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
Young Winnipegger Dr. Yale Michaels receives $550,000 Canadian Cancer Society research grant
By MYRON LOVE It has been shown on many occasions that a teacher can have an outsized role in shaping a young person’s life. Dr. Yale Michaels’ life story is one example.
During a recent interview with the young cancer researcher – the son of John Michaels and Karen Stern – Yale recounted how a Grade 7 teacher at Grant Park High School was largely responsible for his decision to pursue a medical career in medicine.
The young Michaels attended Brock Corydon Elementary School and was a long time Massad camper. In junior high school at Grant Park, however, he recounts, “I was having a tough time staying on task. Thankfully, my Grade 7 science teacher suggested that I might find it interesting volunteering to help in a cancer research lab. He had a contact and got me in. I loved it. It was a good fit for me. I never looked back.”
Michaels (whose zaida, Leon Michaels, was a leading cardiologist here) spent much of his free time during his high school years volunteering in the lab. After graduation, he enrolled in Harvard –with help from the university’s financial aid program – where he earned his Bachelor’s degree. He followed that up with a Ph.D. from Oxford in 2019, followed by three years as a post-doctoral Fellow – before returning to Winnipeg in 2023 to work at Cancer Care Manitoba, as well as teach at the University of Manitoba.
“I enjoyed my time both at Harvard and Oxford,” he says. “What made England even more enjoyable is that Yale has family there. His grandparents – Leon and Joan Michaels – were born and raised in London and Yale’s time there overlapped for a few months with his brother Jamie (about whom there was a story in a July issue of the Post), who earned his Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at the University of London.
This past June, the young researcher learned that he was to be the recipient of a $550,000 Canadian Cancer Society Emerging Scholar Research Grant, covering five years of research.
Michaels’ field of research focuses on new ways of combating blood cancers – specifically in the new area of immunotherapy. He is being aided in his research by lab tech Dana Segal and graduate student Serena Dembowksi.
Michaels adds that he is collaborating with a number of other researchers from Winnipeg – and throughout Canada, including Drs. Harinad Maganti, David Szwajcer, Jody Haigh, Versha Banerji, and David Knapp.
Using the patient’s own immune cells – specifically CAR T cells -to treat blood cancers was first approved in 2017, Michaelsreports. “The treatment has shown itself to be really successful. Many patients go into remission and some may have the potential to be cured.”
One of the drawbacks, he explains, is that the treatment is prohibitively expensive. Each dose costs about $500,000 U.S.
“What we are trying to do in my lab and elsewhere is find a way to greatly reduce the cost,” he explains. “It becomes a matter of scale. Other drugs used in treating cancer can be produced in amounts of 1,000 doses per production run. But right now CAR T therapy is made on a one-off basis with an individual manufacturing run for each patient. We are attempting to instead make CAR T cells from stem cells – which can be grown in large quantities. We are trying to use genetic engineering to manipulate them so that they can be administered safely to patients.
“We (Michaels and fellow researchers) are making good progress in this area,” he adds.
He cautions that the research is still in the formative stages and that clinical trials are still several years away. “Our research so far though has shown that our treatment would seem to be effective at killing cancer cells,” he reports. “This grant from the Canadian Cancer Society will help us to further that research.”
Outside of work, Michaels notes, much of his time is spent with his family – Dr. Allison Marmel and their two-year-old daughter, Rose.
(Ed. note: We should note that Yale Michaels was also the punter for the Harvard University football team – by far his greatest achievement.)
Local News
Rabbi Kliel Rose, Etz Chayim’s spiritual leader, taking a new position in Ottawa
By MYRON LOVE It is with mixed feelings that Rabbi Kliel Rose, the spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Chayim for the past eight years, is once again leaving the community in which he grew up. Immediately after Yom Kippur, he, his wife, Dorit Kosmin, and three of their five children are moving to Ottawa, where Rabbi Rose is to become the spiritual leader of Congregation Kehillat Beth Israel (popularly known as KBI).
“My time in Winnipeg has been wonderful,” Rabbi Rose says. “It has been a privilege to have served as Etz Chayim’s rabbi and be part of the Jewish community here. Our Jewish community has a sense of solidarity that is unlike any other Jewish community in North America.”
He wasn’t actually looking to leave, Rabbi Rose explains. “Last spring, I was just having a cursory look at postings for Conservative rabbis and KBI stood out. What attracted me was not simply the opportunity to serve a larger congregation, but the chance to lead a community with such a rich history and such a strong commitment to egalitarian Conservative Judaism, Jewish learning, inclusion and community engagement. KBI is a relatively young congregation that brings together more than a century of Jewish history in Ottawa, and I was very drawn to the opportunity to help shape its next chapter.”
KBI, Rabbi Rose reports, was created in July 2016 through the amalgamation of two long-standing and storied Ottawa congregations: Agudath Israel and Congregation Beth Shalom. The merger brought together the rich traditions of both communities to create a modern, egalitarian Conservative congregation. Today, KBI is the largest Jewish congregation in Ottawa, serving more than 500 families, with a strong emphasis on Jewish learning, inclusion, community engagement and youth and family programming.
“There is a tremendous amount of energy and possibility at KBI,” Rabbi Rose says. “It is a community with deep roots, but also a very strong desire to think about what Jewish life should look like in the future. That is exciting to me as a rabbi.”
As with many rabbis, Kliel Rose’s career path has been a long and winding road. The son of the revered Carol and Rabbi Neal Rose, he first left Winnipeg after graduating from Grant Park High School.
In an interview with the Jewish Post & News in 2018, shortly after he returned here to serve Congregation Etz Chayim, Rabbi Rose credited his parents with being tremendous role models. “They are a dynamic team,” he commented, “but they never pushed any of us (Kliel Rose is the middle child in a family of four brothers and one sister) in any particular direction. They were really nurturing. They were okay with anything we decided as long as we were passionate about it.”
For the longest time as a young man, he noted, he fought against going into “the family business”. But, he said, working in Jewish summer camps, people in leadership positions in the camps saw something in him and convinced him to pursue rabbinic ordination.
Thus, after graduating with a Judaic Studies degree from Gratz College in Philadelphia, Kliel Rose enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary.
He noted that the most important piece of advice his father gave him before he enrolled in a rabbinic studies program was the suggestion that he should work for a time in a large congregation to see what it is like – “both the joy and the underbelly,” as he put it.
“I took his advice,” Rabbi Rose said. “For two years, I worked under the umbrella of a special fellowship at Bnai Jeshurun Congregation in Manhattan. The congregation had 4,000 members at that time. It had been a dying congregation which had been revitalized by Rabbi Marshall Meyer, who had previously helped revive Jewish life in Argentina. Rabbi Meyer, with his vision of social justice, was an inspiration for me.”
Rabbi Rose also spent a year at an Orthodox yeshiva in Israel and a couple of years as a youth director at a large Conservative congregation on Long Island.
Before coming to Winnipeg, Rabbi Rose served congregations in Miami Beach (for three years), Nashville (for five years), and Edmonton (for five years).
The past eight years at Etz Chayim have certainly brought their share of challenges, but Rabbi Rose says they have also been deeply meaningful. Just two years after arriving, the COVID pandemic transformed congregational life. Then there was the congregation’s decision to sell its 70-year-old building on Matheson Avenue and move to a smaller facility in south Winnipeg – a process that was completed just over two years ago.
“It has been really challenging these past few years,” he recounts. “It was difficult leaving behind our old building with so much history. But I think Etz Chayim made the right decision, and I am proud of how our community came together to navigate these challenges and build a new future for the congregation.”
Rabbi Rose says he is particularly grateful for the relationships he has built during his eight years at Etz Chayim and throughout Winnipeg’s Jewish community. “There have been so many meaningful relationships and experiences during my time here. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve this community and to have been part of Etz Chayim’s story during such an important period of transition.”
“I’m leaving with an enormous amount of gratitude,” he adds. “Etz Chayim has given me the opportunity to grow as a rabbi and as a leader, and I hope that I have been able to contribute something meaningful to the congregation and to the wider Winnipeg Jewish community in return.”
Another factor that made Rabbi Rose’s decision to leave difficult is that his parents moved back here two years ago and his older brother, Carnie, returned about 18 months ago to become Shaarey Zedek’s senior rabbi.
“It has been wonderful having my parents and brother here,” Kliel says. “This has been the first time that my children have had grandparents and an uncle and aunt in the same city.”
The Rose family will also miss the many friendships and connections they have made in Winnipeg.
Our community will also miss Kliel’s wife, Dorit. “My wife is a talented and caring individual who has worked in different areas of the community,” he notes. “Most recently, she was working in spiritual care at the Simkin Centre. She has made a tremendous contribution to the community and will certainly be missed.”
For Rabbi Rose, the decision to leave Winnipeg is less about leaving something behind than about embracing a new opportunity. After eight years of helping Etz Chayim navigate a period of profound change, he says he feels ready to take on a new leadership challenge while carrying with him the lessons and relationships he has gained here.
The Rose family will be leaving two days after Yom Kippur. Kliel reports that they have sold their house and have just a few things to wind up.
Local News
Temple Shalom, Etz Chayim Yom Tov Services to be Held in Different Locations this Fall
By MYR0N LOVE In 2025, one of the most interesting aspects of Yom Tov in Winnipeg was the official debut of new rabbis Carnie Rose and Myriam Saitman, at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue and Temple Shalom respectively – also the imminent departure of Rabbi Yossi Benarroch, since 2016 the Adas Yeshrun Herzlia congregation’s spiritual leader.
This year, The Jewish Post’s pre-Yom Tov story has a different focus. Due to water damage caused by heavy rain in June (see story in previous issue of The Jewish Post) Temple Shalom’s congregation has had to move out of their building until renovations are complete and will be holding Yom Tov services at the Berney Theatre. Also, Congregation Etz Chayim will be returning to its building on Wilkes for Yom Tov after holding services in a larger facility last year and having Yom Kippur services at a Holiday Inn the year before.
“This year,” says Morissa Granove, Congregation Etz Chayim’s COO, “we are very happy to be bringing the High Holy Days home to 1155 Wilkes Avenue. We will be hosting two services each day and have had an overwhelming response to our ticket sales. Our daytime morning services have already sold out, and we expect to have a full house at each of our services this year. We are excited for everything to come.”.
It was about two-and-a-half years ago that Etz Chayim members relocated to Wilkes from their 70-year-old building on Matheson in the North End. Granove reported last year that the move south has “proven to be a great success in many ways. Operational expenses are greatly reduced in the newer and more efficient space, and our congregation is seeing an increase in attendance at services, programs, and events due to their new, convenient location”.
Etz Chayim’s services’ will be led once again by Rabbi Kliel Rose (see related story about his departure for Ottawa immediately after Yom Kippur) and Cantor Tracy Kasner, while newly anointed Cantor Kevin McIntyre will be reading the Torah. There will also be a youth and family service with activities for kids of all ages.
For further information about Etz Chayim’s High holiday services, phone 204 589-6305 or email info@etzchayim.ca.
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, our community’s oldest and largest synagogue, would like to invite members of the community to join and experience “a season of Unity, Enlightenment, Invigoration, and Renewal with services in the Sanctuary,” says Dr. Rena Secter Elbaze, the congregation’s executive director.
“We anticipate that our services – featuring Senior Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose, Rabbi Anibal Mass, and Cantor Leslie Emery – accompanied by the Shaarey Zedek Quartet and Ruach Choir with piano accompaniment – will be spiritually uplifting,” Elbaze says.
“Due to high demand, we are also delighted to offer two Family Services for Young Families, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, in the Tova Vickar Family Childcare Centre. These engaging services will be led by Rabbi Anibal Mass, with support from our Youth Band, Shinshinim – Israeli Youth Ambassadors, and dedicated volunteers.”
Looking back over the past year, Elbaze reports that Shabbat morning and weekday services have been attracting “a widening circle for prayer, learning, and breaking bread under the leadership of our dedicated clergy team”.
“Our Tova Vickar and Family Childcare Centre is fully operational,” she continues, “and is already recognized provincially for achievement and excellence and connecting childcare families to synagogue life.”
She adds that the congregation’s membership base is growing, with 98 families/ households having joined since July of last year – including new members and those who have re-joined – for a total of 228 people of all ages.
As well, she notes, the congregation’s sisterhood and the Hebros Men’s Group are thriving, drawing a broad demographic of participants seeking Jewish learning, camaraderie, and connection. As well, Elbaze adds, the Young Adult Group is engaging in synagogue life and gathering regularly for Shabbat dinners and Jewish holiday celebrations.
“Our Israeli Youth Ambassador program, the Shinshinim, is infusing youth programming with dynamism, creativity, and a meaningful connection to Israel” she points out.
Readers who want to contact the Shaarey Zedek about Yom Tov tickets can call the office at 204 452-3711 or email Rena at rena@szwinnipeg.ca.
As mentioned above, Temple Shalom will be holding High Holy Day services in the Berney Theatre at the Asper Campus. Rabbi Myriam Saitman, who received her ordination last year, noted in last year’s Jeiwsh Post pre-Yom Tov story, “We are looking forward to 10 days of introspection focused on teshuva and we invite our congregation to experience the message, the spirituality, the music, and the poetry of the High Holidays”.
Temple Shalom High Holiday services will, once again, be led by Rabbi Saitman, along with Cantorial Soloist David Vamos – accompanied by the Temple choir led by Janet Pelletier Goetze.
For further information about Temple Shalom’s Yom Tov services, phone 204-453-1625 or email tshalom1@gmail.com.
South end Winnipeg further offers a fourth liberal Jewish option in the form of Rabbi Matthew Leibl’s “Services on the River: A Modern High Holy Days”. This is the fourth year that Rabbi Leibl will be leading his own services at The Gates on Roblin.
Services will be on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, September 13, starting at 10:00 A.M., while the Kol Nidre service will be on September 20 at 6:00 P.M., with the Yom Kippur service the following morning at 10:00 A.M. Rabbi Leibl will again be joined by the husband-and-wife cantorial team of Justin Odwak and Sarah Sommer, leaders of the SOTR Quartet. New this year will be The Shofar Club Kids Program, led by Halley Ritter for children ages 4-12.
For tickets, email support@tobatickets.ca, or call (during office hours) 204-934-7564.
South Winnipeg’s orthodox options are the Adas Yeshurun Herzlia and the Lubavitch Centre. High Holy Day services at Adas Yeshurun will be led by Rabbi Yossi Benarroch – with Aden Benarroch serving as Chazzan Sheini. Adas Yeshurun has approximately 100 membership units and can comfortably accommodate 250 worshippers. Please call the synagogue office – at 204 489-6262. to confirm attendance before September 9.
The Lubavitch Centre has a capacity of between 200 and 300. There is no charge for davening at Chabad, nor do you have to register in advance.
Still with south Winnipeg – The Simkin Centre offers one more High Holy Day option. Services are all held in their multi-purpose room. Family members can join but priority seating is reserved for residents. Steven Hyman will lead the services along with the Simkin Centre Choir, directed by Bonnie Antel.
If you have any questions, contact Rabbi Matthew Leibl or Heather Blackman, Manager of Resident Experience, either by phone 204 589-9008 or email heather.blackman@simkincentre.ca, so that she knows how many to plan for.
In the North End, High Holiday service options are more limited. The Chevra Mishnayes in Garden City offers an egalitarian service. Synagogue president Rob Waldman reports that about 100 attended services last year and that he is expecting about the same this year. Services will be led by Al Benarroch. For further information phone the office at 204-338-8503.
Both the venerable House of Ashkenazi, the last of our community’s older-style Orthodox congregations, and the Chavurat Tefila Talmud Torah offer Orthodox services- with each attracting about 30 to 40 daveners for the High Holy Days. The latter will have Avi Posen back again to lead services while long time Cantor Adi Stoller will be back for another Yom Tov at the Ashkenazi.
While Camp Massad has also long offered a modified Yom Tov service, the camp at Sandy Hook will bel closed for Yom Tov this year while renovations are underway.
Yom Tov this year begins on Friday, September 11, in the evening.
Wishing all readers a sweet new year.
