Hyman Gewirtz, who migrated from Belce, Poland to Canada in 1912, had little idea that some 50 years later, a son of his would become mayor of the big cosmopolitan city of Toronto, according to a story in the Canadian Jewish News of December 13, 1963. A tailor, Gewirtz settled in the Euclid and Dundas…
Congregants of Beth Sholom Synagogue who gathered for the first seder of Passover in 1982 also used the occasion to commemorate the 94th birthday of Lily Rosenberg, who was born in Bialylshick, Poland (between Radom and Warsaw) on April 3, 1888. In 1982 Lily and David Rosenberg had six children, 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren,…
A comment that Saul Cantor’s daughter, Rochelle, made more than five years ago inspired him to write his memoirs. She said to him, in 2000, “I know some of the things about your life, but there are a lot of things I don’t know,” he writes in his recently published book, From Then to Now:…
In the spring of 1911, just before Easter and Passover, members of the Toronto’s Queen City Yacht Club considered a motion to exclude “Jews, negroes and people of other undesirable nationalities” from becoming members. This article focuses on Rabbi Solomon Jacobs’s response, which he articulated in a rousing sermon in Holy Blossom Synagogue during the…
It was a festive afternoon as 300 members, guests, politicians and representatives of other local yacht clubs came to Mugg’s Island for the official ribbon cutting of the Island Yacht Club’s new clubhouse. Father’s Day, June 18 (2006), marked the second anniversary of the late-afternoon fire on Father’s Day in 2004 that destroyed the club’s…
Since 1946, the members of B’nai Brith’s Upper Canada Lodge have performed numerous services for the Jewish and general communities. As the lodge celebrates its 60th year (in 2006), it can look back on its outstanding accomplishments and selfless dedication from its first president and founding father, former Toronto mayor Phil Givens (1946-47), to its…
Excitement is mounting as alumni, parents and campers prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Camp Arrowhead at a reunion on Sunday, August 13, 2006, from 2 to 10 p.m. The fun-filled day will include activities for the entire family, such as memorabilia exhibits, a corn roast, carnival games, sports, arts and crafts, a live…
In this brief item, which appeared in the Toronto Star of October 28, 1910, a woman is brought into police court in connection with an episode in which she came to the defense of a Jewish mother and daughter who were being “stoned” on Victoria Street. Such incidents were certainly not unique in the Toronto…
One of the groups that worked hard for the establishment of Israel, the Labor Zionist Alliance (LZA), is celebrating its 90th anniversary November 14, 1999, with a dinner at the Borochov Centre. The Montreal branch of the LZA celebrated its 90th anniversary two years ago. The proud history of the Toronto branch includes the founding…
Etan Diamond, an American academic, has written a full-length study of the Orthodox Jewish community of Toronto and its pioneering movement northward from the inner city into the suburbs in the postwar era. Published recently (2001) by the University of North Carolina Press, Diamond’s And I Will Dwell in Their Midst: Orthodox Jews in Suburbia…
