By BERNIE BELLAN Note: For the purpose of brevity, personal care homes will often be referred to as PCH’s in this article. There are 39 PCH’s in the city of Winnipeg. On November 23, River Heights Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard hosted a forum at the Corydon Community Centre (River Heights branch) the subject of which was “Improving Care and Preventing Tragedies in Personal Care Homes”.
Mary Ann Rosenbloom (left) & Gail Cantor with some of the blankets knitted by members of Etz Chayim Congregation
Twenty-eight different members of Etz Chayim’s Women’s League have donated 25 knitted blankets to the Simkin Centre to be used as warming blankets for residents, also a body blanket when a resident passes away.
The idea for knitting the blankets came from Gail Cantor and Mary Ann Rosenbloom, who came down themselves to the Simkin Centre on Thursday, November 28, to present the blankets.
Mother and son talk about how families need to deal openly with drug addictions at JCFS program By BERNIE BELLAN Over the past ten years we have published numerous articles on the subject of addiction, both within the Jewish community and the community at large. A very high proportion of the articles we have written were inspired either by a program mounted by Jewish Child and Family Service, or by someone working for Jewish Child and Family Service.
More than 20 years after surviving a triple Palestinian suicide bombing in the heart of Jerusalem, Dr. Sherri Wise says that she still suffers the emotional scars of that horrendous experience. “I still suffer from PTSD,” she says. “I am still troubled by any loud noise.” But, despite what she went through, the former Winnipegger insists that she bears no ill-will toward the bombers who – that September 4 afternoon in 1997 on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem – killed five Israelis (including three teenage girls at a birthday party – and inured close to 200).
By MYRON LOVE Although just 11 years old at the time, Susan Garfield remembers as if it were yesterday the day that the Nazis marched into her native Budapest. “It was March 19, 1944,” recalls the former Suzanne Loffler. “A group of us were rehearsing a play. “We were going to raise some money for the Jewish Agency. When we heard that the Germans had arrived, we all hurried home. I began telling people that the Germans were killing Jews. I knew because I had a girlfriend I had known since Grade 2 who was orphaned when the Germans killed her Polish Jewish parents.”
By MYRON LOVE Lindsay Cogan is going to Shanghai in April to compete in the annual World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships (WIDPSC). The Balmoral Hall Grade 12 student will be one of 12 Canadian students who have earned a spot in the world championships next year.
Nov. 20, 2109 The University of Manitoba has appointed a demonstrated bridge-builder and a committed leader in community engagement, a sought-after global economic outlook expert, and a proud Manitoban, Dr. Michael Benarroch, as its 12th President and Vice-Chancellor.
Haskel Greenfield (left), Coordinator, Judaic Studies Program; and Jeffrey Taylor, Dean of Arts, University of Manitoba
By BERNIE BELLAN Elsewhere on this website, we have a story about a new $100,000 donation made to the University of Manitoba by MaryAnn Lippay Kanee (https://jewishpostandnews.ca/local/3027-judaic-studies-program-at-university-of-manitoba-to-receive-100-000-donation-from-maryann-lippay-kanee). The donation will be used to create a new endowment fund in support of the Judaic Studies program at the university. Since first reporting that donation, I have spent a fair bit of time trying to understand just what is the current state of the Judaic Studies program, and what are its future prospects. To that end I have been in contact with a number of individuals, all of whom have some connection to the Judaic Studies program to one extent or another, beginning with Prof. Haskel Greenfield, who has been the coordinator of the program for over six years now (even though Haskel is a professor in the anthropology department and does not teach any courses that are part of the Judaic Studies program). I was also in touch with Marla Aronovitch, Director of Operations & Grants at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba; Prof. Jeffrey Taylor, Dean of Arts at the University of Manitoba; Dr. Jody Perrun, who is teaching a course at the U of M this year titled “The History of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust” (which had been taught in previous years by Catherine Chatterley); Retired Prof. Lionel Steiman (who, along with his brothers, recently made a substantial contribution to the Jewish Foundation in support of Yiddish language instruction in Winnipeg and who has long been involved with the Judaic Studies program; and MaryAnn Lippay Kanee herself.
After four years as executive director of the Manitoba/ Saskatchewan office of the Jewish National Fund, Ariel Karabelnicoff is moving on. At the beginning of December, he will be assuming his new role as national sales director for the Israel Bonds organization based in Toronto.
Granted, Michael Benarroch has enjoyed a top-flight academic career, but surely what is he is best-known for is coaching the Gray Academy varsity boys basketball team in 2010-11. Here he is with members of that top-ranked Gray Academy Varsity squad in January 2011: Seated (l-r): Josh Kerr and Shea Garber. Standing (l-r): Asher Billinkoff, Keenan Benarroch, Griffin Bernstein, Michael Benarroch (Coach), Jeremy Hecht, Max Erenberg, Josh Donen, Avichai Stoller and Ariel Melamedoff. Missing: Raffey Levitt Pinsky, Aden Benarroch (Assistant Coach) and Brayden Bernstein (Assistant Coach).
By BERNIE BELLAN
The University of Manitoba plays a prominent role in the Nov. 27 issue of The Jewish Post & News. Originally there was going to be only one story centering on that institution – about the Judaic Studies program and the interest that various individuals associated with that program have in bringing new life to it. (See next article.) But then we received word that Michael Benarroch has been selected as the next president of the University of Manitoba (https://jewishpostandnews.ca/local/3040-university-of-manitoba-announces-michael-bennaroch-to-be-12th-president-and-vice-chancellor)
It was only two years ago that we bade a somewhat sad farewell to Michael and his wife, Kim Bailey, as Michael took up a new position as provost and vice-president at Ryerson University in Toronto. As a member of the well-known Benarroch family here, Michael’s name has appeared in our paper quite frequently over the years but, to my surprise, one of the longest articles we have had about him was written by Harvey Rosen in 2011. At the time Michael was the coach of the very successful Gray Academy varsity boys’ basketball team. Following is an edited excerpt from that article:
By BERNIE BELLAN The Berney Theatre was jam packed Sunday afternoon, November 3, as Eva Wiseman launched her long-awaited history of Manitoba Jewish physicians, titled “Healing Lives: A Century of Manitoba Jewish Physicians”. Those not able to get seats in the theatre itself were able to watch the event in the adult lounge of the Rady JCC on a simulcast especially set up for the occasion.
