by Ben Lappin (from Commentary, 1955) Spadina Avenue, the main street of the needle trades in Toronto, looks very much the same as it did ten, twenty, thirty years ago. The same kind of old-fashioned haggling still goes on between the employers and the handful of tense harassed business agents – former pressers, operators, and…
by Irving B Rosen, MD, FRCSC Society doctors, like Harley Street specialists, evoke the image of the sought after, affluent doyen of their calling, courted by the high and mighty, who never question their high fees. Toronto had its society doctors who held sway for about fifty years from about 1900 to 1950. I became…
Irving Howe (1920-1993), the New York intellectual who was a zealous socialist all of his life, received what he called his fifteen minutes of fame from a remarkable scholarly achievement that seemed a world apart from his leftist political convictions. His book, World Of Our Fathers, which was published in 1976, became a national bestseller…
Note: In 2012, Beth Lida commissioned Bill Gladstone to write a detailed history of the congregation since its founding in 1912. While the 44-page booklet is now out of print, it is still available in PDF format, and easily downloadable for free from the link below. From the Introduction: In Toronto, as in many cities…
From the Canadian Jewish News, May 22, 1970 The Montreal Jewish community is still discussing the relevance of the Jewish Defense League to this city following the recent successful meeting at the Sheraton Mount Royal Hotel. Theme of the meeting, sponsored by the Quebec branch of the League, was: A Jewish Survival Rally. The introduction,…
From The Canadian Jewish News, December 2, 1960 Beirut, Lebanon – The turbulent Arab world was shaken by a new controversy this week over – of all people – that “dangerous Zionist” Elizabeth Taylor. The United Arab Republic, leader in the unrelenting Arab assault against the state of Israel, was painted as a culprit for…
From the Toronto Star, Jan. 15, 1915 Esther Greenberg, a seven-year-old child, was shot by a stray bullet from a rifle practice in Kent Public School on Dufferin Street in Toronto and died the next day. Fifteen targets had been placed in as many public schools around Toronto to aid local army cadets in target…
◊ From the Canadian Jewish News, March 2020 As Jews throughout history have been all too aware, tragedy, whether large or small, is never all that distant from the everyday realm of human affairs. This sad chain of events took place in Prague in 1693 and 1694. The central figure was a twelve-year-old boy named…
Resources for Genealogists All searchable/viewable on this site (links below) Searchable Databases >> Births (1907-1917) Marriages (range 1905 to 1936) Deaths (1939-1942) Searchable Databases >> Family Who’s Who (Hebrew Univ. book of Canadian genealogies) Books, Maps & Nominal Lists >> McCaul Street Synagogue Anniversary Booklet, 1938 Canadian Jewry: Prominent Jews of Canada (1933) Canadian…
