Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre
4600 Bathurst Street M2R 3V2 Toronto, ON, Canada

Continuing north towards Timmins, the next stop on our #JewishHeritageMonth #RoadTrip is Englehart. The Englehart Bargain Store pictured here, was run by Louis Schwartz from Toronto. The Gurevitch family lived behind it and rented out the front to use on Shabbos when they were not on their farm. The Gurevitch family first settled on a farm in Krugerdorf, Ontario in 1906. Aaron, a blacksmith by trade, also looked after the cemetery. Caption 1: Min (née Gurevitch) and Hymie [Le...biman?] standing in front of the Englehart Bargain Store. 1929. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 923. Caption 2: Mrs. Anne Gurevitch and Mr. Aaron Gurevitch stand with their son-in law Nat April, (Englehart, ON), 1929. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 921. Caption 3: The Gurevitch children on the family farm in Krugerdorf, Ontario. Pictured from left to right are Rebecca, Min, Dave, Esther, Hymie Lehrman, Ray, and Mendel, 1922. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 922.

Our #JewishHeritageMonth #RoadTrip begins this week in Northern Ontario. Nate Rivelis immigrated from Russia to Canada in 1919. He first settled in St. Jerome, Quebec, but after vacationing in Trout Lake, decided to settle in North Bay. Pictured here are a few snapshots from the Rivelis family business. Nate Rivelis established his retail clothing shop in 1926. The business was famous for their annual sale held on November 16. The business grew from a small family-run store t...o a large department store with twelve employees, closing in 1986. In addition to running the business, Nate Rivelis was also involved in the local Lion's Club and was its president from 1957-1958. He was the only Jewish member at that time. He also served as the president of the Hebrew school during the 1940s. Caption: Nate Rivelis, North Bay, Ontario. Ontario Jewish Archives, accession 2007-7-10. #OntarioJewishArchives #storefronts

Join Dara Solomon, Executive Director of the Ontario Jewish Archives in conversation with Ya'ara Saks, Member of Parliament for York Centre in Toronto. #JewishHeritageMonth

@bordenthegirl here with another #YiddishWordoftheWeek: / shtibl = a small house of prayer. / shtibl is the diminutive form of / shtub = house, dwelling. Architecture buffs, this one’s for you! For this instalment of the Jewish Heritage Month Road Trip, we got to 313 11th St. E in Owen Sound, ON. There stands Beth Ezekiel, a synagogue dating to the early 1900s. The synagogue began in a rented room over a store, then moved to the house next door (creating a ... / shtibl). In 1948 the synagogue purchased their present location from the Calvary Church. A few minor modifications were made to convert the church building to a Jewish house of worship, including the insertion of Stars of David in the stained glass Gothic windows flanking the front entrance. In the early 2000s the synagogue dedicated several new (really beautiful) stained glass windows, which you can check out on their website! Caption 1: Exterior of Beth Ezekiel Synagogue (Owen Sound, ON), July 1978. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 4133. Caption 2: Exterior of Beth Ezekiel Synagogue (Owen Sound, ON), 1978. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 2392. Caption 3: Torah dedication, Beth Ezekiel Synagogue (Owen Sound, ON), 1950. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 4072. Caption 4: Group in front of 1043 3rd Avenue East (Owen Sound, ON), [ca. 1950]. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 4069. #JewishHeritageMonth #RoadTrip #OntarioJewishArchvies #OwenSound #yiddish #synagogue #architecture @ Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre

Our Jewish Heritage Month #RoadTrip continues west to our next stop, LONDON. Although many of Jewish community’s turn of the century immigrants worked as peddlers, these photographs tell a story about the entrepreneurial spirit of the Jewish community who settled in London. Businesses ventures shared here are but a small sample and include a junk yard, grocery, and cinema. Caption 1: Max Lerner aged seventeen, seated on a horse and buggy outside of the J.J. Peardon Practical ...Horse Shoer, (London, ON), ca. 1904. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 6056. #JewishHeritageMonth #RoadTrip #ontariojewisharchives #londonontario

Jewish Heritage Month #RoadTrip. Next stop, 150 Market Street, BRANTFORD. The Simon family is considered to be one of the first Jewish families to settle in Brantford in 1881. Continued growth in the community is evident in the early twentieth century when in 1907 a total of fifteen families lived in the city. Pictured here are a few of the family owned businesses from those early years. Caption 1: Max Noble at Noble's Clothing Store, 150 Market Street, (Brantford, ON), ca. 1...920s. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 1890. #JewishHeritageMonth #RoadTrip #ontariojewisharchives #Brantford

OUR STORIES ARE YOUR STORIES: For over forty-five years, the OJA has collected, preserved and shared your stories! Your support matters. Donate today! ontariojewisharchives.org/Donate Caption: Dorothy Dworkin and Shirley Zamsky with parcels to Poland, [between 1939 and 1945]. Ontario Jewish Archives, fonds 10, item 25. #ontariojewisharchives #community #support

Hello, it’s Hanna Schacter with my weekly update about the OJA Virtual Tour of Kensington Market. After learning about the Kiever Synagogue, the tour will lead you to Stop 3, 82 Nassau Street, the former family home of Sammy Luftspring. Sammy grew up in Kensington market in the early 1900s, training at the Y.M.H.A. on Brunswick Avenue. He had a legendary boxing career. Even after he hung up his gloves, he became a well-known referee. In 2009, the OJA acquired his personal scr...apbooks that shed light on his boxing career and his childhood in the market. Caption: Sammy Luftspring refereeing a fight between George Chuvalo and Jimmy Ellis, 10 May 1971. Ontario Jewish Archives, fonds 82, item 30. (OBA) Ontario boxing Association The Ontario Boxing Hall of Fame #ontariojewisharchives #virtualoja

Nir Bareket with his daughter Eedit Bareket outside in the #snow, New York City, 1969. Ontario Jewish Archives, fonds 123, series 10, item 6. Photographer Nir Bareket (1939-2015) was born in Haifa, Palestine to Esther and David Zaidband. He moved to the United States in 1964 and began his formal training as a photographer. Bareket and his family settled in Toronto in 1975 where he continued his active career as a photographer and instructor.

"Sholem Aleichem! It's Virginia Shewfelt here again to show you another letter related to the Ostrowtzer Help Committee, from the collection donated by Max Hartstone’s daughter. In many letters from this collection, former Jewish residents of Ostrowiec, Poland, allude to the hardships they endured during and immediately after the war years. In this letter, an Ostrovtzer survivor living in France in 1946, refused to describe her experiences under German occupation because reme...mbering them gave her heart-pain and strong headaches. However, she was more than happy to kvell about her children: my daughters took an active role in what we call ‘Resistance’ in France. Just over a year after the end of the war in Europe, one of her daughters had married and had a beautiful little boy, while another had become a teacher." Virginia Shewfelt is a PhD student at the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto. For the past few months, she has been working on translating letters in this collection. Citation: Max Hartstone | Ostrowtzer Hilfs Farein collection. Ontario Jewish Archives, accession 2017-10-5. Ostrovtzer Society #ontariojewisharchives #postwar #correspondence #holocaustsurvivor #settlement

1950s photograph of four women seated in the pews of the newly remodeled Adath Israel Synagogue in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. Seated far right is Fanny Goldstein. Can you help identify the others? Caption: Ontario Jewish Archives, item 801. #ontario #jewishcommunity #ontariojewisharchives

Pictured here is Ida Cohen with her daughters standing in front of Greenberg's bookstore, located in #theward at 117 1/2 Elizabeth St., Toronto, 1923. Harry Greenberg is one of ten Jewish bookstore retailers and dealers listed in the 1931 Jewish Directory (p.242). Toronto Jewish City Directories are a rich resource to access information about Jewish residents, businesses and organizations during the 1920s and 1930s. Search digitized copies of the 1925 and 1931 directories here: http://ontariojewisharchives.org//Toronto-Jewish-City-Dire Citation: Ontario Jewish Archives, item 4045. #jewishhistory #ontariojewisharchives #jewishbookmonth

Samuel and Bessie Robins (nee Kamarner) in front of their shop, Robins' Tailor Shop , 273 Queen St. E., Toronto, [ca. 1926]. Born in 1923, their son Sydney Lewis Robins became a lawyer and served as a Judge on the Supreme Court of Ontario (1976-1998) and the Ontario Court of Appeals (1981-1998). Learn more storefront stories: ojastorefrontstories.org/stores Ontario Jewish Archives, item 4994 and 4995.... #vintagetoronto #eastend #neon #signage See more

Wedding at the Londoner Shul, Toronto, 23 Nov. 1941. The Hebrew Men of England Synagogue (the Londoner Shul) formed in 1909. Its first building opened on Spadina Avenue in 1921. In the 1960s, the congregation moved north to Bathurst and Sheppard and in 1976 merged with Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue. Caption: Lofsky and Penzner family collection. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 954.#otd #jewishlife #torontohistory #vintagetoronto

Hello, it’s Hanna Schacter with another update about the OJA Virtual Tour of Kensington Market. Last Thursday, October 22, we finished filming the guides on location. In the second photograph, Ralph Wintrob tells us about the exterior façade of the Kiever Synagogue. We also were able to film inside the synagogue and learn about its important history for the Jewish community of Toronto. The synagogue was erected at this site in 1927 and is still in use today! As our guide Ralp...h mentions, you can stop in for Shabbat services and will be greeted by a warm congregation and community. Hanna Schacter is a Master of Museum Studies candidate. This exhibition project is a partnership between the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto and the Ontario Jewish Archives. 1: Kiever Synagogue exterior, 1974. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 71. 2: Recording Stories of Spadina Tour with guide Ralph Wintrob (right) and filmmaker Pierre Kochel, Kiever Synagogue, (Toronto, ON), 22 Oct. 2020.

@bordenthegirl with a #YiddishWordoftheWeek: / likht = light (also candle). The days are shorter, the light is waning, and yetbrighter days are ahead. This word comes from the text of the rousing bar mitzvah speech scrawled on the back of this flyera notice for a general nomination meeting of the Pride of Israel Sick Benefit Society in 1942. 1942, just think about that. And while you think about it, read the translation of the speech below. Today, the 75th anniversary ...of the start of the Nuremberg trials, this speech feels worthy of a read: Dear friends, parents, grandparents, and honoured guests! Today’s simkhe (celebration) that we have come together to celebrate is a simkhe for us all: We are bringing a new member into the Jewish community and the Jewish people. Dear friends, you know how much parents strive to give their children the best Jewish education. to raise them to be honest people and proud Jews. The name Jew is our honour, the name has cost us dearly, cost us tsures (suffering) and harsh decrees, but we have carried it like fire. We parents continue to bring new and fresh strength that join us in the chain that has lasted us thousands of years, and helps us to carry the heavy pack upon our bent backs, the pack with treasure soaked in our blood and tears. The treasure is hope, and hope is the strongest weapon of a steely Jewish people that believes in light, not darkness. Darkness will not fall upon our heads. The flame tears through, its rays filling all Jewish hearts and giving them the strength to endure until the days of the messiah for thousands of years. And now, today is the greatest evil go our time. The the filthy, worthless, insane hound Hitler, who fights bitterly with all his might to extinguish the Jewish flamehe will not triumph, the Jewish people will not allow it. The Jewish people lives. And that flame will create for us new paths to new skies and a just world, a world of peace and justice. #holocasusteducation #hew #hew2020 #holocaust #yiddish #archives #barmitzvah #handwriting Wilf and Barbara Fogel collection. Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre, accession 1988-12-1. @ Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre

YIDDISH POSTWAR LETTERS: Sholem Aleichem! My name is Virginia and I am a PhD student at the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at U of T. I’ve been working with the OJA to translate some of the Yiddish letters that were written to Toronto resident Max Hartstone in the immediate postwar years. Mr. Hartstone was the secretary of the Ostrowtzer Society, an organization of members of the Jewish community from Ostrowiec, Poland. Most of these letters focus on helpin...g displaced Ostrowtzers secure the funding needed to immigrate to Israel and the Americas. These letters were donated to the OJA in 2017 by Mr. Hartstone’s daughter. After the devastation of the Holocaust, Ostrowtzers were keen to stay in contact with one another and keep the memory of their community alive. This advertisement, published in a number of Yiddish newspapers around the world in 1947, asks surviving Ostrowtzers to send in mementos for the creation of a memory book. They accepted submissions of memories of community life before the war, during the occupation and liquidation in order to preserve their history as they settled into new homes across the globe. The OJA is fortunate to have Virgina Shewfelt on the OJA team supporting the OJA’s broader goal of making unknown stories accessible. Caption: Newspaper clipping enclosed with correspondence from Meyer Goldberg to Max Hartstone, (Paris, France), 8 Apr. 1947. Max Hartstone | Ostrowtzer Hilfs Farein collection. Ontario Jewish Archives, accession 2017-10-5. Learn more about the collection: : http://ontariojewisharchives.org//New-Collections-Max-Hart

Hello, it’s Hanna Schacter with this week’s update about the OJA Virtual Tour of Kensington Market. An exciting aspect of this digital tour is that we will showcase archival documents and photographs from the OJA’s collection. We will be incorporating archival photographs with our on-location videos to create a truly immersive experience. Through filming this year and looking at archival photographs, the changes in the community are identifiable. However, there are also some similarities that can be seen such as, in the market life of Kensington. Caption: Percy's Fruit Market, 232 Augusta Avenue, 16 May 1959. Ontario Jewish Archives, fonds 18, series 2, item 2.

ZAP! WHAM! KAPOW! In 1947, to appeal to a younger audience, Winslow Win Mortimer was commissioned to illustrate a comic for the United Jewish Welfare Fund (UJWF) Youth Campaign. Mortimer was born in Hamilton in 1919. He was a well-known comic book and comic strip artist, famous for his drawings of Superman and Batman. Thank you to OJA volunteer Dina Solsberg for creating this post. Caption: Last page of the 1947 UJWF campaign comic for the Youth Campaign, drawn by Winslow Mortimer. Ontario Jewish Archives, fonds 67, series 17-2, file 26.

The Jewish Hour video podcast premieres tonight, October 27 at 8:00 PM. The 30-minute video features dozens of archival photographs including this storefront photo of E.& H. Dworkin Steamships and Bankers, 525 Dundas Street West, ca. 1920. Whether you are reconnecting with this familiar Sunday morning ritual or experiencing it for the first time, you are certain to be delighted by the sweet melodious sound of Yiddish folk singer Max Mandel, who first hit the Canadian the air waves in 1936. Ontario Jewish Archives, accession 2006-1-2. LIVESTREAM PREMIERE: TUESDAY OCTOBER 27, 2020 | 8:00 pm LINK: http://ontariojewisharchives.org/Explore/Podcasts Presented by Ashkenaz in partnership with the Ontario Jewish Archives.

ENJOY THIS SNEAK PEEK TEASER OF THE JEWISH HOUR: The Golden Age of a Toronto Yiddish Radio Show and Newspaper, presented by Ashkenaz Festival in partnership with Ontario Jewish Archives. WATCH the livestream premiere TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 8PM, live on Facebook or Ashkenaz's YouTube channel. LINK: http://ontariojewisharchives.org/Explore/Podcasts

@bordenthegirl here offering up a whole phrase for this today’s #YiddishWordoftheWeek: , . / Oyb der shukh past, trog im. = If the shoe fits, wear it. The Yiddish inscription on the back of this postcard speaks in the voice of the rather surprised-looking baby on the other side: Me, Jack Seskin. You shouldn’t laugh at me because my mother dressed me in such big shoes! But as the saying goes, oyb der shukh past, trog im! This postcard comes... from a collection of photographs and other documents from the the Bernstein, Seskin and Norris families. Also part of this accession (but not pictured here) is a worn copy of Readings from the Holy Scriptures issued to Sid Bernstein, while he was serving in the Canadian Armed Forces at Camp Borden, ca. 1943. This bible is an example of those issued to Jewish Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen; this copy was distributed by the Mount Royal Lodge No. 729, B’nai B’rith, and the War Efforts Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress, March 1943. Collections like these are fascinating glimpses into people’s lives. #yiddish #postcard #jewish #jewishhistory #archives #handwriting #photopostcard #canadianhistory #jewishtoronto Michael Bernstein collection. Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre, accession 2016-8-7. @ Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre See more

Hello, it’s Hanna Schacter (U of T Master of Museum Studies Candidate) with an exciting update about the OJA virtual tour of Kensington Market and the surrounding area. Throughout the summer I worked with the Stories of Spadina tour guides to help formulate scripts for each of the tour stops. This past Sunday, we spent the morning in Kensington Market filming the guides on location. In this photograph, Cyrel Troster, tells us about 24 Cecil Street, the former location of the Labour Zionist Alliance or Farband Institute. Watch for my weekly updates! Caption: Recording "Stories of Spadina" virtual tour with Cyrel Troster (left) and filmmaker Pierre Kochel, 24 Cecil Street, (Toronto, ON), 18 Oct. 2020.

Do you know when Yiddish was first heard over the Canadian air waves? Join us for the all-new video podcast that brings to life the pages of Michael Mandel’s lovingly researched book, The Jewish Hour: The Golden Age of a Toronto Yiddish Radio Show and Newspaper with renowned actor Alon Nashman stepping into the author’s persona as narrator of the original text. A tribute to Michael Mandel’s quest to learn about his father Max Mandel’s singing career and an opportunity to lis...ten to recordings of this sweet singer of folk songs. LIVESTREAM PREMIERE: TUESDAY OCTOBER 27, 2020 | 8:00 pm Presented by Ashkenaz Festival in partnership with the Ontario Jewish Archives LINK: http://ontariojewisharchives.org/Explore/Podcasts

Ontario's Small Jewish Communities Collection: Photograph of crowd gathering for the grand opening of Bond’s Clothes Shop in Lindsay, Ontario, ca. 1950. The store slogan, visible on the storefront awning reads Gentlemen prefer Bond's. Ontario Jewish Archives, item 1634.

Meet Morris Isen: Morris was born in Lodz, Poland to Esther and Isaac Isenbaum on February 7, 1908. The family came to Canada in 1910 where his three siblings Annie, Molly and Hy were born. When Morris was 14 years old his father bought him his first trumpet for $15.00, which was a lot of money in those days. His father had been a bugler in the Polish army, and he wanted Morris to be a musician. Morris took regular weekly lessons for a while and he practiced day and night. H...e was encouraged to keep learning by his good friend and neighbor Percy Faith. Soon he was good enough to play in small groups, at bars, dance halls, etc. (Excerpt from biography written by Murray Sherr). Morris Isen’s career as a musician began at Toronto’s King Edward Hotel (The Omni King Edward Hotel). Soon after he joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as First Trumpet and Soloist. He reached nationwide audiences performing on CBC radio and later television. As he approached retirement, he spent more of his time sharing his love of music teaching students at the The Royal Conservatory of Music and the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Caption: Morris Isen in performance at Toronto's Granite Club, [194?]. Isen family collection. Ontario Jewish Archives, Accession 2008-6-13. See more

Join us on Sunday, October 18th at 11 am for a photo rich webinar exploring Jewish Life in Toronto and South Africa. Guest speaker Gavin Morris, Director of the South African Jewish Museum will share anecdotes, images and films from the Toronto-bound exhibition The Goldene Medina. Dara Solomon, Executive Director of the Ontario Jewish Archives will pair this history with images and interview clips from the OJA’s recent Southern African Legacy Project. Together, they will explore the unique experiences of these groups and what shifted in their Jewish identity upon migration to Canada. Q+A to follow. Registration link: http://ontariojewisharchives.org/Explore/Webinars Citation: 1) Skuy family visit to Niagara Falls, Ontario, ca 1968. Ontario Jewish Archives, accession 2015-5\2. 2) Father and son at Muizenberg, South African Jewish Museum

Born in Cape Town South Africa, Vivian Rakoff immigrated to Canada in 1961. After completing his studies in Montreal, Rakoff and his family moved to Toronto where he began his lifelong career, serving as chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. In 2015, the Government of Canada appointed him a member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his contributions to psychiatry as well as for his role in founding the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.... Vivian Rakoff passed away on October 1, 2020. On being Canadian Rakoff said Isn’t it a wonderful country where a guy like mea non-sports loving[laughs] my rebellion against South AfricaJewish guy, essentially English-speaking, from South Africacan feel totally identified as a citizen? Each story is unique. Explore, listen and learn. Visit the OJA’s Southern African Legacy Project: ojasalp.org Join us on Sunday, October 18th at 11 am for a webinar exploring Jewish Life in Toronto and South Africa. Register: http://ontariojewisharchives.org/Explore/Webinars

Shortly after graduating from the University of Toronto's physiotherapy program, Anne Baker Pritzker (1916-2010) enlisted and served with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corp. during the Second World War. After the war, she worked at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Sunnybrook Hospital). In 1960, she began her twenty-two-year long career at Baycrest where she served as Assistant Supervisor of Physiotherapy. Citation: Portrait of Anne Baker, 20 May 1945. Photograph by Sylvia Schwartz. Ontario Jewish Archives, Fonds 80, Series 1, item 2. #WomensHistoryMonth

Do you recognize anyone in this photo? How about the club? Share your comments on this 1920s photograph of a coed youth sports club with Goldie Edelstein. Albert Edelstein photograph collection. Ontario Jewish Archives, accession 2008-10-5.