Local News
Peretz School graduating class of ’63 subject of Atlantic Magazine profile
By MYRON LOVE Class reunions are most often a once (or twice)in a life time event. I myself have attended two smallish reunions of my Peretz School cohort as well as Aberdeen School’s 100th anniversary and St. Johns High School’s 75th and 100th anniversaries. While many welcome the opportunity to reconnect with former classmates – and others not so much – several members of the I.L. Peretz Folk School class of ’63 have in recent years made class reunions a regular happening.
Back row, standing, left to right: Bailey Rayter, Eric Posen, Lanny Silver, Harold Silverman, Mark Waintman, Ron Charach, Leslie Hatklin.
Middle row, left to right: Ethel (Levine) Kofsky, Bella (Sapoznik) Ben-Ari, Sharon Winokur, Ester (Schwartz) Kagan, Clara (Ross) Smukler, Barbara (Shoib) Murray z”l, Phyllis (Chrzan) Wollach.
Front row, seated, left to right: Annette (Feldman) Nagler z”l, Sharon Love, Sharen (Martin) Hogarth, Betty Eisenstadt, Janis (Swick) Wisher, Hilda (Szternfeld) Smith, Anita (Ladner) Bakal, Nettie Schwetz.
Our teacher Mrs. Brooks is on the left and Mr. P. Herstein, the principal, is standing on the right.
Top photo taken in Vancouver at the home of Bob and Reesa (Margolis) Devlin, August 2015, during our 65th birthday reuni
Seated, left to right: Leslie Hatklin, Brenda (Grushko) Casey, Arthur Itzkow, Ethel (Levine) Kofsky, Carol Pollock, Janis (Swick) Wisher, Gity (Shklarsky) Morris-Finkel, Candy Zell.
Standing, left to right: Ron Charach, Harold Abosh, Faigie (Raber) Samson, Earl Zimmer, Sharon Love, Lanny Silver, Myrna Shefrin, Bailey Rayter, Bella (Sapoznik) Ben-Ari, Reesa (Margolis) Devlin.
Now that bond that these former classmates have formed has been given international recognition in the pages of the prestigious Atlantic Monthly magazine. In the April 2 edition of the magazine, writer Julie Beck, under the aegis of her “Friendship Files” column, interviewed five of the classmates about their enduring friendship through the years. The five – Ron Charach, Reesa (Margolis) Devlin, Ethel (Levine) Kofsky, Sharon Love (my sister) and Bailey Rayter – reminisced about their elementary school days, growing up in Winnipeg’s Jewish community, the nature of their bonds over the years and how the reunions began.
As noted in the article, the first reunion was held 20 years ago to commemorate the 50th birthdays of the graduating class of ’63. Reesa Devlin, a former business owner and food writer, recalled that after she moved to Vancouver from Winnipeg – 25 years ago – she reconnected with some of her Peretz School classmates living there and they began to see each regularly. There were 14 of them living in Vancouver. It was the Vancouver group that organized the first reunion, which was held on the May long weekend in 2000. Since then, there have been three more reunions – alternating between Winnipeg (where the other large segment of the former classmates, including Love and Rayter, still live) and Vancouver – each commemorating milestones – either birthdays or other significant moments.
The second reunion, Sharon Love notes, took place in Vancouver over the November 11th, 2010 weekend, in celebration of the cohort’s 60th birthday. The third reunion was in Winnipeg in June 2013 – the 50th anniversary of their graduation from Peretz School. The fourth was back in Vancouver in August 2015, celebrating 65th birthdays. The last reunion was supposed to be last June in celebrating the 70th birthdays of the former classmates. That, however, was changed to a Zoom get together due to Covid restrictions.
Devlin noted in the article that the weekend reunions are replete with structured activities, including home dinners, some touring and a farewell brunch.
It was Ron Charach who got the ball rolling in regard to the Atlantic article. The Toronto-based psychiatrist and author (who was profiled in a recent Jewish Post & News column coinciding with the launch of his new children’ book) had written a lengthy non-fiction piece about the reunions, called “Elementary Reunion”.
“I got a reply from the editor of the Atlantic’s Family section saying she liked the idea but wanted one of her own writers (Julie Beck) to interview some of us,” Charach says. “I was asked to recommend four of my fellow students to join us in a joint interview.”
He chose Sharon Love because, he says, she has become the group’s unofficial historian (having written about the reunions in this newspaper). Bailey Rayter and Charach were best friends growing up. Reesa Devlin was one of the organizers from the Vancouver contingent. And Ethel Kofsky, Charach notes, added the perspective of being a child of Holocaust survivors.
Love reports that “the interview of us five talking lasted about an hour and a half. We did a lot of talking and, as a writer, she had to put together something that I am sure a lot of people can relate to”.
“Julie crafted a fine article,” Charach observes. “We were very happy about how it turned out.”
He adds that he is surprised at how many people have read the story. “This story has legs (in news media parlance),” he observes. “My daughter, for example, found out about it from a colleague at work.”
“We were fortunate that a special camaraderie developed within our group,” Bailey Rayter adds. “And it wasn’t just through our school ties. We saw each other a lot outside of school as well. Our lives were intertwined. We lived in the same neighbourhoods. We knew each other’s siblings. There were some family connections. We all went to the Y and many of us joined BBYO.”
As a psychologist, he points out that studies show that, particularly for boys, friendships we form can last a lifetime.
It is not so much a case of these former classmates having been lifelong best friends though, Charach points out. “After graduation, many of us went our separate ways. It is just that when you reconnect with former classmates there is a comfortable familiarity (similar to family) that you don’t share with friends who don’t go back that far.”
Local News
Shaarey Zedek celebrates reopening September 29
By BERNIE BELLAN After a period of renovation that began in the spring of 2022, the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue was officially reopened on Sunday, September 29.
Here is a montage of photos from the “Chanukat Habayit” that took place on Sunday afternoon.
Local News
Canadian Yazidi Association honours Winnipeg friends who helped start Operation Ezra
By BERNIE BELLAN On Sunday, September 22, members of Winnipeg’s Yazidi community showed their appreciation to Winnipeggers who had helped Yazidis move to Canada and settle in Winnipeg since 2015 by inviting a number of Winnipeggers to a dinner at Temple Shalom. Many of the guests were individuals who had played vital roles in helping Yazidis escape persecution by ISIS in Iraq back in 2015.
It was in 2015 that a spokesperson for the Yazidi community at the time, Nafiya Nasso, came in contact with some members of the Jewish community who were touched by the plight of the Yazidis in Iraq. Through the facilitation of Jewish Child and Family Service the seeds for what was to become Operation Ezra were planted. Since then Operation Ezra has helped more than 50 Yazidi families immigrate to Canada and settle here. The strong bonds that were established back then helped what was then a very small Yazidi community grow into a much larger – and what is now a thriving community.
The Canadian Yazidi Association, under the direction of Nafiya Nasso, organized a sumptuous buffet dinner at Temple Shalom on September 22. Not only was the food delicious, at the end, attendees were handed empty containers and invited to go fill them up to take home whatever they wanted. (If someone from the Yazidi community ever wanted to open a restaurant, I bet it would do very well.)
Local News
Temporary Federal Government visa program paves way for Israelis looking to Canada for reprieve from war
By MYRON LOVE Shortly after the Oct. 7th Hamas attack, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) instituted a temporary immigration measure for Israelis (as well as Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank) to apply for a temporary reprieve in Canada through applications for work permits. According to Iael Besendorf, Jewish Child and Family Service’s Settlement Services Team Lead, since last October, 70 families have arrived from Israel, comprising 191 individuals.
“While some of these families were already in the process of applying to move to Winnipeg, the conflict in Israel hastened them to leave sooner,” she reports.
She adds that approximately 50 of the families – comprising over 150 adults and children – have come through under the aegis of the temporary work visa program.
Besendorf points out many of the individuals, couples, and families arrived in Winnipeg in great distress, only taking the few belongings they needed to settle here.
“Most left behind family, friends, and jobs in a sudden state of emergency,” she notes.
”During the first few weeks following their arrival, JCFS was there to hear and acknowledge their immediate trauma. We at JCFS continue to provide individual counselling and group supports as needed.”
She further adds that JCFS created – with the financial support of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg – a special War Response Team to assess and respond to the needs of local community members and new arrivals.
“Mental health and counselling professionals on our team are available to meet with anyone needing services,” she says.
“As an adjunct of this, we at the JCFS Settlement Team are the first to interface with newcomers to our community and are also available to help triage and refer clients in need. These new arrivals receive our typical settlement supports such as: information and orientation about their first steps in Canada, which includes help with practical needs such as housing, daycare, schools for their children, employment resources, and an orientation to all the various Jewish organizations.”
The newly arrived Israelis have also been showing up at our community’s summer camps and Gray Academy of Jewish Education.
“After October 7, we welcomed 17 temporary students who came from Israel to be with friends or family in Winnipeg,” reports Lori Binder, Gray Academy’s Head of School and CEO of the Winnipeg Board of Jewish Education.
“Eight of those students remained at Gray Academy, and 12 more Israeli students have joined us for the 2024-2025 school year.”
She adds that enrolment at the school is over 500 (as compared to 472 last year) – with almost 100 of them brand new to the school. Quite a number of the new students, she points out, are from local families who see the value in a Jewish education.
Ian Baruch, Camp Massad’s Planning and Engagement Director, reports the camp at Sandy Hook welcomed “quite a few” IsraeIi kids this past summer among the 136 campers who were registered.
“About a quarter of our campers and half our staff are Israeli or from families from Russia who came here by way of Israel,” he notes.
The BB Camp office was closed through the first half of September so no comment was available as to the number of Israeli children at the Lake of the Woods camp.
Iael Besendorf further observes that among the challenges the Israeli newcomers are facing here is the length of time that it is taking the Federal Government to issue work permits.
“As a result,” she says, “the adults are unable to work, and many families are feeling this financial pressure.”
She adds that “as the situation in Israel appears to be far from over, we expect more people will seek reprieve outside of Israel. The Federal Government just announced an extension of one more year, to March, 2025, for this temporary visa program. As such, JCFS expects that more will arrive and that we will are likely to see a steady stream of more people over that time.”
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