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…
Tag: JEWISH TORONTO
Dr. David Eisen was a dedicated historian
by •
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
by •
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)
by •
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
by •
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’
by •
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)
by •
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…
Obit: Edmund Scheuer (1847-1943)
by •
Father of Reform Judaism in Canada dies at 93 Well-known philanthropist, educationist passes after street-car collision Edmond Scheuer, 95, one of Toronto’s oldest and best known citizens, died Friday (July 2, 1943) in St. Michael’s hospital following a collision with a street car at MacPherson Avenue and Yonge Street. Mr. Scheuer retired from the jewelry…
Fighting to get married: two Jewish marriages
by •
The course of true love never did run smooth, as the Bard said, a sentiment confirmed by these two articles from Toronto newspapers in the pre-WWI era. The first story below appeared in The Globe of December 25, 1907: * * * Bells Did Not Ring Free Fight in Synagogue instead of Wedding Detectives and Policemen…
J. S. Granatstein runs for alderman, 1906
by •
The following article, which appeared in the Toronto Star of December 8, 1906, highlights the fact that Toronto Jews did indeed get involved in municipal politics, even in the relatively early period of their citizenship in our free and democratic Canada. In an interview with the Star, aldermanic candidate J. S. Granatstein presented his views…
