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
Younger Jewish talents continue to shine in their respective categories at annual Winnipeg Music Festival
By MYRON LOVE A number of younger members of our community were repeat stars at the most recent (108th annual) Winnipeg Music Festival – which takes place annually in March. Among the repeat Jewish singers and musicians in the ranks of high achievers this year were” Yale Rayburn-Vander Hout, Gregory Hyman, Alex Schaeffer, Juliet Eskin, Noah Kravetsky, and Lyla Chisick.
Vocalist Yale Rayburn-Vander Hout, the oldest of this year’s group of Jewish repeat winners, was competing in his fifth straight festival, where he continued to build on his accomplishments in previous festivals. This year, the 20-year-old son of Samantha and Peter finished first in two musical theatre categories – songs from musical theatre productions between 1965 and 1999, and shows from the past 26 years. Yale sang “I’m Allergic to Cats,” from the 2016 musical “The Theory of Relativity,” and “Suppertime,” from the 1967 musical, “You’re a Good man, Charlie Brown.”
The former Gray Academy student is currently enrolled at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music in the Choral program. Yale says that he is hoping to get into the performance track in the fall with the goal of earning a degree in Classical Voice Performance en route to pursuing a career in musical theatre.
As reported previously, Gregory Hyman is a multi-faceted artist who can do it all. The 18-year-old son of Hartley and Rishona Hyman is a singer/songwriter/musician (guitar) who records and performs under the stage name, GMH. His versatility shone through once again in his eighth Music Festival, in which he registered first-place finishes for vocal performances in both “Popular and Contemporary Music” and “TV and Movie Music “categories.
Gregory notes that he was also recommended to compete in the provincial finals in June. The St. John’s-Ravenscourt student (and soon-to be) graduate continues to be busy on stage. In January, he headlined a sold out solo show at Sidestage on Osborne featuring some of his new material. In March, he released an album of his newest songs. Readers can check out his latest compositions on any of the music streaming platforms as well as his own social media (thegmh) on Instagram.
Gregory also continues to host his own podcast: “Talk and Rock with GMH – now in its fifth season – in which he interviews various people in the music business across Canada.
While Gregory says that a musical career is his “dream,” he reports that he is hedging his bets and considering different potential career opportunities. Come September, he will be enrolled at the University of Manitoba in a University One program, which will allow him to select from a variety of courses that can count toward a degree.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Schaeffer won first place this year in the “Musicals Prior to 1965, 16 Years and Under” category with “Try Me” from “She Loves Me,” and was runner-up in the “Musicals 1965 to 1999, 16 Years and Under” category with “On My Own,” from “Les Misérables.” For the son of Marc Schaeffer and Kae Sasaki, this was his fifth year competing in the festival.
The Grant Park High School student made his big stage debut three years ago as Kurt von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” followed by playing Michael Hobbs in “Elf the Musical” this past winter at the Royal MTC.
Alex recently performed in Grant Park High School’s production of “Something Rotten!” This summer Schaeffer can be seen again at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, where he will be appearing in a production staged by Rem Lezar Theatre.
Rounding out the voice winners is Lyla Chisick. The daughter of Daniel and Baillee was competing in her second music festival. This year, she scored Gold performances in the “Vocal Solo,” “Manitoba Composers,” and “TV/Movie Musical, 12 and under” categories.
Lyla reports that she began taking voice lessons from Jessica Kos-Whicher three years ago. She says she regularly takes part in the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue Family Service and has sung at several community events. Lyla adds that she is already looking forward to next year’s music festival.
Nate Kravetsky and Juliet Eskin competed in the festival as musicians rather than singers. Juliet, 16, plays the viola, and is also is the violist in the Assiniboine String Quartet. In this, her fifth go-round at the festival, Juliet, the daughter of the musically talented Kelly Robinon and Josh Eskin, had first place finishes in the “Viola Solo, level 8,” “Baroque or Classical Concerto,” and “Romantic Composers” categories.
Juliet originally took up the violin – adding the viola a couple of years after. She also just finished performing in the Grant Park High School production of “Something Rotten!”
Nate Kravetsky is currently in Grade 5 level piano. He studies with Erica Schultz and has been taking lessons from her since age 5.
Nate competed in three categories at the Winnipeg music festival: “Baroque,” “Sonata,” and “Contemporary/own choice.”
His own choice selection was the theme from his favourite video game, “Hollow Knight.”
Nate, who is in Grade 7 at Gray Academy, is also preoccupied preparing for his upcoming bar mitzvah.
We look forward to the continued musical success off Yale, Gregory, Alex, Nate, Juliet and Lyla, and what new talent may be unveiled at next year’s Winnipeg Music festival.
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Local News
Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada’s Archivist and Curator Stan Carbone retires
By MYRON LOVE Stan Carbone, a long-time friend of our Jewish community and fixture at the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada (JHCWC) for the past 25 years, retired last week. His last day of work was May 13.
Most recently, he was the JHCWC’s Director of Programs and Exhibits.
“For the past 25 years, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada has been an integral part of my life,” Carbone said. “I have made a lot of friends in the Jewish community, and I hope to maintain those friendships.”
Carbone’s own history reflects the immigrant experience. He arrived in Canada in 1960 as a three-year-old with his mother and sister, from San Giovanni in Fiore, Calabria in southern Italy. His father had come a few months earlier. Initially, the family settled in Fort Rouge which, at that time, had a substantial Italian community. Within a couple of years, they had relocated to East Kildonan to be closer to where his father’s two sisters and their families lived.
He earned a BA Double Honours in History and Political Studies at the University of Winnipeg, followed by an MA in History at the University of Manitoba, from where he graduated in 1981.
In 1993, he was hired at the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature (as it was then called) as Curator of Multicultural Studies.
“I always enjoyed doing research,” he said.
His first project for the JHCWC came in 2000, the year after the organization was formed through the amalgamation of the Jewish Historical Society, the Ed and Marion Vickar Jewish Museum of Western Canada and the Freeman Family Foundation Holocaust Education Centre.
Marim Zipursky had approached the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature looking for a curator to organize a JHCWC exhibit featuring Jewish music and musicians in Winnipeg,” Carbone recalled. “I didn’t know much about Jewish music and musicians, but I was familiar with the Jewish Historical Society – which preceded the JHCWC. I was really impressed by its extensive archives, and I was intrigued by the Jewish community’s history and the wide range of subject materials in the archives.”
The next year, when a position opened at the JHCWC, Carbone applied.
“I have been here ever since,” he said.
Over the past quarter century, Carbone has been involved in bringing to fruition several interesting exhibits. He mentions the synagogues display, a history of the YMHA, and the current exhibit highlighting the important role of women’s organizations. The exhibit that was closest to his heart though was “A Stitch in Time,” a look at how Jews contributed to the development of the garment trade in Winnipeg. Both of his parents worked in the garment industry.
The exhibits though are just one facet of the JHCWC’s focus, Carbone noted. He mentioned how the organization contributed to the publication of Allan Levine’s “Coming of Age: A History of the Jewish People of Manitoba.”
There have also been several compilations over the years of talks that the JHCWC has organized. These are known as the “Jewish Life and Times,” consisting to date of ten volumes.
Carbone further pointed out the organization’s commitment to Holocaust education and the numerous initiatives that have brought that subject to greater public attention.
The organization’s genealogical component, he reported, draws numerous queries from people all over the world.
One particularly interesting project that Carbone spoke about is an ongoing cooperative partnership with Gray Academy. For the past 10 years, the JHCWC has been loaning photos from the archives to the school’s art program, allowing the students to make drawings based on the photos.
“It has been a wonderful program which has given the students a better understanding of local Jewish history,” he said.
“During my time here, we have worked with numerous Jewish and non-Jewish organizations,” Carbone added. “It helps to build bridges between the Jewish and other communities.”
In retirement, Carbone is looking forward to doing more travelling with Anna, his wife of 40 years. They were scheduled to leave for southern Italy on May 16.
He will also continue to be busy in his role as Italy’s vice-consul here, helping fellow Italians and others in Winnipeg.
And he is excited about having more time to spend on his own genealogical and historical research. He has already published two books: “Italians in Winnipeg: an Illustrated History,” and “The Streets Were Not Paved With Gold: A Social History of Italians in Winnipeg”.
A future project which he is seriously considering is a study of the history of Jewish life in Calabria.
He is also working on a family tree.
“I may be retired,” he said, “but I will still be available from time to time to help out if needed.”
Local News
Negev Gala honours Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba
By MYRON LOVE It is written in “The Prophets” – specifically in ‘The Book of Isaiah’ -that the prophet heard the voice of the Lord saying “Whom should I send and who will go for us?”
And Isaiah answered the call and responded “Hineni” (here I am). “Send me.”
“Hineni” was the theme of this year’s Friends of JNF Canada’s annual Negev Gala – and about 750 supporters of the Jewish state – Jewish and non-Jewish – answered the call.
“Hineni” was the response of this year’s Negev Gala’s honorees: -members of the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba (JPAM), who, instead of remaining silent in the face of unprecedented levels of antisemitism in modern times, chose to speak with one voice against Jew hate in Manitoba’s medical community – and specifically among medical students enrolled in the Rady Faculty of Medicine.
“Hineni”is also the name of a new award that was given out at this year’s dinner. The Negev Gala Hineni award recognizes non-Jews who speak up on behalf of the Jewish people, despite personal risk for taking such a stand.
The evening opened with singer Haviva Polevoi singing a prayer for healing (“Mi Shebrach”) accompanied by pianist Tatyana Smolyaninov. The duo returned later in the evening to offer a second Mi Sheberach for “those who protect us.”
In his opening remarks, David Greaves, Friends of JNF Canada’s executive director for Manitoba and Saskatchewan – and emcee for the evening, observed that “over the past almost three years we have seen the worst of the worst as a community – as Am Yisrael, but what we may not have seen clearly are the struggles of subcommunities within our own community.
“This has been highlighted by the unfortunate need for the existence of JPAM. As the Jewish physicians continue to serve the ‘whole’ community, they do so in the face of extreme antisemitism, roadblocks and hate. Friends of JNF Canada are honoured to honour the many physicians and healthcare heroes that dedicate their lives every day to keep us all safe and healthy, regardless of background or beliefs.”
Greaves was then joined on stage by Aboriginal community leader and friend of the Jewish community Lisa Lewis for the requisite Land Acknowledgement. In relatively quick succession, the Shaarey Zedek’s senior Rabbi, Carnie Rose, read the prayer for the State of Israel, local Bridges for Peace leaders Don and Victoria James recited a prayer for peace, and medical students Rachel Cogan and Rotem Keynan recited haMotzi.
Michael Silver, president of the local Friends of the JNF Canada, national CEO Lance Davis and Jewish Federation of Winnipeg vice chair (and past JNF Manitoba ad Saskatchewan president) Jessica Cogan made presentations, after which Cogan had the privilege of introducing the inaugural Hineni Award recipient.
“We all know that in the months following October 7, our community was deeply shaken,” Cogan observed. “We were not only traumatized by the brutality of that day, but by the silence, the hostility, and the surge of antisemitism that followed.
“Antisemitism,” she continued, “began creeping into every corner of public life, even in spaces we believed would be guided by integrity and care. In May 2024, we felt the sharp pain of this reality during the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Medicine convocation.
“The world we thought we knew no longer felt as safe or as certain. And yet—out of that darkness, something extraordinary emerged. As David mentioned earlier, even in the darkest of days, our community seeks, finds and creates sparks of light.”
One of those “sparks of light” that she pointed to was the decision by a number of local Jewish doctors to come together to fight back through the formation of the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
“The creation of JPAM,” she noted, “told us we are not alone. This group of Jewish physicians made it clear that antisemitism—whether subtle or overt—would not go unchallenged.
“As the mother of a newly graduated medical student at the U of M,” Cogan added, “it meant even more. Our daughter, like so many others, faced moments of discomfort and isolation after October 7. Because of JPAM, she had somewhere to turn, someone to guide her. This brought a sense of reassurance that I cannot overstate.”
While JPAM works from within our Jewish community, Cogan pointed out, Dr Matthew Bzura chose not only to stand with us but also to stand up for us. (To read more about what Dr. Bzura did, go to PARIM Board forces out principled president-elect.)
“When so many stayed silent or even applauded the statements made at the medical school convocation two years ago by an antisemitic valedictorian,” Cogan recalled, “Dr. Bzura raised his voice — in a very public way. He responded with clarity, integrity, and courage. And we all know, these days, speaking out on behalf of the Jewish community comes with substantial personal and professional risk.
“His voice cut through the silence, espousing the values we all claim to share. Dr. Bzura answered: “Hineni. Here I am.”
In accepting the award, Bzura observed that Hineni may seem to be a simple phrase but, he noted, “the more time you spend with it, the more you realize that though it may sound a simple phrase, it’s a demanding one. To me, it doesn’t mean ‘here I am when it’s easy’ or ‘here I am when it’s convenient’. It means showing up – fully – and especially when it’s difficult, uncertain, or uncomfortable – when it costs you something.”
“I come to this moment from outside the Jewish community,” he noted ,“and I stand here tonight very aware of that, but that’s what makes this recognition all the more humbling and meaningful. What I’ve had instead is the privilege of working alongside Jewish colleagues, mentors, and patients – people who have shown me, not through words but through action, what it means to carry a deep sense of identity, responsibility, and caring for one another.
“So tonight,” Bzura concluded, “while I am deeply grateful for this award, I don’t see it as recognition of something I did alone. I see it as a reflection of a community that stood together and refused to be silent. On a deeply personal level I also accept this award with a sense of responsibility to keep showing up. To keep listening. To keep learning and, when it matters most, to say hineni.”
In response to Dr. Bzura’s remarks, Dr. Charles Bernstein, JPAM’s chair, observed that “sadly, I can report that I can count on both hands, at most, the number of non-Jewish physicians and scientists who have reached out to me in support of our community as it has been attacked in the medical community, mostly in the medical school community.
“JPAM,” Bernstein pointed out, “exists to bear witness to what is happening in our medical community; to provide advocacy where it is needed, to support Jews in health care who are being victimized and others who are being victimized; to ensure that Jewish Canadians feel free to study at U of M and exercise their rights to study openly as persons wanting to optimize health care through research, education and health policy and to undertake this as openly Jewish, fearless to openly wear a Star of David or Chai around their neck, as our Sikh friends should not fear wearing a turban or Muslim friends wearing a hijab.”
In responding to Friends of the JNF’s recognition of JPAM, Bernstein spoke of his own medical career, provided an historic overview of the role of Jewish doctors in Manitoba’s medical history and identified by name many of the Jewish-trained doctors from Winnipeg who have played leading roles in the practice of medicine nationally and internationally – innovators such as Morley Cohen in Cardiac Surgery, Ruben Cherniak in Respirology, Lionel Israels in Hematology, Harry Medovy in Pediatrics, Arnold Naimark in Respirology and Medical Education, Maurice Victor in Neurology, Max Wintrobe in Hematology, Alvin Zipursky in Pediatric Hematology, and the entire Hollenberg family – as well as his brother, Keevin, who revamped the medical school curriculum 15 years ago.
Bernstien further noted that of the 25 current Distinguished Professors at the U of M, four are clinicians and three of the four are Jewish and proud members of JPAM. Harvey Chochinov, Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg and Teddy Lyons, he pointed out, are still active in Medicine and all have been inducted into the Order of Canada.
In his speech, Bernstein reported that JPAM was formed in October 2023 – shortly after the pogrom on 0ctopber 7 – at Dr. Laura Chisick’s house – who served as hostess, along with Dr. Michael Boroditsky presiding. JPAM, he explained, was created “to address the need to provide advocacy for Jewish trainees, Jewish physicians, and Jewish patients.”
In June 2024, the inaugural meeting of JPAM took place at the Etz Chayim Synagogue. Nearly 100 physicians participated. The current board consists of: Charles Bernstein, David Hochman, Cheryl Rockman Greenberg, Marnie Wiseman, Lorrie Kirshenbaum, Isanne Schacter, Daniel Kroft, Brent Schacter, Vivian Schutt, and Grant Goldberg , all of whom joined Bernstein at the podium.
The funds raised from the 2026 Negev Gala are slated to go toward the opening of a new rehab clinic and hydrotherapy pool at the Ashdod Rehabilitation and Therapy Centre in southern Israel. The Centre provides crucial care for trauma victims, children with disabilities, and cancer patients.