Local News
Reaction to the valedictory address at the medical school convocation ceremony
Ed. note: We have received a number of inquiries, both from students in this year’s graduating U of M medical school class, and from former students (now practising physicians), asking whether we would print responses to what occurred during the convocation ceremony on May 16. In addition to their being published here, they will also be published in the June 5 issue of The Jewish Post.
We will continue to print whatever responses we receive as (and if) we receive them. In the meantime, here’ are the first two responses we received, on May 23:
May 23rd, 2024
Hello,
My name is Gregory Jackson. I am a member of the 2024 graduating class from the
Max Rady College of Medicine.
Our convocation has garnered more publicity than I would have ever thought. The
valedictorian’s address and subsequent aftermath compels me to act beyond my
traditional comfort zone.
A classmate of mine, Dr. Irvine, stated in an interview with the CBC that “from my
perspective, there wasn’t any students that were graduating that were upset with what was
being said”. I happened to be seated beside Dr. Irvine during convocation. Since Thursday, I
have been truly shocked, disheartened and embarrassed by what unfolded and its impacts
on our community. I regret not walking out during the valedictorian’s speech.
Boisterous cheers from emboldened supporters drown out the gasps and stunned
silence during the valedictorian’s address, turning a day that should have been shared joy
into a day of shared embarrassment. While I know that I cannot convince my classmates
on our disagreements in geopolitics, I am dismayed that our convocation was hijacked to
espouse reckless personal and aggressive political views.
I am writing this letter to show support and patience for the Dean, Dr. Nickerson, as
he navigates an appropriate and firm response. Furthermore, I am writing to formally
dissent and dispute the notion that the Class of 2024 is unified when sophistry
masquerades as advocacy. In the current climate of fear and violence, I respect those who
wish to remain anonymous to maintain their safety. Most importantly, I wish to vocalize my
support to my classmates, faculty members, and people living in our community who are
threatened and alienated by such rhetoric; I hope that our community can heal and that we
can re-aYirm an environment in which our Jewish members are safe, respected and loved.
Faithfully yours,
Gregory Jackson
Dr. Peter Nickerson, Dean and Vice-provost, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Michael Benarroch, President, University of Manitoba president@umanitoba.ca
Mr. Ernest Rady, 3420 Carmel Mountain Road, Suite 100, San Diego, California, 92121
CBC News, talkback@cbc.ca
Joe Hutchison at Dailymail.com
Roberta Lexier, Associate Professor, Mount Royal University rlexier@mtroyal.ca
Winnipeg Free Press
letters@freepress.mb.ca
I recall vividly that early morning September 1985 when I sat in my first class of Medical School at the University of Manitoba. The very first words spoken by the professor were ‘Primum non nocere’, which means ‘first do no harm’.
As physicians, we must use every means possible to gather an accurate history, using listening skills in a nonjudgmental fashion, and more often than not, creatively gathering collateral history from many sources. Dr. Gem Newman, to his credit, seems to be a passionate individual who cares about people. Unfortunately, the last few minutes of his speech made it clear that he cares only for some, on the basis of an incorrect history, leading to a disastrously incorrect diagnosis. He failed to take his own advice with respect to acknowledging one’s limitations rather than questioning if his opinion reflects fact. Nor does it seem that he consulted with those with more knowledge of the situation. His valedictorian address last week has caused harm: To the Jewish graduates, their families, as well as the Jewish community in the audience and abroad. To those who choose to believe the distortions of reality pertaining to the history of the region and current conflict. To those of us who know differently. To the truth.
Sadly, the response by the University and the media did not address specifically why Newman’s speech was so offensive. For that reason I feel compelled to provide the counter arguments, even if the damage has been done by the hundreds of thousands of views of his speech. After all, he’s a doctor. He should know what he’s talking about. Right?
Newman stated: “ I call on you to stand in solidarity with Indigenous people everywhere.” He either does not know or chooses to ignore the undeniable fact that the Jewish people are indigenous to that region of the Middle East for over 3700 years. He insinuated that the Jews are settler-colonizers, ethnically cleansing the Palestinians. Let me be perfectly clear. There have always been Jews living in that area since Abraham moved his family from Mesopotamia. Over the centuries the population had diminished due to invasions of the land resulting in massacres and exile. However, some always remained. Biblical reference, Jewish writings throughout the ages, numerous archaeological findings and even the Qu’ ran support the historical claim of the land of the ‘Israelites’, meaning the Jewish people. Never mind the fact that the term ‘Jew’ comes from ‘Judea’, just as ‘Arab’ from ‘Arabia’. His remark echoes the libelous accusation that the Jewish people are recent ‘colonizers’ who took over land belonging to others.
Prior to control by the British after WWI, the Ottoman Empire had conquered what is now Israel in the 1500’s. By the mid 1800’s the land was desolate and sparsely populated, as numerous published reports of the time have documented. I will provide two examples: In 1881, English cartographer Arthur Penrhyn Stanley wrote: “In Judea it is hardly an exaggeration to say that for miles and miles there was no appearance of life or habitation.” Mark Twain, in the mid 1800’s, wrote that one could walk from one end of Jerusalem to the other in an hour, At this time Jewish people and organizations started buying back the land from absentee Arab landlords at significantly inflated prices. By 1864, the majority population of Jerusalem, where our first and second temples were built dating back over 3,000 years, was Jewish. Following return of the Jews, with the economic, industrial and technological advances brought with them, Arabs began immigrating to the area as well. THAT is how the population increased; both Jews and Arabs began to repopulate the land. Again, written references from that era along with deeds to the land purchased by individuals and the JNF confirm this.
In 1948, the day after Sovereignty was granted to Israel, five Arab armies invaded Israel with the intent to exterminate all of the Jews and take over the new State. Arabs living there fled of their own volition or left by order of the Arab armies, with assurance that they could return to their homes after the Jews were gone. Lo and behold, Israel won the war against all odds. The 156,000 Arabs that remained became Israeli citizens, whose descendants are now 2 million, with equal rights as the Jews, Christians, Druze and every other citizen. Meanwhile 850,000 Jews were killed or forced to flee from many Arab countries across the Middle East, leaving their property and belongings behind.
Newman also claims that Israel is waging a genocidal war against Palestinians. The only genocidal attack was perpetrated by Hamas and associated Palestinian terror groups on October 7, 2023. I am not making a false claim. Ghazi Hamad in an interview October 23, 2023, as well as other Hamas leaders have been very clear about their intentions to ‘repeat October 7 again and again and again’. I have collected many interviews and videos from across the globe with calls to Islamist extremists to kill every Jew they encounter, as a religious duty. These calls for ‘Jihad’ and ‘Intifada’ coming from extremist Muslim religious leaders has now spread across the globe, and is even chanted by those who don’t know which River to Sea they want to clear the Jewish people from. Despite these threats of global annihilation of the Jewish people, Israel has sent out 7 million leaflets in Arabic with maps of safe zones, supplementing this with millions of phone calls, text messages and voice mails. The IDF ‘roof knocks’, which is sending a dud bomb as a warning to evacuate the area. Unfortunately, Hamas and UNRWA not only told civilians to ignore these warnings, they stole car keys and even shot civilians trying to leave for safe areas as reported by Palestinians and captured on voice recordings and video. No other military past or present goes to the lengths that Israel does to minimize civilian casualties.
This war is being fought in an unprecedented extremely complex war zone intentionally designed as such over the past 18 years. There are over 700 km of tunnels exclusively for Hamas’ use and protection. These terrorists fight in civilian clothes from hospitals, mosques, schools and civilian infrastructure, all of which lose protective immunity by law if used for such purposes. The referenced doctors, health care workers and journalists Newman insists Israel targets are not all altruistic innocents; many including hospital directors captured are longstanding members of Hamas. Rather than protecting their citizens, Hamas fight from beneath, beside and behind their men, women and children. The billions of dollars in aid funneled into Palestine over the years did not get spent on one single civilian bomb shelter. Despite this, Israel has still managed to achieve the lowest civilian:combatant death toll of ANY urban war hovering at about 1:1. This is even using the original Gaza MoH numbers prior to the exposure of manipulation of data at best, fabrication more likely, which led to the U.N. quietly backtracking and halving the number of women and children casualties. For seven months, those numbers had been broadcast to every news outlet and media source with impunity, and are still being quoted to this day. Not only are the numbers provided by Hamas grossly inflated, there are several analyses of the casualty data churned out by those terrorists that prove the patterns are statistically impossible.
You may also wish to verify the way the IDF conducts military operations with the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies of West Point, Major John W. Spencer.
Another resource is Colonel Richard Kemp of the British Army. Their opinions regarding whether a genocide is being waged on the Palestinians carry significantly more weight than Dr. Newman’s, I would think. The IDF is not called the ‘most moral army in the world’ for nothing.
On to the ‘famine” in Gaza. As of this writing, Israel has allowed entry of 427,981 tons of food, 59,930 tons of shelter equipment, 541 tanks of cooking gas, 23,260 tons of medical supplies, 34,940 tons of water. COGAT provides daily updates on humanitarian aid that has crossed into Gaza. Plenty of video evidence is available of Hamas confiscating the aid, shooting and killing civilians trying to get aid, and charging up to ten times the value of the aid (intended as donations, not to sell) which many cannot afford. There are estimates that Hamas has made close to $500,000 profit from this despicable abuse. The pier that the US provided has been targeted by Hamas rockets during and after construction. Videos are also posted daily of bustling markets full of produce in Gaza.
Apart from the poor taste the valedictorian displayed by using the last few minutes of his speech to grandstand, the greatest issue I have is that his claims do not contain fact. This is exactly the way the blood libels began, were spread, and continue to be spread. We witnessed the result of this less than a century ago and vowed ‘never again’. Yet here we are on our way to repeating history that apparently was not learned, with the help of people like Dr. Newman. We lost over 1/3 of the world Jewish population in the Holocaust, and 85 years later our census is still lower than it was in 1939; a mere 16 million, whose voice cannot come close to the volume of our adversaries.
I agree with free speech, but there must be accountability. There must be truth.
Annilea Gunn, MD, CCFP, FCFP
University of Manitoba Class of 1989
Local News
Hershfield sisters star in annual 55+ Manitoba Seniors Games
By MYRON LOVE Mindy (Hershfield) Zabenskie has once again proven the old adage that it’s never too late to try something new.
Last August, the retired office worker, along with her younger sister, Esther Hershfield, entered the 55+ Manitoba Seniors Games, which were held in Steinbach. In a field of about 1,200 senior athletes, Zabenskie, competing in the 100m and 200m races, came away with one gold and two silver medals for her performances in the 65+ category. Hershfield did even better with gold medals in the 200m and 100m runs and silver in the 400m and 800m competitions.
In the swimming portion, Esther Hershfield came in first place in her age category in all her swimming events – including the 50m breaststroke, the 100m freestyle and the 100m breaststroke.
As far as the track races went, Hershfield conceded that she “did find the 800m run a little more challenging. I’m more used to the shorter distances, ” she noted. “I will have to do more training for the 800m run. I found that distance a little tiring.”
“It was a lot of fun,” Zabenskie said of this past summer’s competitions – the second go round for the two sisters. Up to that point, they had only run half marathons.
Hershfield noted that last year’s games were held in Brandon –where the sisters were joined by oldest sister Lois, who participated in the cribbage tournament – which is also part of the activities.
Hershfield pointed out that she has always been involved in athletics. She was a phys-ed teacher in Seven Oaks School Division prior to retirement in 2013. She reported that she swims twice a week and runs twice a week with a friend.
Zabenskie, by contrast, is a late bloomer. She only ran her first marathon in 2013 – in Ottawa, while visiting her daughter, Susan. That was three years before she retired.
Looking back, Zabenskie said, she can’t tell you what motivated her to take up running. “I was never athletic,” she noted. “I was never interested in exercise or physical activity. My daughters (Susan and Pamela – who lives in Winnipeg) have always been athletic. They probably encouraged me.”
It was a real challenge for me to start running,” she added. “I am shocked at how well I have done. I really am proud of myself and my accomplishments.”
While Zabenskie did participate in one marathon in Palm Springs several years ago, she generally restricts her running efforts to just two annual runs – the Winnipeg Police Service run in May, and the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service run in October. Those runs are both 5 kilometres.
The Fire and Paramedic Service run, she reported, started and finished at Canadian Mennonite College, while the police event began and ended at Assiniboine Park. Timers clocked in the runners.
“While everyone gets participation medals for doing the marathon,” Zabenskie pointed out, “I have finished in the top ten several times in my age category and have improved my time to less than 40 minutes. I am happy with my results.
Three years ago, to help motivate her and improve her performance, Zabenskie hired a personal trainer. “She has come to know my strengths and weaknesses,” she noted. “She runs with me and is able to point out where I can improve my technique.
“She also got me started on weight training.”
Zabenskie added that she tries to run three times a week in her neighbourhood – weather permitting. In the winter months, she works out on her treadmill. She does weight training twice a week.
She said that she is looking forward to entering the Police marathon again in the spring and both sisters are eager to take on the 55+ competitions, which will be held in Winkler-Morden next summer.
Local News
Kristallnacht Documentary focuses on courageous Hungarian Jew who saved the lives of the last group of twins in Auschwitz
By MYRON LOVE On November 9 and 10, our Jewish community commemorated the 87th anniversary of Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass – the infamous series of pogroms against the Jewish communities of Germany and Austria – with the showing of a new documentary, titled “The Last Twins.” The documentary, written by Patrick McMahon and narrated by actor Liev Schreiber, tells the story of Erno (Tzi) Speigel, who risked his life to save the last surviving twins in Auschwitz.
In her opening remarks, Belle Jarniewski, the executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada (which co-sponsored the evening, along with the Rady JCC and the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg), reported that over a two-day period in 1938, the Nazi-inspired hordes burned more than 1,400 synagogues in the two countries, desecrated Jewish religious objects, vandalized and ransacked thousands of Jewish-owned businesses, homes and apartments, and stole valuable belongings. Nor were Jewish orphanages, seniors homes and hospitals spared the mayhem. Nearly 100 Jews were murdered and about 30,000 Jewish men were subsequently interned in concentration camps.
To add insult to injury, the Nazis then demanded 1-billion reichsmarks from German and Austrian Jewish communities – “atonement payment” – to clean up the mess.
“It was a turning point,” Jarniewski noted. “It was the moment when words of hatred turned into co-ordinated destruction and when indifference from the rest of the world gave way to the Shoah – the murder of over 6 million European Jews at the hands of the Nazis and their willing collaborators.
The great 16th century kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria, taught that when God created the world, he had to hide his overpowering light in a series of shells. At some point, the shells broke and the divine light fell into the darkest levels of hell. It is the responsibility of Jewish souls to descend into that world to redeem the divine sparks in order to repair the world – the original meaning of tikkun olam.
The Shoah certainly represents the lowest level of darkness. The catastrophe also produced many examples of individuals – both Jewish and non-Jewish – who were willing to risk their lives – in the midst of the darkness and danger around them – to save lives. The names of many of them have been enshrined over the years at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust museum. Erno Spiegel was one of them.
It was in May 1944, when Spiegel and his twin sister were deported to Auschwitz. They were among the thousands of Hungarian Jews who were shipped to the death camp, where the notorious Dr. Joseph Mengele greeted each trainload of Jews and determined which were to be sent immediately to the gas chambers and which were to be allowed to live on a little longer as slave labour in the death camp’s factories.
Spiegel and his sister were spared immediate death because the demonic doctor had a special interest in twins, on whom he did numerous gruesome experiments. Many – perhaps most – died.
When a new group of Jewish twins – all of whom were children – were separated from subsequent trainloads of Hungarian Jews they were housed in separate barracks for boys and girls. Mengele serendipitously put the 29-year-old Spiegel in charge of the boys’ care, and Spiegel determined to do his best to look after them.
According to the documentary, not all of the “twins” were really twins. Some were siblings who were born close together and bore a strong resemblance to each other. Spiegel made sure to enter in the forms the same birthday for both brothers in these cases.
He also quickly let them know what had happened to their families and, between experiments, tried to teach them some math and geography.
The documentary includes interviews with several of these twins – survivors – who had immigrated to Israel or North America (or, in one case, stayed in Hungary) who recalled their experiences in Auschwitz and beyond. They reported that, to them, Spiegel became a father figure who saved their lives.
The closest they came to death came in October,1944, when a junior officer discovered them in their barracks and ordered them immediately to the gas chambers. The survivors recalled how Spiegel saved their lives by risking his own to seek out Mengele. The doctor was outraged that a junior officer would try to countermand him and the boys were returned to the barracks.
Spiegel’s efforts to save as many twins as possible were put to the maximum test in January 1945 – when the Russians liberated Auschwitz and the German guards fled. Just prior to the Russians entering the camp, the Nazis had removed most of the prisoners from Auschwitz – including the older sets of twins – and force-marched them in the worst winter weather in years into Germany – leaving the younger twins to fare for themselves. Very few survived these death marches.
The Russians didn’t stay long. So, Spiegel took charge. He promised the kids that he would get them home again. They all set off on foot. They walked for two days – sleeping one night in an abandoned school and the second night in a farmer’s barn. He got them rides with Russian soldiers to Krakow in Poland, where they were housed in a building that had been German headquarters in Krakow. There he found them enough to eat and got identity papers for the kids. He also acquired a pass from the Russians that guaranteed Russian help along the way.
After dropping all the kids in their home communities, they all went their separate ways. Spiegel married and moved to Israel. He and his wife had two kids (who were also interviewed for the documentary). He became involved in theatre in Tel Aviv.
He never talked about Auschwitz.
The first his daughter, Judith Richter, and son, Israel, knew about his heroism, came in 1981 when Richter’s husband, Kobi, came across a story in Life Magazine at a store in Boston where the couple were living. Flipping through the pages, he stumbled on a story about Mengele. In the story was a picture of Spiegel next to a photo of two of the twins.
One of the twin survivors, also living in the States, also saw the story. He contacted Kobi and Judith (who co-hosted the documentary) which led to a dramatic reunion between Spiegel and the twin.
In 1985, Israel put Mengele on trial in absentia. Speigel was called to testify. To his surprise, all those in the courtroom whose lives he saved were asked to stand and about a dozen did.
Several reunions between Spiegel and one or more of the twins followed and the twins continued to reach out to each other after he died in 1993. Toward the end of the documentary, four of the twins are seen holding a reunion in Israel, reminiscing, and celebrating their bar mitzvahs at the Western Wall.
“The last Twins,” Belle Jarniewski observed, “is not only a Holocaust film, but also an urgent reminder of the human capacity to choose compassion over cruelty, to protect the vulnerable, and to recognize the power one person can have in the face of systemic evil.
“But tonight’s commemoration is not only about the past. It is also about the present and the future. At a time when antisemitism has risen exponentially around the world, we are ever more aware of the danger of leaving hate unchallenged. As our youngest Holocaust survivors reach their tenth decade of life, we must continue to connect to education, remembrance and moral courage.”
Local News
Dave Hill’s participation shows that you don’t have to be Jewish to participate in the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s Endowment Book of Life
By MYRON LOVE Despite the impression given by certain biased media, Canadian Jewry has many friends from outside our community. On the one hand, there are the Christian Zionist friends of Israel and the Jewish people – groups such as Bridges for Peace and Christian Friends of Israel (see accompanying article), and individuals such as John and Irene Plantz and Rudy and Gina Fidel, who contribute their moral and financial support to Israel and our local Jewish community. There is also Kevin Klein, publisher and editor of the Winnipeg Sun, whose newspaper is a whole-hearted supporter of Israel and the Jewish People and strong fighter against antisemitism.
Then there is Dave Hill, a prominent local lawyer – a partner in the law firm Hill Sokalski – who has been in practice for more than 50 years. On Sunday, November 2, Hill was one of eight new signatories to enter their names and life stories into the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s Endowment Book of Life.
Hill reports that he has been making donations to the Foundation for the past ten years. “I believe in giving back to the community,” he says, noting that he is also a supporter of the Winnipeg Foundation and several medical institutions. “I have always had a great deal of compassion for the Jewish People who have suffered over 2000 years of persecution.”
The 2025 signers – in addition to Hill – were Jack and Belva London, Jeff and Sarah Morry, Moe Levy, Becky Kaufmann (a former JFM board member who flew in from Toronto), and Stewart Fay – in memory of his late wife, Patricia.
As explained on the Foundation website, the Endowment Book of Life program – which was started in 1998 – “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 story is inscribed in the Book of Life.
The annual official unveiling of new stories this year was held on Sunday, November 2, at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue and included brunch, some musical entertainment featuring a talented quartet of singers: Julia Kroft, Alyssa Crockett, Tyler Leighton and Nathanial Muir.
Speaking on behalf of his fellow signers, Jack London noted that, “In Jewish thought, giving tzedakah is not just charity – it’s a moral obligation. An endowment gift is a powerful expression of this duty. It reflects the Jewish principle of tikkun olam. It can be a spiritual act, fulfilling commandments, and enhancing the donor’s connections to their faith.”
The former dean of the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law had words of praise for “the wonderful purpose and mechanisms of the Jewish Foundation and its truly extraordinary staff.”
He noted that the Foundation was established in 1964 by “a group of visionary leaders and has been a beacon of hope and opportunity for decades.” He further pointed out that “its endowment funds have empowered countless initiatives, from supporting education and cultural programs to ensuring the wellbeing of our most vulnerable. Through the Foundation, we see the power of collective generosity, and we remember that when we come together, we can achieve extraordinary things.”
“Giving isn’t just about money,” London observed. It’s also about its impact. Every contribution, no matter how small, has the potential to change and better lives. Every gift by way of endowment results in an endless rate of return from investment which can be employed year after year to support our institutions and assist individuals in need to survive more comfortably and our community to flourish.
“Think of it like planting seeds. You may not see the tree grow overnight, but one day someone will sit in its shade benefitting from the kindness you showed today. In fact, l’dor v’dor, (from generation to generation) is another core Jewish concept. Endowments embody it by supporting those future generations. It is a way for donors to leave not only the currency, but the legacy of Tzedakah (charitable giving), a mitzvah deeply rooted in Jewish ethics.
“So, let’s put some leaves on the ‘tree” of giving’.
“Today’s signers,” London concluded,”have added our familial names, our memories and our promises in support of the Foundation’s good deeds. May good triumph and may peace prevail.”
In his own remarks, John Diamond, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s CEO, described the Endowment Book of Life program as one of the Foundation’s “most meaningful and most successful initiatives”.
“By entering their and their families’ life stories in our book,” he said, “our donors both honour those who came before and inspire those who will come after us.”
In his closing remarks, the JFM’s chair Dan Blankstein reported that the Endowment Book of Life book currently contains over 800 stories. Echoing John Diamond, Blankstein observed that “Our Endowment Book of Life is both a living history of Jewish life in Manitoba and a guide to the future”.