Local News
New Jewish Federation of Winnipeg Chair Carrie Shenkarow hits the ground running
By MYRON LOVE Despite the many pressures buffeting our and other Jewish communities across Canada, Carrie Shenkarow remains upbeat. “These are scary times,” says the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg Chair, “but I prefer to focus on the positives. Our Jewish community is thriving. We have an outstanding CEO in Jeff Lieberman. He and his staff are operating like a well-oiled machine.”
Carrie Shenkarow, who was appointed to her current position in mid-December, has a lifelong record of community participation and leadership starting from a young age. The daughter of Barry and Rena Shenkarow attributes her attitude toward giving back to the community to her parents and her grandparents, Sam and Shirley Shenkarow, and Paul and Ruth Stajer.
“I remember sleepovers at my mom’s parents’ home when I was growing up,” Shenkarow says. “They were Holocaust survivors. I was really impressed by how my grandparents and the many other Holocaust survivors here formed a community together and rebuilt their lives.”
Her parents and paternal grandparents set the example for her in terms of community involvement.
Sam Shenkarow was a pharmacist and businessman who served on the board of Ramah Hebrew School and was a founder of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. Shirley Shenkarow was also involved in the community.
“From all four grandparents, I learned the value of family, the merit of hard work and perseverance, and the importance of building a good name for yourself. They were people of good character.”
Carrie’s father, Barry, is best known as one of the owners of the original Winnipeg Jets and served as president and governor of the team. From 1977 to 1996, the Shenkarow household revolved around the team. In 1987, Rena founded and chaired the Winnipeg Jets Goals for Kids Foundation, which distributed over $2 million to children’s charities in Manitoba.
Both Barry and Rena have been strong supporters of Israel and active in community life. Barry has served on the board of the Health Sciences Centre Research Foundation, chaired the board of the Asper Jewish Community Campus, and served on both the investment committee and board of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. In addition to Goals for Kids, Rena has been active with Hadassah, ORT, NCJW, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
Our new Federation Chair attended Ramah Elementary School and Balmoral Hall, where, she says, despite Balmoral’s Christian roots, her experiences at the school strengthened her sense of Jewish identity.
In her teen years, Shenkarow was a member of USY and BBYO youth groups. She attended BB Camp for several seasons and later joined the staff.
It was after she was married, she recounts, that she was encouraged to become a community volunteer. It was at that time that she began volunteering for the Federation.
“I took a break from the Federation after a few years,” she notes.
During that period, she served on the boards of BB Camp and Shaarey Zedek. In 2014, she rejoined the Federation as a board member and Chair of the March of the Living committee.
“One of the things I’m most passionate about is March of the Living,” she said in an interview last year with the Post while commenting on receiving the King Charles III Coronation Medal. “I have been chairing the committee since 2017. I chaperoned the program in 2018.”
Shenkarow is returning to central and eastern Europe again in July, this time with her youngest daughter, Shirley, as part of a 30-person Holocaust Memorial Sites Study tour for educators organized by Westwood Collegiate history teacher Kelly Hiebert, University of Winnipeg history professor Jody Perrun, and Na’ama Samphir, a teacher at Gray Academy, all of whom teach about the Holocaust. The group, two of whom are non-Jewish educators, will be visiting Austria, Germany, and Poland. The tour will include visits to the site of the Warsaw Ghetto; the preserved camps at Auschwitz, Birkenau, Majdanek, and Mauthausen; the Jewish districts in Krakow and Vienna; the killing centre at Hartheim; Berchtesgaden; the Obersalzburg and other sites.
In 2022, Shenkarow chaired the CJA campaign. After October 7, 2023, she was asked to chair the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s newly established Public Affairs Task Force to advocate for the community and collaborate with other local organizations.
“In light of the upsurge in antisemitism post-October 7,” she says, “our task force began reaching out to other communities.”
One of those organizations was the Rainbow Resource Centre. “We worked to educate Pride members,” she recalls. “Many didn’t know a lot about the situation in Israel. We formed J-PIC (Jewish Pride & Inclusive Committee). We held a joint Shabbat dinner and other programs and have forged a strong relationship with them.”
She further reports that the Task Force is also reaching out to the Filipino community. “We are having a joint program with the Filipino community on May 7 at the Filipino Cultural Centre,” Shenkaorw says. “The evening will be about sharing our cultures and providing opportunities to socialize.”
She also mentions a community clothing drive for newly arriving Yazidi families.
“What we do best in our community is fundraise through the efforts of the Combined Jewish Appeal,” she notes.
And while the CJA campaign seems to hit new heights almost every year, she points out that the needs of our communal organizations continue to grow apace, with a special emphasis on increased funding for security across all institutions and programs.
“We are trying to reach out to younger adults in our community, both in terms of donations and volunteering,” she says. “In the past few months, we have met with many younger people to help them understand what exactly the Federation does. Many of them don’t know.”
Shenkarow also expressed surprise at learning how many members of the community are Israeli. “We estimate that about half of our Jewish population of roughly 13,000 to 14,000 are newcomers, not just from Israel. That is a credit to how effective our 26-year-old Grow Winnipeg initiative has been.”
“We are constantly working toward making Winnipeg a better place for our community,” she concludes, “and we look forward to continuing to celebrate our achievements.
Local News
The Jewish Post Ltd. launches new website for food lovers
By BERNIE BELLAN Three months ago I wrote a story about something my daughter, Shira, had started doing on social media that had proved to be wildly successful – much to her own surprise. That story was titled: Local foodie finds fame by trying foods on Facebook Marketplace
What Shira was doing was going on to Facebook Marketplace and trying different foods that she was able to buy from local vendors. She often didn’t know what the heck it was she was ordering, but each time she would get a new food she would film herself reacting to that food.
The results have been consistently entertaining – often hilarious, to the point where Shira now has over 10,300 followers on Instagram, as well as on Facebook, TikTok, and Youtube. (You can find her Instagram page at Winnipeg Marketplace Food Finds.)
I suggested to Shira that she ought to parlay the success she’s found by posting on social media into a further venture: creating a website that would give wider exposure to the food vendors whose food Shira liked the most.
As a result, Shira and I teamed up with the marvellous web designer whose name is Mario Lacunza who is responsible for the design of jewishpostandnews.ca -to create a brand new website called Winnipeg Marketplace Food Finds.
On that website you will find pictures of some of the most popular foods Shira has tried from Marketplace, along with links to the original Instagram posts where she reviewed those foods – and links that will take you directly to the vendors’ Facebook pages.
There are so many brilliantly creative people selling food on Marketplace and Shira’s social media posts have brought many of them a lot of new business. Our hope is that our new website will bring them even more business.
The website will also offer stories about food from a variety of sources. So, take a look at the new site and be amazed at the originality of the foods being produced on Facebook Marketplace.
Local News
UNVEILING for the headstone of Dr. Velimir Kon (Sept. 18, 1950-June 27, 2025)
A true mensch and person of many talents and profoundness, Dr. Velimir (Shlomo) Kon is deeply missed and loved by his family and friends.
Known for his warmth, kindness, integrity and love of learning and teaching, Velimir continues to inspire all who knew him and his memory warms our hearts and souls. Velimir is deeply missed.
You are invited to helps us remember and honour our beloved husband and father who passed away almost a year ago.
We, Branka, Deborah and Lea Kon, wish to inform our relatives and friends of the unveiling of a headstone dedicated to his loving memory on FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2026 at 11:00am at the HEBREW SICK CEMETERY (2605 McPhillips Street) followed by lunch at the Chabad Lubavitch of Winnipeg – Jewish Learning Centre (1845 Mathers Avenue). Please come say a l’chaim in his honour.
In Memoriam
1st Yahrzeit
In loving memory of Dr. Velimir (Shlomo) Kon who passed away June 27, 2025, 12 Days in Tammuz.
⁃ Forever and deeply loved and missed by his wife of over 50 years, Branka, and daughters Deborah and Lea Kon. Velimir brought joy to our lives with his boundless kindness and gentleness, irrepressible humour, great intellect and love of people, tikun olam and Judaism.
Not a day goes by that we do not mention Velimir and feel his presence with us. Our lives are not the same without him and we deeply miss and cherish him. We can never forget his presence that was larger than life, yet also his humility and thoughtfulness.
A gentleman to the very core, Velimir was respected as a scientist, academic, professor, researcher, and later as a teacher and mentor. He always endeavoured to make every place he worked and lived at better and was able to bridge many cultures. He was Abraham of his generation and made many personal sacrifices; giving up status, position and privilege in order for his family to have a better and peaceful future.
May his memory always be a blessing. He left us at only 74 years young and we wish we had had more time together. Indeed, to know him was to love him.
Local News
Younger Jewish talents continue to shine in their respective categories at annual Winnipeg Music Festival
By MYRON LOVE A number of younger members of our community were repeat stars at the most recent (108th annual) Winnipeg Music Festival – which takes place annually in March. Among the repeat Jewish singers and musicians in the ranks of high achievers this year were” Yale Rayburn-Vander Hout, Gregory Hyman, Alex Schaeffer, Juliet Eskin, Noah Kravetsky, and Lyla Chisick.
Vocalist Yale Rayburn-Vander Hout, the oldest of this year’s group of Jewish repeat winners, was competing in his fifth straight festival, where he continued to build on his accomplishments in previous festivals. This year, the 20-year-old son of Samantha and Peter finished first in two musical theatre categories – songs from musical theatre productions between 1965 and 1999, and shows from the past 26 years. Yale sang “I’m Allergic to Cats,” from the 2016 musical “The Theory of Relativity,” and “Suppertime,” from the 1967 musical, “You’re a Good man, Charlie Brown.”
The former Gray Academy student is currently enrolled at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music in the Choral program. Yale says that he is hoping to get into the performance track in the fall with the goal of earning a degree in Classical Voice Performance en route to pursuing a career in musical theatre.
As reported previously, Gregory Hyman is a multi-faceted artist who can do it all. The 18-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 eighth Music Festival, in which he registered first-place finishes for vocal performances in both “Popular and Contemporary Music” and “TV and Movie Music “categories.
Gregory notes that he was also recommended to compete in the provincial finals in June. The St. John’s-Ravenscourt student (and soon-to be) graduate continues to be busy on stage. In January, he headlined a sold out solo show at Sidestage on Osborne featuring some of his new material. In March, he released an album of his newest songs. Readers can check out his latest compositions on any of the music streaming platforms as well as his own social media (thegmh) on Instagram.
Gregory 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.
While Gregory says that a musical career is his “dream,” he reports that he is hedging his bets and considering different potential career opportunities. Come September, he will be enrolled at the University of Manitoba in a University One program, which will allow him to select from a variety of courses that can count toward a degree.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Schaeffer won first place this year in the “Musicals Prior to 1965, 16 Years and Under” category with “Try Me” from “She Loves Me,” and was runner-up in the “Musicals 1965 to 1999, 16 Years and Under” category with “On My Own,” from “Les Misérables.” For the son of Marc Schaeffer and Kae Sasaki, this was his fifth year competing in the festival.
The Grant Park High School student made his big stage debut three years ago as Kurt von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” followed by playing Michael Hobbs in “Elf the Musical” this past winter at the Royal MTC.
Alex recently performed in Grant Park High School’s production of “Something Rotten!” This summer Schaeffer can be seen again at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, where he will be appearing in a production staged by Rem Lezar Theatre.
Rounding out the voice winners is Lyla Chisick. The daughter of Daniel and Baillee was competing in her second music festival. This year, she scored Gold performances in the “Vocal Solo,” “Manitoba Composers,” and “TV/Movie Musical, 12 and under” categories.
Lyla reports that she began taking voice lessons from Jessica Kos-Whicher three years ago. She says she regularly takes part in the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue Family Service and has sung at several community events. Lyla adds that she is already looking forward to next year’s music festival.
Nate Kravetsky and Juliet Eskin competed in the festival as musicians rather than singers. Juliet, 16, plays the viola, and is also is the violist in the Assiniboine String Quartet. In this, her fifth go-round at the festival, Juliet, the daughter of the musically talented Kelly Robinon and Josh Eskin, had first place finishes in the “Viola Solo, level 8,” “Baroque or Classical Concerto,” and “Romantic Composers” categories.
Juliet originally took up the violin – adding the viola a couple of years after. She also just finished performing in the Grant Park High School production of “Something Rotten!”
Nate Kravetsky is currently in Grade 5 level piano. He studies with Erica Schultz and has been taking lessons from her since age 5.
Nate competed in three categories at the Winnipeg music festival: “Baroque,” “Sonata,” and “Contemporary/own choice.”
His own choice selection was the theme from his favourite video game, “Hollow Knight.”
Nate, who is in Grade 7 at Gray Academy, is also preoccupied preparing for his upcoming bar mitzvah.
We look forward to the continued musical success off Yale, Gregory, Alex, Nate, Juliet and Lyla, and what new talent may be unveiled at next year’s Winnipeg Music festival.
.