A 60-year-old manuscript titled The Rise of the Toronto Jewish Community has been found in the archives of Beth Tzedec Congregation. Ralph Berrin, a volunteer in the Beth Tzedec Museum, brought the manuscript to the attention of Bill Gladstone, the publisher of Now and Then Books. Gladstone identified the author as the late Shmuel Mayer…
Tag: toronto
100 Years Ago: Toronto’s Dickens society in 1912
by •
From the Star Weekly, February 3, 1912 Toronto boasts the largest Dickens society in the world Centenary of Famous Novelist Will Be Celebrated with Much Feeling Next Wednesday — Over 1,000 Members in Dickens Fellowship Next Wednesday (February 7, 1912), the centenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, will be celebrated throughout the English-speaking world…
A Victorian Detective: Police Inspector Alf Cuddy
by •
After 30 years on the force, acclaimed Toronto police inspector and detective Alf Cuddy retired in February 1912, one century ago this month, and shortly thereafter moved to Calgary, where he assumed the role of police chief. Here are a couple of stories, published in February 1912, celebrating Cuddy’s immeasurable contribution to law and order…
The Standard theatre becomes a movie house, 1935
by •
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…
New Yiddish theatre an asset to Toronto (1922)
by •
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…
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…
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…
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…
