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Shaarey Zedek capital campaign is on pace to hit $17 million goal, but is hoping to obtain a further $2 million from donors

Artist's rendering of the new sanctuary


By BERNIE BELLAN It was in the October 27, 2021 issue of The Jewish Post & News that we first described the plan to renovate the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue. At that time the planned budget for the renovation was $14 million but, as with most construction projects these days, as costs have increased the total cost of the project has increased considerably.
The Shaarey Zedek website now contains the following information: “The Board previously approved an overall budget of $14 million in September 2021, representing an earlier projection of $12 million in hard costs and $2 million in soft costs.  However, because of supply and inflation issues, as well as changes to the renovation plans, including the installation of an operable dumbwaiter (to replace the current inoperable one), as well as a daycare space, the current budget recently approved by the Board in August 2022, is $16 million.”
However, even that figure has now been supplanted by an even higher figure, according to Neil Duboff, Shaarey Zedek President and Chair of the L’Dor Va Dor Capital Campaign.

Neil Duboff, Shaarey Zedek President and Chair of the L’Dor Va Dor Capital Campaign.


In an interview conducted with Duboff in his office on Monday, May 6, he said that the renovation project is now expected to cost $17 million. As Duboff explained, “All in, including architects, including furniture, including all of the soft costs, (the total cost) is going to be virtually what we always counted on, about 17 million.”
Of that $17 million though, the cost for a day care facility within the synagogue has not added to the overall goal of the capital campaign,” Duboff noted, as the $1 million for the daycare is being donated by the Vickar family, one of the very generous benefactors to our community.
As far as where the other $2 million in increased costs are coming from, Duboff explained that “what’s gone up is security has gone up. Windows have gone up…and one of the other things that has really gone up is AV. AV was more expensive, audio visual is more expensive than we counted on.”
In addition to those added construction costs, there is work being done to improve the drainage in the back. As Duboff explained, “The way I’m led to believe by the architects and engineers is we’ve had a flooding problem in the back. Water has, when it’s a really heavy rain, water comes in. So, it’s something that needed to be fixed regardless” (of the renovations to the building).
As well, during a tour of the renovations in which I was a participant (along with three others) on April 26, which was conducted by Shaarey Zedek Executive Director Rena Elbaze, Elbaze did say that the back entrance is going to be modified extensively – to make it quite a bit more welcoming than it had been previously.
I was quite impressed with how the construction is proceeding from what I saw during that tour, although upon reading the original timetable for completion of the renovations, I see that they were originally slated to be completed by this August. Elbaze assured that the renovations will be done by September 26 (for the community Kavod evening) – which would be a week in advance of the first day of Rosh Hashanah. (Fortunately for the construction crew, Rosh Hashanah is very late this year – which gives them quite a bit of a cushion to finish their work in case any unexpected problems crop up – as they usually do in projects this grand.)
During my interview with Neil Duboff, he was confident that the renovations will be completed well ahead of Yom Tov, saying “it could be as soon as August, and then they just have to make sure that our maintenance staff understands the building in terms of heating and air conditioning.”

Artist’s rendering of the Shaarey Zedek rear side, including the new entrance


The one aspect of the renovation though, that will probably not be completed will be the back entrance, Duboff noted. “One of the things that I was really pushing for is a grander entrance in the back,” he said.
“It’s going to have the same limestone as the front,” he noted “It’s going to be mirroring the front. The feeling of the front will be the feeling in the back.”

Artist’s rendering of the new event centre

But, returning to the issue of finances, Shaarey Zedek members did receive a letter the first week of May in which they were told that the capital campaign is still $2 million short of what is now a $17 million goal. There was also a reference to the cemetery perpetual care fund which apparently left some congregation members concerned that funds set aside for perpetual care might be used for the renovation.
Duboff took the blame for causing some consternation among congregation members over the possible use of the perpetual care fund for the renovation. He said: “I don’t know if you can do this in a synagogue, but I’ll take a mea culpa. It was wrong. because all we were ever intending on doing is saving money by not borrowing money from the bank. That’s all it was ever intended to do. But the mistake that was made in that letter is it talked about the word perpetual care fund.” He added that there was going to be a meeting on May 8 in which the funding situation would be fully clarified for congregation members.
I asked Neil Duboff how much money exactly has been raised by the campaign. He did say that $3 million of the $17 million renovation cost is coming from the provincial government and that $12 million has been raised in pledges, but some of the individuals who have pledged to contribute to the campaign will be fulfilling their pledges over the next five years.
That does leave a bit of a “cash flow” problem, Duboff admitted. The congregation did approve taking out a “$9 million line of credit,” he added, and so far, “we haven’t used it at all,” he said.
And, while that line of credit is available, if necessary, the rate on that line of credit is approximately eight per cent. Shaarey Zedek does have investments, Duboff noted, but the average rate of return is “about five” percent, he said, which means we pay 8% and earn 5%. The goal of the board has been to find a way to avoid paying the approximately 3% interest costs charges in excess of what we earn.
The congregation also has a capital fund, Duboff explained, and $3 million from that fund has been used for the renovations, but Duboff said he’d like to “raise funds to put that back” because the “purpose of the fund” is to “sustain the congregation” to pay for things like “programming.”
One of the problems in raising funds, Duboff admitted, is that “some of our great philanthropists in our city still are considering their donations and need to kick the tire to believe the project and the future of the synagogue is real and viable. And we believe that when people come in to see the renovations and talk to the synagogue leadership, like Steve Kroft, (who was one of the people on the tour in which I participated on April 26) has now given a very, very generous gift.”
Yet, Duboff continued, “there are other people who are top donors in our city who haven’t. So some of the typical people you’d expect haven’t donated because they want to see if it’s real.”
I wondered though, whether the Shaarey Zedek’s not having a second rabbi will be an impediment to being able to grow the congregation – which would be necessary in order to sustain the congregation for the long term?
I said to Duboff that, during the tour Rena Elbaze conducted on April 26, she pointed to an area that will become an office for a second rabbi. I asked Elbaze: “So, you’re still looking for another rabbi?” She answered that she would fill me in on how the search is going, but as of the time or writing, Elbaze hasn’t responded to my request for further information.
The entire atmosphere surrounding the departure of Rabbi Matthew Leibl three years ago remains shrouded in controversy. Regardless what happened to lead to a parting of the ways between Rabbi Leibl and the Shaarey Zedek Congregation, there is no doubt that Rabbi Leibl’s leaving has had a negative impact upon the congregation.
You just have to take a look at the number of funerals, weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs at which Rabbi Leibl has officiated over the past four years to realize how immensely popular he remains as a rabbi within this community.
Neil Duboff isn’t the first person to whom I’ve suggested that it’s the congregation’s loss that Rabbi Leibl is not only not serving as a rabbi at the Shaarey Zedek, his being available to officiate at life cycle events outside of a synagogue venue and his having held High Holiday services at the Gates last year has been partly at the expense of the Shaarey Zedek in terms of people still making Rabbi Leibl their first choice for a rabbi in this city.
In response, Duboff said: “I think that the message has to be that I am a fan of Matthew’s. I think he does great work…
“But I have to sustain a strong Conservative synagogue. I can tell you that, regardless of who the Shaarey Zedek were to hire tomorrow, the synagogue, the congregation, the Shaarey Zedek, has to be bigger than a rabbi. Rabbis come and go. The institution doesn’t. Every synagogue is like that…

“Rabbis come and go. That’s the nature of an employee. But, it would be a tremendous solidifying thing, I think if Matthew would come back, I would open the door to it.”

Duboff admitted that there were conflicts between Rabbi Leibl and certain individuals (whose names he did divulge, but who will not be identified here), and that another prominent member of the congregation did reach out to Rabbi Leibl to see if there was a possibility of his returning to the congregation, but Duboff’s understanding is that “he’s not interested in working at the Shaarey Zedek.”

Looking ahead though, I wondered what the community’s demographics portend for the long-term future of the Shaarey Zedek? I said that I thought there would be an initial flurry of interest in coming to the Shaarey Zedek because of the novelty aspect – the same way Gray Academy attracted over 900 students the first year that the Asper Campus opened (in 1997), but that initial interest levelled off quickly after that first year.

And, with the Etz Chayim just having moved into new quarters on Wilkes, there is bound to be a competition between the two congregations for new members, I suggested. I asked Duboff whether, in hindsight, there should’t have been a merger of the two congregations 20 years ago when discussions of a merger ended in failure because of the apparent “culture clash” between the two congregations?

“Don’t you think that should have been the way to go?” I asked Duboff.
He agreed, saying “A hundred percent. I think that in our city, I still think at some point the congregations are going to have to join. Our city’s too small. And like you just said, there aren’t as many young families. When our generation goes, who are going to be the leaders?”

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Long-time Winnipeg doctor and Israeli colleague make medical app available to general public

Dr. Gerald Minuk (left) and Dr. Daniel Iluz-Freundlich

By MYRON LOVE Seven years ago, Dr. Gerald Minuk, Canada’s first hepatologist (liver specialist), partnered with Israeli computer science student Daniel Iluz-Freundlich  in founding Refuah Solutions Ltd (RSL). Their goal was to create an app – which they called PI-enroll (“PI” stands for “Principal Investigator”), which was designed to be used by clinical trial investigators that would save them time and effort so they could be more personally involved in seeing their trial patients.
Last month, they released their second app, this time for patients. The app, called  Patient-empower, informs patients about clinical trials underway for their condition and helps them make an informed decision as to which trial best meets their specific needs and preferences.
“I was approaching retirement,” recalls Minuk, now Rady School of Medicine Professor Emeritus, who has been in practice in Winnipeg since 1987, and “I couldn’t see myself filling my days doing crossword puzzles or Sudoku.  I wanted to be able to continue contributing to medical research and patient care.”
It just so happened that, at the time, Minuk was introduced to an Israeli student, Daniel Iluz-Freundlich, who had just finished studying Computer Sciences at the University of Winnipeg. (Minuk notes that Iluz-Freundlich – on graduating – received the Gold Medal in Computer Science.)
“Daniel is an exceptionally talented young man,” Minuk says.  “So I tapped his computer programming skills to create our PI-enroll and subsequently, our Patient-empower apps.”
The friendship continued after Iluz-Freundlich returned to Israel in 2020 to begin medical school on a Phil and Elle Kives Scholarship, where he earned numerous honors. Iluz-Freundlich is currently an intensivist anesthesiologist at the Beilinson Hospital in Israel. Despite his new professional responsibilities, including caring for IDF forces wounded in Gaza– he has remained active with Refuah – as vice-president of the company.
Minuk adds that a dozen other senior professors of medicine also contributed to Refuah’s software design.  “Together,” he reports,  “the company represents 400+ years of clinical trial experience. That experience is being applied to identifying and addressing the major challenges investigators and patients face when conducting or participating in clinical trials.”`       
He adds that Refuah Solutions has established a truly global network with company personnel in San Diego, São Paulo, Mexico City, London, Barcelona, Nairobi and Delhi thus far.
According to Minuk,  the company has enjoyed worldwide success – with over 2,000 doctors in 40 countries and 50 drug companies signed on for the PI-enroll app. He attributes this success to the app’s impressive results. In a recent global clinical trial, Minuk reports,  within 3-6 months of implementing PI-enroll, investigator personal involvement increased by 60% and with that, patient enrolment increased by 80%, patient drop-outs decreased by 50% and there were 20% fewer protocol deviations (mistakes made). In addition, 90% of PIs rated the App 8 out of 10 in terms of usefulness.
He adds that one site that had not enrolled any patients for 12 months, subsequently became the trial’s leading enrolment site.
Regarding the newly released Patient-empower app,  Minuk notes that despite the many benefits patients derive from clinical trials including free and early access to new and often safer and more effective treatments, fewer than 10% of patients who would qualify for a clinical trial are ever invited to consider that option. “The problem,” he explains, “is that most Health Care Providers are either unaware of what clinical trials are underway in their area or if they are aware, don’t have the time to discuss the trials with their patients.”
Therefore, Minuk, Iluz-Freundlich and their team designed and recently released their second app – Patient-empower – which informs patients of what clinical trials are underway for their condition and empowers them to select the trial that prioritizes their needs over those of industry.
The platform, he explains, uses AI to generate concise, easy-to-understand summaries of clinical trials tailored to the patient’s location—city, state, country, or globally, depending on their preference. Each summary includes clear explanations of the patient eligibility criteria and key practical details, such as the likelihood of patients receiving a placebo, the number of required site visits, and other important practical considerations. It also suggests questions that patients should consider asking the investigator before they consent to enrolling. The trial information is presented in a shareable format to facilitate discussions with family, friends, and local healthcare providers—supporting both patient confidence and continuity of care.
Once a trial is selected, Minuk continues, Patient-empower provides the contact information for the trial investigator closest to the patient’s location, the trial’s sponsor and, where available, the world’s experts in the field.
The feature Minuk is most enthusiastic about is the “Recent Findings” page which keeps patients up to date on newly published clinical trial results and discoveries relevant to their condition. 
“Patient-empower is available to patients from internet venues (App Store or Google Play) or through NFP organizations, associations, societies and patient support group web-sites,” he adds. “Although only recently released, we have already attracted interest from the American Diabetes Association, the Alzheimer’s Society of America, the Canadian Liver Foundation, Colorectal Cancer Canada, the American Myasthenia Gravis Society and many others.”
“Overall, Patient-empower informs patients, and more informed patients benefit everyone involved. After all, it’s the patient’s health; their voice should be heard,” Minuk concludes.

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The South Seas come to the Asper Campus

Pacific Island dance team with members of the Sarah Sommer Chai Folk Ensemble

By MYRON LOVE On Thursday, July 24, about 150 members of our Jewish community got a chance to sample the dance and music of the South Pacific. The event was billed as “Beyachad Together – Celebrating Indigeneity, land, culture and identity.”

Sarah Sommer Chai Folk Ensemble

The program featured both the Sarah Sommer Chai Folk Ensemble dancers and Steinbach-based Island Breeze Manitoba – which describes itself as “a high energy live band & Pacific Island dance team featuring authentic outfits and dances from the islands of Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa and New Zealand.”

According to Dr. Ruth Ashrafi, Regional Director of B’nai Brith Canada in Manitoba, the evening’s performance was connected to  an Indigenous Peoples Conference that was held in Steinbach under the auspices of Island Breeze with participants from Canada, the United States (specifically Hawaii), Antigua and Bermuda in the Caribbean, South Africa, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific island countries of Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Tonga.   

Pacific Island dance team


 “The conference organizers contacted B’nai Brith Canada,” Ashrafi reported.  “They wanted to bring greetings to the Jewish community, as the indigenous people of the Land of Israel, and celebrate indigeneity together through dance and music.
 “Their support in these difficult times is heartwarming.”
 
 In her opening remarks as emcee for the evening, Ashrafi noted that “it is a great honour for the Jewish community to welcome so many indigenous guests from all over the world.”
 She then related the story and miracle of Chanukah and connected it to the experience shared by many indigenous nations around the world.
“They have been told that their religion is wrong, their traditions are not sophisticated,” she pointed out, “just as the Jews of that time were told by the Greek rulers that our religion was wrong and our traditions were outdated.
“Here in Canada, the First Nations were forced into Residential Schools to learn Canadian ways. The manner in which they were taught in these schools was abusive and horrific. Many children died, and many more were scarred for life.
“As with the Maccabbees,” she continued, “courageous individuals have stood up and fought for rights of their indigenous brothers and sisters. They had to overcome a lot of resistance and other obstacles. Indigenous peoples are still over-represented in the Canadian prison system and social services.
 “The story of Chanukah tells us that it is okay to be different from the majority culture,” she said, and “that special and unique traditions are important and worth preserving.
 “The story of Chanukah also teaches us that fighting for our rights is not easy,” Ashrafi added. “We may be a tiny minority and the other side may be much more numerous, better organized and equipped. But if we take the first step, like deciding to use that little jar of oil (that burned in the Temple for weight days even though there was only a day’s supply), we will be helped along the way.”
 
 
“We put the Menorah in our front window,” she noted, “so that the light is shining into the dark winter nights. We want to share the story of the Chanukah miracle and we want to bring light into a world that has still so much darkness in it.”
Ashrafi’s words were followed by greetings from David Harper, a former Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief who spoke glowingly of his visit to Israel in  2014.
“Our faith teaches us that the People of Israel are the people of the Bible and we must bless them and pray for them,” he said.  “My people have a lot to learn from the people of Israel about healing the land.”
Next, Ashrafi introduced Pastor Roger Armbruster whom, she described, as the man behind the vision for the evening.  Armbruster, a strong Christian Zionist supporter of Israel, is the founder of Canada Awakening Ministries.
 
She said of Armbruster that “it is a privilege to be his friend. I have learned so much from you.”
 
 According to Armbruster’s bio on the Canada Awakening Ministries website, “his life has been dedicated to a ministry of reconciliation, and of building bridges between cultures, nations, denominations and generations. He sees cross-cultural reconciliation as a key to making disciples of all nations, and in seeing God’s House become a House of Prayer for all nations.
 
“As director of Canada Awakening Ministries, he is a leader in facilitating Native-Non-native reconciliation, and in restoring the indigenous peoples of the land to reflect that part of God’s image that He has deposited in them in their sounds, songs, praise and dances.”
 
Armbruster attended the Inaugural World Christian Gathering of Indigenous People in New Zealand in November 1996 as well as gatherings in Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1998, northern Sweden in 2005, and Israel in 2008.  In his remarks, he noted that he has visited Israel numerous times over the years – often leading tour groups representing  Canadian Inuit, Greenlandic Inuit and Manitoba First Nations at the northern ends of the earth, along with Maori, Fijians and Samoans from the southern ends of the earth – back to the City of Jerusalem from where the original gospel message first came. 
“In Israel,” Armbruster said, “these Indigenous People have shared their language, their culture and their faith with both Jewish and Palestinian audiences alike.  In one Israeli community, they even shared a message that brought hope to a joint audience of some 500 people that included both Jews and Arabs coming together.”
The dance part of the program was emceed by Isi Masi of Island Breezes. The musical program included several Hawaiian dances, including a rousing foot-stomping number,followed by performances featuring Hawaiian song and gentle movement.  The final part of the island dances concluded with a brief Maori war chant.
(The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.)
The final part of the program included several high octave dances by our own – always outstanding – Sarah Sommer Chai Folk Ensemble, with all the performers singing “We Shall Overcome” and the audience invited to join in a round of Israel dancing. 

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Israeli-born realtor believes in paying it forward

By MYRON LOVE When Hofit Yanev and her husband, Stefan, first arrived in Winnipeg in May 2013, they knew no one here.
 
“We were looking for a safer environment in which to raise our children,” she recalls. “We thought that would be Canada, and Winnipeg seemed to be the most welcoming Jewish community.”
 
Despite not knowing anybody, on their first morning in our community they found that someone had left a challah on their doorstep. That was a small kindness that she has never forgotten. She is a strong believer in paying it forward. Ever since then, she notes, she has made sure to greet newcomers in our community with a challah.
 
Helping others – whether to buy and sell their homes or manage their money – is a principal focus of the thriving career she has built up here as a real estate agent and insurance adviser.
 
Sales has always been Hofit Yanev’s strong suit. Originally from Holon (near Tel Aviv), she began her sales career right after her army duty. Her first venture was selling Dead Sea and hair care products. (Some readers may remember the kiosks that used to be set up at some Winnipeg shopping centres some years back.) She worked a year in Chicago and four years in Miami before returning to Israel, where she met and married Stefan.
 
Soon after settling in Winnipeg, Hofit found work in sales, initially for an HVAC company (while Stefan became a long-distance truck driver and now operates Excellence Fences and Decks). “As I was doing very well in sales for this company,” she recounts, “after taking time following the birth of our third child, I decided to try selling houses.”
 
She secured her real estate license and went to work. After 18 months of trying, she was still struggling to make a go of it.
 
“I lacked experience,” she recalls. “I reached a point where I was ready to give up and go back to selling HVAC products.”
 
However, on what she thought would be her last day, she received two calls that revitalized her hopes. In quick succession, she recounts, she got a call from a former customer who wanted her to sell his house and a new customer who wanted her help in selling his house and buying another.
 
“I took it as a sign from God,” she says.
 
Today, eight years later, Yanev, working under the eXp Realty banner, oversees an operation with over 20 agents—nine of whom are on her team and the others working under her in the eXp umbrella.
 
“I achieved my dream,” she notes, “and I want to help others – either those looking to buy a home or fellow realtors starting out – to realize their dreams as well.”
 
She notes that she strives to understand what her clients’ needs are and provide the right homes for them. She reports that 70% of her real estate clients are members of our Jewish community. She deals with commercial as well as residential properties and adds that she also helps clients with long- and short-term rentals as well as car rentals.
 
About a year ago, she notes, she added another entry to her resumé – that of insurance adviser. “As a realtor, I could see how some people are struggling financially,” she says. “I wanted to help.”
 
As an insurance adviser, she works with single mothers, seniors, and others plagued by financial difficulty. “I advise clients on how to get out of financial trouble, how to save 10% of their net income, and build their savings.”
 
She makes it clear that she keeps a distinct separation between her real estate clients and her insurance clients.
 
Now, you would think that an individual working two careers – with five kids to raise (all of whom are enrolled in Jewish educational programs) – would have her hands full. Nonetheless, Yanev has a third avocation – that of a social events planner for fellow Israelis in Winnipeg and other Hebrew speakers.
 
“For the past six years,” she reports, “I have been producing five programs a year in our community for Hebrew speakers. No one else was doing it, and I felt that it was important for Israelis here to be able to connect with each other.”
 
She adds that the family-oriented programs have been “super successful.” “We have had as many as 300 people at some of our programs.”
 
Yanev believes that her success story can inspire other newcomers to Winnipeg. “If you are prepared to work hard, you can achieve your dream,” she says.
 
She also expresses gratitude to our Jewish community. “We have found the community here to be welcoming and supportive,” she says. “It is thanks to you that we have been successful. This really is friendly Manitoba.”

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