Titiana Zeliony says she and her husband chose to immigrate here from Israel because they heard from Israeli friends in Toronto that the Winnipeg Jewish community was looking to grow its community.
“We left the former Soviet Union when we were in our 20s, but after a lot of years in Israel, we decided to come here, mostly for security reasons,” Zeliony says.
The Zelionys are among a growing number of Israelis who have come in recent years and slowly changing the face of the community of about 14,000 Jews. Of some 384 new Jewish immigrants to Winnipeg in 2006, 376 were Israelis from the former Soviet Union.
A new group, called Canada Sheli (My Canada) was formed to meet the needs of the new Hebrew-speaking immigrants and bring them together. Ron East was the catalyst and the whole thing is volunteer-driven -- no budget, no dues, no staff.
Among the events are monthly activities for Hebrew-speakers, sing-alongs, movie nights, Shabbat dinner, and a popular soccer league organized with the local JCC.
At the event's end, according to the story, East suggested that the Winnipeg Jewish Federation should be sponsoring the service as a community-wide event and urged the audience to call the Federation and tell them.
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Are there any records of Jews from June 1893 to Nov. 1905 in Winnipeg? My grandfather, Nathan Goldfoot, was on the vessel Parisian on June 14, 1893 from Londonderry, Ireland, and got off at Winnipeg at age 22. He married and divorced before being found in Council, Idaho, marrying my grandmother Nov. 20, 1905. I don't know how he got to Idaho. Schelly Dardashti, you were our speaker in Portland, OR.
ReplyDeleteNadene Goldfoot
goldfoot1@verizon.net