Toronto Hebrew Memorial Parks

February is Jewish Disability Awareness Acceptance and Inclusion Month (#JDAIM)! We believe all Jews should be included in every part of Jewish life, including #rituals of death and #mourning at #cemeteries. The accessible #architecture of our new William and Judi Draimin Assembly Hall & Sidney and Dawn Freedman Memorial Centre removes barriers to memorializing loved ones and coming together to grieve. #accessibility THMP is now on Twitter @torontohebrew! Engage with us on other important conversations and follow our news: https://twitter.com/torontohebrew. Photo: Larry Nicols Photography.

Have you registered for our free Virtual Shiva event? On tomorrow at 7:30PM. Get tips on how to organize a #virtualshiva from a panel of experts and learn about #Jewish Shiva #traditions and importance. All are welcome and encouraged to participate. We might not be able to gather in person, but there is great value in coming together online to support each other in #grief. Register here: http://bit.ly/2LsqU5o. Follow our events on Twitter @torontohebrew: https://twitter.com/torontohebrew

Join us Wednesday at 7:30PM for Virtual Shiva, a free THMP-sponsored webinar on the importance of having a Shiva and how to get organized virtually. Stay-at-home orders, lockdowns, and gathering limits have challenged sitting Shiva like never before. Our panel of experts will consider the value of sitting Shiva online to support #community and the #bereaved. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate in the conversation. Virtual Shiva is the first in a suite of free learning opportunities THMP will be hosting on death and #grief, pandemic and post-pandemic. Stay tuned for more and register for Virtual Shiva: http://bit.ly/2LsqU5o. #Judaism #Jewish #families #mourning Keep up with our events on Twitter too @torontohebrew! Follow and engage: https://twitter.com/torontohebrew

February is #BlackHistoryMonthan opportunity to celebrate Jewish #diversity, connect with #Jewish values of #inclusion, and remove barriers. THMP provides dignified burial to any Jew. The entire GTA Jewish community is represented in our cemeteries, including the Iraqi Jewish Association of Ontario & Beit Eliahou. Shown here (1951), Iraqi Jews fled Iraq to Israel and other countries like Canada. Pardes Shalom houses their stories and ancestors. #Jewishdiversity #multiculturalism #jewishhistory WikiCommons. Follow us on Twitter! https://bit.ly/2LkjSQe

Last Wednesday was #InternationalHolocaustRemembranceDay. It falls on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Auschwitz was located near Ivansk, where THMP founder Sidney Freedman was born. Freedman’s family escaped Poland just before the war. In 2006, Freedman returned with other surviving descendants to restore and rededicate Ivansk’s #Jewish #cemetery in honour of Shoah victims and to counter anti-Semitism. These broken and displaced monuments were recovered and re-erected. #WeRemember #NeverForget #NeverAgain @WikiCommons

Our virtual dedication event last Sunday was a hit! It was an honour to pay tribute to THMP founder, Sidney Freedman + previous president, William C. Draimin, z’l, and their families. Freedman and Draimin expected no recognition for their contributions to our organization and the GTA Jewish community. They were motivated only by delivering the mitzvah of burial to Jewish families from all streams of Judaism. Speaking from our Assembly Building and Hall, Freedman reminded us ...that #cemeteries are full of life stories, marked by granite stones that ask us to remember. As we visit ancestors and speak to [their] stones, Freedman remarked, they speak back to us. The poignancy of his words and what both men provided multiple #Jewish generations will forever be felt. Thank you to all who participated in making Sunday so special. We hope to share more highlights next week. Photos: Left, Draimin and Freedman, 1991; Right, Draimin and Freedman, 2016. Horst Herget Photography.

Tomorrow, THMP Executive Director, Howard Mammon, moderates Ontario Association of Cemetery and Funeral Professionals panel Grave Disputes: The Law of Dead Bodies in Ontario, on who has the authority to direct funeral and burial arrangements. It’s not as straightforward as you think! We love participating in education opportunities and we’re looking forward to hearing from speakers Barry Corbin, THMP Board Member and Chair of our Rules Committee, and Jason Ward of WARDS Law...yers PC. #cemeteries Bereavement professionals and others can register here: https://bit.ly/3eVSYbN. Photo: OACFP Cemetery Administration Training, November 14, 2019, Cambridge, ON. Panel included Michael D'Mello Bereavement Authority of Ontario, John O'Brien https://m.facebook.com/HamiltonCathCem/, Laura Eccles Arbor Memorial Inc., and Howard Mammon Toronto Hebrew Memorial Parks.

THMP mourns the loss of Emeritus Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, ztz’l. Rabbi Sacks embodied hope and humanity and believed every person can make a positive impact. This message resonates for us since #cemeteries propel us to self-improve as we consider how we will be remembered. We think #RabbiSacks would have liked how THMP guides young people in considering legacy at our youth education workshops. One of the Rabbi’s daughters writes that her father encouraged her to craf...t her own obituary in order to forge my path in life, so that I should be suitably remembered after it. He encouraged that in all of us to ask, what do we live for? For what will we be remembered? Rabbi Sacks will be remembered as an extraordinary leader, thinker, and unifier within the #Jewish community and beyond and leaves behind a legacy for all to learn from. May the Rabbi’s memory be for a blessing for always. The Office of Rabbi Sacks Read more from Dina Sacks here: https://bit.ly/36wyGl6.

Staff spotlight! Meet THMP Site Operations Manager, Jim Emery. Jim joined us in 2009 with 21 years of facilities management experience and an educational background in athletics. At first, Jim says cemetery operations was a whole new world, but it quickly became fulfilling work. His biggest reward is knowing it’s a mitzvah to facilitate interment and maintain cemetery grounds. Jim emphasizes the importance of maintaining Jewish burial and visiting gravesites. He sees techno...logy like THMP’s grave-finding app as a way to continue these traditions and support the future of cemeteries, allowing people to visit virtually and in new ways. We are extremely fortunate to have Jim’s professional expertise and safety-driven leadership. Keeping everyone safe is his priority and we see him meet this challenge head on as he implements safety protocols in the constantly evolving, high-stress situation of Covid-19. Jim says education and continued vigilance are key as the sector navigates the second wave. Although he doesn’t expect recognition for his work, we’re calling itJim is a frontline worker who stays on the job to maintain our cemeteries and provide safety and respect to families in need. Thank you, Jim, for the significant and positive impact you make on our organization every day and in service of the GTA Jewish community. Learn about THMP’s grave-finding app: https://bit.ly/32uF3UV.

Let’s remember Canadian Jewish war veterans. We remember the late Lieutenant Myer Tutzer Cohen. Here’s a photo of his monument at Pape Avenue Cemetery, Toronto’s first Jewish cemetery, established in 1849. Cohen was a Jewish officer from Toronto who died in 1917 at Passchendaele. He was 23 and awarded the Military Cross for bravery. He is among hundreds of Jews in the Canadian Armed Forces who served and offered their lives. His monument honours this sacrifice with a red pop...py on its back side + Star of David for King David, who led Israel’s army. Cohen was outlived by his mother, Anna, and father Moses, who was an optician. We learned about his story on a walking tour of Pape Cemetery, co-designed and led by THMP Communications Committee Chair, Susan L. Brown, run by the Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centrebut paused due to the pandemic. We look forward to joining again when it is safe to gather and pay respect to those who established our Toronto Jewish community and defended our freedoms. Pardes Shalom has a military organization section for this purpose and our Memorial Garden is another way to commemorate veterans who are buried elsewhere or have no known burial site. Lest we forget. #rememberanceday #rememberanceday2020 For information about our Memorial Garden, visit: https://bit.ly/3kQi9ib.