Features
Canadian Associates of Ben Gurion University hold online gala event featuring Shira Haas of “Shtisel” and “Unorthodox” fame
By BERNIE BELLAN Shira Haas may be only 26 years old, but she has already become one of Israel’s best known actors, having starred as an Orthodox Jew in both “Shtisel” and “Unorthodox”. (In real life Shira is not Orthodox, by the way.)
On Wednesday, July 7th, Canadian Associates of Ben Gurion University presented a cross-Canada online event promoting brain research at Ben Gurion University, during which Senator Linda Frum, who was in Toronto, took a leaf from her late mother, Barbara Frum’s playbook, and interviewed Shira Haas, who was in Tel Aviv, in what turned out to be an enjoyable and quite interesting 40 minutes back and forth.
In introducing the event, CABGU National CEO Mark Mendelson said that the event had raised a total of $850,000 toward brain research at BGU.
Mendelson also noted that last year’s “Support our Students” campaign had also raised $1.4 million starting in the spring of 2020 – when Covid was taking an especially heavy toll in Israel. The funds raised were used to allow students at the university to remain in school rather than having to drop out due to financial constraints brought about by Covid.
“Canadian Associates of Ben Gurion University” is “the number one Israel based organization in Canada,” Mendelson said.
Proceeds from the gala event will “fund research into neuro-degenerative disease,” Mendelson explained, including Epilepsy, ALS, Alzheimer’s,
Parkinson’s, Dementia, and Stroke. Prior to Senator Frum’s interview of Haas, some 1500 audience members were given an overview of the advances various researchers at BGU have been making in the treatment of different disorders associated with the brain.
Five different researchers at BGU offered explanations of new developments in which they have been involved in each of those areas. In commenting on the challenges they face, BGU President Daniel Chamovitz quoted David Ben Gurion himself, who once said: “If an expert says it’s impossible, find another expert.”
Chamovitz, who was born in Pennsylvania and obtained his undergraduate degree from Columbia before transferring to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he obtained his Ph.D. in plant science, offered the audience some very personal reflections about the toll Covid had taken on both him and his wife.
Chamovitz noted that he had his own experience dealing with Covid, when both he and his wife, Shira, came down with Covid last September. (Chamovitz has been keeping a very interesting online journal tracking Covid at BGU, called “My Covid Year”.) He said that he’s still dealing with the effects of Covid many months later, noting that “Post Covid Syndrome” affects about 10-15% of individuals – mostly women, who have come down with Covid.
Later, however, during the portion of the evening in which Shira Haas was being interviewed, Chamovitz, who displayed a wry sense of humour whenever he appeared during the event, made a funny observation about his Hebrew-speaking ability.
It turns out that Haas’s next starring role will be as a young Golda Meir in a movie about Golda’s life, to be produced by none other than Barba Streisand, called “Lioness”. Haas was asked how she will master Golda’s American-accented Hebrew. (Golda Meir, although born in Russia, moved to Milwaukee as a young woman, which is where she learned to speak English.)
Haas said it was really just a matter of mastering an accent, to which Chamovitz added that he can readily identify with Golda Meir, whom Israelis often made fun of for her American English manner of speaking Hebrew.
In accepting the position of President of BGU, Chamovitz said, he was proud to become head of a university that has been at the forefront of so many advances within Israeli society, including its inclusion of many members of the Bedouin minority who live near Beer Sheva.
Ben Gurion University is now home to the first female Bedouin professor in Israel, he noted: Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder, who was also the first Bedouin woman to receive a Ph.D.
When it comes to innovation, Chamovitz observed, “All the nations in the Middle East are looking to us (in Israel) for answers. We’ve been living in the desert” – no university more so than BGU.
Turning to Senator Linda Frum’s question and answer session with Shira Haas, while Frum was seated in some sort of studio, Haas was in a room in her home, which looked quite unadorned – hardly what you would expect to see in the home of a major television star. Following are excerpts from the interview:
Frum: “What’s it like to be an Israeli celebrity?”
Haas: “It’s a feeling of being a family in Israel. Everyone knows everyone. When you walk in the streets and get compliments it’s like people feel they know you.”
Frum: “How did you know you were going to be an actor?”
Haas: “I was very shy. I never thought I’d be an actor. Thanks to Facebook I auditioned for a part just before I turned 16. One of my first auditions was for ‘Shtisel’ (in which she played the part of Ruchamie). It’s hard to believe that was already 10 years ago.”
Frum: “Did you think you’d have a career only in Hebrew or did you want to be an international actor?”
Haas: “When we were doing ‘Shtisel’ or ‘Unorthodox’ nobody ever thought it would get to Netflix – so I never thought I would become an international actor.”
Frum: “When you choose your projects, you don’t take the easy road. Of all the difficult things you’ve done, what was the hardest?”
Haas: “Your question reminded me that a few weeks ago someone stopped me on the street and complimented me. I gave him a big smile and he said: ‘Omigod, it’s so nice to see you smile!’” (in reference to Haas’s roles in “Shtisel” and “Unorthodox” where she faced unremittingly difficult choices and hardly ever smiled.)
“My most challenging role was in ‘Asia’ (pronounced A-seea – in which Haas plays a young girl struggling with a degenerative neurological disease. It hasn’t reached Winnipeg yet.) It was very personal for me.” (Haas had kidney cancer when she was 2, and saw her growth stunted as a result of her chemotherapy treatments, according to a story we ran in our June 23 issue.)
Frum: “You are obviously secular. How did you prepare yourself for ‘Shtisel’ and ‘Unorthdox’?”
Haas: “I was very young when I started doing ‘Shtisel’. I didn’t know much about the Orthodox world. It didn’t occur to me that it’s an Orthodox story. It’s a story about people. It brings people together.”
Frum: “It’s popular because it’s unusual, but also because it humanizes a group about which we don’t know very much. Did it change the dialogue in Israel?”
Haas: “It opened people’s minds – the power of watching art. People all over were suddenly interested.”
Frum: “Did you learn Yiddish for ‘Unorthodox’?”
Haas: “I found out that the Yiddish I needed to learn was completely different from the Yiddish I learned for ‘Shtisel’. Two of my favourite words from ‘Shtisel’ were a ‘bissel’ (meaning “a little”) and ‘koach’ (pronounced “coy-ach” – meaning “strength”).
“I know there are a lot of curse words in Yiddish, but I played Orthodox characters, so I didn’t learn any Yiddish curse words.”
Frum: ‘You’re on a list of the ten hottest Israeli women. (Haas blushed.) How are you going to play Golda Meir?”
Haas: “When she was a young lady she had lovers. I’m going to tell her story. I’m not going to imitate her.”
Frum: “Golda had an American accent. How are you going to pick it up?”
Haas: “Her Hebrew was good, but not as good as her English or Yiddish. She learned Hebrew in her 20s.”
Question from Daniel Chamovitz: “Without Covid, would you be where you are today” (referring to the fact that ‘Unorthodox’ first debuted on Netflix on March 26, 2020 – just as so much of the world was going into lockdown mode)?
Haas: “The first time I knew it (‘Unorthodox’) was a big success was when I was in quarantine and I looked out my window and saw my face on so many screens. I wish circumstances were different.”
Chamovitz: “Covid opened up markets for smaller scale TV shows. Shira, I read that you said you might have been a psychologist. Is that something you’d still consider doing? We have a great psychology program at Ben Gurion University.”
Haas: “Yes, I know. My sister studied psychology at Ben Gurion for her first degree.”
Frum began reading questions sent in by audience members. The first one was: “Time Magazine named you one of the 100 most influential people in the world. How do you feel about that?”
Haas: “It’s amazing. Here I am in Tel Aviv in my pajamas. It’s hard to think of me as one of the 100 most influential people in the world!”
Question: “Are you very active on social media?”
Haas: “Not much. I have an Instagram account, but to me it is something that doesn’t come naturally.”
Chamovitz: “You said that as a child you were shy. Maybe that explains it (her not being active on social media).”
Frum: “I wonder about that – you’re being private and interior, and forcing yourself to expose yourself A lot of times actors let their acting speak for themselves rather than talking.”
Frum: “Why do you feel it’s important to do events such as these? We’re in a moment when it’s not so easy.”
Haas: “I am Jewish, I am Israeli. Even if I play Mary Magdalene, I’m still Shira. I’m very proud Ben Gurion University is where my sister studied, and where my best friend is now studying.”
Frum: “Do you feel pressure to be a voice for Israel?“
Haas: “I don’t have to be political to do what I do.”
Frum: “Are you close with the ‘Shtisel’ family? Will there be a Season 4?”
Haas: “Very close. They will forever by my ‘mishpoche’. (But), it doesn’t feel like there will be a fourth season.”
At that point, various representatives of CABGU came on screen to thank Shira Haas and Linda Frum. And, even though it was the middle of the night in Israel, Shira said she had enjoyed herself so much she would have liked to continue. (There’s an idea for some other Winnipeg organizations.) It was a truly delightful evening. There’s something to be said for a well-planned online event. Congratulations to the organizers.
Features
History of a Holocaust Survivor Turning Eighty
By HENRY SREBRNIK On July 19, I turn 80 years old. This is indeed a milestone, but for me, an even bigger one was just being born. My parents were Holocaust survivors, and I found out just a few months ago that, technically, so am I. My parents were from Czestochowa, Poland, where I was born in 1945. By 1943 most Jews in the city, including their own families, had been murdered by the Nazis, at Treblinka, and after the uprising in the Jewish ghetto, my parents, by now married, became slave labour in a major Nazi munitions plant, the HASAG-Pelcery concentration camp, in the city.
The Russian army liberated Czestochowa January 16-17, 1945, and I was born July 19, six months later. You can do the math. My mother was emaciated and didn’t even know she was pregnant, but another month, and it would have been obvious, and she would have been killed. (I never asked how this happened but found out when listening to her testimony for the Shoah Foundation in 1995. The men and women were housed in different barracks, but one night the Germans were delousing one of the buildings and allowed married couples to sleep together in the other.)
In 1945 the 9th of Av fell on July 19, and the Jewish world had just gone through our worst period in history. I was born in a makeshift hospital at the Jasna Gora, the famed Pauline Catholic monastery in the city. The actual city hospital had been destroyed in the fighting. It is home to the Matka Boska Czestochowska, (“the mother of God”), a very beautiful and large icon of Mary and the baby Jesus. Other women giving birth were surprised and one said, “Ona jest Zydowka” (She’s a Jew). So, though I am a proud Polish Jew, this could only have helped! The doctor who delivered whispered to my mother that he was Jewish but added that he wanted it kept quiet because he wasn’t going to leave Poland. It also took awhile for a mohel to come to the city for me.
The next few years were spent in Pocking-Waldstadt, a DP camp in the American zone in Bavaria, Germany, and then on to Pier 21 in Halifax and Canada. We lived in Montreal, though at home we were to all intents and purposes in Czestochowa, Jewish Poland.
As I was packing up my books in May because we all had to vacate our offices for the summer due to repairs in our building, I came across a book that I had never read – I don’t even recall where I got it — by the Polish historian Lucjan Dobroszycki, Survivors of the Holocaust in Poland: A Portrait Based on Jewish Community Records 1944-1947 (Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1994). Chapter 5 is comprised of “Lists of Jewish Children Who Survived,” in alphabetical order. I am listed on p. 146 (Heniek Srebrnik, 1945). I sent in a form to the Claims Conference in New York informing them. So, at age 80, I’ve become a Holocaust survivor! Compared to that start, the next decades have been easy street! As the Aussies say, “no worries! But the Jewish world has grown darker. Like many others, were I to write a memoir, I’d call it From Hitler to Hamas.
I grew up in Montreal, and have lived in Calgary and Charlottetown, as well as London, England, and four American cities. But I’ve only been to Winnipeg twice, in 1982 and, more dramatically, the weekend of Sept. 7-10, 2001. I presented a paper on “Birobidzhan on the Prairies: Two Decades of Pro-Soviet Jewish Movements in Winnipeg,” to a conference on “Jewish Radicalism in Winnipeg, 1905-1960,” organized by the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada. I left the morning of Sept. 11. An hour into the flight to Toronto we were told all airplanes had to land at the nearest major airport. I spent the next three days in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., with fellow passengers. We mostly watched the television reporting on the 9/11 catastrophe.
Though an academic, I have always written for newspapers, including Jewish ones, in Canada and the United States. Some, like the Jewish Free Press of Calgary, the Jewish Tribune of Toronto, and the previous version of the Canadian Jewish News, no longer exist, which is a shame. Fortunately, the Jewish Post still does.
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island.
Features
Why Prepaid Cards Are the Last Refuge for Online Privacy in 2025
These days, it feels like no matter what you do online, someone’s watching. Shopping, streaming, betting, even signing up for something free—it’s all tracked. Everything you pay for with a normal card leaves a digital trail with your name on it. And in 2025, when we’re deep into a cashless economy, keeping anything private is getting harder by the day.
If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want every little move tied to your identity, prepaid cards are one of the only real options left. They’re simple, easy to get, and still give you a way to spend online without throwing your info out there. One card in particular, Vanilla Visa, is one of the better picks because of how widely Vanilla Visa is accepted and how little personal info it needs.
Everything’s Online, and Everything’s Tracked
We used to pay for stuff with cash. Walk into a store, hand over some bills, leave. No names, no records. That’s gone now. Most stores won’t even take cash anymore, and the ones that do feel like the exception. The cashless economy is here whether we like it or not.
So what’s the problem? Every time you swipe or tap your card, or pay with your phone, someone’s logging it. Your bank saves the details. The store’s system saves it. And a lot of times, that data gets sold or shared. It can get used to target you with ads, track what you buy, where you go, and when you do it.
It’s not just companies either. Apps collect it. Hackers try to steal it. Some governments keep tabs too. And if you’re using the same card everywhere, it all gets connected pretty fast.
Why Prepaid Cards Still Matter
Prepaid cards are one of the only ways to break that chain. You go to a store, buy one with cash, and that’s it. No bank involved. No name. You just load it up and use it. And because Vanilla Visa is accepted on most major websites, you can use it just like any normal card.
You’re not giving out your real name or tying it to your main account. That means when you pay for something, it’s not showing up on your bank statement. It’s not getting saved under your profile. You’re basically cutting off the trail right there.
Why Vanilla Visa Stands Out
There are a few different prepaid card brands out there, but Vanilla Visa is probably the most popular. You can grab one at grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies—almost anywhere. And once you’ve got it, you can use it on pretty much any site where Vanilla Visa is accepted.
No long setup. No personal info. You don’t need to register it under your name. You just pay, go online, and spend the amount that’s on the card. When it runs out, you toss it and move on. No trace.
This makes it great for anyone who wants to sign up for a site without attaching their real identity. People use it for online gaming, streaming, subscriptions, or just shopping without giving out their main card info.
The Good and the Bad
There are some solid upsides to using a prepaid card:
- You don’t need a bank account
- You don’t give out your name or address
- It’s easy to budget since you can’t spend more than you loaded
- Most major sites take them, especially where Vanilla Visa is accepted
But there are a few downsides too:
- You can’t reload the card. Once it’s empty, it’s done
- You can’t use it to get money out, like at an ATM
- Some cards have small fees or expiration dates, so don’t let them sit too long
- A few sites want a card tied to a name and billing address, which doesn’t work here
- If you lose it or someone steals the number, you’re probably not getting the money back
So yeah, prepaid cards aren’t perfect. But if privacy is the goal, they’re still one of the few things that actually help.
Real Ways People Use Them
Let’s say you’re trying out an online casino. You don’t want your bank seeing it. You don’t want it on your statement. You walk into a Walgreens, buy a Vanilla Visa with a hundred bucks in cash, then use it to make your deposit. Done. The casino sees a card, but not your name.
Or maybe you’re signing up for a new subscription. Could be a video platform, a magazine, whatever. You don’t want it auto-charging your main card every month or sharing your info with advertisers. Use a prepaid card, and it stays off the radar.
Even if you’re just buying something from a site you don’t totally trust, using a card that isn’t tied to your real money is a smart move.
Will These Cards Still Be Around?
That’s the thing people are starting to worry about. Some stores have started asking for ID when you buy higher-value prepaid cards. And there’s talk in some countries about requiring people to register cards before using them.
Governments don’t like anonymous money. Companies definitely don’t. There’s a chance that in the future, prepaid cards will be harder to get or come with new rules.
But for now, they still work. You can still walk into a store with cash and walk out with a prepaid card. And as long as Vanilla Visa is accepted at the places you shop, you’ve got a way to stay private.
Bottom Line
If you’re living in 2025 and trying to protect your privacy online, prepaid cards are one of the last easy options. The cashless economy makes it almost impossible to pay without leaving a record, but prepaid cards break that pattern. They don’t ask for your name. They don’t track your habits. And they don’t leave a trail if you use them right.
They won’t fix everything. They don’t keep you completely invisible. But they give you a level of control that’s hard to find now. In a world that wants to watch your every move, that still counts for something.
Features
Winkler nurse stands with Israel and the Jewish people
By MYRON LOVE Considering the great increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Canada over the past 20 months – and the passivity of government, federally, provincially and municipally, in the face of this what-should-be unacceptable criminal behaviour, many in our Jewish community may feel that we have been abandoned by our fellow citizens.
Polls regularly show that as many as 70% of Canadians support Israel – and there are many who have taken action. One such individual is Nelli Gerzen, a nurse at the Boundary Trails Health Centre (which serves the communities of Winkler and Morden in western Manitoba). Three times in the past 20 months, Gerzen has taken time off work to travel to Israel to support Israelis in their time of need.
I asked her what those around her thought of her trips to Israel. “My mother was worried when I went the first time (November 2023),” Gerzen responded, “but, like me, she has trust in the Lord. My friends and colleagues have gotten used to it.”
She also reports that she is part of a small group of fellow believers that meet online regularly and pray for Israel.
Gerzen is originally from Russia, but grew up in Germany. Her earliest exposure to the history of the Holocaust, she relates, was in Grade 9 – in Germany. “My history teacher in Germany in Grade 9 went into depth with the history of World War II and the Holocaust,” she recalls. “It is normal that all the teachers taught about the Holocaust but she put a lot of effort into teaching specifically this topic. We also got to watch a live interview with a Holocaust survivor.”
What she learned made a strong impression on her. “I have often asked myself what I would do if I were living in that era,” she says. “Would I have been willing to hide Jews in my home? Or risk my life to save others?”
Gerzen came to Canada in 2010 – at the age of 20. She received her nursing training here and has been working at Boundary Trails for the last three years.
“I believe in the G-d of Israel and that the Jews are his Chosen People,” she states. “We are living at a time of skyrocketing anti-Semitism. Many Jews are feeling vulnerable. I felt that I had to do something to help.”
Gerzen’s first trip to Israel was actually in 2014 when she signed onto a youth tour organized by a Christian group, Midnight Call, based in Switzerland. That initial visit left a strong impact. “That first visit changed my life,” she remembers. “I enjoyed having conversations with the Israelis. The bible for me came to life. Every stone seemed to have a story.”
She went on a second Midnight Call Missionaries tour of Israel in 2018. She went back again on her own in the spring of 2023. After October 7, she says, “I couldn’t sit at home. I had to do something.”
Thus, in November 2023, she went back to Israel, this time as a volunteer. She spent two weeks at Petach Tikvah cooking meals for Israelis displaced from the north and the south as well as IDF soldiers. She also spent a day with an Israeli friend delivering food to IDF soldiers stationed near Gaza. She notes that she wasn’t worried so close to the border.
“I trusted in the Lord,” she says. “It was a special feeling being able to help.”
Last November, she found herself at Kiryat Shmona (with whom our Jewish community has close ties), working for two weeks alongside volunteers from all over the world cooking for the IDF.
On one of her earlier visits, she recounts, a missile struck just a few metres from the kitchen where the volunteers were working. There was some damage – forcing closure for a few days while repairs were ongoing, but no injuries.
In January, she was back at Kiryat Shmona for another two weeks cooking for the IDF. She also helped deliver food to Metula on the northern border. This last time, she reports, there was a more upbeat atmosphere, “even though,” she notes, “the wounds are still fresh. It was quieter. There were no more missiles coming in.
“Israelis were really touched by the presence of so many of us volunteers. I only wish more Christians would stand up for Israel.
“It was really moving to hear people’s stories first-hand.”
She recounts the story of one Israeli she met at a Jerusalem market who fought in the Yom Kippur war of 1973, who was the only survivor of the tank he was in.
“This guy lost so much in his life, and he was standing there telling the story and smiling, just trying to live life again,” she says. “The people there are so heartbroken.”
Back home, she has been showing her support for Israel and the Jewish people by attending the weekly rallies on Kenaston in support of the hostages whenever she can.
She is looking forward to playing piano at Shalom Square during Folklorama.
Nelli Gerzen doesn’t know yet when she will be returning to Israel – but it is certain to be soon. “This is my chance to step up for the truth,” she concludes. “I know that supporting Israel is the right thing to do. When I am there, it feels like my heart is on fire.”