Local News
“The Soundtrack of our Lives”: JHCWC program leaves audience enthralled
Posted July 5 By BERNIE BELLAN (Note: This article first appeared in our June 7 issue but there’s nothing in it that doesn’t bear repeating now.)
Put an audience of aging baby boomers together with three also aging musicians who are experts on Winnipeg’s music scene – and all three great raconteurs besides, along with an MC who is also himself an aging musical aficionado – and what do you get? An afternoon of nostalgia mixed with great humour and the occasional anecdote that defied belief.
Such was the case on a glorious Sunday afternoon, May 28, when, despite the gorgeous weather outside, Temple Shalom was packed with many formerly hirsute men along with an assortment of graying (and a few nicely hair-dyed) women. They were there to attend what was billed as “The Soundtrack of our Lives: Jews in Winnipeg’s Music Industry.”
Although there had been a fair bit of advance billing for the program, including an excellent preview article in the Winnipeg Free Press, even the three experts who had been assembled on stage really had no idea what was going to ensue.
The event was sponsored by the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, which continues to come up with imaginative programming year after year (even if they haven’t yet agreed to follow up on my proposal to do a program on famous Jewish criminals in Manitoba’s history.)
The three expert panelists included, in order: Owen Clark, a musician of great repute (voted “Winnipeg jazz musician of the year” in 2009), also a historian of Winnipeg’s music scene going back to the 1920s; Len Udow, folk singer, cantor, seven-time performer at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and recording artist – with three solo albums of his own; and John Einarson, former musician with a number of different bands and the writer of over 20 books telling the stories of a host of different Winnipeg musicians, including his opus, “Heart of Gold,” which is a comprehensive history of Manitoba musicians, and which is now in its fourth printing.
Keeping the entire affair coherent was MC Kinzey Posen, who was able to inject his own experiences as a band member into the proceedings – going back to a time when as, Jewish Heritage Centre former president Dan Stone noted, Kinzey not only had hair, he had lots of it.
Stone told this story about Kinzey (and, like a lot of the stories told that afternoon, it might have been greatly embellished): It seems that Kinzey (a.k.a. Martin) was kicked out of school for two weeks for having too long hair. His parents, Stone claimed, offered Kinzey a deal: “If you cut your hair, we’ll buy you a bass and amplifier.”
Owen Clark was the first of the panelists to talk about Jewish musicians of the past. He began by showing a 1920s era photo on the screen (next to the stage) of the “Minnedosa Little Symphony Orchestra,” led by Leon Asper and his wife, Cecilia.
Thus began a chronology of Jewish musicians and others associated with the music industry, including Harry Smith, owner of Club Morocco, whose real name, Clark revealed, was Herschel Shmudkin.
Among the musicians mentioned by Clark was Al Sprintz who, as Clark noted, “went to Club Morocco for two weeks and stayed for 22 years.”
Clark also discussed the integration of black musicians into bands that had Jewish musicians over the years, noting that, as members of two groups that suffered from discrimination, there was a kinship that led to the breaking down of barriers for both blacks and Jews.
Len Udow took a somewhat different tack than Clark – also later Einarson, as he focused primarily on his own history of growing up in a supremely musically talented family, including his mother Sarah, his aunt Belva, and uncle David, all of whom were talented opera singers.
Udow recounted his early childhood experiences of being in the Rosh Pina children’s choir and performing at the old YMHA on Hargrave as having been significant in his own development as a performer.
He told one story of having been a member of a group as a teenager known as the “Wayward Four Plus One.” According to Udow, the group was invited to appear on the CKY Amateur Hour one time, where they won the competition by beating out someone by the name of Burton Cummings (who played trumpet that day).
Later, Udow told of his many experiences on the stage of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, paying tribute to two pioneers of that festival, Mitch Podolak and Marvin Terhoch.
Speaking of Mitch Podolak (about whom Kinzey Posen wrote a moving tribute in our October 11, 2017 issue, which you can find on our website), John Einarson began his own remarks about Jews in Winnipeg’s music scene through the years by telling this story: It seems that Einarson and Podolak had never met until one day their paths happened to cross and Podolak told Einarson that he was thinking of starting a music festival for Winnipeg. He asked Einarson what he thought of the idea?
Einarson’s answer, he recounted was: “It’ll never work.”
Growing up in the 1950s, Einarson recalled, opened up a whole new world for him – and countless other youngsters, with the invention of the transistor radio.
“It made a great difference in listening to music,” he explained.
“It broke down barriers…Rock ‘n roll was a great equalizer” among kids in those days.
“I grew up with Jewish musicians,” Einarson continued. “They went on to become doctors and lawyers…The place to go for music was community clubs.”
Einarson took the audience through a Powerpoint presentation that showed pictures of bands from the 1950s, 60s and 70s that were either entirely Jewish or else had a majority of Jewish members.
He also paid tribute to others who played instrumental roles in promoting local talent, such as DJs Doc Steen and Howard Mandshein.
There were other notable figures who were important promoters, Einarson noted, including such individuals as Ivan Berkowits (who hit upon the idea of promoting his Monarch Wear brand of jeans known as TJs through music, with girls wearing TJs appearing at community clubs); Fred Glazerman; Frank Wiener (just recently passed), who opened the Hungry I booking agency; Terry Morris; Jerry Shore (who ran Celebrity Box Office); Roy Levin (of Transcontinental Productions, and who was the first to book the Guess Who here): Sam Katz (of Nite Out Entertainment); and Lorne Saifer (the longtime manager of the Guess Who).
Then, there were the club owners, Einarson told about: Jerry Huck (Jay’s Discotheque); Dick Golfman (The Twilight Zone); Bruce Druxerman (The Fireplace); Phil and Ray Kives (The Zoo, on Osborne); and the Gindin family (St. Vital Hotel).
There were also the record store owners: Murray Posner (Mother’s Records); Norman Stein (Opus 69); and Lilian Lewis (Lilian Lewis Records).
One more name Einarson mentioned was Harry Kreindler, of Banquex Amplifiers.
He told the story how former Manitoba Cabinet Minister Maitland Steinkopf had arranged to bring what was then one of the biggest bands in the world, Led Zeppelin, to play at the old Winnipeg Stadium in 1970 in celebration of Manitoba’s Centennial.
It started to rain, Einarson explained, and the band left the stage. “They had a clause saying they didn’t have to play if it started to rain,” Einarson continued.
But Steinkopf went to the hotel where the band was staying, accompanied by a well-known singer at the time, Diane Hetherington, in an attempt to persuade the band to come back and play inside the Winnipeg Arena.
Steinkopf was told the band wouldn’t do that unless he came up with $25,000US in cash. Somehow, he came back with a suitcase loaded with cash –and the concert did carry on – in the Arena.
Einarson also said that there was a story he had heard – which had never been corroborated, and he asked whether anyone had ever heard the same story: It revolved around well-known restaurateur Oscar Grubert and the Rolling Stones.
Apparently Grubert was the promoter who brought the Rolling Stones to Winnipeg. (Einarson said that Grubert had also tried to bring the Beatles to Winnipeg.) The story he had heard, Einarson said, was that the Rolling Stones stayed at Grubert’s Garden City home. (In later correspondence that I had with Einarson, Kinzey Posen, and Stan Carbone, curator of the Jewish Heritage Centre, when I asked all three of them whether they had heard anything more about that story, Stan Carbone suggested that the Stones had stayed at a hotel owned by Grubert and somehow it got misinterpreted that they had stayed at his home. John Einarson later emailed me to confirm that the Stones had stayed at the Champs Motor Inn on Osborne (which was later bought by the Kives brothers and became the Osborne Motor Inn.)
Too bad, it would have been more fun to think that one of the most famous rock ‘n roll bands in the world actually stayed on Forest Park Drive, no doubt eating only kosher food. (Oscar Grubert was at one time head of the Va’ad Ha’ir in this city.)
Speaking of wild misinterpretations, I interrupted Einarson with my own story, which was about Barbra Streisand. I said that, years ago, I was working for another well-known restaurateur (also nightclub owner), Auby Galpern.
By now, the story of Streisand either being fired by Galpern – or leaving Winnipeg of her own accord, is legendary. (She appeared at the Towers Nightclub in July 1961, when she was only 19, and just starting out in her career).
I said that Auby had told me that he fired Streisand because she was “a dirty hippie” and “sang too loud.” (Later Kinzey Posen told me that she couldn’t have been a “dirty hippie” in 1961; a “dirty beatnik” maybe. Why am I always being corrected?)
A very good website about the history of Winnipeg, known as “Local Dumplings” takes issue with that account of what happened: “Local lore says that Streisand was ‘fired’ by T & C co-owner Auby Galpern and told that she would never make it as a cabaret singer. That has recently been disputed by a couple of former senior T & C staffers who say that she was released early at the request of her agent to return to the U.S. for work.
“In an April 23, 1964 Gene Telpner column, Galpern said of Streisand’”I liked her but I thought she dressed very strangely (she bought her wardrobe at rummage sales to give her an eclectic look).”
In any event, my recalling the famous Barbra Streisand story set off a chain of comments – both from panelists and from audience members, but the wildest stories revolved around Barbra Streisand supposedly being set up on a blind date while she was in Winnipeg. (Later, John Einarson wrote me that would have been impossible because she was only here three nights and would have been performing each evening, so when would she have had time for a date?)
Regardless, the craziest story came from one audience member who said he had heard that Barbra was set up with Ron Braunstein who, at the time, was a very successful curler on his brother Terry’s team. According to what the audience member said, Ron Braunstein told Barbra that, unless she wanted to come to a curling match that night, he couldn’t make it. But this was July! See how tell tales get started! (In subsequent email correspondence with Einarson, Posen, and Carbone, I suggested that I wouldn’t be surprised if the two wild stories – about the Rolling Stones and Barbra Streisand, got so intertwined some day that someone would say they had heard that Barbra Streisand was set up on a blind date with Mick Jagger at Oscar Grubert’s house.)
Speaking of clubs, John Einarson recalled that Winnipeg musicians, after they had finished their gigs in various clubs, used to head over to the Club Morocco after 1 am because it was the only club still serving food.
Someone in the audience brought up the name of another club, The Fourth Dimension (later bought by Mickey Cooperband). Einarson said that many famous musicians had played there, including Stephen Stills, Joni Mitchell, Don McLean, and Neil Young. (Later, after the program was over, someone told me that a musician by the name of Bob Zimmerman (a.k.a. Bob Dylan) used to come to Winnipeg to visit relatives here and stay at Neil Young’s house.)
Len Udow told an amusing story about musician Bernie Senensky. Apparently Udow and Senensky were in a Grade 10 British History class together in high school.
“We were not great students,” Udow remarked. “We didn’t share our intellect with anyone.”
Still, Udow recalled, when he would look over at Senensky, he was busy arranging music rather than paying attention to what was going on in class. “He was so obsessed with music,” Udow said. You could see what lay ahead for Senensky, who went on to a great career as a jazz pianist and composer.
One final – and very astute observation was brought up by someone else in the audience who observed that, while community clubs might have been the venues of choice for rock ‘n roll, church halls were where folk music could be heard. Then, one election year in Manitoba, Gary Doer hit upon the idea of going after the youth vote by promising to lower the drinking age to 18 from 21 – and all of a sudden all those kids congregating in church halls listening to folk music were now able to hit the bars – “and that killed the folk music scene.”
It was truly a great afternoon of memories and anecdotes. I had noticed someone was videoing the program when I walked in, so I emailed Stan Carbone to ask whether a video of the program might be available for people to see. He said he’ll get back to me with further information.
Local News
Winnipegger Randy Wolfe reunites with founders of Israel program 44 years after having been in Tzfat, Israel
We received an interesting message from someone by the name of Michal Laufer, who wrote that he was “Communications Director for Livnot U’Lehibanot — an Israel-based nonprofit that has been connecting young Jewish adults from around the world to Israel and their Jewish identity for over 45 years.”
Michael went on to share a story about one of the earliest participants in a Livnot U’Lehibanot program – some 44 years ago, when Winnipegger Randy Wolfe was in Tzfat.
Here’s what Michael wrote, along with a video that he attached in his message:
“I’d love to share a heartwarming story that beautifully reflects the bond between the Jewish Diaspora and Israel.
“Reuven (Randy) Wolfe, from Winnipeg, Canada, recently returned to Tzfat — 44 years after participating in one of Livnot’s earliest programs — to reunite with the founders of Livnot U’Lehibanot and revisit the place that changed his life.
“It’s a touching story about roots, identity, and belonging that I believe would resonate deeply with your readers.
“Attached is the full story.
“A short video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ech3OOGO7ElnttWIWgaIQtQ2PIeQl2mT/view
Local News
Winnipeggers recount experiences growing up in smaller communities
By MYRON LOVE “The place we call home,” observed Bruce Sarbit, “ – shtetl, town, city, country – is essential to who we are. We endow the place with personal meaning and it, in turn, provides us with a sense of identity and stability as we adapt to life’s circumstances in a rapidly changing world.”
For many Jewish Winnipeggers of an earlier era, like Sarbit, that sense of identity was first forged in smaller communities throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario where our parents and grandparents – my own father and his family among them – found general acceptance as farmers, merchants and professional people while they also successfully strived to retain their sense of Judaism.
On Sunday, September 28, Sarbit was one of a group of four Winnipeggers who participated as part of the Jewish heritage Centre of Western Canada’s program “Beyond The Perimeter: Jews Outside of Winnipeg”, which was held at Temple Shalom. The four, in addition to Sarbit, were: David Greenberg, Sid Robinovitch and Lil Zentner – who began their lives growing up in Selkirk (for Sarbit), Portage La Prairie, Brandon and Esterhazy (Saskatchewan) respectively. The program grew out of the research conducted by Chana Thau, on behalf of the JHCWC, into Jewish life in smaller communities in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
In Thau’s introduction, she noted the existence of several Jewish farm colonies that were established in the early years of the last century by German-Jewish Baron de Hirsch. At the same time, other Jewish immigrants (also all from the former Russian empire) to Canada were following the railroad and establishing themselves in the towns and cities that had grown up alongside the rail lines.
In the smaller communities, such as Shoal Lake – where I first lived (we were the only Jewish family) or Esterhazy (where Lil (Bober) Zentner’s family lived with two other Jewish families, the Jewish presence was minimal. In larger communities – such as Brandon, Portage and Selkirk – the number of Jewish families may have been between 20 and 30 at their peaks in the interwar years and into the 1950s. Brandon and Portage had their own synagogues.
The four speakers described many commonalities about Jewish life where they grew up. Their parents were storekeepers. Zentner’s parents, Max and Eva Bober, operated a general store in Esterhazy. Sid Robinovitch’s parents, Jack and Ethel Robinovitch, were proprietors of the Army and Navy Clothing store (which was a separate entity from the Army and Navy chain of stores which were headquartered in Regina, Sid pointed out) in Brandon. Sarbit proudly reports that his family’s Sarbit’s Department Store in Selkirk was, at one time, the largest independent store in western Canada. While David Greenberg’s father, the late I.H. Greenberg, was a lawyer in Portage la Prairie – and David and his brother, Barry, carried on the family legal practice in the community – his grandfather was first a journeyman lather who did plaster work on homes. The family later opened a second-hand store and subsequently constructed a grocery store – Greenberg’s Groceteria.
“The Greenberg grocery store extended credit to farmers and purchased their produce, which enabled it to thrive,” David Greenberg recalled. “I was once told by a friend years later that “Greenberg’s kept us alive” in the winter when they had virtually no money for food.
While the Greenberg, Robinovitch and Sarbit families arrived in Portage, Brandon and Selkirk respectively in the early 1900s – as part of the wave of Jewish immigration from Russia at the time –meaning the three were among the third generations in their communities, Lil Zentner’s parents, Max and Eva Bober were considerable later arrivals – having come to Canada respectively – in 1926 and 1930. They opened their general store in Esterhazy in 1936.
The Bobers, being newcomers, were more observant than Greenberg’s, Robinovitch’s, and Sarbit’s parents. Zentner was the only one of the four speakers who brought up the challenge of keeping kosher in a town far removed from shechita and kosher food. She recounted how her parents brought in kosher meat from Regina.
“We would buy chickens from local farmers,” she recounts. “We would take them to Melville (which numbered perhaps 30-40 Jewish families in the 1930s and 40s) to have them killed and then we would remove the feathers, cut off the heads and clean them at home.”
In Robinovitch’s telling, Jewish religious life in Brandon was “basic”. “We kept kosher in our home,” he remarks. “We brought in kosher meat from Winnipeg. We had a synagogue but, aside from the odd community event, it really only functioned on the High Holidays.”
David Greenberg noted that, for the first couple of decades, the Jewish community’s members davened in people’s homes. Portage’s Jewish community didn’t build a proper synagogue until 1950. Services were largely restricted to Friday evenings and the High Holidays. The merchants had to work on Saturdays. The community also made attempts to have a cheder, but with limited success.
While it would seem (from my own memories as well) that the general communities in those small towns respected the Jewish merchants in their midst – none of the four speakers mentioned any incidents of antisemitism – the Jewish families – even in the already more secular and integrated second and third generations – primarily socialized with other Jewish families.
In Portage – although the Jewish families did largely socialize with each other, the second and third generations also held leadership positions in the larger community. Greenberg noted that Jack Shindelman, Ben Kushner, and Irwin Callen all became aldermen, and Harold Narvey was re-elected chairman of the school board many times.
“My mother served as President of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE),” Greenberg noted, “and as a longtime volunteer at the Portage General Hospital Auxiliary. My father and his brother Allan became Exalted Rulers of the Elks Lodge, My Uncle Michael was leader of the Elks Band.”
In Zentner’s remembering, although she had many non-Jewish friends among the girls in her classes – her parents only got together socially with the other two Jewish families in town or Jewish families in nearby towns.
“In the summers, we would join other Jewish families at Round Lake, vacationing at Round Lake,” she recalled. “One summer, my parents sent me to a Habonim camp in the Qu’Appelle Valley where I met a lot of other Jewish kids.”
“For their social life, my family mixed almost exclusively with other members of Brandon’s Jewish community,” Robinovitch said. “There were Saturday evening poker nights and Sunday afternoon gatherings at Crystal’s Delicatessen. On Saturday afternoons, I would go to the movies and a couple of other Jewish kids in my school and I belonged to the Cubs and Boy Scouts.
“I had a few friends from school, but I always felt that I was different,” Robinovitch continued. “I was aware of being Jewish – although I had no real sense of what Jewishness was all about. I would say that the only time that I had any exposure to Jewish culture was when my parents sent me one summer to Herzl Camp in Wisconsin when I was 12 years old. It was a real eye opener being in an environment with so many other Jewish youngsters. I was exposed to a lot of Hebrew songs and, to this day, I still remember the Birkat Hamazon and V’ahavtah prayers that I learned there.”
The next year, the Robinovitch family moved to Winnipeg and young Sid quickly became immersed in Jewish life here. “In Brandon, I felt that we were defined by what we didn’t do,” he observed. “We didn’t go to school on the High Holidays. We didn’t have a Christmas tree. And we didn’t go to visit grandpa and grandma on the family farm.
“It was in Winnipeg where my identity as a Jew really began to take shape. Brandon was a nice place to live, but it could not provide the strong Jewish community values that emanate from a lager centre. A remnant of Jewish values still prevailed from the shtetl, but by my generation, they had worn thin.”
For Lil Zentner, the end of her time in Esterhazy came when she began dating a local boy. Her parents wouldn’t tolerate it when they found out. After a mighty blow-up, she challenged them to send her to Winnipeg where she could meet fellow Jews. Her older brother, Harold, was already here, going to university. Her parents agreed and they followed a year later.
For the Jewish community in Selkirk, Bruce Sarbit noted, being so close to Winnipeg, it was almost an extension of the larger city. His remarks were as much about nostalgia for Winnipeg as they were about Selkirk. “In my case,” he said, “I came into Winnipeg for everything Jewish – Hebrew lessons. Sunday Jewish history classes and YMHA clubs.”
The smaller city, he observed – at its peak home to perhaps 20 Jewish families, “fostered a strong sense of community among the Jewish families and helped them to hold onto their cultural and religious traditions, celebrate Shabbat, observe holidays, practise kashrut and maintain their Yiddish language as they ran businesses that necessitated interactions with the non-Jewish population”.
He added that his own father, Syd, who came to Portage at the age of three, was immersed in the general community as well – having twice served as president of the Chamber of Commerce, was also a member of the Rotary club, and once ran for election to the Legislature.
Unlike Portage and Brandon, though. Selkirk was close enough that the Jewish residents of Selkirk often drove into Winnipeg, attended High Holiday services here, visited relatives and, in general, partook of the activities, Jewish and otherwise, that the larger city provided.
Unlike Robinovitch and Zentner though, Sarbit did not spend all of his adult life in Winnipeg. He left Selkirk at the age of 18 for Brandon. For 40 years, the psychologist turned playwright served as a counsellor at Brandon University.
“The descendants of the first residents chose not to remain in Portage,” Greenberg concluded – in summing up the decline and disappearance of the other Jewish communities on the Prairies – with the exception of Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon. “Intermarriage was frowned upon and the children were too few in number and not close enough in age to socialize, so for girls to meet Jewish boys they were required to move to alarger centres, primarily Winnipeg. I believe culture was the motivating factor in their decision.
“Only my Uncle, Allan Greenberg, a bachelor, Harold and Mildred Narvey, and their son Bruce, who opened a chiropractic practice, remained. Bruce Narvey, as I mentioned, was the last of the resident descendants, before leaving after his mother died.”
Although Greenberg himself – and his brother, Barry – have lived most of their lives in Winnipeg, they continue to practise law in Portage and have had a history of community involvement in the Portage community. In recent years, David co-chaired the Portage and Area Beautification initiative committee through the Chamber of Commerce, resulting in seven years of service in the planning and implementation of the project. As a result, the committee was awarded its Citizenship of the Year award by the community. As for Barry Greenberg, he is a past president of the Portage & District Chamber of Commerce.
Local News
Holocaust survivors group “Cafe Europa” celebrates 25th anniversary
By MYRON LOVE On October 12, 2000, the Jewish Child and Family Service (JCFS) invited Holocaust survivors in our community to attend an information session at the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre to discuss how the community could better serve the needs of that segment of our community. What grew out of that meeting was the establishment of the Winnipeg chapter of Cafe Europa, an international organization originally established by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which brings together Holocaust survivors to forge connections and community with others who have shared their experience.
On Thursday, October 23, 2025, a small group of our community’s rapidly dwindling survivors joined some of the JCSF staff who have been involved with the program over the years – including current president and CEO Al Benarroch, his predecessor, Emily Shane, JCFS seniors case worker Adeena Lungen, recently retired Cheryl Hirsh Katz, along with Keith Elfenbein and Heather Kraut – the current JCFS staff overseeing JCFS seniors programming – also Shelley Faintuch, who was the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s Director of Community Relations 25 years ago – for the for lunch at the Gwen Secter to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Winnipeg’s Cafe Europa.
“It is a really special moment for me to stand before you today as we commemorate the 25th anniversary of our Holocaust survivors’ social lunch program,” said Adeena Lungen, JCFS social worker. Lungen herself is the daughter of Holocaust survivors.
Al Benarroch, President and CEO of JCFS, added, ““Our Holocaust survivors are truly precious jewels, the living legacy, resilience, an embodiment of Jewish survival, and of ‘Am Yisrael Chai’. We owe them so much for their stewardship of Jewish truth and justice. They are truly righteous among us.”
Lungen continued: “It began with a simple idea to bring Holocaust survivors together and evolved into a regular biweekly group where survivors meet, share a meal, enjoy a program and find comfort in each other’s company. It has grown into an environment where survivors have been able to come together year after year supporting each other through illness, loss, and hardship, as well as celebrating together successes and family simchas.”
Lungen was one of two JCFS social workers who were at that original meeting 25 years ago, along with Shelley Faintuch – also the child of Holocaust survivors – representing the Federation. “Our initial idea was just to create a space where survivors could come together as a community of people with shared experiences and history,” Lungen recounted.
The name, “Cafe Europa”, she explained, comes from a cafe of the same name in Stockholm where survivors met in the early years after the war in the hopes of finding family and friends who had also survived the Holocaust.
Lungen recalled that the survivors who attended that first meeting were very clear about their vision for the group. “They weren’t looking for a therapy or support group – nor did they want to talk about their wartime experiences,” she said. “They simply wanted a program where they could socialize with other survivors. I came to understand their needs and desires to meet with others who understood loss and suffering in a way that only other survivors could.”
Speaking directly to the 15 survivors at the 25th anniversary lunch, Lungen praised them for their “indomitable will to live a life of purpose and meaning. You have shown all of us – in very real ways – what it means to rebuild your lives, to persevere and to believe in the possibility of goodness after unimaginable loss.
“We at JCFS are grateful for the opportunity to work with you, to learn from you and to be inspired by you.”
As the number of survivors in our community continue to decrease year after year, so too do the numbers attending Cafe Europa programs. Keith Elfenbeinn noted, “when Heather (Kraut) and I began working with the survivors 12 years ago, we had close to 50 attending our bimonthly programs (which feature lunch followed by speakers or performers). Now we get fewer than 20.”
He added that most survivors are in their late 80s or 90s now – including 100-year-olds Charlotte Kittner and Saul Fink.
Lungen in particular noted Elfenbein’s role in co-ordinating all aspects of Cafe Europa’s programming, including phoning survivors to arrange transportation, booking the speakers and entertainment, and liaising with the Gwen Secter Centre.
Shelley Faintuch delved into Canada’s sorry history with regard to largely having banned Jewish immigration here before the war and limiting the numbers after the war. She provided an overview – in her years as the Federation’s Community Relations director – to reach out to governments and build bridges to other faith and ethnic communities –as well as high school students, aimed at raising awareness of antisemitism and taking measures to fight this pernicious hatred.
The 25th anniversary program finished with a musical performance by Rabbi Matthew Leibl and Cantor Steven Hyman.