Tag: JEWISH TORONTO

Edmund Scheuer and the Toronto Jewish Free School

The Toronto Star Weekly of February 12, 1916, carried this report on the Jewish Free School sponsored by Jewish philanthropist Edmund Scheuer. Making Good Canadians Out of Girls of Jewish Birth Splendid Work Being Done at the Jewish Free School Tolerance for Creeds of Others Taught Loyalty to King and Country Strongly Emphasized. The Jewish…

1911 profile of Mrs. Jacobs, wife of Holy Blossom rabbi

Note: The following article, which appeared in the Toronto Star Weekly of April 15, 1911, highlights the various activities of Mrs. Jacobs, wife of the Rabbi Solomon Jacobs of the city’s most prominent Jewish congregation, Holy Blossom, then situated at 97 Bond Street.  * * *  Mrs. Jacobs, Leader Among Jewish Women, and Working Girls’…

Glass family reunion in Toronto, 1985

Samuel Hersh and Leah Devorah Glass of Kovel, Volhynia, Ukraine, were the revered ancestors of more than 150 relatives who gathered in Toronto in 1985 for a family reunion, reported the Canadian Jewish News on August 22, 1985. Samuel and Leah and their nine daughters settled in Toronto in 1905, and some scant details about…

Gryfe family reunion in Toronto, 2010

One century after Sam Gryfe left his home in Botosani, Romania and came to Canada, more than 100 of his descendants gathered for a family reunion in Toronto, reported the Canadian Jewish News on June 3, 2010. Well-known descendants include Mark Gryfe, who is involved in the Baycrest Foundation, and Moishe Gryfe, who runs Gryfe’s…

Cliff Goldfarb organizes conference on Arthur Conan Doyle

It’s “elementary” that Toronto lawyer, author and “bootmaker” Clifford Goldfarb would be centrally involved in organizing the Conan Doyle conference slated for Toronto later this month (October 2006). A fan of Conan Doyle since his youth, Goldfarb is vice-chair of the Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at the Toronto Reference Library and former…

Jewish Mothers & Babes Home to be restored

The future of Glendella House, an historic cottage in Bronte, Ont. that once served as a summer rest home for Jewish mothers and children from Toronto, is under discussion as the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) decides whether to allow a developer to move the 161-year-old heritage structure to accommodate two proposed high-rise towers. Built in…

McCaul Synagogue Golden Anniversary (1938) — Section B

THIS Golden Anniversary book was published in 1938 to mark the first 50 years of the Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Chevra Tehillim of Toronto, which was founded in 1887 and moved into the  McCaul Street Synagogue about 1905.  In the early 1950s it merged with the Goel Tzedec Congregation on University Avenue to become the present Beth…

Jewish “Antiques Roadshow” attracts many heirlooms

A dapper gentleman of 38, Jonathan Greenstein is proprietor of J. Greenstein & Co. of Brooklyn, which he describes as “the only auction house completely devoted to Jewish ritual objects in America.” Recently (2006), Greenstein came to Toronto to participate in a Jewish equivalent of the popular “Antiques Roadshow” television program. He was the main…

Sammy Lichtman profiled in Toronto Star, 1913

The following is a newspaper profile of newspaper vendor Sammy Lichtman that appeared in the Toronto Star on July 31, 1913 under the heading “Sammy Lichtman is Afraid to Go Home to Austria.” Lichtman, who was then 25 years old, went on to become a major newspaper distributor who built up a chain of newspaper stores.…

History scrapbook: Beth Jacob Congregation

Toronto’s Beth Jacob Congregation was founded in 1899 by a group of Polish-born Jews desiring to retain traditional Polish practices and melodies in their religious worship. The first president of the congregation was Samson Garfinkle and the early congregation included: M. Granatstein; Louis Rotenberg; Shimon Garfinkle; C. Garfunkel; S. Lederman; G. Pesachovitch; Harry Rotenberg; M. Rotenberg; J. Sugar; I. Wagman; Z. Wagman. Their first place of…