Al Benarroch

Overburdened system

Mardy Yager, manager of fund development at Marymound. (photo from Mardy Yager)

Mardy Yager manages the resources of Marymound, the second largest agency in Manitoba that provides support to some of the province’s highest-needs kids. Every day, he has to deal with an overburdened social services system that is struggling to keep up with demand.

A lifelong Winnipegger, Yager has been working in the child welfare field for 26 years. He has been serving at Marymound for the past 15. “I began working frontline with the kids and now I’m the manager of fund development,” he said.

“I have a passion for the kids and intimate knowledge of the work, so I’ve been effective in raising funds and awareness for child welfare here in Manitoba,” he said of his choice of profession, “which isn’t historically a choice for most people.”

When he was 14, his father passed away. Although Yager is not a practising Jew, he feels strongly that his passion for service stems from his Jewish heritage and the example set by his father, who was vice-president of their synagogue, among other things.

Marymound was started in 1911 by Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Yager said he felt privileged to work alongside the sisters when he first began working there, and found their values to be the same as any other religion’s ethics. “You look after those less fortunate, you honor people’s differences, you celebrate other people’s religions,” he said. “Spirituality is very important, regardless of what faith you practise.”

The overwhelming majority of Marymound’s kids – 70% – are indigenous. As such, the focus of Marymound’s assistance is not so much about religion. “That’s kind of how the sisters looked at it as well,” said Yager. “The focus was more on spirituality and healing, and that’s what’s kept me here.”

Marymound’s staff is a mix of professionals with different cultural backgrounds, including indigenous, Christian, Muslim and Jewish. There are more than 300 full-time and another 200 other staff working with approximately 3,000 children annually.

Manitoba has the highest number of children in care (11,000) compared to any other province. For example, the province has almost double the number of Saskatchewan (6,000) despite the fact that the population breakdown of each province is similar.

“The system is overburdened here in Manitoba,” said Yager. “And it’s struggling to meet the needs of all those kids. Some are very high needs. A lot has to do with fallout from the residential schools. Lots has to do with our indigenous populations being marginalized over the decades.

“We also, unfortunately, did the 1960s scoop, where we pulled kids out of their homes and adopted them out to white families all over North America. We’re just starting to understand the issues and making some corrections as to how we approach the problems.”

Most of the kids Marymound works with are dealing with family breakdown, physical and sexual abuse, neglect and poverty. Some are battling mental illness, fetal alcohol syndrome and other issues that mainly afflict the most vulnerable segments of the population.

While Marymound has serviced Jewish kids and still does in their foster-care programs, those percentages are small.

photo - Al Benarroch, executive director of Jewish Child and Family Services in Winnipeg — Al Benarroch, executive director of Jewish Child and Family Services in Winnipeg. *(photo from Al Benarroch)*

Al Benarroch, executive director of Jewish Child and Family Services (JCFS) in Winnipeg, knows all too well how Marymound and similar organizations help.

“They run some very specific programs around treatment for sexual abuse,” said Benarroch. “Working at JCFS, being a small sliver of child and family services in Manitoba, we work in our own community. But, in my past professional career, when I was in private practice, I used to see a lot of cases of sexual abuse – both in adults who are survivors … and also with youth and children who were in the welfare system because of that.”

But Benarroch was quick to point out that sexual abuse is the smallest percentage under the abuse category – at least on paper – with 10% or 12% of all reported cases of abuse being sexual abuse.

“There is a much higher number being reported of physical abuse, and the highest number is probably neglect,” he said. “What does that mean? Does that mean there’s less sexual abuse or does that mean that it’s underreported? The likelihood is, it’s most likely extremely underreported by virtue of its nature – the nature of the secrecy and the nature of the disruptive levels of trust that a person has when they’ve been victimized.”

While Benarroch said that anyone who can afford counseling can find it very readily, in general, accessing quality, well-trained therapists is difficult for those who are less financially well off.

“With JCFS, we deal with sexual assault very little for a few reasons,” he said. “Number one, our agency is almost exclusively serving the Jewish community. I’m not saying this doesn’t occur in the Jewish community but, as a cultural community, we don’t like to air our dirty laundry. So, as an agency, JCFS is constantly working on raising awareness about these issues so we can peel away those layers of secrecy.”

Benarroch said JCFS sees many more cases in which there has been high levels of neglect and dysfunctional parenting that usually stems from the parents’ past trauma, thereby impacting their ability to parent. In these cases, he said the parents can overcome their challenges and positively parent through talking about childhood experiences, which may involve physical or sexual abuse, to work through those traumatic experiences as adults.

“For me,” added Yager, “it’s always been about the kids and the kids don’t pick and choose. They are just here and we need to help them…. They didn’t ask for the things afflicting them…. We need to do our best to help them get a handle on the issues and go into the community in a productive way.

“Helping those less fortunate, who can argue with that? Right? Those are all things we should all be doing. That’s what makes our country as great as it is, because we focus not just on getting ahead, but on trying not to leave the less fortunate behind.

“I think the values we have here, at Marymound, even though it started from an order of nuns, those values cross all religions.” As an example, Yager said, “I know that philanthropy and caring for others are basic values that all Jews share. We’re quite charitable. It’s also part of the values that the Sisters of the Good Shepherd have provided to us at Marymound.”

For more information, visit marymound.com.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Sponsoring Yazidi refugees

Yolanda Papini Pollock, co-founder of Winnipeg Friends of Israel, which initiated Operation Ezra. (photo from Yolanda Papini Pollock)

The Jewish community in Winnipeg has ramped up its efforts to help the Yazidi people, including the sponsorship of families to the city.

“When you look at the plight of the Yazidi people, it kind of mirrors the Jewish reality of 1945,” said Al Benarroch, executive director of Winnipeg’s Jewish Child and Family Services (JCFS). “I’m not going to be one to say that it’s like the Holocaust, but the Yazidis have suffered, over the last 500-600 years, a very significant genocide.

“The Yazidi people have been displaced from that region of the world and have been heavily victimized, murdered and devastated in the millions. And they have nowhere to go to. So, our community and other communities across Canada have really taken this to heart saying, you know, it was a mere 70 years ago that we ourselves were in a similar situation.

“When we say ‘Never again,’ are we just talking about the Jewish people? We see that image of ourselves in the Yazidi plight, and we feel compelled to come forward and act on it. That’s been the message we’ve been putting forward in Winnipeg.”

The group that started this effort in the city is Winnipeg Friends of Israel (WFI), awakening the community to the Yazidis’ situation and the possibility of sponsoring Yazidi refugees to Winnipeg.

“When we heard about the Yazidi massacre in August 2014, we reached out to the Yazidi community,” said Yolanda Papini Pollock, WFI co-founder. “We wanted to hear about the Yazidi plight and support their community by raising awareness.”

WFI invited Nafiya Naso, a Yazidi spokesperson, to share her and others’ stories with the Winnipeg community at the Asper Jewish Community Centre in March 2015.

“After learning about the dire strait conditions of the Yazidis in refugee camps, it was clear to us that we could not sit aside and do nothing,” said Papini Pollock. “We decided to do more than just listen.”

The group initiated Operation Ezra with the goal of sponsoring at least one Yazidi family and of raising awareness of the Yazidis’ plight. They began by partnering with Bridges for Peace, Calvary Temple, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), and others. By December, $130,000 (enough for five-plus families) had been raised.

“When we heard Nafiya’s story, we recognized so many similarities to the plight of the Jewish people prior to the establishment of Israel and immediately empathized with her people,” said Papini Pollock. “The Yazidis are an ethno-religious minority and, just like the Jews, they are targeted solely because of their religious beliefs. Many genocide scholars perceive the Yazidis as victims of genocide. The Yazidis have been persecuted 74 times. At one point, there were more than 20 million Yazidis. Today, there are less than one million.”

The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg has helped raise the funds to sponsor as many families as possible and JCFS has taken on the responsibility of managing the resettlement and other services, allowing WFI to do what they do best – connecting on a personal level with people.

Since Operation Ezra was announced, the congregation of Shaarey Zedek has taken on sponsorship of two families under the initiative.

“Collectively, we’re talking about 35 individuals to date who have applications that are or will be submitted,” said Benarroch. “At this point, I think we’re talking about bringing in as many as 50 individuals.

“The more we fundraise, the more we can help. We’ve gotten a hold of many people who are donating furnishings, old televisions and bedding. Someone came forward and said they will donate through their manufacturing company quilts and coats. We are looking for warehouse space.”

The sponsorships are being done through MCC, as they are the only organization in the city that holds a sponsorship agreement with the federal immigration department. This is something Benarroch would like to see change, not due to any lack in MCC’s services, but as an added insurance. “Historically, there was Jewish Immigration Aid Services of Canada (JIAS),” he said. “Located in Toronto, they were the national office for Jewish immigration.

“Because it was a national mandate for that sponsorship agreement and the national office no longer exists, my understanding is that the sponsorship agreement had to be given up. So, now we no longer have a national sponsorship agreement for Canadian Jewish communities. God forbid if we should have a worldwide crisis and the Canadian Jewish communities would be challenged at a national level to take on Jewish refugees.”

While he has been exploring the options regarding making an application to have at least a local sponsorship agreement – “If history repeats itself, as it usually does, you should have that safety” – Benarroch stressed, “I think it’s been amazing to be able to work in partnership with those groups, with the Mennonite community. The Manitoba Multifaith Council sits at the table for Ezra. We get ourselves out there. It’s the right thing to do.”

Some of the most-asked questions by people considering joining the effort, Benarroch said, are “Who are the Yazidis? Are they Muslim? Are they Christian?”

His response is, “They are not Jewish, Christian or Muslim, yet they do share many interesting customs that have a foot in all of those religions. They celebrate their new year … I’m not an expert … in the spring, in their month of Nisan. We, as Jews, also have a month of Nisan. They pray several times a day towards the sun, much like Islam. Yet, they have no formal book or liturgy … no formal Koran, Torah, New Testament, whatever you’d like to call it. It’s an oral tradition.”

Papini Pollock, meanwhile, is finding it hard to wait for the first arrivals. “We will be involved in taking care of the families when they arrive to the best of our abilities,” she said. “We will work with the rest of the Winnipeg community to ensure the refugees have the most natural transition to Winnipeg and to Canada.”

For more information on Operation Ezra, visit jewishwinnipeg.org/community-relations/operation-ezra.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

New addictions study

Winnipeg’s Jewish Child and Family Services executive director Al Benarroch. (photo from Al Benarroch)

Although the problem of alcohol and substance abuse in the Jewish community is not new, it is often kept hidden and even ignored. A recent study by Winnipeg’s Jewish Child and Family Services (JCFS) hopes to expose the problem and dispel the stigma.

Led by executive director Al Benarroch, JCFS has increased its activity in raising awareness about addictions in the Jewish community over the past five-plus years. These efforts have included giving lectures, writing articles, building JCFS staff’s capacity to address addiction issues, hosting speakers, holding a conference on the topic, and launching and supporting the local chapter of JACS (Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent Persons and Significant Others), a Jewish 12-step recovery group.

“As a result of all this work, stigma has been reduced and our community has become more open to discuss this significant social issue,” said Benarroch. “Many more Jewish families and individuals are now willing to seek out support and assistance from JCFS.”

These initiatives were mainly funded through grants from the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba and private donors. In 2011, JCFS received core funding from the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg to hire a dedicated staff person to oversee the development of future addiction recovery services.

JCFS has created a standing strategic advisory group on addictions (SAGA), which has prioritized main areas of focus, including the expansion of services and resources for youth and families. The continuum of services could include education (workshops, etc.), the provision of counseling, the opening of a Jewish recovery resource centre, offering Jewish transitional sober housing for individuals leaving in-patient treatment and requiring extended time to foster lasting sobriety and, ultimately, Jewish in-patient recovery services.

With all of these goals in mind, JCFS was faced with a problem: little or no research had been conducted on the incidence and nuances of addiction and addiction recovery in Jewish communities.

“However, anecdotal information and reports from other communities and their agencies mirror the experiences of Winnipeg,” said Benarroch. “Specifically, that there are many Jewish individuals and families struggling with a wide array of addiction issues, and that these numbers and [the] intensity of problems likely mirror the general population.”

Nonetheless, JCFS set about to gather some hard data about addiction in its community. The recent study, Alcohol and Substance Use in the Jewish Community – A Pilot Study, was proposed as the first in a series of studies on this topic.

“This study was a partnership between JCFS and the University of Winnipeg’s (U of W) department of psychology (Dr. Gary Rockman),” said Benarroch. “One of Dr. Rockman’s former students, who was also a former summer student case aide at JCFS, Melanie Baruch, expressed an interest in this topic and in conducting research. Together, I, as representative from JCFS, Melanie and

Dr. Rockman developed a survey that was sent out to a random sample of existing JCFS clients.”

The pilot study on the incidence of addiction-related issues among existing JCFS clients has been completed and researchers have embarked on a second phase, which is exploring the narrative themes of the journey of Jews in recovery. For this phase, Canadian and American Jewish individuals in various stages of the addiction recovery process are being recruited and interviewed.

“It is hoped that this study will shed light on what sorts of educational resources and treatment resources our community can offer to be most effective,” Benarroch said.

A third phase also has been proposed. It would involve an attitudinal survey sent out to Jewish communities across Canada, the United States and abroad, exploring various attitudes that exist within Jewish communities with regard to addictions.

The pilot’s findings

Almost 20% of the respondents to the JCFS survey had used drugs other than those required for medical reasons. Nearly 15% of respondents could not get through the day without using drugs, yet only nine percent of respondents had sought help.

photo - Ivy Kopstein coordinates JCFS’s addictions services — Ivy Kopstein coordinates JCFS’s addictions services. *(photo from Ivy Kopstein)*

“This is an area we would like to explore further – what is preventing individuals from seeking help,” said Ivy Kopstein, the social worker JCFS hired to coordinate its addictions services. “Is it lack of information, stigma, lack of services?”

Respondents had used general, rather than specifically Jewish, services more often, yet 70% said they would attend JACS if they knew it existed.

“This leads us to believe that respondents may not be aware of Jewish-focused addiction recovery services,” said Kopstein.

Almost 24% of respondents reported having a family history of alcohol or drug abuse and 41% reported knowing someone currently struggling with addiction. There was no difference when it came to marital status or education in who reported drinking frequently or infrequently, which is consistent with findings in the general population.

“A common theme when doing research on this subject is the stigma and sensitivity to the problem of addiction,” said Kopstein. “This includes concerns over anonymity, even though confidentiality was clearly expressed at the outset. So, we will continue with education and awareness programs to address the stigma and encourage those affected to seek help.”

Currently, SAGA is working on programs for youth and parents, as well as developing other clinical and cultural services.

“We are hoping to learn what helps individuals enter and maintain recovery and how Jewish culture, community and spirituality enhances (or detracted from) each individual’s journey,” said Kopstein. “This information will provide a microscopic view into recovery, which will assist us in further planning Jewish recovery resources.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.