Features
Rochelle Zimberg has worn many different hats during rich and varied career
By MYRON LOVE Over the course of nearly 60 years, lifelong Winnipegger Rochelle Zimberg has played a wide variety of different roles. She has been by turn educator and administrator, consultant, marriage counselor, community volunteer, and political candidate. Her careers have taken her across Canada and around the world and she has accumulated a plethora of good friends seemingly everywhere.
Most recently, one of her friend connections led to her house sitting in New York for five weeks in April and May for Alex Skolnick, lead guitar player for the seminal heavy metal band, “Testament,” while the band was on tour. She describes the apartment as measuring about 500 square feet – about the size of her living room and diningroom – filled with musical instruments and home to three cats.
“I loved being in New York again,” says Zimberg. “I took in as many Broadway productions as I could.”
(She herself has been a long time Manitoba Theatre centre volunteer and, in 1991, co-produced – with Gail Asper – a Fringe show in which she also performed.)
As with many readers of this paper, Rochelle Zimberg’s life journey began in the old North End. The daughter of the late Joe and Rose Zimberg lived north until she was 13. She attended River Heights Junior High, Grant Park High School, and United College (now the University of Winnipeg), after where she earned her teaching certificate at the old teacher’s college.
As a teen, she was heavily involved in USY (United Synagogue Youth), where she first showed leadership potential serving as Vice President of her chapter..
In her biography for the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba’s Endowment Book of Life, Zimberg recalls one memorable experience as a USY member, involving a train trip to Kansas City to celebrate the organization’s 13th anniversary and hearing Cantor Herschel Fox do the Haftorah.
After university, the young Winnipegger followed the path of many of her generation – a backpack adventure through Europe, followed by six months on a kibbutz. In 1969, shortly after relocating to Vancouver, she recalls, she received a scholarship to study in Israel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
This time though, her time in Israel was cut short by her father’s unexpected passing.
After a few months back home, Zimberg saw a job opening for teachers in Australia. Thus began a four-year teaching career in both Sydney and Melbourne, where she taught at the modern Orthodox Mount Scopus College, which had an enrollment of over 2,000 students.
In Sydney, she taught at Ryder University and a school in the western suburbs,
While in Australia, she also took courses at the University of Sydney towards a masters degree in political science and foreign policy theory.
I loved Australia,” Zimberg says. “I became an Australian citizen. I am still in contact with colleagues and former students and have been back several times, most recently for a wedding.”
Upon returning to Winnipeg in the mid-1970s, Zimberg embarked on a new career in administration and management at the University of Manitoba, where she also completed her M.A. in Political Science. At the university she served as Associate Director of Residences and Conference Coordinator. When she applied to become Director of Residences at the university, she recalls, she was told – by a university vice-president – in no uncertain terms, that only a man would be considered for the position.
While working on her M.A. at the U of M, Zimberg shared an office with Al Ducharme, a former Winnipeg city councilor who was later president of the Manitoba Association of Urban Municipalities (MAUM). In 1980 MAUM was looking for a new executive director. Ducharme encouraged his former office mate to apply. Zimberg demurred.
“A few months later, MAUM was once again seeking an executive director and Al (Ducharme) again encouraged me to apply. This time I didn’t hesitate.”
MAUM (now the Association of Manitoba Municpalities) is comprised of the mayors, reeves and councillors representing the province’s 137 municipalities and works toward strengthening municipal government. Zimberg served as the organization’s executive director for 18 years.
“It was a great job,” she says. “It allowed me to travel throughout Manitoba and Canada.”.
One of the highlights of her time with MAUM was her development of the Manitoba Investment Pool Authority, an investment pool for public institutions and municipalities. During her tenure, she was also elected president of the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) in 1994.
She left MAUM in 1999 when the decision was made to move the office to Portage la Prairie.
“In 1999,” she notes, “in recognition of my outstanding contributions to municipal government, I became the first female executive director admitted into the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Roll of Honour.”
Since she left MAUM in 1999, she has rarely been short of work to do. She served for a brief time as executive director of the Rosh Pina Synagogue. She was principal of a school in China for three years and spent some time as a teacher/administrator in a school in Egypt. She worked for a spell as a consultant for a transmission project for Edmonton. For a time, she tried her hand at being a direct market distributor.
Zimberg was also twice a candidate for political office. “In 1999, I ran in Tuxedo against Gary Filmon,” the lifelong Liberal supporter recalls. “The Liberal party needed someone to represent the brand. I volunteered. But I didn’t get my name on the ballet until three weeks before the election.”
While she finished third – she fell just 1400 votes short of Filmon In the next election in 2003, she ran again in Tuxedo, finishing second to current Premier Heather Stefanson.
In addition to her varied working career, Zimberg has also given much of her time over the years as a volunteer. She notes that she has contributed her time to such organizations in the Jewish community as the Women’s Endowment Fund at the Jewish Foundation and the Shaarey Zedek.
In the broader community she has volunteered with the Manitoba Theatre Centre, Folklorama, the CNIB, Cancer Care Manitoba, Chemo Savvy Dragon Boat Team and the Guardian Angel Breast Cancer Benefit Ball. Zimberg has also in the past acted as a volunteer consultant for Canadian Executive Services Overseas (CESO) – which pairs retired seniors with communities in developing countries that require CESO volunteers’ expertise. She has also volunteered for the Canadian Bureau of International Education Ukrainian projects.
In addition, Zimbrg has recently served on the board of directors of Manitobans for Human Rights.
For the pilates and sports enthusiast, there is never a dull moment and she continues to look forward to the next travel opportunity or adventure.
Features
Musings from Dizengoff Street – by Bruce Brown
(August 8, 2026)
Outside Basimta Café in Central Jerusalem. Love the red shirt against a tiny sea of black. Not sure I am shrugging because of the ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat or the lack of an ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat. For the last six weeks Israeli headlines shouted about the cafe chaos. With the ultra-religious blocking entrances and storming the café. While shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Upsetting the secular amongst us just wanting to enjoy our Saturday iced matchas. So the wife and I thought we would check it out. And. Yes. Buy something to support the business. Uproar. Not. Blocked entrances. Not. Storming the café. Not. Albeit there were police barriers separating the devout protesters from the coffee drinkers. The protesters being just a few dozen black clad, pious Jews. Mostly teenagers. And yes. Shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Certainly underwhelming in its reported mayhem. Reminds me of the famous saying misattributed to Mark Twain – “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do, you’re misinformed.” But I did enjoy my iced matcha.
(August 6, 2026)
Here we go again. Another round of forever negotiations. As someone who negotiates for a living. The way things are going in the straits. If I had to recommend a book on the subject to a new hire. Between The Art of the Deal, A Presidential Edition by Donald J. Trump or The Real Art of the Deal by the Mullahs of Iran with a special forward by the IRGC. Well. I would choose the latter.
(August 3)
Bravo Yoav Segalovitz, Liberal Yesh Atid MK and Monsour Abbas, United Arab Ra’am MK and party head. For breaking a glass ceiling where a Jewish lawmaker joins an Arab political party. No less a political earthquake in my little shtetl. Which can significantly impact coalition block arithmetic and posturing and strategy in the upcoming elections. Now Ra’am can be considered a legitimate ‘Zionist’ partner when forming coalition blocks and potentially pushing the ‘center left/right’ party over the 60 seat majority threshold. In our crazy parliamentary democracy defined by a multi-party (about fourteen!!), proportional representation system. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Israel’s proportional representation model of governance is the best parliamentary democracy system except for all other forms of working democracies. Stay tuned for more amateurish political musings as we move towards Israel’s 26th national election – five of them held since 2019.
(August 1)
Although both sides say they are open to diplomacy. Neither really trusts the other. And American military action, or its threat, continues. I read headlines in the middle of the night -it’s a nervous habit lately– that the Dynamic Duo of Trump and Netanyahu may again strike in unison. Possibly this weekend. Yikes! Prompting me, at 2:30 AM, to dash around the house stocking my safe room. Bottled water. Canned food. Medicines. Documents. The beat goes on….
If it’s crazy here. It’s insane in Italy. With a recent online ‘Jew Hunt’ in the Milan area. Before being removed, the digital forms urged reportings of Israelis and Italian Jews staying in local hotels. The infamous Global Sumud Movement -yes, the one coordinating ‘peace and humanitarian’ flotillas to Gaza- was somehow connected. Although they deny involvement?! This deranged decree was looking to identify Zionist tourism and Zionist neo-colonization in Italy. I’ll stick with stocking the saferoom.
Then there’s New York Mayor Mamdani, a Global Sumud Movement supporter, threatening to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu if he comes to New York. But since discovered he has no legal right for such a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic antic. Maybe Mandami should be arrested! Or at least impeached. For being a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic mayor.
Here’s a post Bruce sent us Friday, July 31:
WARTIME MUSINGS
Should credible threats against FLOTUS and ‘FSOTUS’ (first son..) not be justification to attack first.
As for yesterday’s summit. Netanyahu really can’t win. Explainer. If Trump now attacks without victory its ’cause of Netanyahu. If Trump now attacks with victory its ’cause of Trump. And, in Israel, if Trump doesn’t attack -victory or not- Netanyahu failed in his eighth meeting with Trump. And if Trump does attack -victory or not- half the country will vilify Bibi anyway. Missing a permutation?
Ya. I know. Kinda’ need a definition of victory for that musing to work.
And here in my little shtetle. We go to sleep unsure if there will be a code red in the middle of the night. And if not. We wake up thinking it will be tonight. How do you define stress?
Seemed like an appropriate way to end this musing.
Bruce Brown is a former Winnipegger who made aliyah to Israel over 35 years ago. Bruce first began writing for us – in his own inimitable style, in 2012, during what was known as “Operation Pillar of Defense.” His occasional musings on aspects of life in Israel that were far from what you’d typically read in other reports from Israel were hugely popular – both in the print Jewish Post & News and on this website.
We’re now glad to report that Bruce is back writing for us – this time on a regular basis. We will post Bruce’s reports as they arrive – with the date of each post at the beginning of that post.
Here’s some information about Bruce – and awards he’s received for his writing:
Bruce Brown. Canadian born. Now living in Israel (for a long time). Bruce works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. He received the American Jewish Press Association’s award for writing excellence in 2019 and 2025. And wrote the 1998 satire, “An Israeli is….” Bruce’s musings are political, social, economic and personal. With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic and irreverent insight.
Features
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Features
Israel pavilion ambassadors – then and now
By BERNIE BELLAN Given that Folklorama is on again and the Israel pavilion – Shalom Square, is in full swing, I thought it timely to resurrect an article I first posted to this website in August 2023.
But before reading that article, I wanted you to see who this year’s ambassadors are for Shalom Square:
It was back in 2023, however, that I set out to answer a question that I had asked our readers to help answer: Where was the very first Israel pavilion located? Some readers had thought it was the Golden Age Club, which used to be located on Pritchard and Salter. But others weren’t so sure. Here then is what I wrote back in August 2023 – when, with the help of a librarian at the Winnipeg Public Library, I was able to solve the riddle of where the first Israel pavilion was located:
It was earlier in August 2023 that I had raised a number of questions about the history of the Israel pavilion at Folklorama.
Among those questions were: Where was the first Israel pavilion located and when did the Israel pavilion actually become a permanent fixture in the YMHA on Hargrave (before moving to its current home in the Asper Campus)?
As part of my search for answers to those questions I turned to David Cohen, who had long been the coordinator of the Israel pavilion when it was located on Hargrave, but who didn’t step into that role until 1975.
David thought that the Israel pavilion hadn’t moved to Hargrave until 1974, but he wasn’t sure where the first Israel pavilion had been located.
I tried to find information using the Winnipeg Public Library online digital archive. In case you didn’t know, anyone with a library card can access the library’s online archive. You can also have access to newspaperarchive.com through the library’s digital archive. Newspaperarchive.com is an invaluable reference tool for journalists especially – or anyone wanting to access old newspaper archives, for that matter, but ordinarily you would need a subscription to newspaperarchive.com in order to use it. For some reason, however, the search function in the Winnipeg Public Library’s digital search engine didn’t produce results when I entered the word “Folklorama.”
As a result I called the Winnipeg Public Library for assistance and received great help from someone by the name of Louis-Phillipe. After taking my information, Louis-Phillipe phoned me to say that he had found out that the library had compiled a file of press clippings related to Folklorama going back to the very first year, 1970.
Further, Louis-Phillipe said, he had found a list of the 22 pavilions in that first year of Folklorama, along with where they were located. It turns out that the Israel pavilion was actually located in two different venues that first year: the Rosh Pina and the Shaarey Zedek.
The next day I also heard from reader Phyllis Dana, who confirmed that the Israel Pavilion had been in both synagogues. Phyllis also remembered that the only food served that first year was honey cake.
But the pièce de resistance came when I heard from reader Marilyn Breitman (née Stitz), who now lives in Calgary, when she phoned me on Monday, August 21 (which is when she received the August 16 issue of the paper with my story about Folklorama).
Marilyn told me that, not only did she remember that the first Israel pavilion alternated between the Rosh Pina and the Shaarey Zedek, she had actually been the female representative of the Israel pavilion that first year. Her title, Marilyn said, was simply “Jewish.”
But, as you might also recall, the entire confusion over where the first Israel pavilion was located began with an email I had received from Roz Greenfeld, who had written to correct my mistake when I had written in the August 2 issue that the Israel pavilion had been located in the YMHA from the very beginning.
Roz pointed out that, in 1971, the second year of Folklorama, the Israel pavilion was located in “Council House” or, as it was better known, “The Golden Age Club,” on Pritchard and Salter. How did she remember that? Roz was the female representative of the pavilion that year. Her title, as I found out was “Miss Judea,” she said.
So, if the Israel pavilion was located at both the Rosh Pina and Shaarey Zedek in that first year of Folkorama, and in the Golden Age Club that second year, where was it after that?
It was left to Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada archivist Andrew Morrison to come up with the answer to that question. Andrew informed me that the Israel pavilion did indeed move to the YMHA in 1972 and remained there for the next 25 years, until it moved to the Asper Campus in 1997.
There was a further footnote to the story, which is when I decided to try my luck with the Winnipeg Public Library’s online archive one more time. This time, rather than searching for “Folklorama,” I tried searching for old copies of both the Free Press and the Tribune from August 1970. I did manage to get results for the Tribune and when I entered a specific search within the Tribune I found a picture of all the famale representatives of pavilions – in bathing suits.
It turned out – and this was corroborated by both Marilyn Breitman and Roz Greenfeld, the female representatives had to parade in unison – in bathing suits, as part of Folklorama festivities. Each year, as well, a queen of Folklorama was chosen. Neither Marilyn nor Roz was made queen, both of them told me, although Roz was voted “Miss Congeniality.”
In addition to finding out about the early days of the Israel pavilion, I also learned that the Chai dancers were not regular performers at the Israel pavilion in those early years – as they eventually did become. Chai performers would dance only one night in those first years, with other entertainment the other nights.
I did enlist Andrew Morrison’s help once again and did find that Chai performed only one evening during the first few years of Folklorama – from 1970 to 1976. In 1977 Chai began performing every night of Folklorama, but there were other performers on hand as well, including Jerry Maslowsky and Rabbi Yosel Rosenzweig. In 1978 the Chai Folk Ensemble was the featured entertainment every evening; however, a notice that appeared in our paper did say that whistler Harvey Pollock would “be on hand” to entertain – whatever that meant.
While some may wonder of what earth shaking importance all this is, I ask: Isn’t it fun to look back in time – for just a little while, instead of worrying about more immediate problems, such as global warming, inflation, terrorist attacks in Israel, and whether Donald Trump will be president while he’s in jail?
