Category: Jewish Toronto

Immigrant Children Learn English Quickly (1910)

From the Toronto Globe, November 3, 1910 There is no bilingual system in McCaul School, Toronto. Of the 682 children in the school 550 are Hebrews, and they are learning to talk and write English. A remarkable instance of how quickly they pick up and make use of the Anglo-Saxon language is seen in the…

Scores weep as Jews honour the late King (1936)

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…

Obit: Louis Levinsky (1862-1932)

CITY JEWRY MOURNS AT RITES OF LEADER Louis Levinsky, Prominent Philanthropist, Dies in His 71st Year. From the Toronto Star, January 4, 1932 Death came yesterday morning at his home, 35 Palmerston Blvd., to Louis Levinsky, philanthropist and early leader of Toronto Jewish organizations. Having come to Toronto more than 50 years ago, when the…

Kashrut battle: Toronto makes peace (1932)

From the Canadian Jewish Chronicle, November 4, 1932 A truce was declared some time ago between the Toronto Vaad Ha’eer and the Kehillah, this truce now culminating in a peace between the rival organizations. As to the origin of the feud, it will always remain one of those indefinable mysteries. Why two organizations, ostensibly interested…

New director for Ontario Jewish Archives

It is perhaps fitting that Dara Solomon began her new job as director of the Ontario Jewish Archives at the beginning of May [2012], which has been designated Jewish Heritage Month in Ontario. Not only does the experienced museum curator bring a new face to the Archives, but she is also intent on setting up…

Toronto Jewish Film Festival turns 20

From The Canadian Jewish News, April 2012 The 20th annual Toronto Jewish Film Festival opens Thursday May 3, 2012 at the Cineplex Odeon Varsity with the English-Canadian premiere of A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, a France-Canada co-production about a teenaged Israeli girl who receives an email response from a young Palestinian who calls himself…

The Doctor’s Office: A Secretary’s Memoir

From The Canadian Jewish News, January 14, 1999 Ruth Mather, who for 44 years was secretary to Dr. Sidney Carlen, Toronto’s first Jewish cardiologist, has written a tribute to his pioneering and sensitive medical practice. It is an unvarnished and historically accurate account of the Jewish doctors who started their practices in Toronto in the…

Personal thoughts on a bygone era, by Ben Rose

From the Canadian Jewish News, April 28, 2000 In 1937, the vice-principal of Central High School of Commerce came into our graduating accounting class as a visitor to announce that there was a job opening. “There is no reason for any Jewish student to apply for this job because the employer doesn’t want a Jew,”…

Former seamstress featured in Spadina doc

From the Canadian Jewish News, June 29, 2000. Ruth Stein, a spry, 91-year-old grandmother, sewed dresses on Spadina Avenue and can now see herself featured in the film Needle ‘n Tread, which the Toronto Jewish Film Society showed recently. Born in Sachavola, Lithuania (now part of Poland), Stein had no idea that one day she…

Neurosurgeon maintains busy schedule at 63 (2000)

Dr. Charles Tator, one of only 160 neurosurgeons in Canada, still finds time in his 110-hour work week to canvass a few cards for the United Jewish Appeal. Tator, 63, the only living neurosurgeon to hold the Order of Canada, performs 150 to 200 brain and spinal cord operations a year. Brain tumors and spinal…