News

This year, the JFM received news that it was the beneficiary of a $2.4 million bequest, one of the most significant individual gifts ever made by a single person to the Foundation. The donation was from the Estate of Saul Feldman, a person who, until that moment, had not previously collaborated with the Jewish Foundation. 

This unbelievably generous and unique contribution to Manitoba’s Jewish community endowment begged the question: Who was Saul Feldman? 

“Saul was my dad’s best friend,” says Moshe Selchen, the son of Zalman Selchen.

This November, Moshe signed the Foundation’s Endowment Book of Life in honour and on behalf of his father’s best friend, Saul.

“They did all sorts of things together and were friends from Junior High School until my dad died.”

Moshe explains that Saul and Zalman’s friendship grew beyond school; the two were avid cyclists, frequently riding from Winnipeg to Winnipeg Beach. They worked together on the Alaskan Highway, and eventually both chose to pursue engineering, Saul in Manitoba and Zalman at McGill University. 

“Saul kept to himself for the most part,” says Selchen. “He had a few friends, but not many, and none closer than my father.”

In speaking with Moshe, a common thread ran through everything he said of Saul Feldman. Regarding his family, the Selchens, or colleagues at Winnipeg Hydro, he was a “take care of people kind of person.”

In his mid-fifties, Zalman had a stroke, which left his right side paralyzed. Of course, Saul was a constant by his side and was so without fail until Zalman passed over 20 years later. 

“Every Sunday, while my father still could, Uncle Saul would come to pick him up for a walk,” says Selchen. There aren’t words to express how important these times were for Zalman and Saul.

Saul’s mother lived into her nineties, 30 years after her husband passed away, and for all of those years, Saul took care of her. He also had two brothers, one of whom lived with schizophrenia, who Saul looked after as well, with his other brother living in Toronto. 

After a coronary scare of his own, Saul became a founding member of the Winnipeg Cardiac Reh-Fit, where he, in turn, devoted considerable time and energy for many years. 

Eventually, Saul moved into the Shaftsbury Park Retirement Residence.

“When he moved there, he was friendly with the people he met,” says Selchen. “But for the most part, he kept quietly to himself. His only real visitors were my mother and our family. He was happy with it that way.”

Before passing away, Saul asked Moshe to be the executor of his will, and by doing so, Selchen was led to the JFM, the estate’s beneficiary. 

In speaking with the JFM, Selchen was made aware of the Endowment Book of Life program and thought it would be a terrific way to honour Saul’s story and memory. The program sees community members leave planned gifts to the Foundation and thanks those who commit by inscribing their family’s story in the Book of Life. 

The following is taken from Saul Feldman’s Book of Life Story, which describes who Saul was and what may have led to his leaving his estate to the JFM: