WINNIPEG — Community members, young and old, Jewish and non-Jewish, celebrated Israel’s 60th birthday May 25 with a solidarity walk that had close to 250 participants, many of whom waved Israeli flags and wore Celebrate 60 – Walk the Land T-shirts.

Winnipeg’s walk in support of Israel drew members of the First Nations community. 

Most people walked and talked with friends and aquaintances, and a group of spirited walkers sang Israeli songs in Hebrew.

Irene and John Plantz and their family came from Dugald, Man., to participate. “My husband, John, learned that his father was Jewish after he was studying in Bible college and met a rabbi who told him his last name was a Jewish one,” said Irene Plantz, who is a Mennonite. “John began looking into his roots and found out his grandfather was Jewish. We just returned from Israel where we looked up our name in the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. My husband says that, even as a child, he always wanted to go to Israel. It’s like it was in his heart. Even before we learned of this, we had signed up for Christian Friends For Israel. We wanted to do this walk together.”

Karla Berbrayer and Allan Kraut, who have four children, even brought their dog, Zooky. “ When we were at the door about to leave the house this morning, we told everyone that we were going to the Walk For Israel, and Zooky was the first one to show up. So we decided to bring him,” said Karla, who is the producer of the Israeli concert series here.

Ksenia Khomenko, a young Israeli of Russian descent now living in Winnipeg, was glad to come and bring her 22-year-old friend Margarita Sajin, who came to visit her from Israel.

“I didn’t expect something like this to be taking place here,” said Sajin, who lives with her mother in Haifa. “I just finished my Israeli army service not long ago, and it’s very encouraging to see an event like this taking place. It’s nice to hear so many people speaking Hebrew. The security situation in Israel is not a simple one, and I feel that things there can change suddenly.”

Twenty members of the First Nations community also joined the walk. Jason Monias, a 29-year-old student training as a computer technician, and his friend William Robertson held a large banner that read: “Canadian First Nations Stand with Israel.” Monias said he had heard about the walk from the pastor of his church and was glad to participate.

Marsha and Allen Freidman and their two daughters, Shira and Hadara, decided to ride their bikes instead of walking, just in case it started to rain.

Nola Lazar, who was walking with her family, said she “could use a good falafel after this walk.”

Participants in the one-hour walk met at the Asper Jewish Community Campus and followed a route down Corydon Avenue through North River Heights and Wellington Cresent.

After the walk, there was a celebration at the community campus attended by more than 400 people. Children were treated to entertainment, inflatable bouncers, face painting, balloon shapes and Israeli arts and crafts. Transportation to and from the campus was available for seniors, provided by the Daniel Tallman Family Fund at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.

The events were sponsored by the Rady Jewish Community Centre, Jewish National Fund, Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University and the Jewish Federation of Manitoba.

“We’re very pleased with the way this day turned out. There was a really nice atmosphere,” said Tamar Barr, programming director of the Rady JCC. “This Walk the Land celebration is a worldwide event, and we’re glad that Winnipeg is one of the participating communities.

“Years ago, when I was a child, there used to be walks for Israel like this, but we haven’t done something like this for a long time,” Barr added. “So we thought it was an appropriate way to celebrate Israel’s 60th. I’m glad that all of the organizations joined forces to do this together.”