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…
Tag: canada
A visit with the Jews of Kingston
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From the Canadian Jewish News, January 7, 1999 Kingston is a city full of surprises for a Jewish reporters from the big city of Toronto. For one thing, the Kingston Jewish Community Council spreads an umbrella over the unaffiliated Jews, as well as those of the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform persuasions. The unaffiliated 50 members…
Jewish community thriving in Kitchener-Waterloo
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From the Canadian Jewish News, August 5, 1999 If you’re tired of gridlock in Toronto traffic and the high housing costs, and you seek a calmer small city way of life, officials of this community have the answer. In an audacious recruiting drive, they want Jewish families to come to the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo…
Peterborough Jewish community comes to life (2000)
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The Beth Israel Synagogue will be rededicated on September 24, 2000, in celebration of the rejuvenated Jewish life here. It cost $250,000 to renovate the synagogue, three times what the original Beth Israel cost to build in 1964, said community elder Isidore Black, 85, son of Philip Black. Philip was the first rabbi of Peterborough,…
First synagogue for Barrie, Ontario (2000)
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The Jewish community in Barrie, which has grown to 100 families, has already raised $100,000 from its own members to build the city’s first synagogue. “We hope it will be a rallying point and attract more Jews to Barrie so that we will have 200 to 300 families,” said Eric Allen, executive member of the…
Publisher has strong ideological mission
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Nearly a decade after he founded a publishing company with a strong ideological mission, Howard Rotberg may take his place among that small and proud group of Canadians who operate successful small publishing houses. Although Mantua Books started off slowly, it now publishes one new title each month. Some of the books sell tens of…
Historic photograph of 1812 veterans was taken in 1861
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No, it isn’t an actual photograph — just a sketch of a photograph of ten surviving veterans of the War of 1812 to 1814, who assembled at Rosedale some 50 years after the war, on October 23, 1861. The photo-sketch appeared in the Toronto Evening Telegram in 1910, just more than a century ago and…
Lost in Hollywood: my cousin, the child actor
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During a sightseeing visit to Los Angeles some years ago, I surprised myself by taking a cab to the Margaret Herrick Library at the Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills. I hadn’t seen the Getty Museum, the Hollywood studios and so many other sights, so why was I going to some musty…
Toronto Jewish community celebrates 100 years (1956)
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When Judah Joseph, an English-born Jew, settled in Muddy York in 1838 and set up shop as an optician and watchmaker, little did he dream he was the forerunner of a vigorous community of 75,000, the third largest Jewish community in the British Commonwealth. It is now (in 1956) celebrating its 100th anniversary as an…
Irish rabbi’s descendants gather in Dublin
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The Leventon family reunion, held recently in Dublin, Ireland, brought together 127 direct descendants — including 28 from Canada — of Rosa and Rabbi Israel Leventon, who lived in the 19th century. Rabbi Leventon served as the last spiritual leader of Dublin’s Mary’s Abbey Synagogue, which closed in 1892, and he was the first spiritual…
