‘More Than Coincidence’
My first glimpse of it was from a distance, but there was something that drew me forward by an almost magnetic process. A large family portrait, perhaps a century old, with three rows of adults and children around a pair of grandparents, all dressed finely, nobody smiling. When I got closer the zaidie’s yamulka confirmed what I had suspected from afar: the family was Jewish. What an unlikely relic to find at a rural flea market along the Trans-Canada highway outside of Peterborough! — so far off the beaten path of the Jewish world.
Nicely and expensively framed, with no names on the back. Obviously taken in a photographer’s studio in some shtetl in Eastern Europe, and no way of telling how it turned up in this large jumbled collection of vintage goods and junk. It looked like one of the photos my own grandparents preserved from our ancestral villages in Belarus.
Half-mesmerized, I tucked the photo under my arm: there was no question whatsoever of me leaving it behind. The likelihood was strong that many of these family members perished during the Shoah. Now even their photo had been uprooted and orphaned. I would not abandon them again.
It seemed now that my incumbent duty was to reunite this photo with any living family members — but how to find them? As a first step, I posted the photo on the JewishGen group on Facebook (I rarely engage in social media but I admit FB can be useful sometimes).
In this case I quickly “struck gold.” When I checked back a week later, I found more than 60 comments. By far the most astounding came from a fellow who had miraculously solved the mystery:
“This is the family of Vivian S. of Lida Poland. She came to Toronto at the age of 11. Below is her story with the same photo attached. I bet someone in her family would love to have your copy as well.”
Other people reacted to this remarkable turn:
“This is literally an incredible story.”
“Wow!! Amazing that you know who this belongs to.”
“All these posting have me fascinated here. I just love all the history and genealogy.”
“Love this. Following.”
“How great that Bill Gladstone bought this and tried to find the family.”
“What a wonderful thread! Thank you!”
Before long a close relative of Vivian’s joined the conversation: “This is a picture of the family of my mother-in-law . . . who is from Lida . . . a Holocaust survivor who lives in Toronto. She is going to enjoy hearing about how you reached out on FB with a picture of her family!”
It amazed me to hear of the Lida connection, having been involved with the Anshei Beth Lida Forest Hill Congregation for years. And I was no less astounded to learn that Vivian’s maiden name was Litowitz. Some Litowitzes were among the founding members of Beth Lida, and Litowitz family members are still members to this day. Vivian apparently came to Toronto after the war because she had relatives here.
It was my honour to meet with family members recently and repatriate the photograph to them. As of yet, no one has any idea who it might have belonged to, or why it was thrown out into the wide cruel world. What are the odds of an active Beth Lida-ite being the agent for bringing it back “home” again? I can’t help thinking that there was more to this wonderful occurrence than just coincidence. ♦
(Aug 2025)
