Rabbi William Rosenthal, a beloved teacher and dedicated volunteer who co-owned Miriam’s Fine Judaica for 41 years, died on April 11 (2008). He was 97. Born in Miskolc, Hungary in 1911, he and his brother operated a lumber business. He had attended yeshiva and at age 34, he became engaged to Miriam Schwarcz who lived…
Category: Current & Featured
Making a living under the gas jets
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Anybody who has had occasion to be on the streets of Toronto about midnight or shortly after must have been struck by the almost sepulchral quiet which then reigns on the streets. Except the measured footsteps of the policeman as he treads his beat, a sound often audible at a distance of two or three…
His Girl Friday at Shaw Festival 2012
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From Canadian Jewish News, July 2012 The phrase “gallows humour” has a particular resonance in regard to Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s famous 1928 play The Front Page, which is punctuated by the recurrent testing of a gallows in a courtyard of the Chicago courthouse in which death row prisoner Earl Williams is due to…
Glimpses of Jewish Baltimore
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It has been 50 years since a group of rabbis in Baltimore staged a protest against the racial segregation that was still a sad fact of life in many parts of America, including various restaurants in Baltimore. In February 1962, a time of heightened civil rights protests, the rabbis decided to target two local restaurants,…
Yiddishkeit, a graphic celebration of Yiddish culture
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In lieu of baseball cards, some American Orthodox boys have turned in recent decades to collecting Torah personality trading cards that feature images of revered “Gedolim” (Giants) from Moses Maimonides to Rabbi Moishe Feinstein, with lists of famous published works on the back in lieu of batting statistics. The happy invention of a Baltimore accountant,…
On Toronto’s First Synagogue, by Dr. David Eisen
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View from north-east corner Adelaide & Victoria, Toronto, 1856 From the Jewish Standard, April 15, 1966 That Toronto’s first synagogue was located over a drug store at the corner of Richmond and Yonge Streets is fairly well known in the Jewish community. But what this structure looked like and the general appearance of the neighbourhood…
Rabbi Schild’s memoir of an ‘uncertain passage’
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From Books in Canada, 2002 One evening some months ago, a crowd of about 600 people gathered in Toronto’s Adath Israel Synagogue for the launch of Rabbi Erwin Schild’s latest book, The Very Narrow Bridge: A Memoir of an Uncertain Passage. The hall in the synagogue was packed (standing room only) as the rabbi delivered…
Scores weep as Jews honour the late King (1936)
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From The Toronto Globe and Mail, January 27, 1936 Their emotions bared during the holy hour at the chanting of the mourning prayer “Ail Mole Rachomim” by the leader and his choir of 40 voices as he consigned the spirit and soul of his late Majesty King George V. to the keeping of the Almighty…
Behind the Scenes in Toronto Police Court (1910)
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Thousands of cases never see cruel light of publicity All the Officials Seek to Settle People’s Trouble Out of Court If Possible — Sifting Out False from True Evidence a Big Task for the Crown Attorney — Jacob Cohen, J.P. Has Troubles of His Own Settling Those of His Countrymen From the Toronto Star Weekly,…
Furor over United Church pastor-editor (1969)
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Can’t See the Forrest for the Trees Editor’s note: In July 2012 the United Church of Canada is considering a boycott of Israeli goods, a proposal that nine Canadian senators have condemned. This is only further evidence that, when it comes to relations with Israel and the Jews, the Church has had a long and…
