Ottawa’s Brittania Yacht Club recently named the entry to its harbour Sherwood Port and erected a plaque there in honour of Livius Sherwood, the provincial court judge and internationally-known champion of sailing, who died June 7 in his native Ottawa at the age of 78. In the courtroom Mr. Sherwood was known for his patience,…
Profile: Toronto poet-essayist Kenneth Sherman
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Toronto native Ken Sherman loved fishing as a boy at Jackson’s Point, where his family had a summer cottage. But these days, whenever he tosses out a line, it’s usually a line of poetry. At 50, Sherman is celebrating the publication of his 10th book — The Well: New and Selected Poems (Wolsak and Wynn,…
Obit: public servant Gerry Shannon (1935-2003)
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Gerry Shannon could have been a professional hockey player like his father, but sought instead to play in a much bigger arena. Shannon went on to become a top career public servant who helped formulate Ottawa’s policies on international trade. At one time he held the No. 2 posting in the Canadian Embassy in Washington…
Finding the Biblical David on the road to Beit Guvrin
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We were driving southward through Israel’s Shephelah region when our guide pulled the van over to the shoulder and drew our attention to a ridge of hills to the right of us and a roughly parallel ridge to the left. We were south of Beit Shemesh on the road to Beit Guvrin, near the Ha-Ela…
Caught in a nightmarish Abyss of Despair
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Born about 1620 in Ostrog, Volynia, Rabbi Nathan Hanover and his family were among the countless Jews in Ukraine and eastern Poland whose lives were disrupted by the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648 and the intermittent attacks that continued for years afterwards. Hanover travelled extensively over the region of devastation, speaking with many affected people and…
Moored in Morocco: tale of an 18th-century Jewish traveller
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From the earliest days of Hebrew printing to the present, Jewish readers have found great favor in literary accounts of Jewish travellers, especially those who, like the famed 12th-century Benjamin of Tudela, provided first-hand descriptions of the holy city of Jerusalem. One of the acknowledged classics of the genre is Travail in an Arab Land,…
Obit: Mordecai Richler (1931-2001); and IFOA Tribute (2000)
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Mordecai Richler, the acclaimed Canadian novelist who died July 3, 2001 at the age of 70, will be remembered for his various novels that brought the Jewish life of Montreal to vibrant and often hilarious life on the page. An irreverent satirist who honed his wit on diverse targets from the Jews to Quebec’s protective…
The Producers generates squirms, laughs
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It’s been more than 40 years since comedy writer Mel Brooks first conceived of the idea for what would become The Producers, the $10-million musical that opened December 11, 2003 at Toronto’s Canon Theatre, courtesy of real-life theatre producers Ed and David Mirvish. In town for the opening, Brooks appeared on stage at the show’s…
Obit: William George Poy (1907-2002)
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William George Poy, the father of Canada’s Governor General, died in Toronto on Sunday Feb. 3, 2002, at the age of 94. A onetime employee in the Canadian Trade Commission in Hong Kong, Mr. Poy and his young family came to Canada as war refugees after Hong Kong fell to the Japanese in 1942. Continuing…
Port Hope filled with architecture, history
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Port Hope, an attractive lakefront town an hour’s drive east of Toronto, has much to offer travellers who stray (either by accident or design) from nearby Highway 401. With a picturesque main street known for its antique shops, the town of roughly 12,000 is a Mecca for antique shoppers. But there’s also an abundance of…
