In the spring of 1911, just before Easter and Passover, members of the Toronto’s Queen City Yacht Club considered a motion to exclude “Jews, negroes and people of other undesirable nationalities” from becoming members. This article focuses on Rabbi Solomon Jacobs’s response, which he articulated in a rousing sermon in Holy Blossom Synagogue during the…
In this brief item, which appeared in the Toronto Star of October 28, 1910, a woman is brought into police court in connection with an episode in which she came to the defense of a Jewish mother and daughter who were being “stoned” on Victoria Street. Such incidents were certainly not unique in the Toronto…
These costumed young actors appeared in a Purim play at the old Holy Blossom Temple on Bond Street around 1920. Perhaps the play was about the Purim drama itself. Pictured from left are: Arthur Cohen, Abe Cohen, Sam Nelson, Harry Hertzman, Louis Goodman, Norman Cowan (?), Sam Coffler and Lionel Cohen. Well-known Toronto photographer William…
Making Men Out of Street Arabs By W. F. Wiggins From Toronto Saturday Night Magazine, December 1, 1906 From an educational standpoint there is no more interesting institution in Toronto than the Elizabeth street public school, popularly known as “the school of the Ward.” Here have been taught and trained some of the worst boys…
The Star Weekly ran this feature profile of “Toronto’s Hebrew population” in 1911, observing that some Jewish immigrants had risen, in only a few years, to the tops of their professions and that one — Jacob Singer — had become the biggest real estate owner in the city. The article also indicated that the Zion…
Tar and Feathers for an Obstinate Juryman — Some Attempted Escapes — A Picture of Desolation From the Toronto Daily Star, June 15, 1901 Grim, solemn, and even sullen seems the aspect of the old Court House on Adelaide street east, which has stood as a monument of integrity for half a century. The building…
After three years in the planning, Oakwood Collegiate Institute’s (OCI) 100th anniversary celebration was a resounding success. From April 30 to May 4 (2008), hundreds of former and current OCI students came out to celebrate, with some alumni travelling great distances to meet and mingle with friends and former classmates, some of whom they had…
Toronto’s Policewoman Has Faith in Her Sex Miss Mary Minty is Eager to Engage in Preventive Work — Seems Well-Fitted for Her New Position From the Toronto Star, May 15, 1913 “I have received no official intimation of the appointment, and did not know I had been chosen until I saw the announcement in the…
Death silences toast of noted businessman while family mourns Clock stops in hallway as Hyman Breslin borne to grave “Trinken Lachayim” Jewish philanthropist years ago had vision of passing of wife’s mother From the Toronto Daily Star, January 2, 1934 With his life hanging by so slender a thread that death resulted an hour later,…
Not only is Minnie Cohen Toronto’s first Jewish woman doctor, but she was also known within the city’s Jewish community as “Chazzan Bernard Wladowsky’s daughter” because she was the daughter of the well-known cantor. As reported in The Canadian Jewish News of March 2, 1962, Dr. Cohen specialized in paediatrics and also in an specialty…
