By MYRON LOVE In the Torah, the prophet Micah, asks the question: “O man. What does the Lord require of you?” to which the Lord responds: “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
 
John  Plantz tries to live those precepts every day.  Though recently retired as the Christian Friends of Israel’s director, the lifelong supporter of Israel and our local Jewish community has been and remains actively involved as a volunteer in several of our institutions, among them Canadian Magen David Adom, Friends of JNF Canada, Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Canadian Friends of Haifa University, Leket Canada, Operation Lifeshield, and the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. (He and his wife, Irene, were Endowment Book of life singers a few years back.)
 
I first met John Plantz more than 25 years ago when I joined the board of the old Jewish Public Library; he was the volunteer librarian back then – and he told me his story.
 
His first encounters with Jews came while he was growing up near the former Jewish farm colony at Camper – about a two hour drive northwest of Winnipeg.  “It was one of the Baron Hirsch farm colonies,” he recalled.  (Hirsch started several Jewish farm colonies in Western Canada and Argentina in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.)  When I was a kid, there were still a lot of Jewish families in the area.”
 
Post high school Plantz found himself adrift – unsure of what he wanted to do with his life.  He worked in construction for a time, tried joining the RCMP (but they weren’t taking on any new recruits at that time) – and contemplated going to university. He also thought about playing professional baseball.
 
Then he heard about an evangelical bible school – Briercrest College and Seminary – in west central Saskatchewan, and applied for admission. He says that he was initially attracted to the institution because of its sports program. However, he also found himself becoming increasingly interested in the Bible and became a devout  Christian.  His experience at Briercrest further fostered his passion for Israel.

In 1979, he graduated with a Bachelor of Religious Education and a teaching certificate. In 1983, John married Irene Plett. He recalls that, at the reception, he suddenly leaned over to his new bride and said, “One day, I’m going to Israel.”
 
From 1978 to1988, he worked as a youth pastor and as a “circuit preacher” in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In 1989 he decided to go back to school, to attend Briercrest Seminary to obtain his Masters of Ministry with studies in archaeology in Israel.

“As I studied the Bible more intently,” he recalls, “one of my professors suggested that if I really wanted to understand the Bible better, I should hear it taught from a Jewish perspective.”
 
To that end, in 1991, he began attending the Beth Jacob Synagogue in Regina. He went to Shabbat services regularly for a year and became friendly with the rabbi.  One day, after Shabbat service, the Rabbi asked him if he was Jewish because he had a Jewish friend with the same last name.
“My plans to visit Israel were already in the works,” he says, “and so I tucked this away as something I should pursue while there.”
 
In Israel that first time – the first of many visits to Israel – 28 at last count –  he took archaeology courses at the Hebrew University and went on some digs.  He also looked into his surname and found that it was a Hungarian Jewish name.
 
When he returned to Canada, he asked his grandfather, Ralph Plantz, whether he was, in fact, Jewish, his grandfather acknowledged that he did have Jewish ancestry.  When John asked why his grandfather had never mentioned it before, the response was that no one asked.
 
“My ‘zaida’ (which is how John now refers to his late grandfather) always encouraged us to treat Jewish people with respect,” John notes.
 
While still a devoted Christian, he says that he does consider himself Jewish.
 
After coming back from Israel that first time John began volunteering with Christian Friends of Israel.  He also began volunteering at the old Jewish Public Library.
 
“I loved being at the library,” he reminisces. “I had studied both Hebrew and Yiddish so I could work comfortably with the collection.”
 
He speaks fondly about some of the regulars who visited the library. “I learned a lot from them,” he says.
 
He remembers the late Noach Witman in particular.  “Noach was one of the kindest men I have ever known,” he says. 
 
(Witman was the founder and long time host of the Jewish radio hour Sunday afternoons – which is still on the air every Sunday from 1:30 to 2:30 on CHJS radio 810 on the am dial.)
 
During that time, Plantz began to attend north Winnipeg synagogues on Shabbat and volunteer for a number of Winnipeg-based Israel fundraising organizations.
 
In 2018, he assumed the role of Manitoba Director of Christian Friends of Israel, a position he just retired from at the end of August.  He declares however, that he will continue to work on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people as long as he is able.
 
He is proud to report that his seven children all share his and Irene’s passion for the Children of Israel and all helped out at the Jewish Public Library.  “All five of my sons took Yiddish lessons and one of my daughters studied Hebrew,” he says.
 
Plantz quotes the Prophet Jeremiah as declaring that  – to paraphrase – as long as the sun, the moon and the stars are in the sky, “the seed of Israel shall not cease from being a nation before me”.
 
“And so must be our love for the Jewish People and Israel,” Plantz concludes.     

By BERNIE BELLAN Elsewhere on this website we have a piece by Dr. Elisa Flaybush who, although she received her medical training at the University of Manitoba medical school, went to the US for specialized training in gastroenterology – and chose to remain in the US. You can read Elisa’s commentary on our Canadian medical system at “Manitoba trained Jewish physician now living in US laments state of medical care in Canada.”

That piece elicited quite a few views. Unfortunately, we do not allow comments on our website. (We get inundated with spam comments and it’s too time consuming to wade through them to find legitimate comments.) Interestingly though, we received a very thoughtful email sent to us through our “Contact Us” link from another former Winnipegger, Dr. Martin Koyle – who also chose to go elsewhere for specialized training – in his case, in urologoy, following his graduation from the U of M medical school. In Dr. Koyle’s case, however, after spending most of his career in the US, he did return to Canada – to teach and work first in Montreal and latterly in Toronto.

(We might also note that Dr. Koyle has been the recipient of many awards throughout his career, most recently having been selected as one of the American Urological Assocation’s 2026 Distinguished Award Winners.)

Following is Dr. Koyle’s piece, written in response to Dr. Flaybush’s piece:

Bernie: I enjoyed your dialogue with Elisa, whom I do not know. I must admit that my training and education in Manitoba more than prepared me for subsequent specialist training and spending the majority of my career in the USA, but returned to spend the last 10 years of my full-time career as Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto Temerity Faculty of Medicine and Women’s Auxiliary Endowed Chair in Urology and Regenerative Medicine at SickKids. Like Elisa, I was not mentioned in Eva (Wiseman)’s book because, like Elisa, I never returned to Winnipeg to practice, but have returned multiple times to operate and serve as visiting professor.
Much of my 40-year career and success was because of the education and mentorship I received from Eva’s husband, Nathan, also Dr. Alan Decter, Dr. Luis Oppenheimer, and Dr. Harvey Chochinov, all Jewish. Certainly, many of my non-Jewish educators had major impacts on my development as well and I feel fortunate to have been lucky. Before I accepted a postgraduate residency training position at Harvard I had long discussions with Nathan and Alan, and looked at all alternatives. One of them said that the 3 most overrated things in the world were “homecoming, sex and Harvard Medical School!” After a few months back I replied to that comment, agreeing with the latter insight, but fervently disagreeing with comments regarding homecoming and sex! However, the Harvard reputation and networking opportunities paid dividends that I likely would not have garnered had I stayed in Manitoba to train and then eventually sought to seek other opportunities.

I too believe that the Canadian healthcare system is broken despite best intentions. Reality is reality. From the time of William Osler until my starting practice in 1984, medical knowledge was doubling in a linear fashion roughly every 7 years. Over the past few decades, with all the innovations and disruptions, biomedical knowledge now grows exponentially, every 2.5 months! Moreover, the number of medical specialties and subspecialties has gone from 40 to 150 over the past 4 decades. Moreover, in my parent specialty of urology, within 5 years of my subspecializing in pediatric urology, I had become a dinosaur, as urology over that short period had changed so dramatically. Routine x-rays were replaced by ultrasound, then CT scans, and then MRI was added. Hands on surgery became largely replaced by laparoscopy and now robotic surgery. New drugs, new guidelines, new metrics, litigation, peer pressure, the electronic medical record, and much more have increased the complexity even more… and the costs to boot! Since the system is based on taxpayer dollars, it is always playing catch up.
Elisa and I are proceduralists that cost the system money and much of what we do is therefore elective. In Canada, in order to see a specialist like her or me, you most often need a referral from a primary care provider, usually using an archaic methodology of FAXing a referral form and hoping a response ultimately reaches the patient. In the USA, if we don’t address a call or referral immediately and appropriately, whether in private practice like Elisa, or in an academic environment like me, we are quite likely to lose that referral base and even that entire practice. So, customer service in our competitive model is essential.
In my practice, I am salaried and see insured and indigent patients, who are all treated equally. In semi-retirement, we are constantly attempting to improve access in the hospital where I work. During my 10 years in Toronto – and I assume it’s similar in Manitoba, my practice felt like an impersonal, never-ending conveyer belt, with very little relationship with the referring provider or, sadly, the patient. The physician also was the one who bore the brunt of patient complaints for any delay or cancellation, despite having no control of the system in which I worked.
Elisa, being in private practice, likely has more control over flow than I do. I use allied health providers, nurse practitioners and physicians as a team to improve flow. They are underutilized in Canada and too much reliance is placed on the gatekeeper, the family doctor. Canada tries to play nice in the sandbox, so to speak, by thinking that all inhabitants of a given province or territory have equal access and equal care. However, many patients in Canada need supplemental insurance – which can be costly if not offered by an employer.

So healthcare is challenging. We are living longer, with more chronic conditions that can now be treated better and hence, prolong life. In the US as much as 25% of healthcare dollars are spent on prolonging the inevitable. In Canada there is far more emphasis on palliative care and hospice, far reducing end of life costs. There is much waste in both systems – with a lot of over management (mismanagement?). In the US it is as challenging as the Canadian system, but for different reasons. There is a profit motive in an open market system, whether that be the insurance company, the hospitals themselves, or the provider. Whether the government provides the dollars through taxes (Canada) or all those pieces that don’t necessarily fit perfectly in the American system, the bottom line needs to finish in the black.

So healthcare is broken, and while fair and equitable is a laudable human-focused goal, it is challenging to achieve in a never-ending playing field. Similarly, an open market system – as Elisa has suggested, works in many instances, but in order to provide for all, it is reliant on government (tax) dollars as well. With the changes in administration in the US, where there is fear that the Social Security and Medicare (federal care dollars for those over age 65 and those with significant conditions like kidney failure) pots are not being replenished as the population ages, and state support has diminished for Medicaid (support for low income), the system also faces mounting challenges as well.

Martin A. Koyle MD, MSc, MMgmt, MBA(cert.), FAAP, FACS, FRCSC, FRCS (Eng.), FRSM
Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto, Temerity Faculty of Medicine & Institute of Health Policy, Management, & Evaluation (IHPME)
Adjunct Professor, University of Minnesota School of Medicine
Faculty, IMHL & GCHM programs, McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management
Email: marttch@me.com; marty.koyle@gmail.com.
Twitter:@MakMarttch

By MYRON LOVE About a year ago, Winnipegger Mark Kagan reached out to the Jewish community through the pages of the Jewish Post (and jewishpostandnews.ca) in his efforts to find a liver donor. At the time, his liver and his health were rapidly failing and he was quickly running out of time.
Back then, the former Best Western Hotels manager – who is in his mid-60s – reported that there is no cure for his condition (a non-alcohol related rare liver disease called Nodular Regenerative Hyperplasia).
“My only hope for survival is a liver transplant,” he said.  
The good news is that he was able to get a liver transplant this past April in Toronto and his recovery went well.  Within a short time, he was able to eat normally and resume exercising.  He spent three weeks post-op in the hospital in Toronto and another two weeks at the Health Sciences Centre before being cleared to go home again. 
The bad news was that once his liver failed, in turn, it caused his kidneys to fail.   “My doctors originally hoped that my kidney function would return on its own once the liver was transplanted,” he notes.
That didn’t happen.  Now Kagan has to have dialysis three times a week while trying to find a kidney donor.
On Tuesday, December 9, Kagan’s quest for a kidney donor will be the focus of a program at the Rady JCC hosted by Renewal Canada, a Toronto based organization that works within the Jewish community to find kidney donors and facilitate transplants. The event – that begins at 7:30 pm – is described as a Kidney Donation Awareness and Swab Drive with the hope that a donor can be found for Kagan. Speakers will include Rabbis Carnie and Kliel Rose – both discussing the mitzvah of organ donation, Penny Kravetsky representing Renewal Canada, and past donor Esther Dick, as well as Kagan.
Kagan adds a special thank you to Rebbitzen Bracha Altein for her role in directing his mother to Renewal Canada. 
 
Comments that Kagan made last year in the Post article still ring true: 
“Your support means everything to me and my family,” Kagan said. “Even if you cannot donate, sharing my story could connect me with someone who can. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider helping in this crucial time.”
 
Interested readers can register by going online at  https://www.renewalcanada.org/