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Yom Tov options still somewhat limited for those seeking in-person services despite government easing of Covid restrictions

By MYRON LOVE Last year, around this time, I began my annual report on upcoming High Holiday services with the observation that, while “our Provincial Government may have substantially eased restrictions imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19 – Winnipeg synagogues are still taking a cautious approach to in-person Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur services.

The concensus appears to be limited numbers with requirements that all in attendance must be synagogue members, have had two vaccines and wear masks throughout.”
While the situation is somewhat improved this year, a variety of restrictions are still in place – athough differing from synagogue to synagogue.
That leaves few, if any options – other than following a service online – for the majority of members of our community. Congregation Etz Chayim, for example, is planning for between 350 and 375 in-person worshippers – about one-third of capacity – as compared to 50 people in attendance for each of the two days of Rosh Hashanah last year and 100 for Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur.
This year, too, junior congregation and family services are back, reports Jonathan Buchwald, Etz Chayim’s executive director, as well as the in-person choir.
Of course, for the third year in a row, worshippers can follow the service online – an option that is appealing to a growing number of people. Last year, Buchwald estimates that close to 200 screens were watching the service, including many from out of town. “This would translate into about 500-600 people watching our services at any given time,” he noted. “Congregants were also able to offer special readings live via Zoom.”
He adds that while the popular Rose Family Service – a staple of High Holiday services which had been led by Rabbi Neal and Carol Rose for many years in the synagogue’s lower level – was available online last year, the service will not be taking place this year. Buchwald says that he is hopeful that the Roses might resume offering the alternative service next year.
As for Covid restrictions, it will be the same as last year – masks and proof of vaccination required.
Etz Chayim is our community’s second largest congregation and the largest by far in the North End.

The Chevra Mishnayes Synagogue, North Winnipeg’s only other Conservative congregation, will again be limiting numbers for the High Holidays – although, as with last year – family members will be able to sit together… and masks will be compulsory.
“We did reasonably well last year, all things considered,” says Chevra Mishnayes President Rob Waldman. “We understand that people are still cautious.”
Once again, Chevra Mishnayes High holiday services will be led by Al Benarroch.

Last year, The shul’s president, Gary Minuk,, reported that about 30 men and a few women were in attendance for Yom Tov services. He estimates that the number will be much the same this year.
(Incidentally, the Ashkenazie still has morning services Mondays and Thursdays year round.)

In contrast to the Ashkenazie’s Covid precautions, south Winnipeg’s Orthodox congregation, Adas Yeshurun Herzlia Congregation will require High Holiday worshippers to be up-to-date with their vaccinations, but the wearing of a mask will be a matter of personal choice. Unlike last year, though, there will be no limit on the number of people who can attend for the High H­olidays.
“Our capacity is about 300,” reports congregation president Jack Craven. “We are expecting to have normal services.”
Speaking for the Lubavitch Centre, south Winnipeg’s other Orthodox shul, Rabbi Boruch Heidingsfeld reports that the synagogue will not be requiring masks or vaccines for those wanting to attend. “We are following provincial health guidelines,” he says.
The Lubavitch Centre also doesn’t charge to attend services.
Heidingsfeld reports that capacity is between 200 and 300.

Temple Shalom, our community’s only Reform Congregation, is also requiring worshippers in attendance at the High Holidays to be vaccinated and masked.
“Some of our members are still hesitant,” Congregation president Ruth Livingston reports.
“We have already had a number of people who have called the office about purchasing seats for Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur,” she adds.
She notes that members are not required to pay extra for High Holiday seating.
Seating capacity is about 200.
Livingston points out that while there will be no choir this year, there will be three chazans involved in leading services. Readers can also choose to follow the services online. Rabbi Allan Finkel, the congregation’s spiritual leader (who is soon to be retiring) reported in an interview last year that up to 600 people followed the Temple’s online 2021 High holiday services.

As for Shaarey Zedek Congregation – our community’s largest congregation – most readers will be aware that the congregation has embarked on a major expansion project and that regular services have been moved to Temple Shalom while Yom Tov services are scheduled to be held at the Campus. Just recently Shaarey Zedek members were informed that high holiday services will be held in the Berney Theatre, which holds 200 people. There will be two sessions each day of the holidays, as was the custom years ago when there were too many people to be accomodated in one session alone. As with last year though, all members of the community are welcome to participate online. There will be no charge and no tickets or passwords will be needed. The machzorim will be digital, the aliyot virtual and viewers will be able to chat online with other viewers.

There remains one more option for those seeking to attend a High Holiday service. After a two year absence, Camp Massad is resuming its innovative Rosh Hashonah service. Daniel Sprintz, the camp’s executive director, is pleased to announce that Massad will be hosting its usual Rosh Hashonah program on the second day.
“We offer a creative and interactive service that combines some traditional prayers with contemporary readings, folk music and our usual Camp Massad ‘shtick’,” Sprintz says. “Our services will be followed by a kosher lunch and Tashlich at the Lake.”

Sprintz notes that past Rosh Hashonahs at Massad have attracted as many as 150 participants, “We are hoping to have 100 or more for this year,” he says. “It depends on people’s comfort levels.”
Registration deadline (massad.ca) is September 19.

Yom Tov this year begins on Monday, September 28, in the evening.
Wishing all readers a sweet new year.
   

The only other North End synagogue offering High Holiday services this year will be the Orthodox House of Ashkenazie – which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2022. Whereas last year, the synagogue board required that all who were thinking of attending must be vaccinated, while masks were optional – although highly recommended, this year, masks are required but not vaccinations.

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Jewish Federation CEO Jeff Lieberman acknowledges importance of reaching out to members of the community who are disaffected

"Java with Jeff" attendees (left-right): Uriel Jelin, Shota and Lia Megrelishivili, Carrie Shenkarow, Jeff Lieberman.

By BERNIE BELLAN It was billed as “Java with Jeff” – a chance for anyone to talk to Jewish Federation CEO Jeff Lieberman in an open setting at Schmoozer’s Café. There were to be two sessions: an early morning session Monday morning, September 8, and an evening session Tuesday, September 23, at 7:30 pm.
While I didn’t attend the morning session held on September 8, anecdotally I heard that there was a good crowd and so, I expected much the same for the Tuesday, September 23 session – which I did attend.
As a result, I was somewhat shocked when I entered the Asper Campus that Tuesday evening and saw absolutely no one waiting in Schmoozer’s Café. I checked my phone again to make sure that I had the right date and time and, sure enough, I did.

Eventually, an old acquaintance by the name of Uriel Jelin – whom I hadn’t seen in quite a long time, walked up to where I was sitting at a table in Schmoozer’s and asked me whether I was also there to see Jeff Lieberman. I said I was, but Uriel was equally stupefied that no one else was there. (By the way, Uriel Jelin immigrated to Winnipeg from Argentina in 2015, along with his wife, Cynthia Fidel, and their two children, Anna Sofia and Eliel. They were profiled in an April 2016 issue of The Jewish Post & News by Rebeca Kuropatwa.)
While Uriel and I chatted, catching up on where he and Cynthia are at now, we noticed that, gathered in the courtyard adjoining Schmoozer’s, was a group, including Jeff Lieberman. (It turns out it was some sort of meeting for Gray Academy.) Within a few minutes, Jeff entered through the door leading into the campus. I approached him and asked him whether he was still planning on going ahead with “Java with Jeff,” despite the scarcity of attendees.
Jeff said he was going to proceed as planned but, instead of holding an open forum – which was the initial plan, he said, it would make more sense to hold a series of one-on-ones with whoever showed up. As it was, a very aggressive woman (who showed up after Uriel and I had been sitting waiting for Jeff to show up), approached Jeff and said to him that she had something to attend, so she asked whether she could sit down with him first. (I wasn’t surprised that someone had the effrontery to push herself to the head of the line.)
While that rude woman was sitting talking to Jeff, two more individuals showed up and said that they, too, would like to talk to Jeff.
While the rude woman spent over 20 minutes talking to Jeff, I engaged the two new individuals in conversation. They introduced themselves as Shota and Lia Megrelishvili – recent arrivals to our city from Georgia (not the Georgia in the USA). Georgia, which seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991, had been following a pro-Western stance, Shota explained, but its most recent prime minister has been attempting to shift the country back into a more pro-Russian stance, he noted.
Eventually, Jeff invited the four of us: Uriel, Shota, Lia, and me, to join him and Carrie Shenkarow (who said she was the incoming President of the Jewish Federation, about to take over from current President Paula Parks in November), at one table. (I should note that Paula Parks did show up as well, but she ended up sitting with someone else who had apparently come to participate in whatever it was that was supposed to take place. Paula and that person ended up having their own private conversation at a different Schmoozer’s table.)
Given the quite small number of individuals who had come out, Jeff suggested that we all just introduce ourselves and ask any questions anyone might have of him.
Shota took the opportunity to say how grateful he and Lia were to the Federation for the help they had been given in moving to Winnipeg. He added that he and Lia were there because they wanted to offer their services to the Federation to volunteer in any capacity the Federation might think useful.
At that point both Shota and Lia told the story how they had ended up in Winnipeg. While Shota said he had found work immediately in his field (IT), Lia was sadly underemployed (working in a food store), even though she was also qualified to work in IT.
I said to them that, years ago, I had been involved, along with former Rady JCC Programming Director Tamar Barr, in setting up what was called the Jewish Business Network. I said that I had retained every business card I had ever been given at any of the Jewish Business Network meetings and I knew that I had cards from at least a couple of individuals who were involved in IT. I said I would try to put Shota and Lia in touch with someone in IT – which I did the next day.
Eventually though, after everyone had had their chance to talk to Jeff, I said to him that I would like to take the opportunity to ask him some questions. I must add that I had tried to get a response from Jeff around the time the Federation had enmeshed itself in the affairs of BB Camp back in April, when then-Executive Director Jacob Brodovdsky had found himself caught up in a witch hunt engendered by the publisher of a website known as the J.ca, during which Brodovsky was accused of not showing enough support for the State of Israel.
Even though the board of BB Camp had given Brodovsky a full vote of confidence, the Jewish Federation had stepped in and, only three days after the BB Camp had issued that vote of confidence to Brodovsky, the Federation held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation and – the next day, Brodovsky was let go from his position. I never did get a response from Jeff as to why the Federation had interceded in the affairs of one of its beneficiary agencies (which, presumably, operate autonomously from the Federation.)
But, now that I had the opportunity to talk to Jeff one on one, I began by saying that I wasn’t going to revisit what happened to Jacob Brodovsky and that, no doubt, Jacob himself wanted to move on from what had happened.
Instead, I said, I wanted to ask how the Federation “can reach out to people who feel the Federation doesn’t represent them?”
Jeff answered that holding this kind of session was a way for people to “talk to the Federation, to talk to me. This may be the beginning, but maybe we can do something else – like a town hall – by Zoom or something, where people could ask questions, hold a conversation. I understand that there are people out there who don’t understand what Federation does, who don’t know the difference between Federation and (Jewish) Foundation…
“After I became CEO (in July 2023), I held a series of meetings, along with Dalia (Szpiro, Jewish Federation GrowWinnipeg Director) with Israelis. I was shocked to hear from some of them that they had never set foot in this building.”
I said that “they live far away in a lot of cases.” I noted that when Gayle Waxman was Rady JCC Executive Director, she started holding events in Transcona, for instance, to take programming closer to where many Israelis live.
Jeff added that, to make things even more difficult, some of the Israelis now live in Sage Creek which, I suggested, is “about as far away from the campus as you can get.”
“Here’s the other thing,” I said though: “Aside from involvement in the community,” there’s a situation where, especially among a lot of young people” – noting I had received a number of emails around the time of the Brodovsky controversy, “there’s a feeling that ‘if we don’t line themselves up in total support for Israel, we feel marginalized, we’re not accepted as part of the community.’ Is there room for people – like me,” I asked, “to have dissenting voices?”
Jeff agreed there are people who “feel we don’t represent them because of our support of Israel and we support Israel – the right of people there to feel secure, not to have to worry about their safety, but we don’t talk about support for the Israeli government, we talk about the Israeli people.”
“You talked about holding a ‘town hall,’ ” I said, “maybe through Zoom..and that would be kind of awkward,” , but “you agree about reaching out to people who feel excluded, who don’t feel part of the mainstream? It’s a tough one – because things have become so polarized.”
Jeff acknowledged “there’s a certain percentage of Jews who don’t agree with our position on the State of Israel.”
I said, “It’s probably a lot more than you think because I meet a lot of people who are ostensibly Jewish, who say we don’t want anything to do with the Jewish Federation… but – if you can put some flesh on the bone, and reach out by having some sort of town hall, that would be a way of perhaps doing something to make people who are currently disaffected feel that the Federation is at least listening to them.”

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Former Canadian Jacqui Vital tells Winnipeg audience story how her late daughter Adi fought heroically against Hamas terrorists on October 7

Jacqui Vital/her late daughter Adi Kaploun-Vital

By MYRON LOVE As B’nai Brith Winnipeg reminds us every year during Holocaust Remembrance Week,”to every person there is a name.”
When we hear or read numbers – 500,000 people murdered in Syria’s decade long civil war – or an estimated 300,000 dead in Yemen’s civil war – or 25 million Sudanese at risk of starvation, they are just numbers without meaning for most of us.
The same could be said for the 1,200 Israelis massacred by Hamas and their minions on October 7, 2023.  For me, personally, the face and name that I put to that horrendous mini-Holocaust was -from the very first news reports, our community’s Vivian Silver.  We had known each other since we were seven. We went to school together. In later years, I had grown close to her parents, Meyer and Ros, through our common shul membership, and I would see Vivian at shul when she came to visit. I admired her efforts to foster harmonious relations between Jewish and Arab Israelis and Israelis and Palestinians.
I now have another name and face to picture when I think of the October 7 massacre.
On Tuesday, August 26, I was among 200 fellow Winnipeggers in attendance at the Shaarey Zedek to hear Jacqui Vital tell us about her daughter, Adi.  Adi, we were told, had fought valiantly against the terrorists despite impossible odds and died heroically.
“I want people to know that my daughter is not just a number,” Vital said.  “She was a wife,  a protective and strong mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend.  She was a born leader imbued with the spirit of volunteering.  She was always true to herself.  And she loved the land and people of Israel.”
Jacqui Vital has dedicated the last two years to keeping alive Adi’s memory by speaking about her wherever she can.     
Vital’s appearance in Winnipeg – part of a cross-Canada tour – was co-sponsored by the Shaarey Zedek, the Asper Foundation, Bridges for Peace Canada, and the Rady JCC.
Vital was introduced by Kelly Hiebert, a Westwood Collegiate teacher who is dedicated to educating his students about the Holocaust. The speaker began her presentation by reviewing her road to aliyah. 
Born and raised in  Ottawa, Vital attended the University of Toronto. Fifty years ago she immigrated to Israel.  In Israel, she met and married Yaron. The couple had three daughters – with Adi being the youngest – and one son.
Adi and her husband, Anani, had two children: sons Negev – who was three-and –a-half  at the time – and Eshel, who was just six months old.  Adi was an engineer and cyber-security expert.
As part of her presentation, Jacqui Vital played a video of Adi and another member of the kibbutz speaking about why they decided to move to Holit, a small kibbutz near the Gaza border, and became kibbutzniks.  There were also videos of the extended family in happier times –with the last photo from a family gathering on Rosh Hashanah, three weeks before her murder.
In the early hours of Saturday, October 7, 2023, Jacqui Vital said , when Adi heard the first signs of the invasion and recognized that this wasn’t the norm – and with her husband, Anani, somewhere else – she took her sons into the home’s safe room and contacted Anani.  There was a rifle in the safe room because Anani was the deputy head of security for the kibbutz.  Adi phoned Anani and asked how to load it.  When the terrorists began to shoot through the door to the safe room, Adi fired the rifle, killing one of the attackers before the other terrorists killed her.
I have long believed that everyone who survived the Holocaust was saved by a miracle – if not several miracles.  In the case of Adi and her family, several miracles followed her killing.
First, among this group of terrorists, there were at least some who retained vestiges of humanity.  Instead of murdering the children – as happened in many other cases on that infamous day – the killers spared the children. Not only that, they gave them to the care of a neighbour – Avital Alajem. 
Then – a second miracle. This is a story I remember from that time.  After taking Avital Alajem and the two boys into Gaza, they stopped before entering the tunnel they had used to enter into Israel, and one of the terrorists inexplicably indicated to Avital that she should turn back with the boys and return to Israel. She was able to return the boys to their father.
Now, Jacqui recounted, she was visiting family in Ottawa around this time. She was scheduled to return to Israel on October 8.  Adi’s father, Yaron, had gone to stay with Adi and the boys over Sukkot, while Anani was away.
More miracles:  Adi had suggested to her father that he should stay in the kibbutz guest house lest the baby’s cries wake him up at night.  At the sound of the commotion outside, he went into the guest house’s safe room and waited… The terrorists never came.
As Jacqui reported, the attackers had a detailed map of the kibbutz and who lived where.  The guest house was listed as uninhabited, so they didn’t enter that house.  Yaron waited until late in the afternoon when IDF soldiers broke in and he was able to leave. 
He went with IDF soldiers to his daughter’s house, Jacqui continued.  Inside, they found the body of the terrorist that Adi killed lying on the floor – but no signs of Adi and the kids. They weren’t able to open the door to the safe room wide enough to get in.  On the following Tuesday, a different group of IDF soldiers found a back way in and saw Adi’s body – rigged with explosives. If the soldiers had entered through the safe room door, there would have been a massive explosion.
The final miracle, as told by Jacqui:  Although Yaron’s car was riddled with bullet holes, it was drivable.  The soldiers recommended that he take Road 232 back to Jerusalem.  On a hunch, he chose a different route.  It turned out that terrorists were firing at cars traveling on 232.
Jacqui reported that there have been several acts of kindness helping to keep the memory of Adi alive.  About 1,500 people attended her funeral. Some of Yaron’s students planted a tree in her memory in the yard of the school where Yaron teaches. A couple in Ottawa, who didn’t know Adi,- designed a logo as a tribute to her featuring the head of a lioness – for the boys’ trust fund – the Adi Kaploun-Vital Memorial Fund – which is intended to help support Eshel and Negev.
Any readers who might be interested in donating can go online to the Adi Kaploun-Vital  Memorial Fund on Jgive.

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Rainbow Stage honours Klara Belkin

By MYRON LOVE Over the years, I have written about Klara Belkin several times in this newspaper – most recently this past spring when I learned about a documentary that had been filmed highlighting quite likely one of the most significant moments in her life – in the spring of 1945 – when the Hungarian-born cellist and her family were rescued by American forces from a train that was heading for Theresienstadt concentration camp.
After the war, she studied the cello at the Franz Liszt Academy in her native Budapest. Following the Hungarian Revolution in October 1956, she was able to leave Budapest – with the encouragement of her mother – for Vienna. In Vienna, though, the symphony was not hiring any female musicians. So, she came to Canada and found a position with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. That was also where she met her husband, Emile, a violin player, who was also a member of the WSO.
 She was the principal cellist for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for 20 years.  As well, for many years, in the winters, she and Emile were also members of the Tampa Symphony Orchestra in Tampa Bay. As a teacher, she served as a member of the faculty of the University of Manitoba’s School of Music for almost 20 years.  
Now, I have always thought of  Klara Belkin as a classical musician.  So, you can imagine my surprise when my family and I were at Rainbow Stage in August enjoying the recent production of “Frozen” and I noticed in the program that Klara had been inducted on to Rainbow Stage’s Wall of Fame a few weeks earlier.
“It was a different direction for her,” notes her daughter, Lisa Belkin.
According to Lisa, her mother was a member of the Rainbow Stage Orchestra throughout the 1960s and 70s.  “My sister, Brenda, and I were little kids when she began performing at Rainbow Stage,” Lisa recalls.  “Our family spent our summers at our cottage at Sandy Hook. Our mother would play as part of the Rainbow Stage orchestra in the evenings and generally get back at midnight.”  
She reports that Klara left Rainbow Stage in 1979 when she began teaching at the University of Manitoba School of Music.
She was back at the summer theatre briefly in 1990 when she was part of the orchestra backing up the premiere of local playwright/composer Danny Schur’s production of “Strike”, his tribute to the 1919 General Strike in Winnipeg.
One memory Klara has of her time at Rainbow Stage was theatre founder Jack Shapira’s Rolls Royce which, she believes, was the first in Winnipeg.
While Klara appreciated the honour, Lisa notes, her mother was unable to attend the induction ceremony in person.  The famed cellist – now 95 – moved to Saskatoon four years ago – shortly after Emile passed away – to be closer to Lisa.  Family friends represented her at the induction.
In her acceptance speech, Klara Belkin expressed her thanks to the Rainbow Stage organization.  “I am grateful to my dear friends who are with you this evening to accept this honour on my behalf,” she wrote.  “Participating in Rainbow Stage over the years has been very meaningful to me.  As a newcomer to Canada from Europe in 1957, I was not at all familiar with North American musical theatre.  Playing Rainbow Stage over many years gave me the familiarity and joy of Broadway musicals.  
 
“In the early days of Rainbow Stage,” she recalled, “for me – that was in the 1960s… there was a roof over the stage, but not over the orchestra pit or the audience.  When it rained – that was the end of the show and everyone went home.  It happened a lot.  
“Also – playing the shows over many weeks each season, my orchestra colleagues and I were very sure we could play the various roles on stage as substitute actors in a pinch.”
She remembered that the orchestra pit was nearly always cramped – especially for the string players.  There would only be enough room to play her cello using the center one-third part of her bow; that was so she didn’t poke the two guys on either side of her.   
 “I looked forward to every season at Rainbow Stage,” she wrote.  “It was always wonderful seeing how much the audience enjoyed the show … while the mosquitoes always enjoyed them.  Thank you so much for this wonderful honor.”
Lisa is happy to report that her mother’s health is still relatively good and that she keeps busy drawing  and practising her beloved cello.

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