Molyn Leszcz

By GERRY POSNER When you talk psychiatry and Winnipeg Jews, you enter into a remarkable and lengthy area for discussion, perhaps even a book. Prominent among the names of Jewish boys who became psychiatrists is Molyn Leszcz - as in very prominent. He is, among other things, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. How he got there from humble beginnings living on Ellice Avenue near his father’s grocery store and also close to the University of Winnipeg is by itself a compelling story.

Oded newBy BERNIE BELLAN A number of months back I was introduced, by a mutual friend in the investment industry, whose name is Mark Francis, to the president of the Canada Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC for short): Oded Orgil.

A Students for Justice
in Palestine march in New York
Credit: JCPA

A Tufts University student stood up to the mob of Israel-haters. His victory won’t necessarily prevent others from being targeted, but it showed how they, too, can prevail.

By JONATHAN TOBIN (March 5, 2021 / JNS) It was a familiar story but with an unfamiliar conclusion. A Jewish student objected to the anti-Semitic slanders promoted by a student organization dedicated to Israel’s destruction.

Briceva, Bessarabia, Romania, 1941,
Deportation of Jews

By ROBERTA SERET, PH.D. Anti-Semitism had always been part of Romanian culture long before the war, but it was in 1927 with the establishment of the Iron Guard, Romania’s fascist party, that their practices publicly centered on eliminating all Jews in Romania by torture and death squads.

Meachelle picRecently I was given some new hair products by the name of Agerios to try.
I was so impressed with the results I got from these products - my hair had more body than it has typically has and I just loved the fragrance -that I decided to contact the company that makes Agerios hair products and find out more about them.

(March 9, 2021; Winnipeg, Manitoba) -- Winnipeg Jewish Theatre (WJT) is now streaming True Colors, a show that was originally created by Jewish Women’s Theatre. True Colors will stream in three parts from March 8 to 28. The show is available for free on WJT’s YouTube channel, as part of Safe at Home Manitoba's Stay Home Initiative.

Dolphin BoyIn March, the Consulate General of Israel in Toronto and Western Canada will join forces with prominent Israeli Director Yonatan Nir to screen his film Dolphin Boy. The film will be available for free from March 17 to 24 and will be accompanied by an exclusive webinar with Nir himself on March 24.

17-year old Gray Academy
student Emma Zentner

By BERNIE BELLAN History was made at the recent BBYO International Convention, which was a combination of in-person and virtual gatherings held over a four-day period, from February 11-15, when Winnipegger Emma Zentner was elected International N’siah (President) of BBYO.

Golfers (left) David Berger &
Max Homa, winners of PGA
tournaments 1 week after the other

By BERNIE BELLAN A story that was was recently brought to our  attention came from reader Peter Mendelson (who told me he reads the paper after he gets it from his mother, who gets it from a neighbour – which leads me to wonder just how often our paper is handed from reader to reader?), has to do with two Jewish golfers: David Berger and Max Homa.

Ivy Kopstein
JCFS Substance Use and
Addiction Services Coordinator

By MYRON LOVE With the financial stress and uncertainty that many people have been experiencing over the past year as a result of Covid lockdowns, there has been a nationwide increase in alcohol and drug use (source: Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction) and – according to Ivy Kopstein, Jewish Child and Family Service’s Substance Use and Addiction Services Coordinator – members of the Jewish community have been affected parallel to the larger community.

Prof. Michael Eskin

By MYRON LOVE As he nears his 80th birthday, Michael Eskin is still going strong. The much-honoured professor in the faculty of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences at the University of Manitoba Department - and a beloved chazan in our community - continues to teach two online classes with over 200 students and has written two more books – his 16th and 17th – over the past year.

Nathan Zassman

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.

Arthur Ripstein:
2021 winner of the prestigious
Killam Prize in humanities

By GERRY POSNER Let me be clear. The Ripstein family has been a force in many ways in Winnipeg, in Manitoba and indeed in the entire country of Canada now for almost140 years.

In fact, in 1873, Jacob Ripstein began a series of many firsts in the family.

Matas copy edited 1By MYRON LOVE On Monday, February 22, B’nai Brith Canada introduced its new legal network – the Matas Law Society – to the world with a virtual program – a “fireside chat” – featuring B’nai Birth CEO Michael Mostyn and the eponymous David Matas himself – B’nai Brith Canada’s long time senior legal counsel and one of the world’s best known fighters for human rights.

Left: Infant Berdina with family in
Netherlands, 1943: father Theo,
mother Anna, & brother Corey
Right: Berdina with her late
husband, Ken Shorten

By BERNIE BELLAN Berdina Shorten has lived in Winnipeg since coming here with her family from the Netherlands in 1953. Although Berdina was Jewish by ancestry (going back to her great-grandmother), she hadn’t been raised Jewish. It was only several years after having come to Canada – and having got married, that Berdina – and her late husband, Ken Shorten, both converted to Judaism.

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