Features
Eclectic Nathan Zassman always on lookout for new challenges, new fields to conquer
By MYRON LOVE Aviva Natural Health Solutions on St. James Street is not your typical health food store just as Aviva’s founder, Nathan Zassman, is not your typical entrepreneur.
“What is unique about Aviva is that we take a holistic approach to achieving optimum health through a healthy lifestyle,” Zassman says. “I do a tremendous amount of research in a constant quest for finding solutions to people’s health problems. Many of our products were discovered from research I’ve done working to resolve my own health issues.”
As an example, he cites a brand of footwear from Switzerland, kybun, which was recommended after he tore up some knee ligaments four years ago. Doctors told him he would have to have both knees replaced. He tried the shoes – which claim to repair cartilage and, after ten days, he was walking without pain, after having had to use a walker.
“A physiotherapist who shops here was amazed,” Zassman says. “As a result of my own experience, I can advise people about how properly designed footwear can eliminate knee, hip and back pain.”
At Aviva, Zassman focuses on promoting healthy eating (through food products, healthy food preparation, and dietary supplements) and liquids (as in water filtration systems). A healthy living space requires clean air, for which he recommends air purifiers and humidifiers that can improve any environment. He promotes the importance of getting a good night’s sleep (with organic latex mattresses and coverings that facilitate healing while reducing the time it takes to fall asleep), sitting on active health-promoting chairs, and wearing therapeutic footwear.
One of Aviva’s air purifier brands – Blueair – from Sweden – was recently featured on CBC’s Marketplace – which tremendously boosted Aviva’s sales of the products.“We sold more than 300 units in just two weeks after the Marketplace feature,” he reports, and Aviva continues to sell them in large numbers.“We sell our products worldwide, through our website avivahealth.com.”
Aviva’s eclectic mix of products closely mirrors Zassman’s own lifetime of careers and pursuits. The lifestyle guru began life in Beverly, Massachusetts, which is about 20 miles northeast of Boston. In high school and beyond, he studied trombone and voice at both the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in New York City, and, later, at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He was performing regular concerts in Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra when he was only 19 years of age.
In Chicago he performed in the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony, and was a member and soloist with the North Side Symphony of Chicago. Nathan’s first experience as an entrepreneur also occurred in Chicago, when he founded The Zassman Brassmen, a brass quintet that performed educational concerts in schools, as well as formal concert performances.
In 1974, after six of years of study in Chicago with the famous brass pedagogue Arnold Jacobs, Zassman won the audition for second trombone in the Winnipeg Symphony. In addition to his role as a trombonist with the WSO, he joined the faculty of the University of Manitoba, teaching the brass instruments, conducting brass ensembles, and teaching “Brass Techniques” at the Faculty of Education, outlining the basics of all the brass instruments to music education students.
But Zassman has never been defined by just one category. Concurrent with his career in music, he trained as a professional photographer at the Winona School of Professional Photography in Indiana, earning 20 diplomas and Certificates of Merit in a wide range of photographic disciplines. “I became interested in photography while in Chicago,” he recalls, “and spent my summers studying at the best schools and with famous photographers, to refine and improve my craft. I approached photography the same way I did music, seeking out the finest photographers who shared their unique techniques, either privately, or through classes.”
While in Chicago, Zassman developed an interest in Eastern philosophy, studying yoga and astrology at the College of Occult Studies in Chicago. In Winnipeg, he later founded Celestial Interface, producing astrological birth charts for those interested in learning how astrology can improve their lives. He was also appointed CBC Official Photographer, appearing on about a dozen radio and TV spots with CBC Radio and Television, preparing and discussing astrological birth charts on political candidates running for local and national elections.
Zassman founded a photography business specializing in architectural, portrait and commercial photography, creating magazine covers and illustrations for local and national magazines. He also became the Winnipeg Symphony’s official photographer, doing portraits of all the musicians for the symphony programs, as well as taking the annual photo of the orchestra. For many years he taught photography at a school he founded in Winnipeg while the symphony was in session from September to May, and taught professional photographic techniques at the Winona School of Professional Photography, the University of Saskatchewan Department of Art, and the Saskatchewan School of the Arts during the summer months. Zassman also founded The Heliograph Gallery, the first gallery that specialized in photography in Winnipeg.
Now, one would think that teaching photography, performing with the Winnipeg symphony and teaching at the University of Manitoba School of Music would be more than enough to keep someone busy, but Nathan Zassman is a cut above average. He further added businessman to his resumé when he got into computer sales on the ground floor in 1982.
“I had always been interested in cooking and nutrition,” he recalls. “In the early 1980s, I was hired by a local book publisher to write a cookbook with an original idea. I was planning to write the book on my IBM typewriter, but a friend recommended I use a word processor, as he told me that no one used a typewriter anymore for writing.”
One of Nathan’s photography students worked for a local company, Westsun Media. They were selling the Kaypro, which had been rated the best value brand of computer that could be used as a word processor. Nathan purchased a Kaypro with two floppy disk drives for $4000, and couldn’t believe the freedom it provided, allowing him to edit his work, and even check his spelling.
Zassman was so enthused with his computer that he encouraged all his friends to buy one as well. “I was sending so many customers to Westsun to buy a Kaypro computer that I asked the owner, Marc Raymond, if he would allow me trade mine in for a new model with a built in hard drive, which was revolutionary at the time for a portable computer. Marc acknowledged that all his sales were thanks to Nathan and offered him the job as sales manager for the computer division of Westsun. After a short time, Nathan decided he should start his own business and left Westsun.
Thus, in 1982, the musician became a businessman with the founding of Aries Microsystems. “Our business grew rapidly,” Zassman recalls. “By 1986, Aries ranked as the fastest-growing business in Manitoba.” But in 1988 he found that the added responsibilities of running a computer business were interfering with his musical career, so he decided to sell Aries to one of his employees. However, Zassman retained his passion for computers and after his three year non-competition clause from the sale of Aries came to an end, in 1991 he started a second computer company – Opus Computer Solutions.
Zassman retired from the WSO in 1995 to devote himself full time to his new company. “In 1997, I bought the former Winestock’s Wholesale building at 52 Adelaide in the Exchange District and moved my computer business into the downtown marketplace area,” he recalls. “In 2001, I decided to set up a gym on the third level for my computer technicians. I wanted to encourage my technicians to include exercise in their lifestyle. I did my research and bought the best fitness equipment available.”
After a short time, he decided to also sell the fitness lines he purchased for the Opus gym, and Aviva Natural Health Solutions was born.
Zassman then went to the United States, studying Nutritional Therapy in Medical Practice with Jonathan Wright, M.D., and Alan Gaby, M.D., and obtaining certificates in 2003 and 2007. By 2005, Aviva was bringing in enough revenue to stand on its own, so Zassman sold Opus Computer Solutions in 2007 to focus entirely on his new venture.
“I seem to change careers every 20 years or so,” he says.
He moved Aviva to its current location, at 1224 St. James Street, in 2010. And, while still very active in the operations of Aviva, true to form Zassman continues to grow and explore other fields. A bass/baritone, he’s returned to singing and was studying with Mel Braun at the University of Manitoba, as well as singing in two choirs – until Covid forced a pause. On top of all that, a few years ago, began taking acting classes with the Prairie Theatre Exchange. He became a member of Shoestring Players, and has appeared in three plays so far.
He continues to indulge his passion for healthy cooking and baking bread. While running Opus, he became well known for offering his customers and staff free loaves of bread, made from freshly ground organic grain, and is still doing so at Aviva. These days though, he concentrates on sourdough bread. He offers his starter to anyone interested in baking sourdough bread, for free.
Features
Rabbi Gary Zweig’s new book provides humorous and moving accounts of making minyans in unlikely circumstances
By MYRON LOVE The recitation of the kaddish is a central tenet of Jewish religious life. Even members of our community who are largely secular will likely recite the words of the kaddish for a parent, sibling or spouse at some point in their lives – even if only at the grave site.
The kaddish can only be recited publicly in the presence of a minyan – a gathering of ten (men in the Orthodox tradition. The number, as explained by Rabbi Gedalia (Gary Zweig), stems from the number of spies – as written in the Torah – whom Moshe rabbenu sent into the promised land and who came back with negative reports as compared to the two spies – one of whom was Joshua – who said that the land was flowing with milk and honey.
It is this challenge of putting together minyans for a mourner to recite the kaddish in different locales and circumstances – when a minyan in a shul is not possible – that is the subject of Zweig’a newly released book, “Kaddish Around the World” – a 90-plus page compilation of short stories – some humourous, some heartwarming – of successful efforts to recruit enough daveners for a kaddish minyan, ranging in time and space from a Super Bowl game in San Diego to the middle of a game reserve in South Africa to a Jewish museum in Cordoba in Spain – in a city largely devoid of Jews.
Zweig, who hails from Toronto, was in Winnipeg over Yom Tov to lead services – along with Toronto-based Chazan Manny Aptowitser – at the Chavurat Tefila Talmud Torah Synagogue. On the Tuesday just before Yom Kippur, the synagogue hosted an evening to provide the rabbi with a venue to discuss his new book – a sequel to his first book, “Living Kaddish,” which he released in 2007 (and has been translated into Russian and Spanish).
Zweig is one of the original Aish Hatorah-trained rabbis – having attained his smicha in 1982 from Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the founder of Aish Hatorah. He (Zweig) is much travelled, himself having led Yom Tov services in such exotic locales as Bermuda, Barbados and Curacao in the Caribbean, Mexico and Sweden.
Zweig noted that he was inspired to write “Living Kaddish” after his mother passed away in 2002 when, on one occasion, he was not able to find a minyan so that he could say kaddish.
In his presentation at the Chavurat Tefila, he observed that the first Jew to mention kaddish is purported to be Rueven – about 3,500 years ago – on the passing of his father, Yaacov (Israel). About 900 C.E., Zweig continued, kaddish became part of the liturgy and, 200 years later, was included in the siddur.
It is interesting, he noted, that kaddish is said not for the deceased, but, rather, the living. There is no mention of the Lord in the kaddish either. Kaddish is actually a prayer for hope and the future.
For a parent, one is required to say kaddish three times a day – morning, afternoon and evening – for 11 months. For a sibling, child (God forbid), relative or others, the requirement is just 30 days.
One of the stories in “Kaddish Around the World” tells of one of Zweig’s own experiences – after his father died in 20201 at the age of 101. The author happened to be at a family bar mitzvah in Orlando several months later. He fully expected that in a city with a Jewish population the size of Orlando, he wouldn’t have any trouble putting together a minyan for a Sunday morning. He felt even more confident when he noticed that an AMOR Rabbis convention was being held at the same hotel. On inquiring which sort of rabbis these were, he learned that AMOR stood for “Association of Messianic Rabbis”.
Come Sunday morning, most of the bar mitzvah guests had gone home. He could only muster eight for the minyan. He thought he could try the messianic group in the hope that some of them may have been born Jewish. Four of the group offered to help. A Chabad rabbi suggested that Zweig ascertain that each had two Jewish parents. Two qualified.
Zweig quoted one of the two messianic rabbis who said, after the service that ”this was the most moving service I have ever experienced.”
“Maybe Hashem brought me to that particular hotel at that particular time so that I could provide them with little spark of what Judaism is about,” Zweig said.
Another of the stories in the book concerns a shopkeeper in an American mall where many of the other store owners were also Jewish. The individual, Yossi, needed a minyan for mincha (the afternoon prayer) but couldn’t afford to close his business. He figured he could round up enough of the other store keepers to form a minyan. Everyone he approached was willing to come if he were to be the tenth. (In my own years organizing minyans, that was something I heard often enough – “call me if I will be the tenth”). Yossi’s solution was to assure each one he asked that, yes, he would be the tenth.
“Kaddish Around the World” is available on Amazon and also in digital ebook format and as an audio book.
In addition to being a rabbi and author, Zweig also is a singer/songwriter working in his own genre – Jewish rock and roll. He has a band called “The Kiddush Club,” and a CD called “TOYS.” In addition, he has recently launched a YouTube channel called “Living Kaddish”.
Features
The Gaza Peace Plan is not a Done Deal, but an Opening
By HENRY SREBRNIK (Oct. 23, 2025) The idea that Hamas will voluntarily disarm, that international forces will deploy in the Gaza Strip, and that the process of building a Palestinian government by people like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which a disarmed Hamas does not participate, are false hopes, if not fantasies. But does this mean U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan was useless? Of course not.
Trump understood the necessity of bringing the war to an end. But he also believed that endless debate among experts or, worse, historian and lawyers, would never produce an agreement. He presented an offer – actually, an ultimatum – to Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas that neither could refuse: immediate, unconditional and complete release of all hostages and missing persons, something the Israeli public longed for, in exchange for a final end to the war, which a humbled Hamas needed.
Two years of war has left Hamas weaker than it had been in decades. Israeli bombardments had shattered the group’s military capabilities and depleted its arsenals. In many neighborhoods, control had drifted to local clan networks and tribal councils. This hinted at something that could one day replace Hamas’s iron grip. To prevent this, Hamas has been ruthlessly murdering all potential rivals in the areas of Gaza it controls since the ceasefire went into effect.
Despite the severe degradation of its military capabilities during the war, Hamas still has more soldiers and weapons than all its rival factions in Gaza combined. Hamas has managed to redeploy approximately 7,000 militants to reassert control over the territory. They have publicized photographs and videos of their forces murdering and torturing; the victims include women and children.
The ceasefire is a temporary reprieve for Hamas: a chance to regroup, rearm, and prepare for the next round of fighting. In Islamist political thought there’s a word for it, hudna — a temporary truce with non-Muslim adversaries that can be discarded as soon as the balance of power shifts. Then the time for jihad will arrive again. Hamas was established in 1987 and isn’t going to disappear.
In fact Hamas also says it expects an interim International Transitional Authority to hire 40,000 Hamas employees, and Hamas spokesman Basem Naim says he expects its fighters to be integrated into a post-transition Palestinian state.
Still, Trump has succeeded in ending the current war in Gaza, where Joe Biden failed. Biden’s national security team, drawn almost entirely from his supposed expert class, didn’t even see the crisis coming. Just five days before the attack, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had published an article in Foreign Affairs in which he wrote that “the region is quieter than it has been for decades.”
Biden also had insulted the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, by publicly condemning the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And, of course, there was Biden’s poor relationship with Netanyahu, and his chronic inability to get the Israeli prime minister to do what he wanted.
By contrast, Trump returned to office with substantially more influence in both the Gulf and Israel, based on his first-term successes in the Middle East, especially the Abraham Accords (for which he’s never been praised by his political enemies).
Four Arab countries formally recognized Israel, beginning with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed by Sudan and Morocco. The next stage was intended to include Saudi Arabia. One motive put forward by some analysts for the October 7 attacks was that they were intended to provoke Israel into a response that would derail Saudi Arabia’s admission.
Instead of sitting Israelis and Arabs in a room and expecting them to negotiate an outcome, Trump’s approach has been to exert leverage through other players in the region, especially, Egypt, Turkey, and – most importantly – Qatar.
In Jerusalem, they call Qatar “the spoiler state.” Israelis describe the emirate as two trains running behind the same engine. One, led by the Qatari ruler’s mother and brother, supports the Muslim Brotherhood and is an unmistakable hater of Israel. The other, led by the prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and several other senior figures, seeks rapprochement with the West.
The Qataris were shocked when Israeli jets on Sept. 9 conducted an airstrike in Doha targeting the leadership of Hamas. They then signed onto Trump’s peace plan at a meeting in New York Sept. 23, hosted by Trump and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Ibn Hamad Al Thani, and attended by the leaders of eight Arab states, along with members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Netanyahu was then browbeaten into accepting the plan (and also forced to apologize to the Emir for the airstrike). It was somewhat ironic that the airstrike made the peace plan possible. As well, Trump’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June gave this negotiation some very sharp teeth.
“If you would rather leave peacemaking to the historians and diplomats, then you may wait a long time for wars to end,” suggested Niall Ferguson of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, in an Oct. 15 Free Press article. His advice? Go to the “deal guys: They get the job done.”
In a sense, both Israel and Hamas had accomplished their goals. Israel had broken the Iranian axis of terror by eliminating Hezbollah and Hamas as a fighting force, along with the Iranian nuclear threat. Hamas had succeeded in luring Israel into a trap that led it to become hated and isolated around the world. This included the labelling of Israel as genocidal and the global call for a Palestinian state.
The rest of the 20-point peace plan will be addressed in a step-by-step fashion. Meanwhile, Israel must ensure that it retains freedom of action in Gaza, by decisive action against any attempt by Hamas to rebuild its army, its rockets, its battalions and its divisions.
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island.
Features
Why Fitness Routines Fall Apart — and How to Rebuild Yours
Every spring, gyms see a flood of hopeful faces. New shoes, fresh playlists, unwavering intentions, by mid-summer? Half of them vanish into the fog of abandoned routines. The story repeats year after year until it starts to feel almost scripted. Why does enthusiasm evaporate? The easy answer involves willpower but that explanation misses the point. Habits don’t fail because people are weak. Life stress, boredom, and monotony ruin routines. Timely lever pulls can change narratives. The hardest part is persevering when motivation wanes.
Mistaking Motivation for Momentum
Most chase that opening surge, the lightning strike of motivation, but then stop searching once enthusiasm fizzles. A scroll through sites like PUR Pharma (pur-pharma.is/) or a glimpse of an influencer’s progress triggers a burst of action: new workout gear ordered, plans scribbled in planners destined for dusty drawers. Yet momentum fades when small setbacks pop up (a late meeting here, rainy weather there). Real progress comes from building systems stronger than any fleeting pep talk. Those who frame fitness as something owed to motivation end up back at square one every time life interrupts, which it always does.
Overcomplicating Everything
It’s tempting to turn wellness into a science fair project with spreadsheets and specialized equipment lined up on day one. This is the allure of complexity disguised as seriousness, a new diet paired with seven types of supplements and four color-coded bottles. Simplicity gets lost in the noise almost instantly. Most successful routines rely on two principles: keep it simple and keep showing up even when everything else is chaos outside those gym walls. Anyone insisting that perfection is required before taking step one has already constructed an excuse not to begin at all.
Forgetting Fun Completely
Who decided exercise must hurt or look like punishment? Somewhere along the line, fun got swapped out for grind culture and “no pain, no gain.” That isn’t just unappealing, it’s unsustainable over months or years. If sessions feel like torture devices borrowed from medieval times, nobody should be surprised when commitment falters fast. Seek activities that actually spark some joy or curiosity, a dance class instead of yet another treadmill session, maybe, or play a pickup game rather than slogging through solo circuits again and again.
Ignoring Recovery (and Reality)
Sleep deprivation, disguised as discipline, fools anyone, except perhaps uncritical Instagram followers. Ignoring recovery turns ambition into tiredness faster than any missed session. Because bodies break without rest, routines must breathe with owners. Cycling, real leisure, and honest self-checks regarding weekly goals build endurance, not continual pushing.
Conclusion
Change rarely arrives by force alone but usually grows quietly from patterns repeated imperfectly over time, even if last month looked nothing like this week so far. Drop the hunt for nonstop inspiration. Instead of breaking behaviors at the first hint of stress or boredom, build habits that last. People who rebuild methodically after every stumble or detour make progress, not those who peak and then fall.