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
******
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
******
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.
*****
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.
*
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.
*
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.
*
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.”
***
This story originally appeared in Tablet magazine, at tabletmag.com, and is reprinted with permission.
Local News
This man – Michael Kalo – has been defaming prominent Winnipeggers online for years, but now he’s getting a taste of his own medicine
By BERNIE BELLAN (Posted May 3, updated May 8)) There’s a particularly ugly side that often comes with being in the public eye – and that’s being on the receiving end of some of the most vile and awful comments, often threats – sometimes on social media, sometimes in emails, and sometimes on websites.
For years now many prominent Winnipeggers (almost all of them Jewish) have had to endure just that kind of vicious attack from someone by the name of Michael Kalo. But how do you fight back against someone who writes some of the most awful things – and then sends them out to various members of the media (including me), all the while hiding behind a series of aliases? There’s no point in suing him for defamation; he’s penniless. (The police have seized his computer in the past and are well aware of him, but the individuals whom he has defamed have always been reluctant to have the Crown press charges, thinking that it will only draw more attention to him – which is what he seems to want.)
But I’m different – and I’ve finally had enough of his crap.
I just received another email from Michael Kalo. This time I told him I was going to post his email and my response – but I was going to reveal his true name. (He sent the email under the name “Harvey Weinstein”.)
It must be particularly embarrassing for Michael’s two very accomplished daughters, Stephanie Kalo and Emily Kalo, to have people realize who their father is.
I’m also posting a video that was sent to me that shows Kalo engaging in an argument with someone (and the identity of that person was not revealed to me by the person who sent me the video.) In it you can hear Michael explain why he’s consistently called Ben Carr a “kike”, “a spoiled Jew boy,” along with some other choice epithets. (Kalo has sent out numerous emails defaming Ben Carr using the name “Mohammed Greenberg” as the sender.)
First, here’s the email in which Kalo goes after Jacob Brodovsky, who recently left his post as co-executive director of BB Camp following a storm of controversy (about which you can read elsewhere on this site):
Dear Bernie:
Jacob Brodovsky is a vile and entitled (self-hating) JEW BOY Bastard, who should keep his long nose away of the private affairs of a foreign sovereign and free country he knows nothing about.
We hear that him and his JAP wife Lexi are expecting a baby.
We respectfully believe that if a boy, they should name him Adolf, and that in a case of a girl, her name should be Eva.
In terms of these scums’ future employment, we suggest that they now look into finding, for a change, a real job.
Perhaps by moving to Gaza and starting a summer (training) camp for (young) terrorists.
Indeed, the BB Camp Board reached the right decision as to these two haters of Israel, the brave and only Jewish state.
Having said this, we wonder why the two were hired (and overpaid) at the first place, and more importantly why it took that long to finally terminate their positions.
We thank you for your ongoing attention to this matter, in our view second only to the scandal of (former Mayor) Sam Katz stealing millions of dollars from the City’s hard working taxpayers and its Police force without, to this day, facing any consequences (other than having to move from Tuxedo to Headingly…lol).
Go (IDF’s) Jets Go!
Harvey W.
And here’s how I responded to Kalo:
You know what I’m going to do Michael. I’m going to print your letter on my website – but I’m going to say that it was sent by someone named Michael Kalo, who has been defaming various Winnipeg Jews for years. That way it will have the opposite effect of what you’re intending. I’m also going to post the video in which you call Ben Carr (and the person filming the video) a kike.) And if you want to come after me the way you’ve been going after anyone and everyone who provokes your ire, go right ahead. (You seem to have a real hate on for successful Winnipeg Jews. Is it because you’re such a failure in life yourself?) And I’m going to bcc this email to some of the people you’ve been defaming so that they can see how much of a fool you”ve been making of yourself for years.
-Bernie
And here’s the video of Michael (who is apparently walking away with a Ben Carr sign tucked under his arm):
Local News
Rabbi Matthew Leibl’s Friday afternoon service at Simkin Centre has grown in popularity
By BERNIE BELLAN In November 2023 I published a story in The Jewish Post & News about the first-ever Friday afternoon “Erev Shabbat” service at the Simkin Centre, which was held October 27, 2023.
It was an opportunity for me to see how much of an impact the newly spiritual care aide at the Simkin Centre, Rabbi Matthew Leibl, was having on residents. But that was in 2023 – only 2 years after the Simkin Centre had emerged from the most harrowing period in its history.
As you may recall, when Covid 19 began to spread in early 2020, it was personal care homes across Canada that were hit hardest – and the Simkin Centre was not spared the ravages of Covid. A total of 11 residents passed away at the Centre in 2020 and 2021.
Another result of the Covid epidemic was that the number of non-Jewish residents at the Simkin Centre jumped by quite a large number during the epidemic. Here are some figures showing how many more non-Jewish residents moved into the home by 2021 than had been there previously:
2017 – 67 non-Jewish or 33.5%
2018 – 63 non-Jewish or 31.5%
2019 – 71 non-Jewish or 35.5%
2020 – 61 non-Jewish or 30.5%
2021 – 86 non-Jewish or 43.0%
According to Laurie Cerqueti, CEO at the Simkin Centre, as of May 2, 2025, 44% of the residents are non-Jewish while 56% are Jewish.
Rabbi Leibl had been hired in the spring of 2023. His hiring was enabled by a grant from the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. Here is how the Foundation explained what its purpose was in making a grant to the Simkin Centre for the hiring of a full-time spiritual care aide:
“I know how important spiritual care is in our type of setting,” said Laurie Cerqueti, Simkin Centre CEO. “For our residents, our families, and our community.”
Since she took over the CEO role, Laurie’s thoughts had been directed to ‘How can we serve our people even more than we are now? How can we make this bigger and better?’
This sparked the idea that someone should be brought in to look at what they were doing regarding spiritual care to see where gaps and opportunities lay to develop the program.
The Simkin Centre hired Rabbi Matthew Leibl as the person to fill the role, someone Cerqueti thought would be a perfect fit f for what they’were hoping to do.
“As I spoke with Matthew about this opportunity, we see it as an opportunity to make a significant difference for the residents and their families,” said Cerqueti.
This interaction with the Simkin Centre is not Rabbi Leibl’s first. He has been involved with the Simkin Centre for over 15 years, first working there at age 21. That year, he did concerts three times per week for the residents.
“I found that the music and performing was an incredible way to connect with the people there,” said Rabbi Leibl.
He recalled a story from that time frame where he was performing Oseh Shalom, and one resident who had been, to that point, without her memory and less present, began to mouth the words along with him. The song helped her break through what she had been dealing with.
“That moment was truly a game changer for me. I’m so excited to be able to give back to a place that helped people in my own family and was a great place for me while I was figuring out my way many years ago,” said Rabbi Leibl.
“Simkin is such a special place, and what they’re doing there is awesome.”
In the year and a half since I was present at Rabbi Leibl’s first ever Friday afternoon service at the Simkin Centre much has changed. Most of the new residents who have moved into the centre have, once again, been Jewish. But, in recognition of how many residents are not Jewish the centre has begun offering services for different denominations as well. The May calendar of events lists a Catholic Mass, an Anglican service, a Christian Bible Study, and a Hymnsing.
But it was Rabbi Leibl’s Erev Shabbat service I was interested in seeing again – some 18 months after the first service he had conducted, to see whether it had changed – and how many residents came to watch.
The atrium of the centre was filled with residents on Friday, April 26 – quite a few more than that October 2023 service. The increased number of attendees was also a reflection of how many more of the centre’s residents, once again, are Jewish. (In case you weren’t aware, if there’s a vacant unit at the Simkin Centre and someone who is Jewish is on the wait list to gain admission into the centre, that individual will be given first crack at moving into the centre. I had been told by Laurie Cerqueti that the 14 most recent new residents in the centre were all Jewish.)
There was one other aspect to Rabbi Leibl’s service which was brought to my attention. One of the residents at the Simkin Centre, Carol Manishen, also has a son living in a Shalom Residence: Josh Manishen. When Carol’s husband, Wayne, saw me at that Friday service he told me that he often comes early with Josh – before the start of the regular service at 4:00 pm, and Josh sings various Hebrew prayers, accompanied by Rabbi Leibl on the keyboard. To watch a video of Josh singing, click here:
Two more things to add though: First, Rabbi Leibl is now a regular participant on a podcast that is put on by CJN (what used to be known as the Canadian Jewish News) called “Not In Heaven.” You can find it simply by Googling CJN and scrolling down under the Podcasts link.
Also, since Rabbi Leibl and I go a long way back – and we both have a fond taste for sarcasm, he singled me out from among the audience and said to everyone there: “We’ve even got a reporter from the Jewish Post here.”
I couldn’t help but respond – in my usual facetious manner, that I was there to do an exposé.
To which, Rabbi Leibl retorted: “You can call it “Sex, Drugs, and Candlesticks.” Hmm, I wonder how much more there is about the Simkin Centre that I haven’t learned yet?
Local News
Well, that didn’t take long…BB Camp Board announces hiring of two new co-directors
(Posted April 27) In a span of a little more than two weeks, BB Camp has gone from parting ways with one of its co-executive directors, Jacob Brodovsky, to the hiring of two new co-directors. (We have been attempting to ascertain the status of Lexi Yurman, who was also camp co-executive director with Jacob – who also happened to be her husband, and who is now on maternity leave. Would she be entitled to return as co-executive director once her maternity leave is up, we wonder?)
The BB Camp board released a press release announcing the new hires at 12:42 pm today. Interestingly, there is no mention whether the positions that are to be filled by the two individuals, Sarah Gould and Aliza Millo, are to be permanent or temporary. Also, the two women are referred to as co-camp directors, not co-executive directors. Is there any significance to that, we wonder? Since no one from the BB Camp board has responded to any questions we have posed to them since this whole mess began, we won’t hold our breath waiting for answers to any of the questions we’ve just asked here either.
Here is the complete text of the BB Camp board announcement:
Dear BB Camp Community,
On behalf of the Board, we wanted to let you know that we acknowledge that the last week has caused much stress and uncertainty. We have felt it too and have been working very hard to ensure that the summer season unfolds as we all expect.
We are extremely excited to share with you that our 2025 summer senior Camp leadership team is now in place!
Please give a BB Camp W-E-L-C-O-M-E to Sarah Gould and Aliza Millo!
Sarah Gould: co-Camp Director (Wilderness and Operations)
Sarah is returning to BB Camp as co-Camp Director (Wilderness and Operations). Sarah’s history with BB Camp stretches back decades. She spent many formative summers on Town Island—as a camper, counselor, canoe instructor, and AC out-tripper. After BB, she took her skills to Camp Hatikvah in BC, where she helped develop and expand their wilderness and out-tripping program. Sarah has an intimate knowledge of wilderness programming, the importance of integrating Jewish values into outdoor education, and as camp alumni and a current camp parent, has a clear understanding of our community’s interests and hopes for BB Camp’s future.
Sarah has been fortunate to spend every summer of her life at Lake of the Woods. Her family cottage is on Channel Island, directly across from Town Island. She has strong ties to our Lake of the Woods neighbours and an ability to navigate the lake and Kenora. Sarah also was a key volunteer on the Friends of Town Island campaign, through which Camp was able to successfully partner with the Nature Conservancy of Canada to have Town Island designated as a protected area—ensuring its legacy for generations to come.
Professionally, Sarah has years of experience in education, research, and community organizing. She taught anthropology and international development at Trent and the University of Toronto and now works as a researcher and consultant in health studies. In her community life, she leads a neighborhood organization in Toronto, where she has spearheaded grassroots initiatives—from building a skating rink to coordinating with city officials and local stakeholders on community improvement projects. Sarah is also active in the Jewish community, including advocacy for Israel and supporting students facing antisemitism on campus.
Sarah is excited to be returning to Town Island and the BB Camp family for an amazing summer of 2025.
Aliza Millo: co-Camp Director (Programs)
Aliza’s history with BB Camp dates back decades as well. She spent many years at Camp as a camper, counselor, section head, and LTP Coordinator. After Camp, Aliza pursued a career she felt was most adjacent to working at Camp and transitioned into the classroom. She moved to Toronto to pursue her education degree, where she also completed a Jewish Education Certificate at York University.
For the next seven years, Aliza taught at the Toronto Heschel School, a school dedicated to tikkun olam and social justice, with a particular focus on environmental stewardship and sustainability. While there, Aliza taught grades three through seven, with a greater focus on the upper elementary years, teaching Judaics, Hebrew, and General Studies in a pluralistic, integrated setting.
After 10 years in Toronto, Aliza was happy to move back home to Winnipeg. Aliza met her future husband David Azuelos at BB Camp many years ago; to get a sense of how important BB Camp is to Aliza, she had her wedding on Town Island. Since her return to Winnipeg, Aliza has worked at St. John’s-Ravenscourt School, teaching Grade 4, cultivating an environmental leadership team at the Junior School level, and even bringing groups of Grade 4 and 5 students to Town Island for Outdoor Ed. Aliza has also helped organize and fundraise for Kendra’s Walk, a student-led initiative at SJR supporting teens living with cancer.
Aliza’s true passion lies in building community, whether in the classroom or at Camp. Since her time as a camper, she has enjoyed returning to the island for Work Weekend, volunteering in the kitchen, and serving on the Alumni Committee ahead of the 70th Alumni Weekend. She is most passionate when working with children and believes in strong communication with parents to build meaningful and supportive relationships. Having worked in a kindergarten to Grade 12 school setting, she has enjoyed maintaining lifelong relationships with students and families in the community.
Aliza is excited to be bringing her two boys, Judah and Dubie, to Camp. She is thrilled to be returning in this position — working with and mentoring the already incredible staff, and helping to foster deep and meaningful connections to Jewish values, traditions, and culture. Aliza looks forward to helping build a strong, nurturing community where every camper feels a sense of comfort, belonging, and pride in who they are — and in being a BB Camp camper.
***
The Camp Board of Directors is grateful that Sarah and Aliza, two lifelong BB Campers who together have an exceptional skill set, will be leading our community’s beloved Camp this summer. We are looking forward to another great Camp summer, full of amazing Camp memories. We will be reaching out directly to Camp families with more information. Please bear with us as our new leadership team gets up to speed and starts working with our current staff. Reach us at info@bbcamp.ca
Ed.note: Here’s a comment we received through our “contact us” link: (Readers of this website should be aware that it is run independently of The Jewish Post newspaper. I will forward any comments sent to me that are meant to be letters to the editor of the paper, but the proper email address for the paper is contact@thejewishpost.ca)
Letter to the Editor re BB Camp
I am a former member of the Board of BB Camp and served as Board Chair for a number of years. I am disgusted in the manner in which the current Board responded to to the public assassination of its Executive Director by dishonest Israeli extremists in our community. I am equally disgusted that what should have been a private internal human resource issue at the Camp was made public by the Board through its e-mails to the community which essentially made it impossible for the Executive Director to continue in his position and which likely tarnished his reputation. All I can say that is that I hope Jacob received a large monetary settlement from BB Camp.
-Irwin Corobow
You must be logged in to post a comment Login