Local News
Retiring Federation CEO Elaine Goldstine grateful for having had opportunity to serve our Jewish community
By MYRON LOVE Elaine Goldstine, our Jewish Federation of Winnipeg CEO for the past seven plus years, is – on the one hand – looking forward to stepping away from the hectic pace of her position – being on call 24-7 – and being able to relax and – as the expression goes – “stop and smell the roses”.
On the other hand, looking back over the course of 30 years serving our community, she feels a sense of satisfaction for a job well done – and gratitude for having had the opportunity.
“Through my work with the Federation, I have met a lot of truly amazing people during my career. I most likely would never have had the opportunity to get to know,” she says. “I have also had the pleasure of working with many long time, dedicated staff members.”
Elaine also has much praise for our community. “It is truly remarkable that our CJA (Combined Jewish Appeal) campaign has been able to raise more and more and more money every year,” she notes. “We have many very generous donors. Our campaign raises more per capita than any other Jewish community in North America. We really do punch above our weight. I have been very fortunate to have worked with such dedicated volunteers throughout the years.”
Then there have been all the missions and visits to Israel that Elaine has participated in over the past 30 years. “I have been to Israel 22 times,” she says.
Her first visit to the Jewish homeland, she notes, was in 1996. “Over the years, I have met people throughout the country and from all walks of life and heard many compelling speakers,” she adds.
The most impactful trip, Elaine recalls, was the mission in 2014 at the height of the Gaza conflict that year. “It was so different from any of our other visit,” she recounts. “There was no one on the beach at Tel Aviv. Our group was taken to Ashdod and Sderot. We visited hospitals. We received a briefing from the mayor of Sderot while in a bomb shelter. “I felt guilty leaving all the people behind. This experience made me really appreciate what the people of Israel go through way to often.”
For Elaine Goldstine, Winnipeg has always been “home.” She was born, the youngest of three daughters – to Ben and Sadie Raber and grew up in River Heights. After graduation from Grant Park High School, Elaine went to work at the University of Manitoba in the Budgets and Grants department. Later, she transferred to the medical mollege where she worked in the purchasing departments for both the medical and dental faculties.
Elaine has been married to Ian Goldstine for 46 year and has two sons Daniel, 41, (Lainie); and Jason, 37, (Genevieve). Elaine says she was a stay-at-home mom when the boys were young.
She notes thoughj, that throughout her life, volunteer work in the community has been a constant – and that didn’t change while she was home with the kids.
“Community involvement has been a way of life for me,” she commented in her entry in the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s Endowment Book of Life.. “My father was very active in the community and canvassed for the CJA for over 40 years, and my mother was involved with Histadrut, National Council of Jewish Women, Brandeis Lodge Ladies Auxiliary, as well as Combined Jewish Appeal including a term as chair of Super Sunday.
“As a teen, I was active in USY and was President of the Gabriels Chapter of BBYO. In 1979 I became involved with National Council of Jewish Women, and have served as President of the Sarah Branch, President of the NCJW Winnipeg section, and served as National Treasurer and Vice President. I have served on the PTA of Ramah Hebrew School, the Business and Professional Development Committee of Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University, and on the Board of the Shaarey Zedek Sisterhood.
So, when the boys both reached school age, it is not surprising that Elaine chose to rejoin the workforce in the form of service to the Jewish community. She started working half time for the Winnipeg Jewish Community Council (as the Federation was then called). When the late Gerry Koffman, who was the CJA Director, passed away in 2004, Elaine – who had served as Women’s Campaign Director and Financial Resource Development Associate – was asked to take on the role.
And, in 2015, after the retirement of long time Federation CEO Bob Freedman – and a successor who left after a year – Elaine was tapped to become the new CEO.
Elaine considers her greatest strength throughout her time as CEO has been her ability to listen to people and bring people together. “It is really important to be kind and to listen. We are a small community, and we need to work together,” she observes.
She tells the story of one member of the community who was frequently emailing her. “I contacted him and asked him if he would like to come into my office to talk about his concerns,” she recalls. “He was surprised about the invitation because, he said, it was not like he gave a lot of money to the CJA campaign.
“For me, every community member matters, My door is open to anyone in the community. The Federation is supposed to be the representative for the entire Jewish community and everyone is important.”
One important form of ”listening” for Goldstine has been the focus groups with newcomers to the community, a program that began shortly after she became CEO. “Laurel Malkin was our president at that time, and we thought it was important that we reach out to hear how they were doing. The focus groups were inspiring,” Elaine recalls. “A couple of times a year, we get together with 20-25 people who have come to Winnipeg from different parts of the world and listen to their stories and why they chose Winnipeg. Even though, many come from much larger cities, they all talk about how they love living in Winnipeg and being part of such a warm and welcoming Jewish community.
“It has been gratifying to hear.”
Elaine Goldstine will be retiring at the end of August. While she says that she has no plans yet after retirement, she expects that she will continue to volunteer her time and is looking forward to doing some travelling with Ian (who retired a couple of years ago) and spending time with family – especially baby granddaughter Abby.
Local News
Application filed by two former members of Etz Chayim Congregation against the congregation to have their memberships restored dismissed by judge
The following is taken from the Canadian Jewish News website: “Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench has dismissed Hadass Eviatar and David Hoult’s application challenging the termination of their membership at Congregation Etz Chayim. In his decision, Justice Vic Toews noted that, although Hoult’s letter describing a hypothetical attack on the synagogue may have lacked sensitivity given the political climate, he did not intend to threaten violence against congregants. However, the judge ruled that the court did not have jurisdiction to intervene in the membership dispute under Manitoba’s Corporations Act, finding that the couple had no financial, proprietary or economic interest that would entitle them to the remedies they sought. The judge concluded that religious organizations are generally free to determine their own membership rules and ordered each side to bear its own legal costs.”
If you would like to read the original article that broke the story about the battle between Hadaass Eviatar and David Hoult with Etz Chayim Congregation you can go to Epic Court Battle.”
Local News
Jewish Federation now says Jewish population of Winnipeg in 2021 (according to the census) was 13,940 – not the 16,000 figure that the Federation had been touting for years
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted Oct. 27, 2026) Longtime readers of The Jewish Post & News (and this website) would probably know that I have long had a very strong interest in establishing as accurate figures as possible when it has come to reporting the size of Winnipeg’s Jewish community.
For years I argued that our Jewish Federation was exaggerating the size of our Jewish population. I heard the figure of 16,000 bandied about by leaders in our community quite often when it came to reporting the size of our Jewish population – without any empirical evidence to back that figure up.
I had long maintained that the only reasonably accurate figures when it came to reporting the size of Winnipeg’s Jewish population were those produced by the late Evelyn Katz, when she was the unofficial demographer for the Jewish Federation – over 30 years ago. What Evelyn would do is keep careful track of births, deaths, numbers of newcomers but, perhaps most important: the number of people who had left our community.
Thus, in August 2022 when I interviewed Faye Rosenberg Cohen who, at the time, was just about to retire as the Jewish Federation’s Chief Planning and Allocations Officer, I was somewhat astonished to hear Faye say, when I asked her what proportion of our Jewish community was made up of immigrants, she answered that “I can honestly say when I look at those numbers it’s somewhere around 1/3 of the community.”
In response, I asked: “So you’d say it’s somewhere between 4-5,000?”
Faye said: “I think it’s more than that.”
I wrote in that article, “I indicated my skepticism at that time, saying ‘You know that I’ve always been skeptical about the numbers that have been used by the Federation for the population of the Jewish community. I think though that it’s always been more of a case of identification – who identifies as Jewish.’ ”
Later, after the results of the 2021 census were released, I wrote that “if you take into account the results of the 2021 census, the Jewish community cannot be larger than 14,270 at a maximum. But that figure would also include anyone who had either said either their ethnic origin was Jewish or their religion was Jewish.”
Since many of the individuals who had said on the 2021 census that their ethnic origin was Jewish, but their religion was something else, I maintained that ascertaining the real size of our Jewish community was highly problematic.
Still, for the sake of argument I was willing to accept that, realistically, it was somewhere between 13,000-14,000 – but nowhere close to the figure of 16,000 that had come to be suggested by our then president of the Jewish Federation or by other leading figures in our community.
So, it was with a sense of satisfaction that I heard Sharon Graham, who is now the Jewish Federation’s Community Planning and Allocations Lead say to an audience of over 50 people who were at the Gwen Secter Centre on Thursday, October 22, that the Jewish community in 2021 was – at a maximum: 13,940.
Sharon was at the Gwen Secter Centre to speak to Remis Lecture attendees. Her presentation preceded a presentation by Jewish Federation CEO Jeff Lieberman. Sharon used a PowerPoint presentation to provide some very interesting insights into where our Jewish community was at in 2021- and I’m offering some parts of her presentation here for you to read because I thought they were so interesting.
I had actually made many of the same observations about the results of the 2021 census in my own reporting back in 2022, but seeing what I had written confirmed by the Jewish Federation’s point person on planning told me that Sharon has a much more realistic view of our community than did Faye Rosenberg Cohen.
Here, for instance, is a slide that shows the proportion of our Jewish community that is made up of immigrants. It’s slightly under one fifth, not the one third percentage that Faye had suggested.
But, what really set Sharon’s presentation apart from anything else I’ve ever seen presented by someone from the Jewish Federation – other than the aforementioned Evelyn Katz, was the slide she projected which showed that, while there had been a large influx of newcomers to Winnipeg’s Jewish community between 2016-2021 there had also been a significantly high number of people who had left our Jewish community in those same years, as you can see in the following slide:
That is something we just don’t hear discussed by leaders of our Jewish organizations, but let’s be realistic: For many newcomers who came to Winnipeg and were counted as new members of our Jewish community, Winnipeg – for a variety of reasons, was a stepping stone to other communities. It may have been for reasons of better job opportunities, moving closer to other family members, or – the reason that we hear so often when it comes to people saying they want to leave Winnipeg: the weather.
But, whatever the reason, Sharon’s figures show that, as much as GrowWinnipeg may have been an abiding success when it’s come to attracting newcomers to our Jewish community here, getting them to stay long term is a different story.
And, while there were other aspects of Sharon’s presentation that certainly merit discussion, especially the figures she produced about intermarriage, rather than delving into them here, I thought it useful simply to insert them for you, the reader, to see – and draw your own conclusions.
Local News
Marty Green expands his protest against extremist Jewish settlers to two more venues – and is arrested twice more
(Tuesday, October 27) We received the following press release about Marty Green being arrested again, both at the University of Manitoba and at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue:
Both sides came to blows on Saturday, October 24, at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue as security personnel sought to prevent Marty Green from interfering with synagogue traffic as he protested just outside synagogue grounds against the actions of religious settlers in Israel’s occupied West Bank territory. Synagogue Executive Director Rena Secter Elbaze quickly intervened to prevent further escalation. Police arrived shorty thereafter and detained Green for 45 minutes before driving him home and releasing him. It is not clear whether their decision not to lay charges was the result of their own onsite investigation or whether it was at the request of the synagogue executive.
Green has now been arrested four times in the last month and faces multiple charges for disturbing the peace, including two episodes at the Asper Campus and one more this past Friday (Oct. 23) at the University of Manitoba. While Green says initially he was merely handing out leaflets (at the Asper Campus), since his first arrest on September 23, he has returned to the campus with a large placard and an acccordion, accompanying himself while singing songs with lyrics that include such phrases as “The Jews Are Bananas….B-A-N-A-N-A-S”. In addition to listing actions of the religious settlers as including arson, vandalism, and theft, he pointedly alleges that the IDF has been backing up the settlers in their actions.
Green had earlier notified the Shaarey Zedek that he was contemplating bringing his protest to the synagogue. He was told that if he attempted to enter the grounds he would be prevented from doing so. At that time, Secter Elbaze told Green that his intentions were inappropriate, declaring the synagogue to be “a house of worship dedicated to prayer, learning, community, and spiritual engagement.” Green responded that if the synagogue were willing to contact the Crown and inform them that “that there was never any legal basis for their claims that I was conducting myself inappropriately at the Asper Campus” (with regard to his earlier arrests) that he would “voluntarily refrain from carrying his informational campaign to the synagogue(s).”
Green further argues that the recent “psak” (religious ruling) by leading Israeli rabbi Rov Dov Lior, in which Lior declares that it is not merely permissible but praiseworthy for Jews to steal olives from Arab orchards….that this ruling brings his protest within the proper realm of religious discourse. He says further that if the local rabbis were willing to speak out to their congregations against the aforesaid psak, that he might have refrained from taking his campaign to their grounds.
Although Green was released on Saturday without charges, police confiscated his placard. They explained that it was being held as evidence pending an investigation by Major Crimes as to whether it constituted hate literature.
There was no further information given as to what happened at the University of Manitoba.
