This article, which appeared under the title “Gone to the Movies” in the Canadian Jewish Standard of March 14, 1935, tells the sad tale not only of the demise of the Standard Yiddish Theatre at Spadina and Dundas in Toronto, but of the Yiddish language in general across North America. Younger, more assimilated and acculturated…
Tag: JEWISH TORONTO
New Yiddish theatre an asset to Toronto (1922)
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From The Canadian Jewish Review, September 8, 1922. The popularity of the Jewish play in Toronto received a decided impetus with the formal opening of the Standard Theater on Wednesday. The theater was filled to capacity at this, the first Yiddish presented in Toronto in some years. The audience was more than agreeably surprised on…
Krugel brothers came from Galicia in 1890s
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Berel, Mattes and Chaim Srul Krugel arrived in Toronto in the late 19th century, according to an article that appeared in the Canadian Jewish News on July 4, 1985. More than 70 family members held a family reunion in Toronto, the paper reported. The Krugels were from Galicia and came here between 1893 and 1895.…
Benevolent society celebrates its 110th anniversary
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The Toronto Hebrew Benevolent Society, the oldest Jewish mutual benefit society in Ontario, and possibly in Canada, has been serving the needs of its members for more than a century. The benevolent society recently celebrated its 110th anniversary with a dinner and dance at Beth Torah Synagogue. Howard Federman, a fourth-generation member, is the organization’s…
Dr. David Eisen was a dedicated historian
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Dr. David Eisen had a passionate interest in the history of Toronto Jewry From The Jewish Standard, November 1990 IT SHOULD NOT come as a surprise to those who knew him that, in his youth, Dr. David Eisen had wanted to become a professional historian. Eisen, who died in Toronto in 1988 at the age…
Boys club members still gather 60 years later
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In 1949, a group of teenage boys from working class families living in the College Street corridor joined together to form Club Orion. They met at one of the YMHA buildings at 12 Major Street, just north of College Street. With very little money to spend on recreation, the boys arranged sports activities and social…
Obit: restaurateur Herman Ladovsky (1912-2002)
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Herman Ladovsky, restaurateur par excellence, whose hallmark smile and friendly greetings to patrons at United Bakers, many of whom became friends and part of his extended family, died January 6 (2002). He was 89. Now in its third generation, United Bakers Dairy Restaurant has been an important landmark in the history and growth of the…
Eaton Centre, office towers, replaced ‘shtetl’ of 1911
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Today it has office towers, swank restaurants and hotels, the main bus terminal, city hall and the Eaton Centre but in 1911 it was where most of Toronto’s 18,000 Jews lived — in fact it was the one district in the city where Jews outnumbered any other people. And as Stephen Speisman reminded a conference…
Tikkun Olam: Ve’ahavta intent on ‘repairing the world’
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Representatives of Ve’ahavta, a Canadian Jewish humanitarian and relief organization, are being credited with pioneering a method of treatment that drastically reduces HIV transmission from infected mothers to newborn babies in sub-Saharan Africa. Ve’ahavta medics in field clinics in Zimbabwe have devised a system for administering the anti-HIV drug AZT that costs about (US) $5…
Obit: Rabbi Jacob Mendel Kirshenblatt (c1904 – 2002)
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Rabbi Jacob Mendel Kirshenblatt, a spiritual leader and longtime teacher who taught thousands of bar and bat mitzvah students, died in Toronto on March 6, 2002. He was 98. Rabbi Kirshenblatt was honoured in February by Beth Sholom Synagogue and Congregation Beth Haminyan at a tribute dinner attended by many of his former students. Leslie…
