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Winnipeg congregations report largest attendances since 2019 for high holidays

Shaarey Zedek high holiday services were held in the Rady JCC gym this year - and with beautiful decorations

By MYRON LOVE It was a frailiche Yom Tov this year. From all reports, there seems to have been a real joy for people able to once again attend services without having to deal the Covid restrictions of past years.
The final numbers are in and they tell the story. Overall, Yom Tov attendance was almost back to where it was pre-Covid restrictions. Lets start with the Shaarey Zedek, our community’s oldest and largest congregation.
Dr. Rena Secter Elbaze , the Shaarey Zedek’s executive director, reports that close to 700 worshippers attended the main service, 268 more were at the family service and just over 340 followed online. In comparison, about 200 were in attendance in person last year and that number included attendance at both services.
For this year, we decided to have only one service,” Secter Elbaze says. “It was wonderful having everyone together again. Some people were really emotional about being able to come together again.”
As noted in my pre-High Holidays report, this was the second year that the Shaarey Zedek held Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services in the gym of the Rady JCC. Regular Shabbas services have continued to be held in the Berney Theatre, with weekday services at Temple Shalom – while their long term, spiritual home is being updated and expanded. Elbaze had noted that “in an effort to show our members that we appreciate their patience and understanding during this period of construction, we offered all of our members free seating for Yom Tov for those who wanted to attend services in person, as well as congregants viewing the services on-line.”
Non-members, she added, were able to[purchase their seats and be eligible for free seating if they participated in the daily minyanim or volunteered their time to help with Shabbat minyanim.
A further incentive was the return of popular Rabbi Alan Green to join Rabbi Anibal Mass in leading the main service. Rabbi Mass also led the family service – accompanied by Grant Park High School Grade 12 student Noah Trachtenberg – in the Asper Campus Multipurpose room.
The Yom Tov experience was further enhanced for Shaarey Zedek worshippers by the participation of the popular Quartet and the 20-voice Ruach Folk Choir.
“We were very pleased with how everything turned out,” Elbaze says. “This was the best Yom Tov ever.
“And we are really looking forward to being back in our own building in time for next Yom Tov.”
The members of Congregation Etz Chayim are also looking forward to davening in their new building. Next month, the congregation is scheduled to leave their current 70-year-old location in north Winnipeg and move into the new Etz Chayim building.
Etz Chayim Congregation Executive Director Jonathan Buchwald wrote in an email: “The general feedback from congregants was that they really enjoyed services this year. It was noted, however, that there were some bittersweet feelings, as these were the final High Holy Day Services in the Matheson Avenue building. We are looking forward to holding services next year in our new home at 1155 Wilkes Avenue, formerly the Shriners headquarters, near the IKEA store in south Winnipeg.“
Buchwald reports that 500 tickets were sold in person for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, with another 70 screens watching on-line – which grew to 90 for Kol Nidre. Almost 200 people attended Ne’ilah services. He adds that about 60 people attended a special service in the junior auditorium, led by Deborah Spigelman and Nina Eilberg, which was designed for families of all ages,while 50 children of all ages attended the junior service.
“On the first day of Rosh Hashanah and on Kol Nidre,” he says, “we held a unique program designed for teens in grades 9 to 12 led by Halley Ritter,” Buchwald added.
“One of the highlights of our services occurred during Kol Nidre,” he noted. “It involved the removal of all our Sifrei Torah which were then held by various congregants for each of the three recitals of the Kol Nidre prayer. For the first recital, the Sifrei Torah were held exclusively by teenagers and young adults.”
Services were led by Rabbi Kliel Rose and Cantor Tracy Kasner – with Kelly Robinson leading the High Holy Day Choir.
The third largest gathering for the High Holidays this year was Rabbi Matthew Leibl’s brand new “Services on the River: A modern High Holidays” which were held at the scenic Gates on Roblin. “I was very pleased with the attendance,” says the rabbi, who has been in demand for weddings, funerals and other community events since he left the Shaarey Zedek four years ago. “I wasn’t sure what to expect,” added Rabbi Leibl.
He reports that 250 signed up for his Yom Tov services. “We had a good mix of ages. We had families, couples, singles, even multigeneration families.”
In our earlier pre-Yom Tov report, Rabbi Leibl had observed that he had a lot of people asking him what he was going to do for Yom Tov. “I perceived that there was a need for another alternative for High Holiday services,” he noted.
Services on the River: A modern High Holidays” were scheduled for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur morning. “Because the shofar is not traditionally blown on Shabbat, we decided to celebrate Rosh Hashanah on the second day instead to be able to have the shofar in our service,” Rabbi Leibl pointed out in explaining why he didn’t offer services for the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
The three services were each 90 minutes in length. “My services were designed to offer moments of reflection and introspection, beautiful live music, and a celebration of the Jewish New Year, all against the pastoral backdrop of the Assiniboine River, which was also our site for Tashlich on Rosh Hashanah,” Rabbi Leibl noted.
“With the river right outside the door, there was a strong sense of serenity accompanying Tashlich,” he added.
Rabbi Leibl described “Services on the River: A modern High Holidays” as “a real team effort,” which he led in collaboration with the husband and wife cantorial team of Justin Odwak and Sarah Sommer.
Most likely, readers can look forward to a reprise of “Services on the River: A modern High Holidays” next year.
Still with the South End, both Ruth Livingston and Jack Craven, presidents respectively of Reform Congregation Temple Shalom and the Orthodox Adas Yeshurun Herzlia report good turnouts for the High Holidays this year – with new families at both their services. The Lubavitch Centre’s Rabbi Avroham Altein also reports some new families at the services this year.
Back in the North End, Rob Waldman, the president of the egalitarian Chevra Mishnayes congregation in Garden City, noted in an earlier interview that the board was not expecting much change from last year. Last year’s attendance was 90 – exceeding expectations. This year’s services, led again by Al Benarroch, also attracted about 90 people.
The venerable House of Ashkenazie, the last of our community’s older-style Orthodox congregations, was the only shul to report a bit of a decline in attendance from last year – when about 50 people came for the first day of Rosh Hashanah and over 40 for Kol Nidre. – numbers which were the best in some years.
One new option this year for frum members of our community living in the North End was the reborn Chavurat Tefila – on the corner of Hartford and McGregor – which has reopened – after being closed for three years – as the North End Orthodox Minyan. The new congregation began regular Shabbat services at the end of July. Yom Tov services attracted about 40 men and women, with Rosh Hashanah services led by Avi Posen – who came in from Israel – and Yom Kippur services by Cantor Natanel “Naty” Schlossberg from Brooklyn .
Finally, there was one more option for those seeking to attend a High Holiday service. After a two year absence, Camp Massad resumed its innovative Rosh Hashanah service last year. Daniel Sprintz, the camp’s executive director, was pleased to announce that Massad was again hosting its usual Rosh Hashanah program on the second day.

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Acclaimed rabbi steps to the pulpit of Toronto’s dynamic, downtown Reform congregation

Rabbi Stephanie Crawley

(Toronto, Ont.) – City Shul (cityshul.com) is proud to welcome its new spiritual leader, Rabbi Stephanie Crawley, who began leading the 250-member synagogue in late July and will head the downtown congregation’s 2025 High Holiday services later this month. City Shul has been hailed by the Union for Reform Judaism’s leader, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, as “unique in North America” for its merger of traditional Jewish knowledge with modern Reform values. It was founded in 2011 by Rabbi Emerita Elyse Goldstein, Toronto’s first female rabbi and a pioneering feminist scholar.
Why would a successful and beloved associate rabbi from a large, prominent synagogue relocate to Toronto to head City Shul, a small, upstart congregation?
“I wasn’t looking for just any congregation,” says Rabbi Crawley, an award-winning scholar from 800-member Temple Micah in Washington, D.C. “I was looking for the right congregation.
“I had learned that City Shul was a vibrant, forward-thinking and committed congregation. Since my husband, Rabbi Jesse Paikin, grew up in the Greater Toronto Area, it also sounded like the perfect opportunity to be closer to our extended family.”
Rabbi Crawley’s inaugural Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services will offer the wider Toronto Jewish community a chance to experience her love for Judaism and her thoughtful interpretation of its depth and breadth.
“My dream is that when people think and speak of City Shul, they will know that it is a place where Judaism is celebrated joyously,” says Rabbi Crawley. “I believe a synagogue should be a living, vibrant home for Jewish life, where ritual is profound and transformative, where we are called to be and do our best for each other and the world.
“I’m excited to continue the dynamism and experimentation that is such a deep part of City Shul’s culture, and continue to innovate and grow this warm community.”
City Shul conducted an extensive international search to find a new rabbi. The search committee interviewed more than a dozen candidates, but when they met Rabbi Crawley, the connection was instantaneous.
Rabbi Crawley has begun her tenure at City Shul by leading Shabbat services and getting to know her congregants. Her arrival marks not just a new chapter for the synagogue, but a renewed invitation to explore, celebrate, and shape Jewish life together—with joy, meaning, and a bold spirit of possibility. 

ABOUT RABBI CRAWLEY:
Rabbi Stephanie Crawley received her undergraduate education at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 2010 and earned a Master of Hebrew Studies and rabbinic ordination through Hebrew Union College/The Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and Jerusalem. She graduated in 2018 with numerous prizes and academic distinctions, including the Rabbi Solomon Goldman Memorial Prize in Liturgy and the Edith Robers Memorial Prize for Outstanding Academic Achievement. Her rabbinic thesis, Out of the Box and onto the Page: Elevated Voices of Female Biblical Characters in Midrash Sefer ha-Yashar, reflected her egalitarian outlook.
As an Associate Rabbi at Temple Micah in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Crawley was involved in all aspects of the congregation, including education, long-term planning, music, outreach, pastoral care, prayer, spirituality and social justice. During her rabbinic studies and afterward, she received numerous fellowships to enhance her learning or assist her in her endeavours, such as the North America-wide Bonnie and Daniel Tisch Rabbinic Fellowship, which focused on congregational leadership and innovative thinking, and the Rukin Rabbinic Fellowship, designed to increase knowledge of interfaith inclusion issues and create communities of belonging for couples and families. In addition, she is a talented poet and musician.
ABOUT CITY SHUL:
City Shul is a downtown Reform Jewish congregation founded in 2011 by internationally renowned Rabbi Emerita Elyse Goldstein with a group of committed laypeople, including academics and Canadian Jewish leaders.

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Premier Wab Kinew wows an audience of seniors at the Gwen Secter Centre

By BERNIE BELLAN (Sept. 11, 2025) There was a mood of heightened expectancy the afternoon of Wednesday, September 10, at the Gwen Secter Centre. The premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, was scheduled to arrive at approximately 1:30 pm to speak to a large audience of over 60 seniors (including this writer).
(Seniors are able to come to the Gwen Secter Centre every Wednesday for a delicious lunch, followed either by entertainment or a speaker.)
But Premier Kinew had been scheduled to come to the Gwen Secter Centre a couple of months prior to this particular day – but was forced to cancel due to something unexpected that had come up in his busy schedule, as things are wont to do when you’re the premier.

Three MLAs were also in attendance when Premier Kinew came to the Gwen Secter Centre. In the picture above are the three, along with some members of the Gwen Centre and staff. From left-right: Rachelle Schott, MLA, Kildonan East), Earl Ashkin, Larry Rubinstein, Dan Saidman (Program Director, Gwen Secter Centre), Cydnee Silverstein, Becky Chisick (Executive Director, Gwen Secter Centre), Jennifer Chen (MLA, Fort Richmond), JD Devgnan (MLA. McPhillips)


This time though, three other NDP MLAs arrived prior to the premier and – because none of them looked like a senior – although I didn’t have a clue who any of them were, I assumed that they weren’t there simply for no reason at all, so I asked one of them, who happened to be a nice, young woman: “Is the premier going to show or is he going to bail again?”
I don’t think she particularly liked the tone of my question (Obviously she didn’t know who I was either, otherwise she wouldn’t have been surprised at my cheekiness), but she responded quite warmly, reassuring me that he was on his way. She also asked me what I was doing there – because I was standing outside the auditorium when everyone else was seated by that point, so I said: “Hey, I’m a senior – so I’m entitled to be here, but I’m also a very annoying reporter – and I’m here to cover this.”
But where was the security detail that one would normally expect to see in advance of a VIP as important as the premier? I wondered.
It turns out there was one lonely security guy – in a suit, but not wearing an earpiece. (I asked him if he was security because he was dressed too nicely for the Gwen Secter Centre – and he wasn’t talking with anyone.) He admitted that he was security, but when I said that I thought there would be more like him considering it was the premier of Manitoba who was coming, he answered that they consider the kind of audience that will be at an event when planning security for the premier – and no one thought that audience that day was going to be overly dangerous. Also, the premier was scheduled to arrive after everyone in the audience had had lunch; he was wise not to arrive before lunch because seniors, especially Jewish seniors, generally don’t care who it is they’re going to hear from – all they want to know is whether the food is going to be served on time!
As it was, Premier Kinew was only a few minutes late and, after mingling with the Gwen Secter staff for a few minutes, made his way directly to the microphone situated at one end of the auditorium. There was no grand entrance accompanied by a phalanx of minders – only the premier, who had a big smile on his face as he navigated the tables of seniors. (Clearly he hadn’t been advised that every Jewish event starts late and that no one as important as a premier simply walks in unaccompanied by a large retinue of self-important toadies.)
Dan Saidman, who is program coordinator at Gwen Secter, introduced the premier with a few brief remarks. Thereupon Premier Kinew stood in front of the auditorium and, being a polished speaker whom we’ve all learned is totally comfortable in front of a mic, spent about 20 minutes talking about what his government has done.
There wasn’t much that anyone who follows Manitoba politics wouldn’t have heard before, but unlike so many other politicians, the premier seemed to be totally at ease and engaged as he spoke.
Now, ordinarily one might have thought that, after all, it was the premier of Manitoba, so how much time would he have had to spend at the Gwen Secter Centre in the midst of a weekday afternoon?
But, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the premier, following his remarks, say: “I’m willing to take any questions if anyone has them.” Okay, I thought, a few minutes maybe, but I was amazed to watch the premier of Manitoba listen to question after question, and answer them all thoughtfully – for over 45 minutes.
The questions covered quite a wide range of issues. Two questioners asked about the security situation at the Health Sciences Centre and one of those questioners struck a particular chord when he began his question by saying that he has two daughters who work as nurses at HSC – and they’re frightened to walk to their cars at night when they leave.
I had thought before I even rode my bike to Gwen Secter Centre (which I like to do because I’m a thrill seeker and riding a bike in Winnipeg is nothing if not thrillingly dangerous) that, if I had the opportunity to ask the premier a question, I was going to ask him about renewable energy.
So, when Dan Saidman handed me the mic, I did ask him a question along those lines, but I began by saying to the premier that the impact he made upon the Jewish community in October 2023 – and this was shortly after the NDP had won the election, when he spoke at the massive rally that was held at the Asper Campus, and touched anyone who was there by the support he showed for the Jewish community and how heartfelt he was, was very much appreciated.
But, I went on to say, we all know that the health file is an almost impossible challenge, that crime is another almost impossible challenge – so is homelessness but, for gosh sakes, he’s an NDP premier and the government seems to have given up on renewable energy as a goal.
The premier responded that, in fact, the government is engaged in quite a massive build-out of wind power which ultimately, will end up adding 600 megawatts to Manitoba’s total energy supply – amounting to “ten percent” of Manitoba’s total energy capacity when all is said and done.
He went on to describe in some detail three different projects, each of which will add approximately 200 megawatts to our energy capacity.
I admit I was quite surprised to hear the premier’s answer because there have been so many letters to the editor and opinion columns in the Winnipeg Free Press decrying Manitoba’s almost total reliance on hydro power, also the construction of a new natural gas energy plant. I’m not expert enough to know whether Premier Kinew’s answer was based on real, hard commitments or not, but he seemed to be thoroughly acquainted with the details of the plan to add a massive amount of wind power to the infrastructure we already have. When all three components of the wind power plan are implemented, Premier Kinew said, it will quadruple the amount of wind power we presently have in Manitoba.
As he stood there, fielding question after question, listening patiently and always answering thoughtfully, even though it’s not the first time I’ve been in an audience when Wab Kinew has spoken, I thought to myself: He genuinely likes people. I’ve met a lot of politicians in my day, but the only other politician who I also thought honestly seemed to enjoy meeting people was Justin Trudeau, but that was before he became prime minister. I remember Justin Trudeau attending Shalom Square in 2015, accompanied by Jim Carr, and watching him climb over chairs in the Rady JCC gym to shake hands with people, to get hugged by oodles of women, all the time with a big smile on his face.
Of course, as Charles Adler once remarked on his radio show, “Once you can fake sincerity, the rest is easy,” so who’s to know what people like Wab Kinew and Justin Trudeau really would be thinking when they were working an audience?.
But, when he finished answering all the questions that anyone had, Dan Saidman asked the premier one more: “Who were the people whom he admired most in life?”
Kinew’s answer was: “His mother and his father.” He told a particularly poignant story about his father, who had been a chief during his lifetime. When his father lay dying in a hospital, Wab said he would go visit him every day. He hadn’t been all that close to his father until that time, he said, but after spending those final days with his father, he realized that not only was his father his father, he was his “best friend.”
And, following that final remark, the premier of the province said that he was going to stick around and chat with anyone who wanted to talk to him – which he proceeded to do for another half hour.
As Gerry Posner might say: “What a mensch!”

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JNF Canada says a new charity called “Friends of JNF Canada” will be able to issue tax receipts to donors

By BERNIE BELLAN (Sept. 11, 2025) It’s a complicated – and very confusing story – and it goes back to an earth-shaking decision issued by the Canada Revenue Agency on August 10, 2024. That decision, which was published in the Canada Gazette (which is where an announcenment about any charity whose charitable status has been revoked is published) was to revoke the Jewish National Fund Canada’s charitable status.
To give you an idea how important charitable donations have been to JNF Canada, according to the most recent audited financial statements that are available, “In 2023, JNF Canada received $20.2 million in donations and had a total revenue of $22.2 million.”

We’ve written numerous times about what led up to CRA’s decision to revoke JNF Canada’s charitable status and the resulting aftermath – in which JNF Canada was thrown into disarray.
Much of the reporting on this story was done by Ellen Bessner, writing for the Canadian Jewish News. Bessner was stolid in her research and although a good portion of what she wrote laid the blame for what happened to JNF Canada at the feet of JNF Canada itself, she provided exhausting detail about what lay behind CRA’s decision. If you want to read past articles that follow the chronology of events following that August 10, 2024 decision by CRA, you can simply enter JNF in the search engine on jewishpostandnews.ca, and you’ll find a great many stories about not only what led up to CRA’s decision to remove JNF Canada’s charitable status, but what steps JNF Canada took subsequent to that momentous decision.

During the past 13 months though, JNF Canada has been embroiled in a legal battle against CRA on different levels – in two different courts: The Federal Court and the Federal Court of Canada. You’ll have to read an article posted on June 17 this year on jewishpostandnews.ca to understand the difference between the two courts. For the purpose of this article, however, it is only important to note that JNF Canada’s appeal to the Federal Court was turned down by that court – for technical reasons, i.e., the Federal Court ruled that it was not the proper court to hear the particular matter that JNF Canada had brought forward; however, the appeal to the Federal Court of Canada is still underway. It may take quite some time before that court issues a decision and, if it also goes against JNF Canada, there is a strong likelihood JNF Canada will take its case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. The upshot is that it may be years before the legal battle JNF Canada has been waging with CRA may be resolved.

In the meantime though, JNF Canada had been working to come up with a solution to the challenge of its having been deregistered by CRA as a charity able to issue tax receipts.
On September 2, JNF Canada sent out an email to its supporters in which it gave a preview of what was about to happen. That email noted: “This past year has been challenging for JNF Canada and for Jewish communities across the country.
“Even without charitable status and amid an ongoing legal dispute with the CRA JNF Canada has remained committed to its mission… The absence of our charitable status has limited our ability to operate effectively and our supporters have told us they want their donations to have the full impact, including the ability to receive charitable receipts… In response wonderful friends stepped forward to dedicate their charity to caring out similar work and have appropriately renamed it “Friends of JNF Canada” (emphasis mine).

What did that mean? I wondered. The email also noted that “JNF Canada will continue to operate as it fights its legal battle against the CRA, for its right to fair treatment.”
So, JNF Canada is still alive as an organization called JNF Canada – but it has now managed to find a way to issue tax receipts to its supporters. The September 2 email didn’t go into any detail as to what “Friends of JNF Canada” was – and how it had come about.
But, in a story issued by the CJN on September 4, it was noted that “JNF Canada, whose charitable tax status was revoked by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in 2024, has created a new charitable entity linked to the organization. The new charity, Friends of JNF Canada, officially launches on Sept. 8.”
“A new charitable entity?” I wondered. What did that mean?
The CJN story, written by Jonathan Rothman, went on to note that “Friends of JNF Canada will have the ability to issue charitable tax receipts, (Nathan) Disenhouse (National President, JNF Canada) told the National Post in an interview, saying the new organization’s fundraising for Israel would be done ‘in a similar way that JNF Canada did, but with the ability to issue tax receipts.’
My reaction upon reading Rothman’s story was: “What? This sounds just like JNF Canada, but with a new name. Isn’t this really an end-around that would allow JNF Canada to circumvent CRA’s removal of JNF Canada’s charitable status?”
So, on September 5, I wrote to CRA, asking this question: “Can you confirm that ‘Friends of JNF Canada’ is now a registered charity, able to issue tax receipts?”
I received a response that same day saying that someone would get back to me with an answer.
The answer arrived September 10: “The public may consult the CRA’s List of charities and certain other qualified donees to confirm whether an organization is a registered charity or other qualified donee. For clarity, the public may also confirm in the same registry: the registration number, the current status of the charity, the date since the status has been valid, the type of qualified donee, the designation, and the website of a specific charity. We can confirm that Friends of JNF (emphasis mine) was registered as a public foundation effective September 22, 2022. Note that the governing documents in our records reflect a legal name change from ‘The Benzimra Foundation’ to ‘Friends of JNF’ effective August 14, 2025.”
Note that the email from CRA referred twice to the charity as “Friends of JNF,” not “Friends of JNF Canada.” Was that just a typing error or was it more significant? I again wondered.

Adding to the confusion, JNF Canada issued another email on September 10, in which it said, in part, that …wonderful friends stepped forward to dedicate their charity to carrying out similar work (to what JNF Canada had been doing) and have appropriately renamed it Friends of JNF Canada. With our Board of Director’s (sic.) full endorsement this organization will continue supporting the kinds of projects that have always defined JNF Canada’s mission: serving Israelis in need through charitable projects that help the vulnerable, enhance environmental sustainability, and support the mental & physical health of Israelis in need.”That email did not name the Benzimra Foundation as the charity that had agreed to change its name to Friends of JNF Canada but, as you can see in the email from CRA, CRA disclosed that information.

We wondered whether Friends of JNF and Friends of JNF Canada are one and the same. We received an explanation from Lance Davis, who was formerly CEO of JNF Canada and is now CEO of Friends of JNF Canada: “Our lawyer filed the name Friends of JNF. We were given additional input from supporters that it may be confusing as there are many JNFs around the world and we should specify Canada so that it’s clear that we are an independent Canadian charity funding Canadian directed projects.  We are not a subsidiary of any other charity, as we are totally independent. 

“Therefore, we decided to operate as Friends of JNF Canada. 

“It is extremely common for businesses to have an operating name that is slightly different that the registered name.  At this point we have so much to do to get our activities and campaigns started, so we will not be revisiting this now. However, in the future, the board may want to do so.”

But, in an October 2024 article in CJN, it was noted that another Canadian charity known as the Ne’eman Foundation had also had its charitable status revoked in August 2024. Subsequently, that same article reported, “the organization, which distributes funds to various causes in Israel, began instructing prospective donors to contribute through another recently formed Canadian charity (emphasis mine).
“Six weeks later, Canadian officials imposed a one-year suspension on that charity, called the Emunim Fund, according to its listing on the Canada Revenue Agency website.
“CRA regulators had previously raised concerns about particular Ne’eman Foundation projects in Israel, and a volunteer with Jewish pro-Palestinian group had alleged to the agency that the Ne’eman Foundation was using the Emunim Fund to skirt the revocation (emphasis mine). 
“The agency has not publicly disclosed why it suspended the Emunim Fund, and said in a statement that it is barred by law from commenting on individual cases.”
Thus, there are two questions for which we’re awaiting answers: Is the name of the charity which JNF Canada now says will be able to issue tax receipts to donors who might previously have donated to JNF Canada “Friends of JNF” (as the CRA email said was the name) or is it “Friends of JNF Canada,” which was what the emails from JNF Canada says it its name?
Second, although the CRA email would seem to indicate that it has granted registration to this new charity – whether its name is Friends of JNF or perhaps Friends of JNF Canada, given CRA’s previous revocation of the registration of a charity linked to Israel when it changed its name from the Ne’eman Foundation to the Ne’eman Fund, will CRA follow suit and suspend the new charity whose name closely resembles JNF Canada’s name?
As I wrote – this is all so confusing. Even though spokespersons for both CRA and JNF Canada have been quick to respond to emails from me in which I’ve been asking questions trying to sort out exactly what has been going on, it seems that each email leads me to ask yet more questions.
If I receive more information from either CRA or JNF Canada that helps to clarify the questions I’ve asked, I’ll update this story – so keep checking back.

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