Local News
Simkin Centre staff have been doing a fabulous job dealing with the demands placed on them by COVID-19
By BERNIE BELLAN
The role that Personal Care Homes have been playing in the COVID-19 pandemic is a crucial one.
We’ve all heard about the horror stories associated with seniors’ homes in other jurisdictions – especially Quebec, so it’s natural for anyone in Manitoba who has a loved one in a PCH to be especially concerned about the heightened risks associated with those facilities.
Whether it’s good luck or good management – or a combination of the two, we seem to have been spared any serious outbreaks in PCH’s in Manitoba – and none at all in the Simkin Centre.
In our April 15 issue, I reported on some steps that Laurie Cerqueti, CEO of the Simkin Centre, had said were being taken at the Centre in response to what has already begun to emerge as a pandemic here in Manitoba, along with the rest of the country. That article noted that:
“The front entrance is now the only entryway for staff into the building so that we can ensure full screening of everyone entering the building.
“20 extra bedside tables have been ordered to assist with social distancing during resident meal times.
“All vendor supplies are now dropped off only at the receiving entrance and are not being brought into the building as was normally done prior to this.
“A system has been developed for Resident supplies being brought by family. They are now left on a table in the vestibule and items are being wiped down with an antiviral wipe prior to being distributed to the care areas.
“Dr. Koven, our Medical Director, is now the only MD that will be onsite to assess Residents. He does not attend other sites at this time so is less likely to bring COVID-19 into our building. Other MDs will respond to phone calls from nursing and do virtual visits as able.
“Over 95% of all staff have now been trained in feeding and swallowing so that we can all help to ensure that are Residents are being fed. Currently, about 52% of our Residents require assistance with meals. Helping Residents with meals has brought joy and new purpose to staff that would not have previously been involved in Resident care.
“We have prepared for the eventuality that many staff and managers may be living at the Centre. We have ordered extra mattresses for staff to sleep on, purchased toiletries for staff, and purchased portable cell phone chargers.”
On Thursday, May 6, I spoke with Laurie and with Aviva Tabac, Fundraising and Administrative Officer at the Simkin Centre, to find out how things have gone for the 200 residents and 250 staff at the Simkin Centre since that April 15 report.
Laurie Cerqueti began the conversation by saying: “We’re actually doing quite well in many ways and staff have gone above and beyond to do things, to make sure the residents are cared for and fed. We’ve seen a lot of good come out of this.”
I said to Laurie that a recent story in the news about how resident Shirley Kleiman receives visits every day from her husband, Sam, who comes to a window to say hi – and tell her how much he loves her, must have resonated with anyone who saw that story. I wondered how many residents are actually able to be brought to windows to see loved ones?
“Not all residents would go and do the window visits with family,” Laurie answered, “but all of the rooms have windows and all of the windows open so they can get fresh air, but we do the window visits in the atrium area. There are also families that will go to a particular resident’s room and connect there (using cell phones). Anyone on the main floor would have the opportunity to do that.”
I wondered whether the issue of putting cameras into residents’ rooms had come up (stemming from the shocking lack of supervision in certain Quebec nursing homes).
Laurie said: “You mean the ‘nanny cams’? No, we haven’t had that requested, and I think families know we’re doing the best we can – with the Facetiming, Skype or Zoom. Aviva does a Zoom call with a resident here and there have been up to 12 family members participating in that Zoom session.”
Laurie went on to explain that an iPad is brought into residents’ rooms – one at a time, for those interactive sessions, which are all prearranged. “We’ve actually just launched an online booking system for those types of visits,” she explained (including window visits) at www.simkincentre.ca.
I referred to our April 15 article, which referred to staff preparing to sleep over at the centre, if necessary. Although that hasn’t proved necessary, according to what Laurie told me, I wondered about the state of morale among staff in general, considering the extreme stress under which they must be working.
“Actually, I think we have a very high morale now,” Laurie said. “Everybody’s working together – probably better than they ever have been, including a lot of us that wouldn’t typically help with assisting residents with meals. We’re all chipping in to make things work.
“That doesn’t mean that staff aren’t scared,” Laurie added, however. “I think everyone’s a little bit scared, including me and you, Bernie”.
“Yah,” I said, “but I think the level of apprehension must be lower than when the virus first emerged in Manitoba because we seem to have escaped the brunt of it here.”
Have there been any Personal Care Homes in Manitoba that have seen the virus show up, I wondered?
“Yes, there have been,” Laurie responded, “but all sites went into a lockdown some time ago.” She noted that “all staff are required to wear face masks and goggles; staff are screened every time they come to work; we take their temperature; we ask them a series of questions. It would probably be safer here than when you go to the grocery store.
“The other thing we do,” Laurie continued, “is every week we try and show our appreciation for staff so some board members and family members have donated funds, treats or products to help make this happen.”
I wondered about programming for residents – and to what extent there are still programs available?
“All of the programs in the atrium and the multi-purpose room have been canceled,” Laurie answered. “Recreation programming happens on the individual units now or out in the courtyard, where we’re able to physically distance residents one from another. And, any new admissions we would have isolate in their room up to 14 days. Otherwise residents are out and about in their individual units. There are a few residents that are able to make it to the atrium on their own, but there aren’t large groups of them together.”
“What about meals?” I wondered. “Are meals being taken in the residents’ rooms or are they still able to go to the common areas in the units?”
“They are able to go to the common area,” Laurie explained, “but we spread it out so we have ordered extra bedside tables so it’s not as tight as it would normally be where we’d have three to four residents at a table.”
I asked Aviva what else the Simkin Centre has been doing for residents as far as being able to make the time pass under these stressful circumstances?
“The recreation department has stepped up in a huge way,” she began. “They’re running smaller programs on the units now. They have programs that run in the morning and the afternoon. Now, we also have evening and weekend staff that are doing recreation.
“And, even though Steven Hyman (who regularly conducts Shabbat and holiday services at the centre for residents and families) is not able to be here in person, he has been recording videos of services that we show to residents.”
Laurie noted, as well, that “we are having services on the units every Saturday.”
Aviva continued: “The residents are pretty busy. They’re doing art programs, they’re doing bingo, exercise programs…we’ve had musical entertainment.”
“We’ve actually had musicians come to our courtyard,” Laurie noted, “where they play and we open the windows so that the residents can hear the music and see the musicians.”
“What about the financial situation for the Simkin Centre?” I wondered. “How different is it as a result of the pandemic?”
“There are a number of large costs for equipment and supplies – right when it started happening,” Laurie answered, “and there are ongoing costs.”
“And you mean Simkin will have to assume responsibility for those costs – and not the province?” I asked.
“I’m not confident that the province will fund partially or fully any of this,” Laurie said.
“Really – wow!” I said. “You mean it’s all going to fall on to the Personal Care Homes themselves to fund?”
“It could,” Laurie said. “I’m not confident” (that the province will provide the funding).
She added that, in addition to the extra costs imposed on PCH’s for equipment and supplies, “there are all these new rules – if you’ve traveled, you can’t come to work for 14 days; if you have any symptoms you have to go get swabbed, and then you have to have the A-OK, you can come back to work; or people that have pre-existing conditions aren’t able to work. So there are increased staffing costs that we are incurring.”
“Have you had a lot of staff who have been affected by all these new rules?” I asked.
“There would have been, especially in March, which was peak travel season” for a lot of people, “including our staff,” Laurie said.
“We are staying close to the community and I think people are appreciative of the work we’ve been doing here,” Laurie said in conclusion.
Local News
Who is Rabbi Ephraim Bryks and how did his time in Winnipeg prove so convulsive?
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted December 30) Thirty-five years after Rabbi Ephraim Bryks left this city his name is now back in the news as the result of a new lawsuit that names Rabbi Bryks, the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Congregation – for which Bryks served as rabbi for 12 years, and two rabbinical organizations as defendants. You can read more about that lawsuit and what it alleges elsewhere on this website at “lawsuit filed.“
But, aside from questions about why this lawsuit was filed now – some 38 years after the acts for which Bryks is accused of having committed against the plaintiff, there are still so many unanswered questions about Rabbi Bryks’ time in Winnipeg.
In his seminal history of the Jewish people of Manitoba, Allan Levine wrote: “The biggest controversy in the Herzlia’s history – in fact, arguably the most controversial matter in the annals of the Winnipeg Jewish community – involved Rabbi Ephraim Bryks, the synagogue’s rabbi from 1978 to 1990. Bryks arrived in Winnipeg in 1978 at the age of twenty-four, with his wife Yochevaed…”
Levine noted that “Under Bryks’ leadership, the synagogue’s membership increased. He established new programs for youth and immersed himself in the Jewish community. He also initiated Torah Academy, an Orthodox elementary school that operated out of Herzlia and soon had a sizable (sic.) enrollment (sic.).” (Gee Allan, didn’t anyone check your book for spelling mistakes?)
Levine’s story about Bryks goes on to note that controversy first began to circulate openly around Bryks in 1985 in the pages of what our paper was then called, which was the Jewish Post. (We didn’t become The Jewish Post & News until 1987, which was when we took over what had been The Western Jewish News.)
Bryks had been writing a weekly Torah commentary in our paper until three rabbis – Rabbis Rappaport, Weizman, and Neil Rose, sent a letter to the editor (who was my late brother, Matt, at the time) accusing Bryks of having plagiarized several of his columns from a book by Rabbi Reuven Bulka. Matt investigated and discovered that Bryks had indeed plagiarized at least two columns from Bulka’s book. When Matt reported what he had found, Bryks stopped writing his column for us.
“Far worse was yet to come,” Levine’s section about Bryks continues. “In 1987, several parents of young (male and female) children attending Torah Academy alleged that Bryks had sexually abused their children. The Herzlia board properly investigated the matter and heard evidence. According to a CBC-TV documentary on the case, the parents and their children were accused of being liars.”
Levine goes on to note that Winnipeg South Child and Family Services were asked to investigate the matter by the synagogue board, but the agency concluded that “Bryks’ behaviour of having children sit on his lap while he tickled them was ‘neither appropriate nor professional’, but not illegal. That might have been the end of it, but another allegation was made, this time to the Winnipeg Police by parents of an eight-year-old boy who claimed Bryks had fondled him. The police consulted a Crown lawyer, who decided not to pursue it since it came down to the child’s word against that of a rabbi.
“The case tore the Herzlia congregation apart, and some members left the synagogue,” Levine writes.
In 1990, Bryks left Winnipeg for Montreal, where he had been hired to head a Jewish school until parents there learned of the allegations against him in Winnipeg and the offer of employment was rescinded.
Subsequently, Bryks moved to New York, where he founded another private religious school in Queens – this time for children of Russian immigrants.
In 2003, however, Bryks resigned his membership in the Rabbinical Council of America. According to a report on “Newsday,” Bryks had “been dogged by allegations of sexual abuse against at least one Winnipeg child for more than 15 years.” He had headed two different yeshivas in New York, but no longer did so.
That Winnipeg child’s name was Daniel Levin. He was the son of Martin and Sarah Levin. (Martin Levin had been editor of the Jewish Post until 1983. He later became the books editor of the Toronto Globe & Mail.)
In Allan Levine’s account of what happened, “Daniel Levin had attended Torah Academy from kindergarten to Grade 2. …A troubled teenager, Daniel alleged that Bryks had molested him. According to Sarah Levin, Bryks had given Daniel candy to keep him quiet and told him that God would punish him if he ever told anyone what had transpired. The threat of retribution was echoed by other children who came forward. Daniel (who, by 1993, was living in Toronto) gave a taped statement to the Toronto Police, who inexplicably botched the taping and requested he repeat his statement. He never did. On Yom Kippur, 1993, Daniel, seventeen years old, committed suicide.”
In 1994, the CBC aired a documentary about the Bryks controversy titled “Unorthodox Conduct.” Myron Love wrote a detailed report about the airing of that documentary and the subsequent reaction to it from members of the Herzlia. You can read Myron’s full article on our website simply by entering the name “Rabbi Bryks” in our Search Archive portal. The first two articles to appear will be the first and second pages of Myron’s comprehensive report.
According to information online Rabbi Bryks now works as a mortgage broker in New York. For a time, he was also a self-styled marriage counsellor, providing services to women seeking religious divorces.
In 2018, we spoke with a woman in New York who told us that, 18 or 19 years prior, she had contacted Rabbi Bryks to try to help her get a “get” (religious divorce) from an uncooperative husband. That woman claimed that Rabbi Bryks showed up at her apartment and tried to take advantage of her under the guise of offering to help her obtain a “get” from her husband. As the woman continued her story, she said Rabbi Bryks had forced himself upon her to the point where he pushed her on to her bed and lay on top of her. She was eventually able to break free and demanded he leave her apartment.
There are many other references to Bryks on the internet. The recently filed lawsuit only adds to what is already one of the most controversial stories about a rabbi you’re ever likely to read.
Local News
Former Winnipegger files lawsuit against Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Congregation, former Herzlia Rabbi Ephraim Bryks, and two other defendants over allegations of sexual abuse and assault by Rabbi Bryks in 1987
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted December 29, 2025) A former Winnipegger by the name of Ruth Krevsky (née Pinsky) has filed a lawsuit in Court of King’s Bench in Winnipeg on December 9, 2025 naming “Ephraim Boruk Bryks, Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Congregtion Inc., Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, and Rabbinical Council of America” as defendants.
The lawsuit seeks damages in the total amount of $4,200,000.
In the 30-page statement of claim Krevsky alleges that “In or around 1984, when the Plaintiff was approximately 19 years of age, Bryks sexually abused and assaulted the Plaintiff. The particulars of same include, but not (sic.) are not limited to the following:
” (a) initiated and engaged in physical contact of a sexual nature with the Plaintiff in his bedroom;
” (b) strapped the buttocks of the Plaintiff;
” (c) engaged in other sexual activities with the Plaintiff; and
” (d) in order to facilitate the abuse Bryks engaged in a pattern of behaviour which was intended to make the Plaintiff feel that she was special in the eyes of Bryks and Judaism.
“The abuse occurred in Bryks’ house located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.”
The lawsuit goes on to allege that “After the aforementioned abuse occurred, Bryks exploited his position of seniority and the trust he had cultivated with the Plaintiff to manipulate and control He used this dependency to discourage the Plaintiff from disclosing his actions, including by threatening her and by withholding reference letters essential for her academic and professional advancement.”
The lawsuit further alleges that “In or around 1987, while employed by the Congregation, Bryks was accused by (sic.) of several sexual offences involving young girls and women, including students at the School. (Ed. note, the reference is to Torah Academy, which Bryks started.) Although no criminal charges were filed at the time, the allegations were brought to the attention of the Congregation, the Union (of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America) and/or the Council (Rabbinical Council of America). Since then. additional individuals have come forward with similar allegations of sexual abuse by Bryks.”
The lawsuit also names the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Congregtion Inc., as defendant, citing ten different rules that “the Congregation taught the Plaintiff as well as other members of the Synagogue, including
“that it was forbidden to report a Jewish religious figure such as a rabbi to secular authorities and that any such reporting would constitute a serious violation of religious duty and loyalty to Judaism.”
Further, “The Plaintiff pleads that the aforementioned rules, principles and ideologies of the Congregation created an opportunity for Bryks to exert power and authority over the Plaintiff. The power and authority allowed Bryks to engage in the aforementioned behaviour and to continue to engage in same without resistance or question of the Plaintiff, without risk of getting caught, and thereby put the Plaintiff at risk of being abused by Bryks…
“As a result, the Congregation is vicariously responsible and liable for the actions of Bryks.”
The lawsuit goes on to list a series of behaviours in which it alleges Bryks was engaging and alleges the Congregation ignored many aspects of Bryks’ behaviour, including, among others: “Bryks’ difficulties with alcohol” and “Bryks’ difficulties with his sexuality.”
The lawsuit lists a long series of damages the Plaintiff alleges she has suffered as a result of Bryks’ behaviour and the refusal of the other defendants, including the Herzlia Congregation, to take any action against Bryks.
It should be made clear that, at this point, the allegations are unproven and are yet to be defended against and yet to be tested in the courts of Manitoba.
We have reached out to Ruth Krevsky, her counsel, counsel for the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Congregation, and the president of the congregation for comment. To date, we have not heard from either Ms. Krevsky or her counsel. We did hear from the president of the congregation, who asked us to refer any questions to counsel for the congregation. We did speak with counsel for the congregation, but at this point he indicated that he had just been recently hired to represent the congregation and was just beginning to acquaint himself with the file.
The Rabbi Bryks story was one that tore the Winnipeg Jewish community asunder. The Jewish Post had a number of stories about the allegations that were levelled against Rabbi Bryks. (You can find those stories by going to our “Search Archive” link and entering the name “Rabbi Bryks.”)
We will have much more about Rabbi Bryks in the days to come. Keep referring to this website as we add to the story.
Local News
Newly announced Vivian Silver Centre for Shared Society to further former Winnipegger’s lifelong efforts to foster Jewish-Arab co-operation in Israel
By MYRON LOVE Vivian Silver (oleh Hashalom) devoted her life to working toward dialogue and collaboration between Arabs and Jews in Israel. The culmination of her efforts was the Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Economic Development (AJEEC-NISPED), which she co-founded 25 year ago with her sister peace activist, Dr. Amal Elsana Ahl’jooj.
Tragically, Vivian was of the 1,200 Israeli Jews, Bedouin and foreign farm workers who were slaughtered during the Hamas-led pogrom of October 7, 2023.
Last month, AJEEC-NISPED announced plans to create the Vivian Silver Center for Shared Society in her memory – a new national hub for Jewish-Israeli Arab collaboration and social innovation in Be’er Sheva – backed by an initial $1 million donation from UJA-Federation of New York, along with support from the Meyerhoff Foundation, the Gilbert Foundation, and other philanthropic partners committed to strengthening shared society in Israel.
“It’s a great honor and a beautiful gesture,” comments Vivian’s son, Yonatan Zeigen, “and I hope it will be a central building for civil society, both in the physical sense, that it will become a substantial home for the organization and for other initiatives that will use the spaced and also symbolically, as a beacon for this kind of work in the specific location in the Negev.”
As this writer noted n an article earlier this year in relation to the announcement of the launch of the Vivian Silver Impact Award by the New Israel Fund (NIF) – of which she was a long time board member, and which was developed in conjunction with her sons, Yonatan and Chen), Vivian made aliyah in 1974. She first went to Israel in 1968 – to spend her second year at university abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studying psychology and English literature.
In an article she wrote in 2018 in a publication called ”Women Wage Peace,” she related that during her final year at the University of Manitoba, she was among the founders of the Student Zionist Alliance on campus and was invited to its national conference in Montreal. There she met activists in the Habonim youth movement who planned on making aliyah and re-establishing Kibbutz Gezer. The day she wrote her last university exam, she boarded a flight to New York to join the group.
She spent three years in New York, where she became involved in Jewish and Zionist causes, including the launch of the Jewish feminist movement in America.
“It was a life-changing period,” she recalled. “I came to understood that in addition to being a kibbutz member, I was destined to be a social change and peace activist.”
Vivian and her group made aliyah in 1974 and settled on Kibbutz Gezer. In 1981, she established the Department Promoting Gender Equality in the Kibbutz Movement. She moved to Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza border in 1990, along with her late husband, Lewis, and their two sons
In 1998, Vivian became the executive director of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development in Beer Sheva, an NGO promoting human sustainable development, shared society between Jews and Arabs, and peace in the Middle East. Soon after, she was joined by Amal Elsana Alh’jooj as co-directors of AJEEC-NISPED, winning the 2011 Victor J. Goldberg Peace Prize of the Institute for International Education.
In the article she wrote for “Women Waging Peace,” she noted that “while we later focused on empowerment projects in the Bedouin community in the Negev, initially we worked with Palestinian organizations on joint people-to-people projects. I spent much time in Gaza until the outbreak of the second intifada. We continued working with organizations in the West Bank. I personally know so many Palestinians who yearn for peace no less than we do.”
According to a report in the Israeli newspaper Arutz Sheva, in the November 24th edition, the Vivian Silver Centre – which is expected to open in the spring – will be located within AJEEC-NISPED’s soon-to-open AJEEC House, and will provide a permanent home for programs that promote equality, leadership, and cooperation among Israel’s diverse communities.
“The Vivian Silver Center for Shared Society, within AJEEC’s headquarters, “the Arutz Sheva report noted, “will serve as a regional platform for dozens of Israeli Arab and Jewish social organizations. Through AJEEC’s educational, vocational, and leadership programs, the center will support thousands of young adults each year – offering mentorship, professional training, and opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration.
“These programs,” the report continued, “already reach more than 15,000 participants nationwide, helping young people integrate into higher education and meaningful employment while narrowing social and economic gaps.”
AJEEC House is located in Be’er Sheva’s Science Park, near Ben-Gurion University. The three-storey AJEEC House has been designed to foster cooperation and dialogue. It will host community partnerships, provide shared workspaces for social entrepreneurs, and serve as a hub for initiatives addressing social and economic development across the Negev and beyond.
Readers who may be interested considering a donation can dial into NISPED’s website – – for further information.