Local News
The debate over whether Jewish seniors’ homes need to be fully kosher
In recent issues of The Jewish Post & News we’ve been debating whether the Simkin Centre needs to remain a fully kosher facility. Following are a number of different letters that were published in the Feb. 16 issue of the print edition, followed by an article that ran in Tablet magazine in 2019 which examined the increasing number of Jewish seniors’ homes in the US that have gone non-kosher:
On Fri, Feb 4, 2022 I sent the following email to Rabbi Yosef Benarroch, who is both the spiritual leader of Adas Yeshurun – Herzlia congregation, also the head of the Vaad Hakashrut of Winnipeg:
Hi Rabbi,
I assume you’re still in Israel as I write this. I hope you’re staying warmer there than we are here.
As usual, I’ve asked a question that might get some people wondering about a subject that doesn’t get raised often, this time it’s kashrut at the Simkin Centre.
I’ve been trying to find out just how many of the residents there aren’t Jewish, but so far Laurie Cerqueti (the CEO of Simkin Centre) hasn’t answered that question.
The reason I ask is that some of the Jewish residents are wondering what’s happening to the home, what with all the non-Jewish residents who have come in in recent years.
At the same time, I’ve been wondering whether it would be possible to have non kosher food in the centre.
The CEO of the Louis Brier Home in Vancouver wrote to me that, while that facility still serves only kosher food, residents are allowed to bring non kosher food in, so long as they eat it only in their rooms.
Would such a policy be acceptable at the Simkin Centre?
Stay safe – and good Shabbes.
-Bernie
(I should note that in my Short takes column of Feb. 2 I suggested that the Simkin Centre ought to consider going nonkosher, as have so many Jewish seniors’ homes in the US. Further, since I sent this email I have been advised that residents are indeed allowed to eat non-kosher food, so long as it is eaten only in their rooms.)
On Feb. 6 Rabbi Yosef Benarroch responded
Bernie
I was quite surprised to read your piece on the Simkin advocating for the facility to go non kosher and provide packaged meals for those who want kosher. In the seven years that I have been overseeing Kashrut at the Simkin there has not been a single such request. Not from the administration, not from residents and not from families including the non Jewish residents. The quality of the food is excellent and I can say this first hand with my mother being a resident. I find it puzzling and shocking that the “Jewish” newspaper of the city would be advocating to turn the Jewish seniors home in Winnipeg not kosher.
My best
Rabbi Yosef Benarroch
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I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre regarding your column in the February 2nd edition of the Jewish Post and News. This relates to your questions about the Centre providing our residents with a Kosher diet, and the ratio of Jewish to non-Jewish residents.
Regarding our use of Kosher food, we are not attempting to “maintain a pretense of keeping Kosher,” as you stated in your column, but to adhere to the principles and values of the Centre going back to its days as the Sharon Home. This topic comes up at Board meetings from time to time, and the Board consistently supports the continuation of this tradition. We pride ourselves on the quality of the freshly made Kosher food we provide our residents, and plan to continue doing so.
Regarding the ratio of Jewish to non-Jewish residents, over the years approximately 60% to 65% of our residents have been Jewish. As Laurie Cerqueti noted when you contacted her, the numbers vary over time. While we welcome people of all faiths at the Centre, we try to maintain open rooms for Jewish people in the community who need the support we provide in a timely fashion. I was surprised when you stated that Laurie “is worried that the figures [regarding the number of Jewish residents] might come as shock to Jewish Winnipeggers.” Under Laurie’s leadership the Simkin Centre, during the current pandemic, has been one of the most open and transparent organizations in the city. The ratio of Jewish to non-Jewish residents is not a secret to be kept from the Community, but a fact based on the number of Jewish community members needing and wanting to reside with us.
Sincerely,
Gerry Kaplan, MSW
Chair,
Saul and Claribel Simkin Centre Board of Directors
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In your most recent Short Takes column you commented on the apparent declining percentage of Jewish residents at The Simkin Centre Personal Care Home. You attributed the decline in the Jewish census at the Centre to the fact that the actual number of Jewish people in the community had declined and that there were alternatives to personal care home care, such as assisted living, which together meant that demand for personal care home beds had declined within the Jewish community.
While I think your reasoning on why there are fewer Jewish people in The Centre is correct, it is important to recognize the significant difference in the eligibility criteria for personal care home admission currently in Manitoba as opposed to 30 years ago when the Sharon Home on Magnus would have had a 100% Jewish population. In the old days places like the Sharon Home were more like retirement residences and people could move into them experiencing far less disability than is currently required for PCH admission. People who moved in were much younger and lived in the Home much longer. With a significantly larger Jewish population in Winnipeg in those days it was a given that very few non Jewish people would be admitted, if at all. Currently, people who are admitted into personal care homes are much more debilitated both physically and cognitively and the turnover in residents is much quicker. Combined with the decline in the Winnipeg Jewish population from its peak of 25,000 to what is now probably less then 15,000 it is a given that when a bed becomes available at the Centre it is more likely to be occupied by a non Jewish person – this in spite of the fact that Jewish people continue to be a priority for admission. Within 5 years the Jewish population at the Centre could fall to 25% or less.
Your comments about the continued provision of solely kosher food at the Centre are good ones. According to surveys in the United States only 15% to 20% of Jewish people are kosher. Fully 65% of non orthodox Jewish people in the US eat pork products and only 10% of American Jews identify themselves as orthodox. I suspect that the Canadian Jewish population is not much different. Being kosher is not a characteristic that defines Jewish identity for a great majority of Jewish people. In my time at The Centre it was clear that many Jewish people entering the facility had not been leading kosher lives before they entered. When you combine that reality with the fact that a majority of the Centre’s residents are not Jewish it might be time to rethink the current kosher policy. As you have pointed out this is already happening in Jewish care facilities and seniors’ residences in the United States.
Irwin Corobow
Ed. note: Irwin Corobow is a former CEO of the Simkin Centre.
The figures Irwin gives for the Jewish population of Winnipeg are not quite correct. The highest number ever reported in the census occurrred in 1961, when the Jewish popuation was just short of 20,000. The 2011 National Household Survey (which replaced the census that year) indicates that there were, at most, 12,500 Jews in Winnipeg that year. The 2016 census reported only 7,640 Jews in Winnipeg, but that figure has been largely discredited. We’re anxiously awaiting results of the 2021 census.
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Jewish senior residences shift away from kosher food
Whether it’s done to save money, or to respect residents’ personal choices, the menus are changing
The following article appeared in the online magazine, “Tablet”, on April 28, 2019.
By JUNE D. BELL
Before the Sinai Residences in Boca Raton, Florida, opened in 2016, several hundred Jewish seniors who’d put down deposits received a survey about meals. Specifically, how important was kosher food?
Not important at all, it turned out. If Sinai were exclusively kosher, the vast majority said, they’d rescind their deposits. “They said having a kosher option was great, but being completely kosher would deter them from moving in,” said Chris Newport, Sinai’s executive director.
The Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, which developed the not-for-profit senior community, scrapped plans for a kosher kitchen. Pork and shellfish aren’t on the menu, but residents can dine on cheeseburgers and chicken Parmesan. All 234 independent-living apartments are occupied, and more than 60 people are on the waiting list.
Sinai is far from the only senior residence touting nonkosher fare in a Jewish communal setting. From Philadelphia to Silicon Valley, communities for aging Jews have been succumbing to a host of pressures to expand their menus beyond the limits of kashrut.
Some of that pressure is financial. Facilities pay a premium for kosher supervision of two kitchens with at least two sets of dishes and cutlery, and hekhshered meats, cheeses, and other products cost more than their nonkosher counterparts. But residents themselves exert an outsize influence on the menus of the communities where they plan to spend their last years. Many find kosher fare at best uninspiring and at worst, irrelevant. Their perspective reflects the paradoxical, quixotic relationship that most American Jews have with kosher food: It may be a good thing, but it’s not necessarily my thing.
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About 1 in 5 Jewish Americans—22%—keep kosher at home, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center . The more observant you are, the more likely you are to have a kosher home: 92% of Orthodox Jews said they have kosher kitchens, as did 31% of Conservative Jews and 7% of Reform Jews. The survey didn’t ask about food choices in restaurants or elsewhere.
Beverly Gareleck, who has kept a kosher home for more than five decades, lives in one of the 182 apartments at MorseLife’s Levin Palace in West Palm Beach, Florida. She regularly eats in the kosher dining room, which is supervised by the Orthodox Rabbinical Board of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. “I’m very happy to have the kosher restaurant. It means a lot to me,” said Gareleck, a Buffalo, New York, native. “It’s silly, but I feel it’s healthier, and it’s been looked at and taken care of in a better way.”
But if shrimp is on the menu in the nonkosher dining room, Gareleck will forgo kosher chicken pilaf, brisket, or prime rib. And when a group of friends plans a nonkosher meal, she’ll join them. About half of the 220 Palace residents opt for a kosher dinner each night, but only about 45 eat solely kosher food, said Keith A. Myers, president and CEO of MorseLife Health System.
The kosher versus nonkosher debate at Jewish senior residences was absent from this month’s conference agenda of the Association of Jewish Aging Services—not because it’s a topic members are afraid to discuss, but because they’ve already discussed it so much. “People are tired of talking about it,” said Stuart Almer, the conference’s co-chair and president and CEO of the Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center on Long Island. “It’s a sensitive issue to remain kosher or not.” About 20 of Gurwin’s 460 residents eat nothing but kosher food. At Long Island’s Parker Jewish Institute, where Almer previously worked, 20 of about 525 residents consistently ate food prepared in the kosher kitchen.
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Relocating to a senior independent living community can be a fraught decision. Seniors must leave a familiar neighborhood and acknowledge the potential need for services such as assisted living and skilled nursing that “continuum of care” facilities offer.
Communal meals in a new residence help ease that transition and combat the loneliness and isolation many seniors experience. “It is really important; I can’t emphasize it enough,” said Joan Denison, executive director of Covenant Place in St. Louis, where as many as 100 seniors—most of them Jewish— eat a subsidized kosher meal five nights a week.
Matzo ball soup and challah are a comforting sight on a Friday night table, invoking a shared culture and history. “The food is a very easy item to say what makes a facility Jewish,” Almer said. “Food is a big part of it. It’s an obvious and tangible thing.”
When seniors choose a community, the meals—their quality, variety, taste, and presentation—carry disproportionate weight. “If you’re in your 80s or 90s, what’s the only thing you can control?” said Newport, of Sinai Residences. “You maybe can’t drive any more, your family has passed away or your kids are grown up and your spouse may have died. You can control only one thing: your food.”
Administrators are paying close attention, particularly as 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day, a that will continue through the next decade. “The preferences of our senior-living residents are what’s really going to drive our business model,” Newport said. “As long as the residents are able to have the things they want in their lives, that’s what’s going to really trigger them to move into senior living.”
Enticing Jewish elders means accommodating their preferences, said Martin Goetz, CEO of River Garden Senior Services in Jacksonville, Florida. “If there is a trend, it’s away from kosher or ‘kosher is optimal.’ That’s for survival.” That shift is occurring across the country, either in one fell swoop or by degrees.
In Philadelphia, ownership changes and residents’ preferences led two predominately Jewish senior residences—Martins Run Senior Residential Community and the Golden Slipper Health and Rehab Center—to eliminate their kosher kitchens. Golden Slipper, now the Glendale Uptown Home, transitioned to kosher-style meals in 2013 for its 200 residents, most of whom were Jewish.
Martins Run in Media, Pennsylvania, added a nonkosher kitchen after requests from prospective and current residents. The community was eventually acquired by Wesley Enhanced Living, which has roots in the Evangelical Association of Churches. Wesley’s still touts its “kosher food of the highest standards under strict rabbinical supervision.” The four remaining residents who keep kosher eat their prepared dinners together at a single table. “Am I disappointed? Yes,” said Ethel Hamburger, 91, who chose Martins Run 12 years ago for its kosher food and Jewish population. “It’s not the place it was.” A Wesley spokeswoman declined comment.
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New cafes opening this spring on Jewish community center campuses that include senior residences in St. Louis and West Palm Beach will be serving nonkosher food to Jewish seniors, their families, and the community.
The kosher kitchens on the 50-acre MorseLife campus in West Palm Beach feed residents of the assisted living center, adult day care programs, a kosher Meals on Wheels program, students at four Jewish schools, and seniors who eat in the kosher dining rooms in the Palace, where Gareleck lives. But the bistro that opens on campus in June—where Palace residents will be able to eat at no charge, since their meals are included—will serve food from the nonkosher kitchen in the independent-living building.
Covenant Place in St. Louis is part of the Millstone Campus, which includes the St. Louis JCC, the federation, and the va’ad. In June, a new building is set to open that will include
medical services, physical therapy, and geriatric care facilities, as well as a new café. Seniors who live in Covenant Place’s 355 apartments—which each have kitchens—can eat at the new bistro on campus if they wish; it’s also open to everyone else, including health-care staff who serve the seniors and families who use the JCC.
“We had a big debate: Should we be kosher or nonkosher,” said Denison. The compromise was a dairy kitchen under rabbinic supervision and a meat one that is not. As many as 100 seniors who pay $3.50 for subsidized communal dinners catered by Kohn’s Kosher Meat and Deli Restaurant will have to opt for a dairy dinner if they want a kosher meal; meat meals will be made in-house, in the nonkosher kitchen.
Denison views the two cafes as a win-win: Kosher-observant families can enjoy a meal out together, and those who want more choices and affordable options can have that, too. “The key is to just be respectful,” she said, “and try to serve the whole gamut of those choices.”
Despite pressures to abandon kosher fare, some proponents are holding their ground, at least for now. When Alexander Ben-Israel became executive director of the 193-unit Moldaw Residences on the Taube Koret Center for Jewish Life in Palo Alto, California, three years ago, prepackaged kosher entrees were “miserable” and mushy. Ben-Israel brought the kosher program in-house, adding a mashgiach, multiple sets of dishes, and meat and dairy dishwashers. Participation doubled to about 25 residents.
“We had a philosophical commitment to the residents to offer kosher dining,” Ben-Israel said. “It’s just the right thing to do, that people who lived a kosher life all their lives would be able to continue to do it. … We call ourselves a Jewish facility, and it would feel kind of funny not offering it.”
But a nonkosher meal costs $15 to make, and a kosher one costs $27, adding an extra $70,000 a year to Moldow’s expenses. The facility is covering the difference for now, though it may eventually be passed on to residents.
In Jacksonville, kosher food costs River Garden an additional $300,000 a year even with staff—not rabbinic—supervision, “but that’s the cost of being who we are,” Goetz said. “We hold ourselves out to serve the entire community. … If Jews no longer connect with their synagogues, at least they are in a place that feels Jewish, does Jewish, and sounds Jewish, even if they’re not observant.” River Garden is Northeast Florida’s sole Jewish senior residence and nursing home.
Goetz, who has been CEO for 40 years, knows better than to ask the seniors what they want to eat. “We don’t put kosher on the agenda to be voted on by residents, because it would fail,” he said. “The residents here love bacon, ham, shrimp, and lobster.”
One day, some might get it. “I see the trend continuing away from kosher. I think it’s inexorable,” Goetz said. “I’m not willing to go out of business because I’m a kosher facility. If no one’ll come here because I’m kosher and it’s too expensive to serve it, I’d need to revisit our mission and our philosophy.”
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This story originally appeared in Tablet magazine, at tabletmag.com, and is reprinted with permission.
Local News
Acclaimed rabbi steps to the pulpit of Toronto’s dynamic, downtown Reform congregation
(Toronto, Ont.) – City Shul (cityshul.com) is proud to welcome its new spiritual leader, Rabbi Stephanie Crawley, who began leading the 250-member synagogue in late July and will head the downtown congregation’s 2025 High Holiday services later this month. City Shul has been hailed by the Union for Reform Judaism’s leader, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, as “unique in North America” for its merger of traditional Jewish knowledge with modern Reform values. It was founded in 2011 by Rabbi Emerita Elyse Goldstein, Toronto’s first female rabbi and a pioneering feminist scholar.
Why would a successful and beloved associate rabbi from a large, prominent synagogue relocate to Toronto to head City Shul, a small, upstart congregation?
“I wasn’t looking for just any congregation,” says Rabbi Crawley, an award-winning scholar from 800-member Temple Micah in Washington, D.C. “I was looking for the right congregation.
“I had learned that City Shul was a vibrant, forward-thinking and committed congregation. Since my husband, Rabbi Jesse Paikin, grew up in the Greater Toronto Area, it also sounded like the perfect opportunity to be closer to our extended family.”
Rabbi Crawley’s inaugural Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services will offer the wider Toronto Jewish community a chance to experience her love for Judaism and her thoughtful interpretation of its depth and breadth.
“My dream is that when people think and speak of City Shul, they will know that it is a place where Judaism is celebrated joyously,” says Rabbi Crawley. “I believe a synagogue should be a living, vibrant home for Jewish life, where ritual is profound and transformative, where we are called to be and do our best for each other and the world.
“I’m excited to continue the dynamism and experimentation that is such a deep part of City Shul’s culture, and continue to innovate and grow this warm community.”
City Shul conducted an extensive international search to find a new rabbi. The search committee interviewed more than a dozen candidates, but when they met Rabbi Crawley, the connection was instantaneous.
Rabbi Crawley has begun her tenure at City Shul by leading Shabbat services and getting to know her congregants. Her arrival marks not just a new chapter for the synagogue, but a renewed invitation to explore, celebrate, and shape Jewish life together—with joy, meaning, and a bold spirit of possibility.
ABOUT RABBI CRAWLEY:
Rabbi Stephanie Crawley received her undergraduate education at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 2010 and earned a Master of Hebrew Studies and rabbinic ordination through Hebrew Union College/The Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and Jerusalem. She graduated in 2018 with numerous prizes and academic distinctions, including the Rabbi Solomon Goldman Memorial Prize in Liturgy and the Edith Robers Memorial Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement. Her rabbinic thesis, Out of the Box and onto the Page: Elevated Voices of Female Biblical Characters in Midrash Sefer ha-Yashar, reflected her egalitarian outlook.
As an Associate Rabbi at Temple Micah in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Crawley was involved in all aspects of the congregation, including education, long-term planning, music, outreach, pastoral care, prayer, spirituality and social justice. During her rabbinic studies and afterward, she received numerous fellowships to enhance her learning or assist her in her endeavours, such as the North America-wide Bonnie and Daniel Tisch Rabbinic Fellowship, which focused on congregational leadership and innovative thinking, and the Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship, designed to increase knowledge of interfaith inclusion issues and create communities of belonging for couples and families. In addition, she is a talented poet and musician.
ABOUT CITY SHUL:
City Shul is a downtown Reform Jewish congregation founded in 2011 by internationally renowned Rabbi Emerita Elyse Goldstein with a group of committed laypeople, including academics and Canadian Jewish leaders.
Local News
Premier Wab Kinew wows an audience of seniors at the Gwen Secter Centre
By BERNIE BELLAN (Sept. 11, 2025) There was a mood of heightened expectancy the afternoon of Wednesday, September 10, at the Gwen Secter Centre. The premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, was scheduled to arrive at approximately 1:30 pm to speak to a large audience of over 60 seniors (including this writer).
(Seniors are able to come to the Gwen Secter Centre every Wednesday for a delicious lunch, followed either by entertainment or a speaker.)
But Premier Kinew had been scheduled to come to the Gwen Secter Centre a couple of months prior to this particular day – but was forced to cancel due to something unexpected that had come up in his busy schedule, as things are wont to do when you’re the premier.
This time though, three other NDP MLAs arrived prior to the premier and – because none of them looked like a senior – although I didn’t have a clue who any of them were, I assumed that they weren’t there simply for no reason at all, so I asked one of them, who happened to be a nice, young woman: “Is the premier going to show or is he going to bail again?”
I don’t think she particularly liked the tone of my question (Obviously she didn’t know who I was either, otherwise she wouldn’t have been surprised at my cheekiness), but she responded quite warmly, reassuring me that he was on his way. She also asked me what I was doing there – because I was standing outside the auditorium when everyone else was seated by that point, so I said: “Hey, I’m a senior – so I’m entitled to be here, but I’m also a very annoying reporter – and I’m here to cover this.”
But where was the security detail that one would normally expect to see in advance of a VIP as important as the premier? I wondered.
It turns out there was one lonely security guy – in a suit, but not wearing an earpiece. (I asked him if he was security because he was dressed too nicely for the Gwen Secter Centre – and he wasn’t talking with anyone.) He admitted that he was security, but when I said that I thought there would be more like him considering it was the premier of Manitoba who was coming, he answered that they consider the kind of audience that will be at an event when planning security for the premier – and no one thought that audience that day was going to be overly dangerous. Also, the premier was scheduled to arrive after everyone in the audience had had lunch; he was wise not to arrive before lunch because seniors, especially Jewish seniors, generally don’t care who it is they’re going to hear from – all they want to know is whether the food is going to be served on time!
As it was, Premier Kinew was only a few minutes late and, after mingling with the Gwen Secter staff for a few minutes, made his way directly to the microphone situated at one end of the auditorium. There was no grand entrance accompanied by a phalanx of minders – only the premier, who had a big smile on his face as he navigated the tables of seniors. (Clearly he hadn’t been advised that every Jewish event starts late and that no one as important as a premier simply walks in unaccompanied by a large retinue of self-important toadies.)
Dan Saidman, who is program coordinator at Gwen Secter, introduced the premier with a few brief remarks. Thereupon Premier Kinew stood in front of the auditorium and, being a polished speaker whom we’ve all learned is totally comfortable in front of a mic, spent about 20 minutes talking about what his government has done.
There wasn’t much that anyone who follows Manitoba politics wouldn’t have heard before, but unlike so many other politicians, the premier seemed to be totally at ease and engaged as he spoke.
Now, ordinarily one might have thought that, after all, it was the premier of Manitoba, so how much time would he have had to spend at the Gwen Secter Centre in the midst of a weekday afternoon?
But, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the premier, following his remarks, say: “I’m willing to take any questions if anyone has them.” Okay, I thought, a few minutes maybe, but I was amazed to watch the premier of Manitoba listen to question after question, and answer them all thoughtfully – for over 45 minutes.
The questions covered quite a wide range of issues. Two questioners asked about the security situation at the Health Sciences Centre and one of those questioners struck a particular chord when he began his question by saying that he has two daughters who work as nurses at HSC – and they’re frightened to walk to their cars at night when they leave.
I had thought before I even rode my bike to Gwen Secter Centre (which I like to do because I’m a thrill seeker and riding a bike in Winnipeg is nothing if not thrillingly dangerous) that, if I had the opportunity to ask the premier a question, I was going to ask him about renewable energy.
So, when Dan Saidman handed me the mic, I did ask him a question along those lines, but I began by saying to the premier that the impact he made upon the Jewish community in October 2023 – and this was shortly after the NDP had won the election, when he spoke at the massive rally that was held at the Asper Campus, and touched anyone who was there by the support he showed for the Jewish community and how heartfelt he was, was very much appreciated.
But, I went on to say, we all know that the health file is an almost impossible challenge, that crime is another almost impossible challenge – so is homelessness but, for gosh sakes, he’s an NDP premier and the government seems to have given up on renewable energy as a goal.
The premier responded that, in fact, the government is engaged in quite a massive build-out of wind power which ultimately, will end up adding 600 megawatts to Manitoba’s total energy supply – amounting to “ten percent” of Manitoba’s total energy capacity when all is said and done.
He went on to describe in some detail three different projects, each of which will add approximately 200 megawatts to our energy capacity.
I admit I was quite surprised to hear the premier’s answer because there have been so many letters to the editor and opinion columns in the Winnipeg Free Press decrying Manitoba’s almost total reliance on hydro power, also the construction of a new natural gas energy plant. I’m not expert enough to know whether Premier Kinew’s answer was based on real, hard commitments or not, but he seemed to be thoroughly acquainted with the details of the plan to add a massive amount of wind power to the infrastructure we already have. When all three components of the wind power plan are implemented, Premier Kinew said, it will quadruple the amount of wind power we presently have in Manitoba.
As he stood there, fielding question after question, listening patiently and always answering thoughtfully, even though it’s not the first time I’ve been in an audience when Wab Kinew has spoken, I thought to myself: He genuinely likes people. I’ve met a lot of politicians in my day, but the only other politician who I also thought honestly seemed to enjoy meeting people was Justin Trudeau, but that was before he became prime minister. I remember Justin Trudeau attending Shalom Square in 2015, accompanied by Jim Carr, and watching him climb over chairs in the Rady JCC gym to shake hands with people, to get hugged by oodles of women, all the time with a big smile on his face.
Of course, as Charles Adler once remarked on his radio show, “Once you can fake sincerity, the rest is easy,” so who’s to know what people like Wab Kinew and Justin Trudeau really would be thinking when they were working an audience?.
But, when he finished answering all the questions that anyone had, Dan Saidman asked the premier one more: “Who were the people whom he admired most in life?”
Kinew’s answer was: “His mother and his father.” He told a particularly poignant story about his father, who had been a chief during his lifetime. When his father lay dying in a hospital, Wab said he would go visit him every day. He hadn’t been all that close to his father until that time, he said, but after spending those final days with his father, he realized that not only was his father his father, he was his “best friend.”
And, following that final remark, the premier of the province said that he was going to stick around and chat with anyone who wanted to talk to him – which he proceeded to do for another half hour.
As Gerry Posner might say: “What a mensch!”
Local News
JNF Canada says a new charity called “Friends of JNF Canada” will be able to issue tax receipts to donors
By BERNIE BELLAN (Sept. 11, 2025) It’s a complicated – and very confusing story – and it goes back to an earth-shaking decision issued by the Canada Revenue Agency on August 10, 2024. That decision, which was published in the Canada Gazette (which is where an announcenment about any charity whose charitable status has been revoked is published) was to revoke the Jewish National Fund Canada’s charitable status.
To give you an idea how important charitable donations have been to JNF Canada, according to the most recent audited financial statements that are available, “In 2023, JNF Canada received $20.2 million in donations and had a total revenue of $22.2 million.”
We’ve written numerous times about what led up to CRA’s decision to revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status and the resulting aftermath – in which JNF Canada was thrown into disarray.
Much of the reporting on this story was done by Ellen Bessner, writing for the Canadian Jewish News. Bessner was stolid in her research and although a good portion of what she wrote laid the blame for what happened to JNF Canada at the feet of JNF Canada itself, she provided exhausting detail about what lay behind CRA’s decision. If you want to read past articles that follow the chronology of events following that August 10, 2024 decision by CRA, you can simply enter JNF in the search engine on jewishpostandnews.ca, and you’ll find a great many stories about not only what led up to CRA’s decision to remove JNF Canada’s charitable status, but what steps JNF Canada took subsequent to that momentous decision.
During the past 13 months though, JNF Canada has been embroiled in a legal battle against CRA on different levels – in two different courts: The Federal Court and the Federal Court of Canada. You’ll have to read an article posted on June 17 this year on jewishpostandnews.ca to understand the difference between the two courts. For the purpose of this article, however, it is only important to note that JNF Canada’s appeal to the Federal Court was turned down by that court – for technical reasons, i.e., the Federal Court ruled that it was not the proper court to hear the particular matter that JNF Canada had brought forward; however, the appeal to the Federal Court of Canada is still underway. It may take quite some time before that court issues a decision and, if it also goes against JNF Canada, there is a strong likelihood JNF Canada will take its case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. The upshot is that it may be years before the legal battle JNF Canada has been waging with CRA may be resolved.
In the meantime though, JNF Canada had been working to come up with a solution to the challenge of its having been deregistered by CRA as a charity able to issue tax receipts.
On September 2, JNF Canada sent out an email to its supporters in which it gave a preview of what was about to happen. That email noted: “This past year has been challenging for JNF Canada and for Jewish communities across the country.
“Even without charitable status and amid an ongoing legal dispute with the CRA JNF Canada has remained committed to its mission… The absence of our charitable status has limited our ability to operate effectively and our supporters have told us they want their donations to have the full impact, including the ability to receive charitable receipts… In response wonderful friends stepped forward to dedicate their charity to caring out similar work and have appropriately renamed it “Friends of JNF Canada” (emphasis mine).
What did that mean? I wondered. The email also noted that “JNF Canada will continue to operate as it fights its legal battle against the CRA, for its right to fair treatment.”
So, JNF Canada is still alive as an organization called JNF Canada – but it has now managed to find a way to issue tax receipts to its supporters. The September 2 email didn’t go into any detail as to what “Friends of JNF Canada” was – and how it had come about.
But, in a story issued by the CJN on September 4, it was noted that “JNF Canada, whose charitable tax status was revoked by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in 2024, has created a new charitable entity linked to the organization. The new charity, Friends of JNF Canada, officially launches on Sept. 8.”
“A new charitable entity?” I wondered. What did that mean?
The CJN story, written by Jonathan Rothman, went on to note that “Friends of JNF Canada will have the ability to issue charitable tax receipts, (Nathan) Disenhouse (National President, JNF Canada) told the National Post in an interview, saying the new organization’s fundraising for Israel would be done ‘in a similar way that JNF Canada did, but with the ability to issue tax receipts.’
My reaction upon reading Rothman’s story was: “What? This sounds just like JNF Canada, but with a new name. Isn’t this really an end-around that would allow JNF Canada to circumvent CRA’s removal of JNF Canada’s charitable status?”
So, on September 5, I wrote to CRA, asking this question: “Can you confirm that ‘Friends of JNF Canada’ is now a registered charity, able to issue tax receipts?”
I received a response that same day saying that someone would get back to me with an answer.
The answer arrived September 10: “The public may consult the CRA’s List of charities and certain other qualified donees to confirm whether an organization is a registered charity or other qualified donee. For clarity, the public may also confirm in the same registry: the registration number, the current status of the charity, the date since the status has been valid, the type of qualified donee, the designation, and the website of a specific charity. We can confirm that Friends of JNF (emphasis mine) was registered as a public foundation effective September 22, 2022. Note that the governing documents in our records reflect a legal name change from ‘The Benzimra Foundation’ to ‘Friends of JNF’ effective August 14, 2025.”
Note that the email from CRA referred twice to the charity as “Friends of JNF,” not “Friends of JNF Canada.” Was that just a typing error or was it more significant? I again wondered.
Adding to the confusion, JNF Canada issued another email on September 10, in which it said, in part, that …wonderful friends stepped forward to dedicate their charity to carrying out similar work (to what JNF Canada had been doing) and have appropriately renamed it Friends of JNF Canada. With our Board of Director’s (sic.) full endorsement this organization will continue supporting the kinds of projects that have always defined JNF Canada’s mission: serving Israelis in need through charitable projects that help the vulnerable, enhance environmental sustainability, and support the mental & physical health of Israelis in need.”That email did not name the Benzimra Foundation as the charity that had agreed to change its name to Friends of JNF Canada but, as you can see in the email from CRA, CRA disclosed that information.
We wondered whether Friends of JNF and Friends of JNF Canada are one and the same. We received an explanation from Lance Davis, who was formerly CEO of JNF Canada and is now CEO of Friends of JNF Canada: “Our lawyer filed the name Friends of JNF. We were given additional input from supporters that it may be confusing as there are many JNFs around the world and we should specify Canada so that it’s clear that we are an independent Canadian charity funding Canadian directed projects. We are not a subsidiary of any other charity, as we are totally independent.
“Therefore, we decided to operate as Friends of JNF Canada.
“It is extremely common for businesses to have an operating name that is slightly different that the registered name. At this point we have so much to do to get our activities and campaigns started, so we will not be revisiting this now. However, in the future, the board may want to do so.”
But, in an October 2024 article in CJN, it was noted that another Canadian charity known as the Ne’eman Foundation had also had its charitable status revoked in August 2024. Subsequently, that same article reported, “the organization, which distributes funds to various causes in Israel, began instructing prospective donors to contribute through another recently formed Canadian charity (emphasis mine).
“Six weeks later, Canadian officials imposed a one-year suspension on that charity, called the Emunim Fund, according to its listing on the Canada Revenue Agency website.
“CRA regulators had previously raised concerns about particular Ne’eman Foundation projects in Israel, and a volunteer with Jewish pro-Palestinian group had alleged to the agency that the Ne’eman Foundation was using the Emunim Fund to skirt the revocation (emphasis mine).
“The agency has not publicly disclosed why it suspended the Emunim Fund, and said in a statement that it is barred by law from commenting on individual cases.”
Thus, there are two questions for which we’re awaiting answers: Is the name of the charity which JNF Canada now says will be able to issue tax receipts to donors who might previously have donated to JNF Canada “Friends of JNF” (as the CRA email said was the name) or is it “Friends of JNF Canada,” which was what the emails from JNF Canada says it its name?
Second, although the CRA email would seem to indicate that it has granted registration to this new charity – whether its name is Friends of JNF or perhaps Friends of JNF Canada, given CRA’s previous revocation of the registration of a charity linked to Israel when it changed its name from the Ne’eman Foundation to the Ne’eman Fund, will CRA follow suit and suspend the new charity whose name closely resembles JNF Canada’s name?
As I wrote – this is all so confusing. Even though spokespersons for both CRA and JNF Canada have been quick to respond to emails from me in which I’ve been asking questions trying to sort out exactly what has been going on, it seems that each email leads me to ask yet more questions.
If I receive more information from either CRA or JNF Canada that helps to clarify the questions I’ve asked, I’ll update this story – so keep checking back.