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,…
Category: Current & Featured
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…
Toronto by night: a bakery and a hospital (1884)
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Toilers of the Night, Part II The People Who Don’t Go to Bed Until Sunrise From The Toronto World, May 9, 1884 Interior, Toronto General Hospital, 1913. CTA F1231-it207b The majority of men working in city bake-houses are not, strictly speaking, employed all night. About 3 a.m., or a little later, as the printers begin…
Nine books celebrated at Canadian Jewish Book Awards
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Eli Pfefferkorn says he was walking in the park one day, thinking about the story he had been longing to tell, when suddenly he experienced a rare and startling revelation. “I found the voice,” he said. “One day, one morning, I heard the voice from inside coming . . . a voice I had not…
Re-enacting the War of 1812 near Long Point
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From the Globe and Mail, July 2000 Painted a bright red, the 201-year-old John C. Backhouse Mill seems as conspicuous against its background of grass and trees as the British Redcoats must have been when engaged in combat with the Americans during the War of 1812. A historic property that was restored to pristine condition…
