the Continuing Legal Education program for judges of the Ontario Court of Justice. In addition, Irwin has been a legal commentator on several television networks, and a regular contributor in print media, both as counsel and commentator. In short, he has a reputation as a big player in this important area of criminal law. As an aside, I am not a big fan of ratings for professionals on the internet, but I was impressed by the glowing tributes to Isenstein from many individuals whom Irwin had assisted over a period of years…Quite remarkable.

Now, as often as Irwin appears in the law courts with great success, he has also distinguished himself in another court – the tennis court. In 1976, Isenstein represented North Winnipeg in tennis in the Manitoba Summer Games, which were held in Neepawa that year. He also represented Canada in the Masters Tennis competition at the Maccabi Games in Israel in 2022. The opening ceremony was held in Jerusalem in front of 30,000 spectators, including US President Biden. All told, Isenstein has been a prominent player in tennis for over 50 years.

Isenstein has also been blessed with two daughters. His older daughter Sari received a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology from the University of Toronto and has started to practice in that field. His younger daughter Michelle graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School with a JD. She is now an associate with an established law firm on Bay Street in Toronto. This is Nachas with a capital N. Irwin has also been involved in a long term relationship with Debbie Lindsay, a pharmacist, something that made his parents, especially his father, very happy. 

The Irwin Isenstein story is a familiar one to people from Winnipeg, especially from the North End of the City – “Winnipeg boy” makes good in Toronto. Only this time on two counts and courts.  

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