Dr. Robert Krell will be honoured at the Sept. 7 gala of the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation’s Western region. (photo from CSZHF, Western region)
Ilan Pilo had recently arrived in Canada from Israel in 2013 when he attended a Jewish National Fund gala in Toronto honouring Stephen Harper, Canada’s then-prime minister. Pilo thinks it may have been the largest kosher dinner ever on Canadian soil – but what struck him most was the rapturous enthusiasm among attendees for the country’s head of government.
“Harper was, and has been, one of the most genuine and strong allies and voices on behalf of Canadian Jewry and Israel,” said Pilo, now Western Canada executive for the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation.
Pilo will dine again with Harper, when the former prime minister is the keynote speaker at the first-ever gala of the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation’s Western region, which takes place Sept. 7.
“In these challenging times, we all deserve to get some hope and strength by having a strong ally like him speaking in front of us,” said Pilo. “We all were astonished and so proud to hear his great support, his genuine support for Israel, and just now we need it more than ever.”
The gala, which also marks the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation, will see the Kurt and Edith Rothschild Humanitarian Award bestowed upon Dr. Robert Krell.
The founding president of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, Krell is a child survivor of the Shoah and a renowned Vancouver-based psychiatrist, academic, author and educator, who has devoted his life to supporting survivors, educating on genocide and combating intolerance. In 2020, he was inducted into the Order of Canada.
The Kurt and Edith Rothschild Humanitarian Award is named in memory of the late Kurt Rothschild, a Canadian philanthropist, Jewish community leader and co-founder of the Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation. Along with his wife Edith, Rothschild devoted his life to strengthening the Jewish people, the state of Israel and institutions like Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem; he also served as president of the World Mizrachi movement. The award recognizes exceptional individuals whose integrity, leadership and service have left a meaningful impact both locally and globally.
Krell told the Independent that he has felt a special connection with Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem since he read Dr. Gisella Perl’s 1948 memoir, I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz.
Imprisoned in the death camp, Perl, a gynecologist, was forced to work under the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele in the camp’s women’s infirmary. She performed countless life-saving – but excruciating – procedures without anesthesia, including secretly conducting abortions to save pregnant women from certain execution. Later, while serving in the maternity ward at Shaare Zedek Medical Centre, she would say a silent prayer before every delivery, “God, you owe me a life.”
“So, Shaare Zedek has been on my mind for a long time and, therefore, to be asked to be an honouree of that particular hospital talked to me,” Krell said.
The hospital’s maternity ward delivers 20,000 babies annually – by comparison, that’s three times as many as Vancouver’s BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre. About 1,000 of those newborns are premature and the Sept. 7 gala is the culmination of a campaign to generate revenue to purchase five new $50,000 incubators for the Jerusalem hospital.
Krell is especially honoured, he said, to receive the award in the presence of Harper.
“It’s a great honour to be with someone who is truly admired for their statesmanship,” he said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a statesman in Canada.”
Pilo noted that Krell’s selection for the award was unanimously supported by the award committee, which was chaired by Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt, and included Dr. Arthur Dodek, Marie Doduck, Shannon Gorski-Averbach and Dr. Jonathon Leipsic, as well as Pilo.
“We were aiming to find the right person to be awarded for the first time ever with the Kurt and Edith Rothschild Humanitarian Award in the Western region,” Pilo said. “The committee agreed, without any hesitation, that our award recipient should be Rob Krell, since he is renowned for support of Canadian Jewry and Israel. His lifelong efforts at preserving the memory of the Holocaust and his dedication for children, which aligns with our incubator drive, [made it] so natural that he is the right person to receive this award.”
Pilo credited the foundation’s national executive director, Rafi Yablonsky, for securing the former prime minister’s presence at the celebration, which will be emceed by Dr. Marla Gordon. Dinner co-chairs are Yael Segal and Carol Segal. Community partners for the event are the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, Congregation Schara Tzedeck, the Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia and the Jewish Independent. Tickets are at hospitalwithaheart.ca.