Because Beryl and Mintzi Rose wanted the family to stay together, Beryl organized a family club in Toronto in 1945, shortly before he died. In 1980, more than 100 members of the Rose clan attended a 35th anniversary reunion at Beth Torah Synagogue, the Canadian Jewish News reported on October 2, 1980. Eleven of Beryl…
100 Years Ago: Toronto’s Dickens society in 1912
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From the Star Weekly, February 3, 1912 Toronto boasts the largest Dickens society in the world Centenary of Famous Novelist Will Be Celebrated with Much Feeling Next Wednesday — Over 1,000 Members in Dickens Fellowship Next Wednesday (February 7, 1912), the centenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, will be celebrated throughout the English-speaking world…
A Victorian Detective: Police Inspector Alf Cuddy
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After 30 years on the force, acclaimed Toronto police inspector and detective Alf Cuddy retired in February 1912, one century ago this month, and shortly thereafter moved to Calgary, where he assumed the role of police chief. Here are a couple of stories, published in February 1912, celebrating Cuddy’s immeasurable contribution to law and order…
Obit: Nathan Smith (d. 1936)
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From the Jewish Standard, January 1937 With the passing of Nathan Smith, Toronto was bereaved of one of the most interesting and one of the most remarkable Jews in its city. The late Nathan Smith was like an oak transplanted from the old Jewish forest of Eastern Europe, a sturdy young oak which has taken…
Cowan reminisces about the old Ward 4, 1930 to 1935
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Torontonian Norman Cowan reminisced about hanging out on College Street around Becker’s, Altman’s, Wellt’s and the Eppes Essen Restaurant during the Depression years in an article by Frank Rasky that appeared in the Canadian Jewish News on November 4, 1982. Then a 73-year-old retired estate planner, Cowan delivered an address titled Reminiscences of Ward 4…
The Standard theatre becomes a movie house, 1935
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This article, which appeared under the title “Gone to the Movies” in the Canadian Jewish Standard of March 14, 1935, tells the sad tale not only of the demise of the Standard Yiddish Theatre at Spadina and Dundas in Toronto, but of the Yiddish language in general across North America. Younger, more assimilated and acculturated…
New Yiddish theatre an asset to Toronto (1922)
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From The Canadian Jewish Review, September 8, 1922. The popularity of the Jewish play in Toronto received a decided impetus with the formal opening of the Standard Theater on Wednesday. The theater was filled to capacity at this, the first Yiddish presented in Toronto in some years. The audience was more than agreeably surprised on…
Krugel brothers came from Galicia in 1890s
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Berel, Mattes and Chaim Srul Krugel arrived in Toronto in the late 19th century, according to an article that appeared in the Canadian Jewish News on July 4, 1985. More than 70 family members held a family reunion in Toronto, the paper reported. The Krugels were from Galicia and came here between 1893 and 1895.…
Obit: Edmund Scheuer (1847-1943)
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Father of Reform Judaism in Canada dies at 93 Well-known philanthropist, educationist passes after street-car collision Edmond Scheuer, 95, one of Toronto’s oldest and best known citizens, died Friday (July 2, 1943) in St. Michael’s hospital following a collision with a street car at MacPherson Avenue and Yonge Street. Mr. Scheuer retired from the jewelry…
Fighting to get married: two Jewish marriages
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The course of true love never did run smooth, as the Bard said, a sentiment confirmed by these two articles from Toronto newspapers in the pre-WWI era. The first story below appeared in The Globe of December 25, 1907: * * * Bells Did Not Ring Free Fight in Synagogue instead of Wedding Detectives and Policemen…
