(August 2025) Submitted by Martin A. Koyle (Denver, Colorado), Judy L. (Shenkarow) Pollock (San Diego, California), and Lorne Billinkoff (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

It is now a year since the three of us had a unique opportunity to reconvene with 11 other septuagenarians to share memories of an event that occurred 60 years ago. In August 2024, 14 graduates of the inaugural class of 16 students at Shaarey Zedek Hebrew Day School, which ultimately became Ramah Hebrew School and later, part of Gray Academy, met to celebrate our graduation in 1964.

Many of our families had migrated to the River Heights area (when there were no Mathers or Taylor Avenues) from the North End, where the Talmud Torah and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate were foundations in that established community. None of us have any idea how the first “South End” Jewish school was conceived or funded, but we credited our parents, who had the “sechel” and belief that we, as Grade 2 students, would essentially be guinea pigs in the founding of a parochial, half-day English, half-day Hebrew school in that growing area of Winnipeg.

All of us had been in the Winnipeg Public School system prior to that radical shift, but we had also attended evening school at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue on Wellington Crescent and Academy Road where, like other students, we enjoyed chocolate milk, shortbread cookies and Wagon Wheels, along with friendship with the caretakers, Steve and Metro.

Of the 14 former students of that first Shaarey Zedek Day School class who attended last year’s reunion, there were representatives from California, Colorado, Florida, Toronto, and Vancouver, along with those who had remained in Winnipeg.

The first night we convened at the Tuxedo home of Ashley Leibl (who had joined our class in Grade 3). Of course, Winnipeg style delicatessen was served in abundance. The next evening, along with significant others, friends and their spouses, we shared a dinner at Alena Rustic Italian Restaurant in Charleswood, after being given a tour of what was then the renovating Shaarey Zedek Synagogue.

Judy Shenkarow hosted a post-Winnipeg get together in her family cottage on Prospect in Winnipeg Beach (which has belonged to generations of her family), and which she continues to enjoy despite the long drive each year from San Diego – and in a Tesla no less!

Throughout our all too brief time with one another, we reminisced about stories of our English teachers: Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Beckett, Mrs. Tallboom, and Mr. Lightbody; also our Israeli Hebrew teachers: Mrs. Lachter, and husband and wife couples: the Wernicks, Kamils, and Dafnais.

We were fortunate to also have had Myer Silverman as our principal throughout our five years as students. The esteemed (and beloved by us) educator Morag Harpley, previously the Supervisor of Primary Grades in the Winnipeg School Division, joined the administration in 1963 as Supervisor and Chief Consultant.

The brand-new Shaarey Zedek School, as it was first known, was constructed on land at the corner of Lanark and Grant and was quite a distance from the synagogue. I doubt that any adult today would let their kids play anywhere close to the swamps that were part of the school grounds at that time. We, however, took twigs and branches and old building materials left over from the school construction, to build forts and dams and to play games of war, while wearing high rubber boots and water proof pants, frequently returning after recesses soaking wet.

As new classes were enrolled, we were always the most senior class. Given this seniority, we were given the responsibility of being appointed the first safety patrols, posts which we held for the entire five years we were there. During those five years, we lost a few initial students, but gained others. As we entered Grade 5, Shaarey Zedek merged with Herzlia Academy Day School and the name was changed to Ramah Hebrew School. By the time our class reached Grade 6, the enrollment in our grade had become large enough to mandate splitting us into two classrooms.

Our education had added value on the occasional weekends when some of the fathers would host learning weekend events where we went to offices or homes, learned how to take X-rays, listen to a heart or, in a chemistry lab – make copper sulfate crystals.

Some of us were driven or car-pooled by our parents while others took public transit, or had arrangements made to take taxis back and forth. In those days, you could buy five public bus tickets for 30 cents. Ted Rosenstock’s mother, Lottie, actually petitioned Winnipeg Transit and the City of Winnipeg to expand the Grant bus service beyond the railway tracks, which at that time only extended to Borebank. Lottie pointed out the potential dangers of young children having to cross the tracks and walk all the way to Lanark!

Some of us who lived not far from Grant became more industrious as we got older and would walk back and forth, rather than take the bus. This allowed us to save those bus fare pennies and stop at Irving Klasser’s Niagara Drugs to buy chocolate bars, which were only 10 cents back then.

Since distances and transportation made lunchtime impossible for most of us to return home, most of us had packed lunches, which we often shared. Myer’s Delicatessen was the only eatery close by, and it was a treat to have Chicago Kosher (RIP) products for lunch at the small counter there as an occasional treat.

Perhaps a unique requirement to the English and Hebrew education we received was that we were required to attend synagogue services as a religious component of our studies. The Shacharit services at the Shaarey Zedek were led by us every Saturday as the Junior Choir, directed by Jack Garland from Grade 2 and all the way through our B’nai Mitzvot dates in 1964/1965. By those years we had all matriculated back into the Winnipeg Public School System.

Despite our somewhat cloistered environment for the five years at Ramah, we assimilated without difficulty into the public school systems, principally at Grant Park and River Heights.

Despite the challenges of having to participate in Saturday services for those five years, we gained many benefits from working closely with Shaarey Zedek Cantor Rabbi Louis Berkal, along with then-Rabbi Milton Aron. Given the plethora of baby boomers from our generation and not enough Shabbats in 1964-1965 to allow us to celebrate our Bar or Bat Mitzvot individually, we coordinated these events as pairs, usually with our fellow Ramah classmates.

In 2015, in Toronto, Kenny Wolch and Marty Koyle re-recited their 1965 Haftorahs at Narayver Synagogue, with the same tropes that Jack Garland had taught them. No less than 28 Winnipegers attended the simcha.

Importantly, through our five years together, we became a community of lifelong friends. We had met previously in Winnipeg in 2004 to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of our graduation at a time where some surviving parents were still able to join us.

The warmth and sense of “mischpochah” thrives now into its seventh decade. We still marvel at how our parents and the Shaarey Zedek had the vision and faith that led to these foundations. Classmate Harold Steinman (Vancouver), whom most of us had not seen since high school, summed up our reunion appropriately, stating that it “filled a void in my heart!”

By HENRY SREBRNIK Most of us know that currently most antisemitism, usually masked as “anti-Zionism,” can be found on the left of the political spectrum in Canada and the United States, thanks to the hatred of Israel. The Jewish state is being isolated internationally, and its Jewish supporters harassed and attacked domestically. And since the political left controls much, if not most, of academia, the media, the “human rights” organizations, and other essential components of society, its negative effects are profound.

On the right, we find far more support of Israel. But this doesn’t mean we should ignore an atavistic, somewhat “old-fashioned,” form of antisemitism on the far right, particularly in the U.S. These people support isolationism in foreign policy. The most explosive issue involves Jews. They see neoconservatives – mainly Jews — as imperialists and themselves as defenders of the republic, including even against President Donald Trump himself. 

They are obsessed with the idea of Israel as a uniquely evil force in world history and American Jews as a malignant fifth column. Was the recent striking of Iran’s nuclear program by Trump in America’s national interest, or a needless sacrifice for the Israel lobby, they asked?

Most prominent in this group is the talk show commentator Tucker Carlson. In the paranoid version of world events concocted by Carlson and his guests, it is the “neocons” who drive America to war in the Middle East, motivated by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insatiably expansionist ambitions. 

The day after Israel commenced Operation Rising Lion against Iran, Carlson suggested the U.S. military was being controlled by Netanyahu. “Earlier this week, unnamed Washington sources expressed concern over Israel’s ability to fend off Iran’s retaliation, which would inevitably lead to Benjamin Netanyahu ordering the American military to step in and fight on his country’s behalf,” Carlson wrote in a newsletter. “We’re not going to imperil American national security, the American economy, or America itself on your behalf,” he continued.

At the conservative Turning Point USA (TPUSA) conference in July, Carlson also claimed that deceased convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was working for Israel’s Mossad. He said it is “extremely obvious” that Epstein “had direct connections to a foreign government.” Carlson went on: “Now, no one’s allowed to say that that foreign government is Israel, because we have been somehow cowed into thinking that that’s naughty.” 

At a debate at TPUSA between comedian Dave Smith and conservative intellectual Josh Hammer about U.S. support for Israel, Smith asserted that “The level of Israeli control over our politics is frankly pretty undeniable.” He called Trump “a war criminal who should spend his life in prison.”

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, elected in 2020, initially made headlines for an antisemitic conspiracy theory she shared in 2018 suggesting that deadly California wildfires were caused by alleged Jewish space lasers controlled by the Rothschild family. She has gone on to further infamy. This past June she appeared to suggest in a post on X that former President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 over his opposition to Israel’s nuclear program.

“There was once a great President that the American people loved. He opposed Israel’s nuclear program. And then he was assassinated,” Greene posted as she also defended her dissatisfaction with Trump’s strike on Iran. 

She and Carlson shocked viewers after praising New York mayoral candidate and socialist Zohran Mamadani for how he ran his campaign after he won the New York mayoralty Democratic Party primary. “That guy was the only person in the New York City mayor’s debate to say he wanted to focus on New York City,” Carlson said on the June 27 episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show,” with Greene as his guest.

While Greene and Carlson strongly disagreed with Mamdani’s vision for the city, they praised him for running a New York City-centered campaign, noting his answer during a Democratic debate where candidates were asked what foreign country they would visit.

“I think most said Israel,” Carlson stated. “And he said, ‘I wouldn’t go anywhere. I’d stay in New York and like, if I want to meet Jewish constituents, I go to their synagogues, their homes or whatever, but I’d be here in New York because that’s what I’m doing. I’m running New York. That’s my job.’” Responded Greene: “Well, he gave the right answer.”

Another prominent antisemite who has condemned Trump’s support of Israel in the “Twelve-Day War” with Iran is Candace Owens. “This was not Trump’s decision; it was Bibi Netanyahu’s decision,” Owens told TV host Piers Morgan. “And that is the reason that he did it. We’re very aware that Israel is dictating our foreign policy, and we’d now like that to stop.” Like Greene, Owens has suggested that AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, was responsible for President Kennedy’s assassination. 

Owens worked for a time at the right-wing youth conservative movement Turning Point USA, where she began to gain a following, including Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who later appeared in public with her before he went on a string of antisemitic rants. She has made and endorsed numerous comments with roots in antisemitic stereotypes, including the blood libel, and her views have been praised by avowed white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. 

Given that the Democratic Party has basically begun to abandon Israel, should the antisemitic right gain control of the Republican Party MAGA movement, Jews in America, and Israel internationally, would be left in a perilous position similar to the 1939-1941 period. That was when the America First isolationists, many of them fascists, and the Communist Party fellow travellers joined hands in refusing to oppose Hitler, following the notorious Molotov-Ribbentrop nonaggression pact (also known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact) between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, signed that August 23, 1939. As we know, it led to the Second World War and the Holocaust. 

Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island.

By BERNIE BELLAN Recently we were contacted by a reader who asked us whether we would be interested in looking into why it is that McNally Robinson Booksellers does not offer any books written by Douglas Murray.

Who is Douglas Murray? you might ask. We have had several stories about Murray on this website over the years, most recently last November, in a story written originally for the Canadian Jewish News titled: “Douglas Murray: A Champion of Israel.”

To give you a better idea who Murray is, here is what Wikipedia has to say about him: “Douglas Murray (born 16 July 1979^[)is a British neoconservative political commentator, cultural critic, author, and journalist. He is currently an associate editor of the conservative British political and cultural magazine The Spectator, and has been a regular contributor to The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, the Daily Mail, New York Post, National Review, The Free Press, and UnHerd.

“His books include Neoconservatism: Why We Need It (2006), The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam (2017), The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity (2019), The War on the West (2022), and On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel, Hamas and the Future of the West (2025).

“Murray was the associate director of the Henry Jackson Society, a neoconservative think tank, from 2011 to 2018.

“Murray is a critic of current immigration into Europe and of Islam. He became more well-known internationally due to his advocacy for Israel after the October 7 attacks in 2023.

“Murray has been praised by conservatives and criticized by others. Articles in the academic journals Ethnic and Racial Studies and National Identities associate his views with Islamophobia nd he has been described as promoting far-right ideas such as the Eurabia, Great Replacement, and Cultural Marxism conspiracy theories.”

Murray’s most recent book, as mentioned above, is On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel, Hamas and the Future of the West.

Here is the description of the book you can find on Amazon:

“In his travels through Israel and Gaza, #1 International Bestselling author Douglas Murray has seen the best and the worst humanity has to offer, and he has no trouble choosing a side.

“Murray is not Jewish and before October 7, he had never lived in Israel. However, he objects to being lied to, and Israel has been on the receiving end of the biggest, deepest, longest lies in history.

“Israel’s commitment to fundamental Western values—capitalism, individual rights, democracy, and reason—has made it a beacon of progress in a region dominated by authoritarianism and extremism. Israel’s principles vividly contrast with the ideology of Hamas, which openly proclaims its love of death over life. With incisive moral clarity, On Democracies and Death Cults exposes how the campus left and international establishment confuse this conflict by:

• “Calling on Israel for restraint and proportionality, while Hamas commits genocide.
• “Slandering Israelis as white colonialists, while only a third of Israelis are Jews of European ancestry.
• “Framing the conflict as oppressor vs. oppressed, when it is really between a thriving multi-ethnic democracy and a death cult bent on its annihilation.

“Drawing from intensive on-the-ground reporting in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, Douglas Murray places the latest violence in its proper historical context. He takes readers on a harrowing journey through the aftermath of the October 7 massacre, piecing together the exclusive accounts from victims, survivors, and even the terrorists responsible for the atrocities. If left unchecked, misplaced sympathy could embolden forces that seek to undermine not only Israel, but all of Western civilization.”

Given that Douglas Murray is a staunch defender of Israel, what does it say about McNally Robinson Booksellers that they refuse to carry any of the five books that Murray has written to date?

We asked a spokesperson for McNally Robinson whether anyone wished to comment as to why it is that the store will not carry any of Murray’s books, but we were told that McNally Robinson has no comment to make.

As a result, we headed down to the store to take a look for ourselves at the selection of titles that McNally Robinson has on display about Israel and Palestine and that can be found under the heading “Middle East Issues.”

Here are the titles we were able to see in the store:

The Time Beneath the Concrete – Palestine between Camp and Colony; I Shall Not Hate; Jews Don’t Count; Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza (by Peter Beinart); Hope Without Hope; The Gardener of Lashkar Gah; States Without People; Hamas – From Resistance to Regime; The State of Israel vs. The Jews; Israel/Palestine; Banging on the Walls of the Tank; Perfect Victims; Genocide Bad; The Wall Between; The Palestine Laboratory; Road to October 7; Hamas; The World After Gaza; Palestine in a World on Fire; Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic; Loot – How Israel Stole Palestinian Property.

As well, McNally Robinson has a great many other books about Israel and Palestine that are available to order online, including (but not limited to):

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine – A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance 1917-2017; Genocide Bad; A Genocide Foretold; The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine; Recognizing the Stranger (On Palestine and Narrative): The Question of Palestine; October 7th – Searching for the Humanitarian Middle

In contrast with McNally Robinson’s approach to the subject of Israel and Palestine, Indigo Books offers books that are more sympathetic to Israel. Given that Heather Reisman is the owner of Indigo Books and has demonstrated support for Israel, particularly through a foundation she and her husband, Gerald Schwartz, established, known as the HESEG Foundation, which provides scholarships for “lone soldiers” serving in the Israel Defence Forces, it should come as no surprise that Indigo Books offers books that contain a more pro-Israel perspective – in contrast with McNally Robinson.

As well, from time to time, Heather Reisman adds the title “Heather’s Pick” to a particular book, which means that book is “specifically recommended by her and comes with a money-back guarantee,” according to the article about her on Wikipedia.

Here are titles that were located on shelves under the heading “World History” that we saw on display at the Indigo Books location on Empress:

The Prime Ministers – An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership (a “Heather’s Pick”); Mossad; A Child in Palestine; Understanding Palestine; Enemies and Neighbors; Palestine 1936 – The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict; The Hundred Years War for Palestine; The Wall; Israel – Palestine; Orientalism (by Edward Said); The Question of Palestine; Ghosts of a Holy War; The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine; A Half Century of Occupation; Can We Talk About Israel?; Deluge; A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy; Israel (by Noa Tishby); The Lemon Tree; Thirteen Days in September: The Dramatic Story of the Struggle for Peace (story of Begin and Sadat at Camp David); Son of Hamas; Israel – A Concise History of a Nation Reborn (a “Heather’s Pick”); Israel and Civilization; Terror Tunnels (by Alan Dershowitz); Israel – A History (by Martin Gilbert); Impossible Takes Longer; Israel Alone; Ally (by Michael Oren); On Being Jewish Now; The Story of the Jews; Antisemitism in America; The World After Gaza; The War on the West (also by Douglas Murray).

As well, Indigo Book has a lengthy list of other titles that relate to the subjects of Israel and Palestine and that can be ordered online.

We might also note that the Douglas Murray book, On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel, Hamas and the Future of the West, was not only for sale at the Indigo Books location on Empress, it was showcased when we were there (July 24).

Readers should bear in mind though that both McNally Robinson Booksellers and Indigo Books are privately owned and it is the prerogative of the owners to choose which books they will sell.