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Sandra Novak is latest addition to JCFS staff/JCFS expands counseling program
By MYRON LOVE Sandra Novak is emblematic of the changing demographics of our Jewish community.
The newest addition to the Jewish Child and Family Service counselling staff was born and raised in Buenos Aires. While in school, she was accepted for the NAALE program in Israel – which offers teenagers from other countries a full scholarship to finish their high schooling in the Jewish State.
While studying in Israel, her parents – with her two brothers chose to make aliyah. The family subsequently moved again – this time to Winnipeg – and Sandra followed in 2006 after serving her time in the IDF.
To add to the family smorgasbord, Novak met her husband in Winnipeg, and the couple have one child.
“We appreciate the quieter atmosphere here in Winnipeg,” Novak says. “And people have been really friendly.”
Novak earned a B.A. (2010) – with a double major in psychology and criminal justice – and her M.A. in 2020 in marriage and family therapy. She began working at JCFS in 2016 as a support worker with clients with mental health differences, and then moved to a position as a mental health worker. She was appointed to her current position of Counselling Therapist in October.
The former case worker’s elevation to therapist, JCFS Executive Director Al Benarroch points out, reflects the increased demand for counselling services resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and social measures that were adopted in response.
“This is the first time in 20 years that we have had such a high demand for a therapist on staff,” Benarroch says. “In the recent past, we had been able to provide the counselling services that our clients required by contracting with therapists in private practice or through our on-staff therapist a couple of days a week. That person (Shelley Levit) retired, and we saw the need to hire Sandra at 4 days per week.”
Novak reports that she is available to work with individuals – both teens and adults – couples and families dealing with issues such as depression, anxiety, addiction, and more – to help them to better function at work, in their relationships and in their personal lives.
“It gives me a lot of satisfaction when I can help my clients overcome their problems and thrive,” she comments.
Benarroch adds, JCFS’s Counselling Services are available both for members of the Jewish and non-Jewish communities.
JCFS expands counselling program
Jewish Child and Family Service (JCFS) is proud to announce our JCFS Counselling Program has expanded. Did you know that we are available five days per week?
The JCFS Counselling Program is available to the community at large, regardless of religious or ethnic background. Fees for counselling services are charged on a sliding scale, based on family size along with income. Our goal is to be accessible and available.
Counselling at JCFS is delivered by highly skilled licensed therapists. The therapists are knowledgeable of a variety of treatment modalities. They can help with life challenges such as emotional stress, anxiety, depression, marital issues, relationship problems, self-esteem building, parenting, coping with life adjustment changes, bereavement, and more. JCFS Ttherapists always utilize a skills-based approach and encourage skill development of all clients. We’re here to help you better handle the challenges life can throw at all of us.
JCFS therapists are available to deliver services either in-person (at our office) or remotely. This hybrid model helps to meet people where they are at and reduces barriers to accessing support.
We’re here to help!
To book an appointment with the JCFS Counselling Program, please apply by contacting JCFS Intake 204-477-7430 or jcfs@jcfswinnipeg.org
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Talented Winnipeg composer Sara Kreindler teams up with her mother Reena Kreindler to create new satirical show to premiere here in May
By BERNIE BELLAN It’s been many years since I’ve heard from Sara Kreindler. Sara’s name first appeared in The Jewish Post & News in 2002 when a satirical musical titled “A Touch of Class” was reviewed by the late Arnold Ross. That particular production featured songs from popular Broadway shows that touched upon themes such as “greed, poverty, oppression, and social unrest.”
When she appeared in that show, Ross noted, Kreindler had just recently returned to Winnipeg from England, where she had obtained a doctorate in Social Psychology from Oxford University.
While at Oxford, Kreindler found time to compose a satirical musical titled “Charity,” which played to rave reviews there, and was performed five times.
Continuing in the theme of writing satirical musicals, Sara has now teamed up with her mother, Reena, to write a new musical titled “A Perfect Man,” which is set to run at the Gargoyle Theatre from May 6-17.
According to a press release we received, “A Perfect Man” is “a satirical musical, set on a fictional analogue of ‘The Bachelor’.
“The story follows an anthropologist who arrives to research TV’s hottest reality-dating show — only to discover she’s been made a contestant, and the bachelor is her high school crush. Past and present collide against an exuberant pastiche score that uses vintage musical styles to highlight modern absurdities.”
“Praised as ‘a musician [who] can make biofuels funny’ (CBC), Sara is known for whip-smart satire on a panoply of topics. Her digital musical, ‘Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System, created during her former life as an academic, has garnered over 84,000 YouTube views. Naturally, she had a field day with the subject of reality dating.
“The topic just begs for campy zaniness, which I think we all need in these times — but also for a more cerebral critique of what these shows say about the culture that spawned them,” says Kreindler. And thanks to the romance context, the satire is woven into a deeper, more personal story. “It’s satire with a heart.”
Here is some more information about Sara Kreindler, taken from a 2009 article I wrote about her:
“Born in Israel, Sara’s precocious talent was nurtured by her mother, Reena, whose own particular talent is literary, not musical. According to Reena, however, Sara was singing from the time she was a baby, and she began to study piano at the age of four.
“As a young girl, Sara began writing her own songs and poems, along with the “occasional musical”, notes Reena. Yet, Sara’s rare talent put her at odds with the typical interests of other children her own age, on top of which she attended a school to which she was exposed to a fair degree of antisemtism.
“As a result, Sara says, being bullied was a common aspect of her childhood. On one occasion, when she was nine, she notes, Sara fought back against one particular bully by reciting the following little ditty:
“I write so many epigrams to you that all the people laugh.
I’m tired of writing epigrams.
I want to write your epitaph!”
“Sara went on to compose a musical titled ‘Flutesong’ while she was a student at Vincent Massey Collegiate, she says. After doing her undergraduate work at the University of Manitoba, majoring in Psychology, Sara won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University.
“Sara eventually earned a doctorate in Social Psychology and returned to Winnipeg, where she began teaching at the University of Manitoba, but she said she didn’t enjoy the “mass production” style of teaching upwards of 300 students at a time, so she switched careers and began doing health research for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.”
All the while Sara has been continuing to compose and perform her own songs, often teaming up with her mother, as she has for “A Perfect Man.”
Showtimes and ticket information for The Perfect Man are available at:
http://www.thegargoyletheatre.com/upcoming-events/the-perfect-man
Local News
Rabbi Kliel Rose to leave Congregation Etz Chayim for new post in Ottawa
The following email from Congregation Etz Chayim Executive Director Morissa Granove was sent to members of the congregation on Friday, April 10:
“Dear Members and Friends,
“As we know, Rabbi Kliel recently spent a weekend with Kehilllat Beth Israel where he has since been offered a position. After much thought and consideration, he has made the decision to sign a contract in Ottawa. He will continue to lead our congregation through Yom Kippur.
“This news marks a significant ending for our Etz Chayim community, and at the same time with change comes opportunity. Congregation Etz Chayim will soon embark on our own Rabbinical search with excitement as we look for our perfect candidates and explore the new possibilities that will help us to continue to shape a strong future for our synagogue and members.”
Kliel Rose took up the position of rabbi at Etz Chayim in August, 2018.
In an article announcing his appointment to the position in the June 6, 2018 issue of The Jewish Post & News, Myron Love wrote:
The congregation has been without a permanent rabbi since last summer when Rabbi Larry Lander chose to retire – after ten years here – and relocate to Toronto.
Kliel Rose is already a well-seasoned rabbi. He was ordained in 2004 by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
He previously served as spiritual leader at the West End Synagogue in Nashville and Temple Enamu-El in Miami Beach. His current posting is Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton.
Following the example of his parents, Kliel Rose has been active in interfaith dialogue and human rights work for which he was honoured in 2014 with the Human Rights Hero Award by Truah: The Rabbibic Call for Human Rights.
He has also participated in the Kellogg Management Education for Jewish Leaders program at Northwestern University and was most recently chosen to be among 20 rabbis from different denominations chosen to train in the Clergy leadership Incubator – a two-year program, under the leadership of Ranni Sidney Schwarz, intended to educate younger rabbis in innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
In Edmonton, Rose also served as Jewish chaplain at the University of Alberta and took the lead on a program called “Faith and Inclusion”, whose mandate was to support individuals with cognitive and physical learning challenges to feel more welcome within various faith communities.