Local News
Simkin Centre receives $725,000 gift from mysterious donor
By BERNIE BELLAN
(Posted Oct. 29, updated Oct. 30, Oct.31)
On Oct. 21 we received an email from the Simkin Centre informing us that the centre had received a gift of $725,000 from someone about whom they know almost nothing.
This story has now been amended to reflect crucial information that we have obtained about the individual who was responsible for that sizeable donation. If you want to skip to that new information scroll down to the end of this article. If you want to read how the story unfolded – keep reading.
Here is what the email received on Oct. 21 said:
“The Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre PCH Inc. Board of Directors and The Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation Board of Directors are pleased to share with you the announcement of an unexpected bequest to the Sharon Home in the amount of $725,937 CDN from the Estate of Myer and Corrine Geller of San Diego, California.
“These funds come to the Centre at an opportune time as we are faced with aging infrastructure and equipment, rising costs with freezes or cuts to government funding and ongoing covid related costs that remain unfunded at this time. A portion of these funds (30%) will be used for the immediate needs of the Centre, including support of our fight against Covid-19. The remainder (70%) of the funds will be allocated to the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba to create our new Building Reserve Fund. This fund will help to ensure our ability to maintain our building and equipment on a long term basis. The Simkin Centre is a world class facility and we want to do our best to keep it that way.
“All we know about the Gellers is they had no children and Myer was a 1943 graduate of St. John’s High School (Winnipeg). Further, Mr. Geller went to MIT, became a physicist and was granted several patents.
“We have been unable to determine why we were the recipient of this bequest. We hope sharing this good news with the community may give us some insight into the mystery. We hope that the Gellers’ generosity will inspire others to consider the Simkin Centre in their estate planning.”
Upon receipt of this tantalizing news, we began to investigate who Myer and Corrine Geller were and the possible reason that they had decided to leave such a substantial amount of money to the Sharon Home.
Beyond the information that was divulged in the Simkin Centre press release we were able to determine some further information about the Gellers. We were aided in this process by Don Aronovitch, who is Chair of the Simkin Foundation, and by Don Harrison, publisher and editor of the San Diego Jewish World.
Myer Geller was born in Winnipeg in 1926. Although we are not certain who his parents were, a search of various websites, including Ancestry.ca, has led us to believe that his father’s name was Max Geller. There were several Max Gellers who lived in Winnipeg in the early part of the 20th century. Unfortunately, none of the archival material that we searched led to a definite conclusion who Myer Geller’s parents were. We also contacted Rena Boroditsky of the Chesed shel Emes to see whether the Chesed’s records give the names of next of kin of deceased, but they don’t. We also spoke with Shelly Sklover, funeral director of Etz Chayim Congregation, to see whether their records give the names of next of kin of deceased. (Of the many Gellers who are buried in Winnipeg cemeteries, 49 out of 51 are buried in cemeteries now under Etz Chayim’s management.) Unfortunately that information is also not contained within the Etz Chayim’s records.
We also searched the archives of our own newspaper and were only able to find one reference to Myer Geller – that he had a bar mitzvah in 1939. A search of the Jewish Heritage Centre’s archives also led nowhere, but unfortunately their archives do not give very precise results.
An email from Don Aronovitch, however, shed some more light as to when the Simkin Centre first became aware that a substantial donation was about to come their way:
“In early October 2019, Laurie (Cerqueti, CEO of the Simkin Centre) was notified we were the 11% Beneficiary of the Myer & Corinne Geller estate in San Diego. While fabulous news, it was so much ‘out of the blue, that we wondered if it was legitimate. We were sent a copy of the Will and gradually, the prospect of this bequest being real came into focus. After a long quiet period, as the estate was being settled, a cheque for $550,000 USD arrived in August payable to the Saul & Claribel Simkin Centre Foundation. After the standard waiting period to see if the cheque cleared the banking system, our bank gave us a ‘thumb’s up’ and it became the focus of the Simkin Centre’s planning process.
“Our efforts to determine ‘who these people were’ & ‘why us’ drew a blank. We determined that Myer graduated from St. John’s High School the same year as Gordon Pullan and that Buddy Brownstone was editor of St. John’s Newsletter. However, neither Gordon nor Buddy had recollection of a Myer Geller. Similarly, we were unable to determine Corinne Geller’s maiden name.”
In addition to the information contained in the Simkin Centre email that Myer Geller graduated from St John’s Tech in 1943, we were able to learn that he moved to the United States in 1949, became an American citizen in 1950, and attended MIT from 1951-55. A search of University of Manitoba records did not disclose that Mr. Geller ever attended that university, so it’s a mystery where else he might have gone to school following his graduation from St. John’s.
Myer Geller married Corrine Taper (although her name is spelled Corrin on their marriage record) in 1954 in New York state. At various times the Gellers lived in New York, Pennsylvania, and California.
The Gellers moved to San Diego in 1988, which is where they lived until their deaths – Myer Geller in 2018 and Corrine Geller in 2019.We managed to locate a close friend of the Gellers, someone by the name of Mikahil Melsitov. Mr. Melsitov did not know whether Myer Geller had any living relatives, although he did think that he had a brother. We attempted to contact anyone by the name Geller in Winnipeg to learn whether any of them knew Myer Geller, but our efforts proved fruitless.
During the course of our conversation with Mikhail Melsitov, he also disclosed that his wife, Oxana, was a trustee of the Geller Trust, which donated the $725,000 Cdn. to the Sharon Home. Although Mr. Melsitov was quite friendly during our 20-minute conversation and was willing to give us his wife’s cell number, all attempts to contact her proved futile. Further attempts to contact Mr. Melsitov also led nowhere. (Why did both Melsitovs refuse to respond to our repeated attempts to contact them, we wonder, especially when Mr. Melsitov had been so friendly during our only phone call?) Something that Mr. Melsitov did say that aroused our interest though was that representatives of the Geller Trust had difficulty making contact with the Simkin Centre in August 2019, following Mrs. Geller’s death. Presumably that was because they were trying to contact the Sharon Home. After all, Myer Geller had left Winnipeg 70 years earlier and would he even have been aware that the Sharon Home was now the Simkin Centre?
We also attempted to contact various lawyers who were associated with Myer Geller, none of whom responded to our phone messages or emails. We did discover that the Geller home was sold by their estate for $1.25 million in April of this year. The home was not overly large – only two bedrooms and two bathrooms. (By the way, the taxes were only $2,700 on their home. That gives you an idea how high our city taxes are in Winnipeg compared to other cities – as if you needed to be reminded.)
But if the donation to the Simkin Centre constituted only 11% of the total amount left to all beneficiaries of the Geller Trust, the Geller Trust would have been worth close to $7 million Canadian.
How did Myer Geller amass such a large fortune?
From what we were able to determine he was an inventor of extraordinary ability. Myer Geller’s name is associated with 15 different patents. For at least a certain period of his life he worked for a branch of the US Navy called the Naval Operations Support Centre. We attempted to contact a representative of the NOSC to find out if there was anything we could be told about Mr. Geller, but were unsuccessful.
So, the question that tantalizes is: Why would someone who had left Winnipeg 70 years ago want to leave such a substantial donation to the Jewish nursing home (which is now referred to as a personal care home)?
We asked Don Aronovitch whether the Simkin Centre had searched its records to try to find the name of someone who might have been a relative of Myer Geller?
Don responded: “None that we could find. We had very few leads and they all led to a dead end.”
We commented to Don: “It just seems so strange that 70 years after having left Winnipeg he leaves so much money to the Winnipeg Jewish nursing home – and nobody knows anything about him.”
Don Aronovitch agreed: “Very strange but there is a story there. We just do not yet know what it is.”
If anyone reading this is able to shed some light on Myer Geller please contact this newspaper. We’d love to be able to report at some future date that we solved this mystery.
Post script: Since this story first appeared in the Oct. 28 issue of The Jewish Post & News we have received some very intresting responses from a number of different readers.
One reader said they actually had a copy of the 1943 St. John’s yearbook with Myer Geller’s picture in it. We’re reproduced that photo on this site. The caption accompanying the photo says: “Myer Geller – A good man to have around when scholastics come to the fore, Myer is the fellow who has made the Reserve Army what it is today.”
Then we received an email from another reader who has been fascinated by the story and who contacted a friend who is an ardent genealogist. Their friend did some further digging beyond what I had come up with and sent the following information: “Myer died on 12/30/16. He and Corinne, who was born 2/12/26, bought their house at 1622 Plum St. in San Diego in 1993. He got his degree from MIT in 1955 and in 1960 or 1961 moved from a job at Hughes Products to be a senior scientist at the Solid State Division of Electro-Optical Systems in Pasadena, CA. He was a registered Democrat.”
Updated Oct. 30: Reader Ed Feuer came up with even further information about Myer Geller. In a post to our Facebook page Ed wrote that he had found a reference to Myer Geller in the July 5 archives of the Winnipeg Free Press, in a notice headed “City man receives Massachussetts degree” The body of the notice says: “Myer Geller, son of Mr. and Mrs. M. Geller, 284 Bannerman Avenue, has received his doctor of physics degree from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Boston. Mr. Geller attended St John’s technical high school and the University of Manitoba. He received his master’s degree in physics at the University of Minnesota.”
There are only two Gellers in Winnipeg whose first names begin with M who could have been Myer Geller’s father – and both had the first name Max. One Max Geller died in 1956, and one in 1966. Unfortunately neither one appears in the Free Press obituary archives. But – we’ve determined that the Max Geller who died in 1956 was married to Dora, who did live in the Sharon Home. But Dora’s obituary makes no reference to a Myer Geller.
The other Max Geller died in 1966. His wife’s name was Sarah (née Feldman). We haven’t been able to find an obituary for either one. The question is: Did either Max or Sarah Geller live in the Sharon Home prior to their death?
Update Oct. 31: We received further information from reader Ed Feuer, who found Max Geller’s obituary notice in the Winnipeg Tribune archives.
Ed confirmed that Myer Geller’s parents were Max and Sarah Geller. He also disclosed that Myer Geller had two sisters: Frances – who was married to an Edward Jordan in Toronto; and Rose – who was married to Louis Lieberman, also of Toronto.
We will attempt to obtain any information about either sister. But, if anyone reading this does have some information that woud be useful, please contact me at jewishp@mymts.net or call me at 1-204-694-3332.
Local News
Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Synagogue hosts moving farewell for departing rabbi Yossi Benarroch
By MYRON LOVE It was a bittersweet evening Sunday, July 27, as about 300 members of Adas Yeshurun Herzlia and other community members gathered at the synagogue to express their appreciation to retiring Rabbi Yossi Benarroch for his service to the congregation – and the larger Jewish community – over the past nine years.
Although Benarroch had officially retired at the end of July, he had already returned to his family in Israel. The congregation paid to fly him, his wife, Elana, their daughters Ruchama and Tiferet and Tiferet’s infant daughter, Agam, back to Winnipeg for the moving tribute evening.
As this writer noted in an interview with Yossi Benarroch earlier this year, his assuming the spiritual leadership of Adas Yeshurun Herzlia was a match made in heaven. He grew up in our community, one of four sons of the revered Solomon and Mary Bennarroch. The future rabbi earned a physical education degree from the University of Manitoba in 1984, following which he made aliyah. He studied at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva (among others), receiving smicha in 1991. In 1999, he and his wife, Elana, and their children moved to Vancouver.
He and his family were back living in Israel in 2016 when the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia pulpit became vacant. “I saw it as an opportunity to fulfil what I felt was my obligation to give back to the community which had given me so much in my early years,” he says.
A second motivation was that he would be able to spend more time with his aged parents and two brothers in Winnipeg.
In his remarks on the 27th, Rabbi Benarroch thanked many people in our community who had played an important role in his life. First and foremost, he thanked his wife, Elana. While she didn’t want to leave Israel, he noted, she understood how important this was to him.
The arrangement that they agreed upon was that he would spend blocks of nine weeks in Winnipeg followed by three in Israel. He always made sure to be home (Israel) for Pesach, Sukkot and half of Chanukah. Now, nearing 68 years old, and with his parents both having passed away, Yossi Benaroch feels that it is time to go back permanently.
“I really appreciate the sacrifice that Elana was willing to make – giving up the love of her life for nine months a year for nine years so that I could fulfill my lifelong dream to return to and give back to the community I love so dearly.”
It was also very important to him, Rabbi Benarroch added, that some of his children were able to meet his community in Winnipeg and see what this community meant to him.
Among the many individuals he thanked were the late Dr. Earl Hershfield who – as president of the congregation – persuaded him to come back here; current president Jack Craven; long time congregational leaders Abe and Barbara Anhang; and members of the congregation as a whole – who welcomed him into their homes and lives.
“I have felt a tremendous love here,” Rabbi Benarroch said. “I can honestly say that in nine years, I never had a single argument with anyone in the congregation.”
He noted how much he cherished being able to spend time with his family in Winnipeg – his late parents, his brothers, Michael and Albert, his nephews and nieces and cousins.
Rabbi Benarroch also spoke about his positive relationships – friendships – with his rabbinical colleagues and the leadership at the Federation.
While Rabbi Benarroch noted that he is happy that he is going to be home full time now with his family – including three other children and numerous grandchildren – in Efrat, he added that he is not finished here quite yet. He announced that he will be back one more time to lead yom tov services.
The tribute for Rabbi Yossi Benarroch and his family on July 27 was not the only reason for celebration. The evening also marked the rededication of three of the six Talmud Torah Beth Jacob Synagogue stained glass windows.
Five of the windows were installed at the Talmud Torah Beth Jacob Synagogue – which was then located on Matheson Avenue in the North End (where it shared space with what was then the Talmud Torah School) – in May of 1970. Three of the windows were in commemoration of the late Rabbi Avraham Kravetz, Cantor Benjamin Brownstone and philanthropist Joseph Wolinsky – all of whom played an outsized role in shaping Jewish education in our community. According to an article I wrote for the Jewish Post at the time, the windows were created by Ron Henig, a Toronto-based artist. Marcus Bressler, a Talmud Torah past president, had seen Henig’s work in Toronto and persuaded the Simkin and Chait families to memorialize their loved ones by funding the installation of two windows in the Matheson Avenue shul. So eye-catching were the windows, some other members of the shul decided to have three more windows created in memory of Rabbi Kravitz, Cantor Brownstone and Wolinsky.
The windows moved with the Talmud Torah Beth Jacob Synagogue in 1997 to its new location on north Main Street after the community sold the Talmud Torah/Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate building and centralized Jewish private education in our community at the new Asper Campus.
Winnipeg artist Irma Penn created a sixth stained glass window for the Talmud Torah about 20 years ago at the new location.
Two years ago, facing declining attendance over several years, the Talmud Torah congregation merged with the 53-year-old Chavurat Tefila congregation – which was also dealing with declining attendance – at the latter synagogue on the Corner of Hartford and McGregor.
After the Talmud Torah building was sold last summer, three of the windows – the Irma Penn window and those that were dedicated to Joseph Wolinsky and the Chait Family followed the congregation members to the new Chavurat Tefila – Talmud Torah shul.
The Rabbi Kravetz, Brownstone and Jean Simkin windows were passed on to the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia congregation, where the Rabbl Kravetz “Shoah” window was rededicated in memory of the late Leon and Faye Raber by their children, Frayda and Label Raber.
In rededicating the “Shoah” window n memory of their parents, Frayda Raber pointed out that the window incorporates the Gorenstein (Faye’s) family’s relationship with the Adas Yeshurun shul from its beginnings in 1909 and their father’s survival of the Holocaust.
“Label and I grew up at the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia,” recalled Raber. “We went to elementary school here, attended junior congregation here, Shabbat and Yom Tov services, and celebrated our life cycle events. Despite living away, Label in Vancouver and me in Ottawa, the synagogue has remained our home away from home all these years.”
She added that her mother maintained her membership even after moving away in 2017 after Leon’s passing, and remembered the synagogue in her will.
Faye Raber passed away last September at the age of 103.
Frayda thanked Rabbi Benarroch for bringing the opportunity to refurbish the Shoah window to the family’s attention. “I believe that having this stained glass window displayed so prominently will help keep this part of our history in the forefront for current and future generations,” she said.
Abe and Barbara Anhang rededicated the two other windows – the Or V’Talmud Torah and Shir U’Shvacha windows – in honour of the Benarroch Family. As Barbara Anhang noted in her remarks:
“It was Shammai in the first chapter of Pirkei Avot who pointed out the necessity of daily Torah study, of saying little and doing much, and of receiving everyone with a pleasant countenance. These traits were second nature to Mary and Solomon Benarroch, who, when learning of Winnipeg’s search for a community shochet (slaughterer), jumped at the chance to leave Morocco and came to Winnipeg.”
Shlomo Benarroch, she noted, served as one of Winnipeg Jewish community’s shochetim for over 50 years. He was also a Torah reader, sofer (scribe), mohel (as needed), chazan and educator.
“He was a soft-spoken gentleman who said little but did much,” Barbara said, “and cared deeply about serving his adopted community.”
She described Mary Benarroch as “the consummate Jewish homemaker who provided a loving, supportive home for her husband, twins Yossi and Yamin, Michael, Albert, and their extended Canadian family. Her sons were her treasures.
”She succeeded in nurturing them to grow into observant, caring people who excelled in education and community service.”
Barbara went on to thank “Rabbi Yossi for his inspiring Talmud and parsha classes, his kashrut supervision at Schmoozer’s and Gwen Secter kitchens, Gunn’s Bakery, and Sunday morning Maimonides classes, bar/bat mitzvah preparations and drashas.”
She further thanked Elana Benarroch for her love and devotion in caring for their family in Israel while he was here, that made it all possible.
“Elana, we are all eternally grateful,” Barbar said. “Thank you. Both of you have shown us by example the joy of performing a mitzvah and that Jewish life cannot be sustained without Israel at its core.
“We were blessed to have you as our role models. Every one who had the honour of getting to know you and your dear parents, and seeing how you and they chose to live your lives, was, and is, changed for the better.”
Sid Halpern added his praise for the Benarroch Family: “We are honoured to rededicate these windows in the name of the Benarroch Family,” he said.
“Several weeks ago,” Halpern continued, “in his usual inspiring droshe, Rabbi Yossi in Parsha Balak, taught us that G-d sends us messages in different means from different messengers. The stained glass windows we rededicate today represent passionate messengers – visionaries who built the community we enjoy today with messages if our ears and eyes and hearts are open and receptive. Among the most consequential of these messengers were Shhlomo and Mary Benarroch, who created a new world for themselves in our community just as their community in their native Morocco was being largely destroyed. Their sons, Yamin, Yossi, Michael, and Al, continue to revitalize and inspire communities in Israel, Canada and the world.”
Halpern reIated that, in a reply to a question from his late wife Esther to Mary Benarroch how Mary had achieved such overwhelming success in raising her family, Mary’s response was “with love” which, Halpern noted, is the strongest force on the face of the earth, according to none other than Albert Einstein.
Halpern also had kind words for Faye and Leon Raber – whom he remembered as supporters and builders of Herzlia. “While Leon always sat in the back benches,” he recounted, “he and Faye were always on the front benches when the shul needed their support.
“It is great to have their children, Label and Frayda, with us whom I remember as regular attendees in their younger years and who were always respectful to and caring for their parents.”
Addressing Elana Bennarroch, Halpern said: “While we knew and felt your pain of aloneness for the past nine years, Rabanit Elana – especially in such stressful times, we want you to know how grateful we are to you and your family for lending Reb Yossi to us.
“This is a a time not for farewell but, rather, for Lehitraut, Reb Yossi and Elana, till we meet again Thank you Reb Yossi for your beautiful messages. Keep them coming from Tziyon from whence the Torah will come.”
Speaking on behalf of the Benarroch Family, Kim Bailey, wife of University of Manitoba President Michael Bernarroch, talked about the family’s strong connection with the Talmud Torah Synagogue.
All four brothers had their bar mitzvahs at the synagogue, she noted, her fasther-in-law was the long time Torah reader, and her mother-in-law was a part of the shul’s Emunah women’s group..
“One of my favourite memories,” Bailey recalled, “was listening to my father-in-law read the Megillah every year at Purim.
“That synagogue was central to the whole Benarroch family and they were beloved pillars of the Talmud Torah community,” she added.
While Solomon and Mary moved with the Talmud Torah after the congregation was forced to relocate, Bailey noted, they did move eventually move south to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
“I can imagine the members of the Talmud Torah who are no longer with us would be pleased to see that these windows have found such a beautiful new home and that they are being dedicated to the Benarroch family,” she said. “These windows are a reminder that while many things have changed in our community, the essential things such as Torah, prayer, song, love and respect for family and community don’t.”.
Local News
Shaarey Zedek brings Carnie Rose back home to serve as senior rabbi
By MYRON LOVE The growing family of Roses is continuing to return to Winnipeg.
For more than 45 years, Rabbi Neal and Rebetzin Carol Rose, along with their children, played a prominent role in our community’s religious life. Neil and Carol originally came here in 1968 at the behest of their mentor, the late Rabbi Zalman Schachter- Shalomi. While Rabbi Neal’s “day job” was as a member of the University of Manitoba Department of Judaic Studies, he also served the community as a rabbi – filling in at major synagogues when those synagogues were between rabbis, also performing weddings and funerals.
Of particular note, Neal and Carol and family for several decades led a popular alternative Yom Tov service in the lower level of the Rosh Pina/Etz Chayim synagogue.
As happens in many families though, as each of their five children grew up, the children left Winnipeg. Finally, ten years ago, Neil and Carol also left – moving to St. Louis, where their second son, Rabbi Carnie Rose, was the spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Amoona, an historic synagogue with about 850 member families.
Eight years ago, Rabbi Kliel Rose, Neal and Carol’s third son, was the first of the family to come back to Winnipeg as the spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Chayim. Now, Kliel has been joined by older brother Carnie – the new senior rabbi at Shaarey Zedek.
In mid July, I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Carnie about his career, his decision to come back to Winnipeg and his hopes for the future here.
“I am really excited to be back,” he says. “I remember so many people here – the teachers as well as the characters – who were so much a part of my life growing up here. I feel like I have come home.”
Armed with an MA and Doctor of Divinity degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rose began his rabbinical journey 30 years ago in Columbus, Ohio. In 1997, he and his wife, Pauline, moved to Tokyo, where Carnie served as the rabbi for Tokyo’s Jewish community. From there, his road led to a small congregation in New York. He became the spiritual leader at B’nai Amoona in St. Louis, in 2005.
Three years ago, he notes, he decided to try something different. An opportunity arose for him to take the reins of the Mandel JCC in Cleveland as president and CEO. “It was a chance to try something new, to experience a different aspect of Jewish life,” he observes. “But I found that I didn’t enjoy being an administrator. I missed the personal contact with people and families. I wanted to return to congregational work.”
It was the right time for the Shaarey Zedek to come calling.
“Rabbi (Alan) Green reached out to me,” Rose reports. “I had my bar mitzvah at Shaarey Zedek. I saw the potential here. The Shaarey Zedek has a large and growing congregation, and I decided that I want to be part of its revival. The new sanctuary is beautiful. I love the way the windows have been opened up to allow more natural light in. The catering is top notch. The staff members are great. I also like that there is a day care here again.”
He adds that having his brother, Kliel, here was a further inducement and is looking forward to having their families spend time together.
Rose commented on the most important changes he sees in our community since he left. “The synagogues and other Jewish institutions here seem to be much more open to collaboration,” he observes. “With the community centered around the campus, there seems to be a lot of positive energy.
“I am looking forward to Shaarey Zedek continuing to work together on joint programming with Kliel and Etz Chayim and our other congregations (such as an upcoming joint Tisha B’av program). I am also expecting to work with the Campus, Grey Academy, the Gwen Secter and others.”
He describes himself as an individual who is open to creative ideas and innovation. “Just because we have always done something in a certain way doesn’t mean that we can’t change,” he points out. “Reinvention has been an ongoing aspect of Judaism through the millennium.”
He quotes the revered Rav Kook as saying that it is important to “let the old become new and the new become sacred”.
“I think that is quite powerful,” he comments.”That will be the theme for our high holiday season this year at Shaarey Zedek.”
For Carnie Rose, while he recognizes that each congregation has its own distinct flavour or culture, dialogue among them and unity is most important.
He reports that Carol and Neal will soon be back home and (looking forward to be part of the community again.)
Local News
GrowWinnipeg celebrates 25th anniversary
By MYRON LOVE On Wednesday, June 25, about 250 Jewish Winnipeggers – comprising lifelong residents as well as newer arrivals, came together at the Asper campus to celebrate the 25th anniversary of GrowWinnipeg, an initiative that has revitalized our Jewish community – in our camps, school, synagogues and other institutions and given our community a much more international flavour.
Our community’s population peaked in terms of population in 1961 when Winnipeg Jewry numbered around 20,000. The years after had been a period of steady decline. By 1961, most of the Jews living in smaller communities in the Prairie provinces – the source of much of our ongoing population replenishment up to that point – had largely disappeared.
A s Bob Freedman, the former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (and its predecessor, the Winnipeg Jewish Community Council), noted in his remarks at the 25th anniversary party, by 1986, community leaders recognized that ours was an aging and shrinking community with aging infrastructure.
“We recognized that something had to be done,” he recalled.
The first stage, he pointed out, was the planning and construction of the Asper Campus, which brought our major institutions and organizations under one roof in an attractive new building.
The next challenge was to attract more people to our community. GrowWinnipeg was created to take on the challenge. GrowWinnipeg is unique in its efforts to reach out to young Jewish families throughout the Western world .
The genesis was a chance meeting on an airplane almost 30 years ago between former Manitoba Lieutenant-Governor Janice Filmon – at that time the wife of then-Manitoba premier Gary Filmon, and a Jewish businessman from Argentina who was contemplating moving to Toronto. Filmon persuaded him to consider Winnipeg instead. He was impressed by what he saw and suggested that the community send representatives to Buenos Aires to meet with other Argentinian Jewish families who were considering leaving.
That planted the seed.
Shortly thereafter – in 1998 – Larry Hurtig – then the president of the Federation, his son, Jack, and a representative of the provincial government, made an exploratory visit to Buenos Aires to gauge what interest there might be among young Jewish families to consider moving to Winnipeg.
GrowWinnipeg was officially launched in 2000. Our community opened its arms in welcome to the new arrivals who began to arrive, hosting them in our homes and helping them become acclimatized to their new surroundings.
Evelyn Hecht became the principal contact for the newcomers. “I was lucky that I happened to be working for the Federation when we opened the campus and turned our energies to repopulating our community,” Hecht noted in her remarks at the recent celebration. “Fortunately, the pieces fell into place at just the right time.”
Those pieces, Hecht related, included: the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program – which allowed community support groups to recruit specific immigrants; the arrival of a small number of Jewish families from Buenos Aires who encouraged community leaders to look to their former home as a potential source of Jewish immigrants; and the availability of email and the internet.
The initiative – led by Hecht – recruited a group of local Jewish families who were prepared to host potential immigrants who had begun to come for exploratory visits. The connections made by the new arrivals and their local hosts resulted in many long–lasting friendships, Hccht noted.
She praised Jewish Child and Family Service for helping the new arrivals to become established here and integrate into the community.
Efforts were also made to build a data basis of potential employers for the newcomers.
GrowWinnpeg was kicked off by two visits to Buenos Aires – visits Hecht describes as “exciting and exhausting” – in the early 2000s, when Hecht and other Winnipeg representatives met with potential immigrants and heard their concerns about life and personal safety in Argentina and hopes for the future that Winnipeg might be able to give them.
“I remember,” she said, “the numerous meeting I held in my office on the third floor here listening to people’s excitement and concerns and answering questions about life in Winnipeg, our Jewish identity, schools, synagogues, employment, housing and especially, safety. I always emphasized that they would encounter struggles, disappointment and possibly, crises – but I assured them that we would be here to help.
“And I remember feeling so much happiness when people would show up at my door to share good news about babies born, bar and bat mitzvahs, graduations and new jobs – and the numerous times I was in Citizen Court where so many were so proud to receive their citizenship certificates. “
And they are still coming. Dalia Szpiro, Hecht’s successor, reports that, over the past 25 years just under 7,000 people have come here under the aegis of GrowWinnipeg – and not just from Argentina. We have had families from Brazil, Uruguay and other South American countries, Mexico, Europe, and, in more recent years, especially from Israel.
For former Israelis I spoke with on the 25th, such as Slava and Karina Pustilnikov, Irena Oz and Marina Shapiro and her 19-year-old son, Adam, all of whom have been here for 10 to 15 years, the primary motivation was being in a safer environment.
For Ori Rahima and his wife, Anna Shapiro, who have been here for seven years and have three children under six, the pull was greater opportunity and a better standard of living.
Then there is Esther Barna, a teacher by training, newly arrived from Budapest. “Hungary is not a good place to be a Jew,” she says. “There is a lot of antisemitism. I was looking online for a better place to go and came across the GrowWinnipeg website. I love it here.”
In her concluding remarks, Dalia Szpiro, herself an immigrant from Uruguay about 20 years ago, thanked the many Jewish organizations and individuals in the community who have helped to make GrowWinnipeg the success that it is.
“Over 250 volunteers each year meet with our exploratory visitors – opening their homes, their hearts, their time, their insights and their networks,” she noted. “There is something very special about our community and our province. Every exploratory visitor who comes here as part of their immigration journey discovers it.
“This 25-year milestone is a reason for pride and celebration – and a renewed commitment to the future. We are already working on new strategies – to strengthen what we have built, support immigration, foster inclusion and create more opportunities for newcomers to grow and prosper.”
