Toronto, January 1928 Mourned by Thousands of Hebrews Whom He Helped and Encouraged — Instituted Labor Lyceum and Gave Freely to Charity What manner of man was this, that mourners, estimated to number from ten to fifteen thousand, thronged about the place where the funeral service was held on a Sunday afternoon? What had there…
From the Toronto Daily Star, May 10, 1920 Thirty-Five Thousand Held a Parade, Followed by Meeting in Massey Hall Thirty-five thousand of the Hebrews of Toronto formed in procession Sunday afternoon as part of the demonstration that was to testify to their loyalty to the British Empire and their thankfulness to Britain for accepting the…
by Mordecai Hirshenson from the “Canadian Panorama,” Canadian Jewish News, August 12, 1960 NEW SYNAGOGUE MERGER Another synagogue merger is taking place in Toronto — the city’s second in a period of only months. The Shaw Street — or more formally the B’nai Israel — is fusing its identity and membership with an uptown congregation,…
Genealogists sometimes encounter a maddening problem when a relative seems to vanish under the name you know. Sometimes it’s because the surname has been legally changed, or an alias used for employment, business, military service or just convenience. In many cases the person who changes their name still keeps at least a few anchors: an…
The heading, Have Yichus, Will Travel, might have appeared above the following notice which attracted the attention of the city’s Jewish community when it ran in The Toronto Star on various dates in 1957 and the late 1950s: “GRAND RABBI J. RABINOWICZ. “Kishinower Rabbi, one of the world famous rabbis from Europe, now in New…
A look back at the CJN from more than 50 years ago: From the Canadian Jewish News, March 6, 1974 Spry Ben Sherman has no thought of retiring, and plans to work a full day in the hardware store he founded 55 years ago, the Canadian Jewish News reported in March 1974. Sherman’s family wasn’t…
From Globe, September 24, 1901 SACRED SCROLL THREATENED Excited Jews Besiege a Burning Synagogue The sacred scroll in the Austrian Jewish Synagogue in Chestnut street, containing the laws as set down by Moses, was threatened with destruction at 1.30 o’clock this morning. Fire broke out in the rear of the edifice and when the Jews…
Seeking the Fabled City: the Canadian Jewish Experience, by Allan Levine (McClelland & Stewart) Proficient, prolific, and preternaturally talented, Winnipeg-based historian Allan Levine has produced a robust new history of the Jewish experience in Canada that seems both compelling and fresh. Seeking the Fabled City — the title comes from a line by the late…
From the Canadian Jewish News, 2017 From the moment in 1961 that he stepped into the role, Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut was always much more than rabbi of the esteemed historic Reform congregation, Holy Blossom Temple of Toronto. It was entirely Toronto’s gain and St. Paul Minnesota’s loss when Holy Blossom enticed Rabbi Plaut here,…
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…
