By 1919 the plight of post-war Eastern European Jewry and the need for a united community voice for Canadian Jewry led to the creation of the Canadian Jewish Congress. Its founding meeting was held on March 16, 1919 in Montreal. Though it briefly maintained a tiny regional office in Toronto, the CJC remained inactive until 1933, when it fully reconvened by opening offices in Winnipeg, Montreal, and Toronto. Egmont L. Frankel was the first President of the new Central Division in Toronto. While the National Office in Montreal focused on the overarching issues of the social and economic rights of European Jewry, assistance for Jewish immigrants, and combating prejudice in Canada, the Toronto office dealt with local violent anti-Jewish demonstrations as well as continuing discrimination both in employment and in access to public recreational facilities. The structure was based on regular national biennial plenary conferences at which policies were delineated and national and regional executives were elected. Between plenary sessions, National and Regional Councils were in charge. These were augmented by the following standing committees: Administrative, Officers, Personnel, Financial, Publications, and Educational and Cultural. Special committees were created to deal with issues such as: youth, community loans, kashruth, fundraising, Israel, Russian Jewry, and various emergency issues such as refugees, immigration, and housing. During the 1930’s the Central Division Office moved several times and occupied offices in the following locations; Yonge St., the Bond St. Synagogue, Scheuer House, the Zionist Building, and its long-term home at 150-152 Beverley Street where it remained until its July, 1983 move to the Lipa Green Building in North York. Its activities expanded to include taking responsibility for Jewish educational standards but, by 1941, its main efforts shifted to support for Canada’s war effort. Immediately after the end of the war, the focus again shifted to Jewish immigration projects and the maintenance of Jewish identity in small communities. By 1950, the CJC’s use of the title “division” was changed to “region” to accommodate internal operational “divisions” within each region. Also, by then, the Central Region was busy expanding its programs for all Ontario Jewish communities, creating a province-wide council of youth groups, and working with the newly-created Bureau of Jewish Education (later Board of Jewish Education, now Mercaz). Standardization of kashruth rules in Ontario was implemented. As well, regular educational conferences and cultural events were held throughout the province, while province-wide fund-raising efforts in support of Moess Chittin for relief projects in Israel and for local Congress activities were expanded. Many of its educational and cultural responsibilities necessitated working with other Jewish organizations such as the United Jewish Welfare Fund, Jewish Immigrant Aid Society (JIAS), Hadassah, the Canadian Legion, B’nai B’rith, the World Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Congress, and the many Landsmenshaften (Jewish mutual benefit societies, each formed by immigrants originating from the same Eastern European community). During the 1960s, the Central Region began sending Moess Chittin relief shipments to Cuban Jews unable to acquire kosher foods for Passover. Its lobbying efforts included participation in the Royal Commissions on Hate Propaganda, and its greatest success came with the introduction and implementation of Ontario’s Fair Employment and Fair Accommodation Practices legislation, an achievement in which Congress played a pivotal role. From 1971 to 1989 the major focus became international and Canada-wide lobbying for, and providing support to, Soviet Jewry. Virtually all local and Canadian efforts to assist the Soviet Jewish “refusniks” were organized and coordinated in Toronto by the CJC Ontario Region office, which provided staff and funding for the many lobbying activities and public demonstrations which characterized this successful effort. As of November, 1975, the CJC Central Region’s responsibilities in Toronto were radically altered. To improve cost efficiency in Toronto, CJC educational and social service program activities were merged with similar programs already provided by Toronto’s United Jewish Appeal. The UJA assumed sole responsibility for these amalgamated programs in Toronto and was renamed Toronto Jewish Congress. The CJC Central Region still retained province-wide responsibilities for Ontario’s smaller Jewish Communities, and its office remained in Toronto. Also, following this reorganization, its name was changed to Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region. Although CJC no longer provided direct social and educational programs to Toronto, the TJC’s senior executive was, at the time, still obliged to continue to keep it notified about developments concerning previous Congress responsibilities. From 1983, the Ontario Region's offices were located in the Lipa Green Building at 4600 Bathurst Street. It continued its work of financially supporting various Israeli institutions and fostering Canada-Israel relations. It also spearheaded the movement to support and protect Jews in Arab lands, especially in Syria. Funding for the CJC came from the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, which restributed a portion of the funds raised by the local Jewish federations across Canada.
The CJC dissolved in 2011. Today, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) acts as the Jewish community's primary lobby group.
Yeshivah Torath Chaim -- incorporated in December 1937, and in operation until the mid-1980s -- was the first yeshivah in Canada. Following the Orthodox tradition, the yeshivah offered rabbinical training and ordination, after-school Jewish education for boys in elementary and high school, and operated Gan Yelodim, a day nursery and kindergarten for boys and girls. The yeshivah had a synagogue and banquet hall. Many graduates of the yeshivah went on to occupy rabbinical positions in the United States and Canada, including Rabbis Erwin Schild of Adath Israel Congregation, Gedalia Felder, Joseph Kelman, and Bernard Rosensweig. The yeshiva's history can be traced to 1935, when Rabbi Nachman Shemen organized a small class in the attic of the Chevra Shass building on Cecil Street. Soon thereafter, lessons were relocated to a small rented home on College street. Philanthropist Moses Oelbaum, first president of the yeshivah, purchased a building for the yeshivah at 414 Markham Street in 1938. In 1942 the yeshivah took possession of a second building at 399 Markham to use as a dormitory for out of town students and refugees, and a chapel. In 1946 the yeshivah bought a new facility at 709 College Street. In 1949 they opened Gan Yelodim Hebrew Day Nursery and Kindergarten for boys and girls. In September 1959, the yeshivah moved to 475 Lawrence Avenue, where they remained until they closed. Yeshivah Torath Chaim received financial support from the United Jewish Welfare Fund from 1944 to 1960, and was affiliated with the Bureau of Jewish Education for many years. The yeshivah had a board of directors with elected officers. Moses Oelbaum was the first president, succeeded after his death by his son J. Irving Oelbaum, who served from 1942 until 1946. J.I. Oelbaum served as president from 1942 To 1946. Louis Zuker took over as acting president, until elected to the position of president in 1948. Zuker was president until at least the mid-1970s. Rabbi Abraham Price served as dean of the yeshivah from its founding until his death in 1994. The yeshivah was involved in several instances of refugee sponsorship. In 1942, Rabbi Price orchestrated the release of around 50 refugee students from European yeshivas who were being interned at a camp in Quebec, and brought them to Yeshivah Torath Chaim. In 1949 the yeshivah collaborated with the Canadian Jewish Congress to bring over around 55 Holocaust survivors from a yeshivah in Prague. These students worked in Toronto while studying at Torath Chaim.
The Jewish Immigrant Aid Society of Canada was established in 1920 by the newly-formed Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC). A Toronto branch was established in Toronto in a storefront office on Spadina Avenue, but the organization was rudimentary, and as the enthusiasm that spurred the founding of CJC died out, JIAS soon faltered. Then in 1922 it was taken over and reactivated under the cooperative support of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto, B'nai B'rith and the Council of Jewish Women. JIAS was legally incorporated on 30 August 1922. It also operated under the moniker of the Emergency Jewish Immigrant Aid Committee, and it changed its name to Jewish Immigrant Aid Services in 1954.
Charged with organizing emergency relief for European Jews in distress, JIAS became the central agency of the Jewish community to facilitate the lawful entry of Jewish immigrants into Canada, and provided them with welfare services, transportation, and assistance with accommodation and employment after their arrival. In addition, JIAS offered consultation services for sponsors of potential immigrants, ran a competitive foreign remittance service, and campaigned to counter the activities of unscrupulous steamboat agents, lawyers and influence peddlers, or “shtadlanim,” who often victimized immigrants and sponsors alike.
In conjunction with similar efforts by the CJC, JIAS was also actively engaged in negotiating for the increased admission of Jewish immigrants to Canada. In 1923, the federal government instituted a permit-based immigration program and JIAS competed with travel agents and solicitors in the private sector for these limited quota permits. After combating the anti-immigration policies of the Depression era, the outbreak of war in 1939 virtually closed the already limited avenues for immigration.
JIAS Canada was organized into a National Office in Montreal and regional offices in Winnipeg (Western Region), Toronto (Central Region) and Halifax (Eastern Region). The Central Region covered Ontario, and established a full-time head office in 1935 at 399 Spadina Avenue in Toronto (hence the Central Region was sometimes called simply the Toronto Office). The office later moved to 265 Spadina Avenue. JIAS Toronto’s board of directors met on a regular basis at different locations in Toronto, including 206 Beverley Street and in the Talmud Torah building at 9 Brunswick Avenue. The first JIAS Toronto board included notable Toronto residents such as Henry Dworkin, Mrs. Draiman, Mr. Kronick, Dr. Brodey and Mrs. Willinsky. The role of the board was to oversee the operations of the Central Region. It rendered decisions on issues relating to finances, procedures and policies, negotiations with the federal Immigration Branch, as well as individual cases that required their attention.
General meetings of the Central Region membership were held annually. The 1943 JIAS constitution states that regional annual meetings were to be held for “receiving and considering reports,” holding nominations and elections for the executive, and discussing JIAS’s program and policies.
In the post-war era, JIAS shifted its focus to renewed efforts on behalf of individual claimants and community support, while the focus for lobbying for a reversal of Canada's immigration policy fell increasingly under the jurisdiction of the CJC. A boom in immigration between 1947 and 1952 saw the arrival of large numbers of Jewish immigrants to all parts of Canada and the Toronto Office of JIAS renewed its efforts to meet the needs of this new influx. Major world events also sparked other waves of immigration from Hungary, Czechoslovakia, North Africa and Russia, to which JIAS responded in turn. JIAS worked in conjunction with other immigrant aid societies such as HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, in the United States, to facilitate immigration to the United States, and later to Israel, where many of the immigrants and refugees coming to Canada had family and ultimately settled.
St. John's Ward, popularly known as "the Ward", was an area in Toronto bounded by Queen Street to the south, Yonge Street to the east, College Street to the north, and University Avenue to the west. The Ward was considered to be one of the poorest and unhealthiest areas in the city.
By the turn of the 20th Century, the majority of the Ward's inhabitants were Eastern European Jewish immigrants, who took up residence in the small stuccoed frame cottages dating from the 1850s and 1860s. Initially, settlers chose the Ward because of the need for inexpensive accomodations close to the central business district where employment was available. However, later Jewish immigrants also settled in the Ward because previous settlers had reconstructed the amenities and the security of the shtetl.
By 1911, the Ward was a self-contained community of Jewish services and facilities, supporting education, religious, social and business institutions. But with the influx to the area came a higher demand for housing and as a result, rents increased, congestion became alarmingly high and living conditions deteriorated. Many cottages housed three or four families, plus a workshop, in fewer than five rooms with no plumbing or drainage.
By the onset of the First World War, civic and business development began encroaching on the residential area of the Ward and many Jewish residents began the move westward into the Kensington Market area. The war also brought with it greater opportunities for the small merchant and salvage trades and as the economic conditions of the immigrant improved, the confidence and expectations of the younger generation increased. By the end of the war, only a few Jewish residents remained in the Ward.
Gilbert Studios was originally called Elite Studios and was located at 513 Queen Street West, Toronto. The owner, Nathan Gittelmacher, immigrated to Toronto from Kiev, Ukraine after the First World War. He first worked as a photographer at Empire Studios, and then in 1922, opened up his own studio, Elite Studios, at 513 Queen Street West, which serviced a largely Jewish clientele, photographing weddings, bar mitzvahs, as well as Jewish community events. The studio moved to 615 Queen St. West in July 1923
.During the 1940s, the family changed its name to Gilbert and subsequently altered the name of the business to Gilbert Studios. His son, Al Gilbert, was born in 1922, and started working in the family business in 1941, when he was 19 years of age. He eventually assumed control of it after his father retired. He moved the studio to Eglinton Avenue and then later to Davenport Road, its current location. Since that time he has been the only or principal photographer for the studio.
Early on in his career, Al made a name for himself as a portrait photographer. At that time, he mostly catered to the Jewish community, photographing brides, rabbis, businessmen and communal events and celebrations. Over the years, he branched out and photographed prominent individuals from the Italian community of Toronto, as well as well as many of the mayors and councilmen and women from Toronto, due to his multi-year contract with the city. In addition, he has photographed some of the most important people of our time – from Canada and abroad – including artists, politicians, scientists, philanthropists, athletes, and religious figures.
Over the years, Al has won many competitions, awards and accolades. He is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC) photographer of the year award. He has also been named a Fellow of the photographic societies in Canada, Britain and the United States. Al was also the first recipient of the Yousuf Karsh award. In 1990, he was recognized for his contribution to the nation as an artist with the Order of Canada award. Finally, in 2007, he was awarded the Professional Photographers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Gilbert Studios is still in business today.
Ralph Hyman (1906-1989) was a Toronto journalist who also played an active role in Jewish community organizations. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1906, the son of Russian parents, Sarah and Hyman Radutsky. The name was changed to Hyman in Scotland. Several years after his birth, the family immigrated to Wellington, New Zealand, where they spent almost twenty years. In 1924, they moved again, to Los Angeles. There, Hyman began his journalism career with the Glendale Times. In 1925, the family moved to Toronto, where Ralph got a job as a reporter for the Toronto Star. In 1928, he moved to the Mail and Empire, and when in 1936, the Mail and Empire merged with the Globe to form the Globe and Mail, he became a reporter and a political and feature writer. Hyman remained at the Globe and Mail unitl his retirement in 1971. A few months after his retirement, he returned to work as editorial consultant to the Canadian Jewish News. In 1972, he was appointed editor of that publication, a position he filled until his final retirement in 1980.
Ralph Hyman was active in the Joint Community Relations Committee, the Toronto Newspaper Guild and the Toronto Men's Press Club. He was married to Edith Etigson and they had two children: Gerald David and Roger Leslie.
Jewish Family & Child was established in 1943 from the amalgamation of a variety of different social agencies formed as early as 1868. These included the Ladies Benevolent Fund, the Free Burial Society, Jewish Family Welfare Bureau, Jewish Children’s Bureau, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and the Ladies Maternal Aid Society. Much of its funding and support after its inception came from the United Jewish Welfare Fund.
The first Executive Director of the agency was Dora Wilensky. She was a trained social worker who served for 28 years, until her untimely death from cancer in 1959. Jerome Diamond took over in 1960 and Gordon Wolfe succeeded him in 1981. Ron Levin briefly replaced Wolfe after his retirement in 2003, and was succeeded in 2006 by Dr. Richard Cummings who then retired in 2015. As of 2017, Brian Prousky is the organization’s current Executive Director.
During the early years, fees were established, but the agency never refused to assist clients because of their inability to pay. JF&CS became one of the first agencies to rely on trained social workers. It was also the first social agency in Canada to become unionized. Over the years the agency’s role has changed and it has expanded significantly, in terms of its staff and services. After the Second World War it played a pivotal role supporting the Holocaust orphans who came to Canada as refugees, particularly in the area of locating foster parents for these children. By 1957, the agency hired its first counsellor and became a member of the United Community Fund of Greater Toronto. The year 1968 marked the start of JF&CS’ new program involving the use of a mobile treatment centre to reach out to Jewish street kids and in 1974 they established the Jerome D. Diamond Adolescent Centre.
In 1981, JF&CS was mandated by the Province of Ontario as a Jewish children’s aid society responsible for the care and protection of all Jewish youth in the GTA. 1983 they established the Just-A-Second Shop at 3101 Bathurst Street, which took in used goods from the community to pass on to needy families. Two years later they established the Henry G. Goodman Home for developmentally handicapped children on Wilmington Avenue. The following year marked the opening of the Elm Ridge Group Living Residence for elderly people. In 1988, they opened a special shelter for abused women and children, and in 1994, they introduced their Homework Club for kids.
The current mission of Jewish Family & Child is to support the healthy development of individuals, children, families, and communities through prevention, protection, counselling, education and advocacy services, within the context of Jewish values. Their services include counselling, rehabilitation and support, foster care, family services and community services. These services are offered in a host of different languages including Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, French and English.
JF&CS is an independent organization that receives its funding from a variety of different sources such as UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, United Way Toronto and York Region, the Ontario Government, as well as individual donations.
As of 2017, JF&CS has nearly 130 staff providing more than 30 community services with a budget of almost $20 million. Their main office is located in the Lipa Green Centre for Community Services at 4600 Bathurst Street. They also maintain offices and run services out of their downtown branch at 35 Madison Ave, their York Region branch inside UJA’s 1 Open Door at the Lebovic JCC, and their Jerome D. Diamond Adolescent Centre in midtown Toronto.
The Jewish Vocational Services (JVS) was established on 16 June, 1947. After the war, thousands of survivors arrived in Canada in search of homes, education for their children and jobs. The returning servicemen, in turn, were also in need of employment as well. The first two years of its existence, it catered to these two groups. By 1949, it expanded its mandate to become a community-wide agency.
Max Enkin, the founder of the famous post-war "tailor scheme," became its first president and chairman of the board. Under this scheme, he and other members of his delegation were able to bring over 6000 survivors to Canada. Other members of the board included Lipa Green, Sydney Harris, Dr. Albert Rose and Louis Locksin. The executive director was Norman Stack. He served for a few years and was replaced by Milton Freidman in 1949. Freidman was a social worker who relocated to Toronto from Buffalo and spent close to 40 years in this position, retiring in 1985.
Its early mandate was to serve as a placement service for applicants and employers and to provide individual counselling services to its clients. Its office was situated above the original Tip Top Tailor building at 455 Spadina Avenue. It later moved its office to 152 Beverley Street and then in the 1960s to Tycos Drive. By the 1960s, JVS began to expand its services to all segments of society including newcomers, people with disabilities and from all sectors of life. The staff included social workers, psychologists, job counsellors and clerical staff.
During the 1980s, Bernie Berger became the new executive director. He served in that capacity until 1991. He was replaced by Ed Segalowitz. During this period, JVS set up a seniors' program called ATLAZ on the grounds of the Baycrest Home for the Aged. It was funded by the Bick family and was intended to create programs to keep seniors occupied. Today, this program is called the Al Green Resource Centre and provides employment, placement, training and volunteer opportunities to adults of all ages and with developmental disabilities. JVS also launched a youth program called Youthinc and a women's program.
Karen Goldenberg became executive director in 1998 and was replaced by Frank Markel in 2011 after her retirement. JVS has expanded its clientele, helping people from all backgrounds with diverse needs to identify their strengths and goals, develop skills, and achieve success in school, work and life. By 2009 it offered an expansive range of over 40 employment-related support programs and services throughout the Greater Toronto Area to thousands of unemployed and underemployed individuals and served 23,000 people.They operated out of 12 locations and have approximately 200 professionals on staff.
Kim Coulter became President and CEO in 2013.
The Guelph Hebrew Congregation, precursor of Beth Isaiah Congregation, was established in the early 1900s by the Jewish families which settled in Guelph shortly after 1900. Rev. Pearl was the congregation's first spiritual leader and teacher. Services were held in private homes until 1925, when the congregation purchased a building at the intersection of Surrey and Dublin Streets and remodeled it as a synagogue. An extension was added to this building in 1935 to meet the needs of the increasing membership. Planning for a new synagogue began in the early 1940s, and construction was completed in 1949 of the new synagogue on the same site. The name of the congregation was changed to Beth Isaiah, in honour of congregation member Isaiah (Sidney) Acker, who was killed on active service on 3 November 1942, while with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Over the years, congregation members formed other organizations whose activities were tightly intertwined with the congregation, given the relatively small size of Guelph's Jewish community. These organizations included the Beth Isaiah Congregation Hebrew School, the Guelph Jewish Welfare Fund, the Ir Shalom Chapter of Hadassah, and the B'nai Brith Guelph Lodge. The B'nai Brith Guelph Lodge was chartered in Apr. 1942. It held the first Brotherhood dinner in Canada in 1947, which gave impetus to the formation of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. Beth Isaiah celebrated the 100th anniversary of the congregation in 2004.
Philip Gerard Givens (1922-1995) was a municipal, provincial and federal politician, a judge, a police commissioner and an active Jewish communal leader. He is largely remembered as the 54th Mayor of Toronto.
Phil Givens was born in Toronto on April 24th, 1922, the only son of Hyman and Mary Gevertz (Gewercz). As a youth, he attended Harbord Collegiate and graduated from the University of Toronto in political science and economics in 1945 and from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1949. In 1947, he married Minnie "Min" Rubin (born February 7th, 1924) and together they had two children, Eleanor and Michael.
Givens graduated as a lawyer from Osgoode Hall; however, shortly thereafter he decided to enter politics, running as a municipal school board trustee in 1950. In 1951 he was elected as alderman for Ward 5, serving in this capacity until 1960, when he was subsequently elected as a city Controller.
Givens was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1962.
Following the sudden death of Mayor David Summerville in 1963, Givens was appointed by City Council as the Mayor of Toronto and was officially elected to the position in 1964, winning a close race against the former mayor, Allan Lamport. As mayor, Givens was automatically a member of the Metropolitan Toronto Executive and Council, the Metropolitan Toronto Police Commission, the Consumer’s Gas Company Executive, the Toronto Hydro Commission and the governing boards of Toronto’s major hospitals.
Givens was publicly seen as an affable and populist mayor but his tenure was not without controversy. His support for the construction of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts and his decision to acquire Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture “the Archer” for the new Nathan Phillips Square were both highly controversial during his term in office. In particular, the Moore sculpture sparked intense controversy and public debate amongst council members and citizens alike. Although ultimately purchased with private solicited donations, the controversy surrounding the statue’s purchase was still partly to blame for Givens’ 1966 election defeat to William Dennison.
In 1967 Givens entered national politics for the second time, the first being a failed 1957 bid in Toronto’s Spadina riding, winning a seat as a Liberal in Toronto’s York West riding. In 1971 he stepped down before the end of his term to campaign for a seat in the Provincial Legislature. Again running under the Liberal banner, Givens won his seat in York-Forest Hill and after the elimination of this riding in 1975, was re-elected in the new riding of Armourdale. In 1977 he retired from politics. He also worked briefly as a current affairs commentator for local radio broadcaster CHUM 1050 AM.
In 1977, Givens was appointed as a provincial court judge and chairman of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Commission, serving in both capacities until 1985, when he left the Commission but continued in the judiciary as a civil trial judge until officially retiring from public life in 1988.
An ardent Zionist, Givens was also a prominent leader of several Jewish communal organizations. He was the founder and first president of the Upper Canada Lodge of B’nai Brith and sat on the executives of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the United Jewish Welfare Fund, the Talmud Torah Eitz Chaim, the Zionist Organization of Canada, the Toronto Zionist Council, Jewish National Fund, State of Israel Bonds and the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. He was chairman of the United Israel Appeal-Israel Emergency Fund in 1967 and the United Jewish Appeal-Israel Special Fund in 1968. From 1973 to 1985 he was the national president of the Canadian Zionist Federation and in the 1990s was the national chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress’ Committee for Yiddish.
Givens was honoured by Jewish community organizations, including the Jewish National Fund’s Negev Award in 1968 and the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews’ Human Relations Award in 1969. As well, in 1972, he received the Award of Honour from the Toronto Regional Council of B’nai Brith.
Givens was also known to be a passionate sailor and was a member of both the Royal Canadian and the Island Yacht Clubs in Toronto. He died on November 30th, 1995 at the age of 73.
The Island Yacht Club (IYC) was founded in 1951 by a small group of Jewish sailing enthusiasts at a time when Jewish applicants were denied membership to Toronto's yacht clubs. The founding members included Cecil Yolles, Dr. Bernard “Bunny” Willinsky, Ben Dunkelman, John Bussin, Eon Gilmore, Mel and Irving Gould, Mark Speyer, Norm Kerzner, Joe Kitz, Boris Adelberg, and Bill Ackerman. The group obtained a lease from the City of Toronto for a parcel of undeveloped land on Mugg's Island in Blockhouse Bay. They then obtained a provincial charter incorporating the Island Yacht Club as a non-profit corporation. A board of directors was elected, with Bunny Willinsky as its first Commodore.
In 1952, the original group had grown to approximately 35 members. Work parties were formed from among the members to clear the land and a prefabricated building was purchased by the club which served as the early clubhouse. A generator was donated by member Al Jacobs for electricity and two floating docks were built. As the club membership grew, more land was acquired; the original clubhouse was expanded; grounds were landscaped; a swimming pool, lockers, dining room, lounge, docks, and marine railway were installed; and a tender was purchased. By 1956, the membership had grown to 350 with a fleet of eighty sail and power boats and the IYC was accepted into the Lake Yacht Racing Association (LYRA), the oldest association of its kind in North America.
In 1957, the IYC hosted its first open sailing regatta for the seven Toronto area yacht clubs and has since hosted many other regattas including four LYRA events. In order to accommodate its more junior members, a Junior Sailing Club was founded by Commodore John Zeldin in 1958, which has played a large role in the development of the IYC. In 1964, an adult sailing program was instituted to teach members and non-members racing tactics and rules. Racing competitions have been an important part of the IYC’s history. IYC sailors have been members of Canada’s Olympic sailing team and have competed in the Pan-American Games, Maccabiah Games, CORK regattas and other competitions in Canada and the United States.
Over the years, the purpose of the IYC has changed from a racing club that has developed champion sailors, to a more recreational club, oriented to family and leisurely activities. The IYC has also played a large social role in the lives of its membership, hosting galas, auctions, fashion shows, theme nights, bowling events, anniversary parties, the Commodore's Ball, and other activities during both the sailing season and off-season months.
The IYC has suffered from two fires in its fifty-five year history. The first fire occurred in 1986 in the IYC’s boat yard, destroying several boats. The second fire occurred in 2004 and destroyed the IYC’s clubhouse and its contents. A new clubhouse was officially opened on June 18th, 2006 and the IYC continues to serve its members in boating, socializing, dining, and marine services.
Rose Dunkelman (1889-1949) was born Rose Miller in Philadelphia to Mr. Harry Miller and Mrs. Dora (Belkin) Miller. At the age of 13 she moved to Toronto where she received her education and where she resided with her family until her death in 1949 at the age of 59. Rose Dunkelman devoted her life to helping the less fortunate, particularly children and orphans, and to championing the cause of Zionism at home and abroad. She was internationally known and respected for her philanthropic work and for her knowledge of, and dedication to, Zionist causes. She was a leader in the Canadian Jewish community for more than 30 years.
On 19 January 1910 she married David Dunkelman (1883-1978), founder and president of Tip Top Tailors Ltd. The couple had 6 children: Joseph, Ernest, Benajamin, Theodora, Veronica (Annenberg) (Ourisman) and Zelda (Wilner).
Rose was a founding member of the Zionist Organization of Canada, vice-president of the Ontario Zionist Region, and founded and chaired the Canadian branch of Youth Aliyah in 1933. For over 25 years, Rose held various positions within the Hadassah-Wizo Organization of Canada, including president of the Toronto Council of Hadassah (1921), honourary president on the executive board (1938-40), joint chairman of the war effort (1941), president of the Hadassah Organization of Canada Central Chapter of Toronto (1937-8; 1945-6), and honourary national vice-president. Rose also founded the Hadassah Bazaar in 1924. There is currently a Canadian Hadassah day care centre in Neve Sharett named in her honour as well as the Rose Dunkelman Memorial Community Center in Hadassim erected in 1950 in her memory.
In 1930, prompted by the 1929 attack on Jews at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and in Hebron, Rose and David Dunkelman founded the magazine, the Jewish Standard, as a Zionist forum for the English-speaking Jewish population of Canada. She was the periodical's first publisher and managing editor.
After the First World War, Rose worked as an officer with the Canadian Red Cross, bringing war orphans to Canada from Eastern Europe, for which she was presented with the Coronation Medal by King George VI in 1937. She was also active in the rehabilitation of First World War veterans.
During the Second World War, as chair of Ontario Youth Aliyah, Rose helped rescue children from Nazi persecution at Auschwitz, Treblinka, Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps and helped secure their passage to and resettlement in Palestine. Dunkelman held leadership positions in many domestic and international Jewish and Zionist programs and projects -- many focused on the welfare of Jewish children -- including the Jewish National Fund, Karen Hayesod, Karen Kayemeth, Young Judaea, the Toronto Hebrew Free Schools, and the YM-YWHA. She also served on the Canadian Family Allowance Board after the Second World War.
After a lengthy illness, Rose died on 20 October 1949 in Toronto at the age of 59. She was buried at Goel Tzedec's cemetery on Dawes Rd. and was later re-interred in Israel's national cemetery at Degania on 14 January 1953, as she requested in her will.
The Workmen's Circle / Arbeiter Ring was founded in 1900. It was originally created to protect the rights of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who were trying to enter the North American labour force. The Workmen's Circle's main purpose was to protect the labour movement and ensure economic justice for its members
Still strong today, the organization promotes Jewish and Yiddish culture through educational and cultural programs, and as well, is a leader against injustice in the Middle East. They also organize protests for a variety of causes, including unethical labour practices, abortion rights, and gun violence prevention
Some of their programs include adult lecture series, secular Jewish children's schools, summer camps, and dramatic and choral organizations
Workmen's Circle / Arbeiter Ring's call to action is "for all to create a more beautiful and better world"
Ida Lewis Siegel (1885-1982) was instrumental in the founding and development of several prominent Jewish organizations, such as the Daughters of Zion, Hadassah-Wizo Organization of Canada, the Hebrew Ladies' Maternity Aid Society and the Y.M.-Y.W.H.A. She was also particularly active in the educational sector and in campaigning for the rights of female educators. She was internationally known for her devotion to Jewish learning and for her contributions to the development of the Toronto Jewish community.
Ida was born to Samuel Lewis (b. 1859) and Hannah Ruth (Ticktin) Lewis (b. 1864) on 14 February 1885 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was the first child to be born in the United States after her parents immigrated from Lithuania. She had two brothers, Abe Lewis (b. 1880) and Charles S. Lewis (b. 1883). She attended elementary school in Pittsburgh, and in 1894, she and her family moved to Toronto.
On 14 February 1905, Ida married Isidore Hirsch Siegel at the Elm Street Synagogue. Isidore was a travelling peddler, and later, owner of a store in Cochrane, Ontario. Together, they had six children: Rohama Lee (1905-?), Leah Gittel (Labovitz) (1907-2004), David Isar (1909-2004), Sarah (Sontag) (1912-1942), Avrom Fichel (1916-2010), and Rivka Hadassah (Gurau) (1923-2001).
Ida is credited with helping to found a large number of Jewish philanthropic and social organizations including the Daughters of Zion, the first ladies' Zionist society in Canada (1899); the Herzl Girls' Club (1904); Hadassah-Wizo Organization of Canada (1916); the Hebrew Ladies' Sewing Circle, which developed into the Hebrew Ladies' Maternity Aid Society (1907); the Y.M.-Y.W.H.A. (1919); the Women’s League of the United Synagogues of America in Toronto (192-); the Goel Tzedec Sunday School (1914); and the Goel Tzedec Sisterhood (192-). She was also named honorary president of the Beth Tzedec Sisterhood in 1953. With the help of her brother Abe, Ida formed the first free Jewish Dispensary in Toronto, located on Elizabeth Street in the Ward, which was the forerunner to the Mount Sinai Hospital.
Ida also helped form a unified fundraising body for the Jewish community known as the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies (1917), which would become the current UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. However, Ida was denied a seat on the executive after campaigning for a female representative.
Always involved in the field of education, Ida was one of the original founders of the Home and School Association in 1919. In 1930, she became the first Jewish woman to be elected to the Toronto Board of Education, a post which she held for six years. She was later named honorary secretary of the Toronto Board of Jewish Education. In 1937, she ran unsuccessfully for alderman in Toronto, but remained politically active with the Association of Women's Electors. She was active in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom from 1915 onward and was an outspoken opponent of both world wars. Throughout her lifetime, Ida held the position of national vice-president of the Zionist Organization of Canada, sat on the executive board of the Canadian Jewish Congress and was a member of the Jewish Historical Society.
Her religious affiliations were with Goel Tzedec, Beth Tzedec, Shaar Shomayim and the Beach Hebrew Institute.
As early as 1916 the Ezras Noshem Society (a mutual benefit society for Jewish women) started to raise funds to purchase and renovate what would become The Toronto Jewish Old Folks' Home (Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care’s forerunner) after its members recognized the need for a home in Toronto where the Jewish elderly could receive kosher meals and communicate with staff in their own language. Property at 31 Cecil Street was purchased in 1917 and sometime between September 1918 and January 1920 the Home officially opened there. The Home was run by a small staff and the women of Ezras Noshem who volunteered their time to make beds, cook kosher meals, do laundry and sponsor fundraising events. By 1938 the Home had expanded into its neighboring houses at 29, 33, and 35 Cecil Street and was caring for 115 residents. It provided residents with synagogue services, a hospital ward and social activities. At this time the Home also became a member of the United Jewish Welfare Fund.
In 1946, the need for a larger and more modern building prompted a fundraising campaign, which was headed by Abe Posluns, to purchase and build a new facility. In December 1954, the new building opened at 3650 Bathurst Street and consisted of two new institutions: The Jewish Home for the Aged and Baycrest Hospital. This location continued to expand over the years, including a new building for residents in 1968, an apartment building for seniors called the Baycrest Terrace in 1976, and a community centre known as The Joseph E. and Minnie Wagman Centre in 1977. These additions enabled Baycrest to expand its programs to include a day care program, recreational programs, and a Sheltered Workshop which was run in cooperation with the Jewish Vocational Service and provided residents with employment. In 1986 a new Baycrest Hospital was erected, and in 1989, the Rotman Research Institute, which is also affiliated with the University of Toronto, opened to create a research facility where top researchers could study and find new treatment methods for the elderly.
In recent years, Baycrest’s services and programs have continued to expand. In 2000, the Apotex Centre, the Jewish Home for the Aged and the Louis and Leah Posluns Centre for Stroke and Cognition opened to help residents with progressive dementia caused by vascular disorders. In 2001 a condominium building opened at 2 Neptune Drive for seniors, and in 2003 the Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic was established to provide out-patient services for seniors with memory disorders. Baycrest Centre also provides numerous cultural and religious programs for the inhabitants and the greater community, including a heritage museum, art exhibits and a Holocaust program.
Maurice Solway (1906-2001) was a violinist, music teacher, composer, author and actor who lived and worked for most of his life in Toronto. Although he was highly respected as a musician in Toronto, and thoroughly immersed in the city’s musical culture from the 1920s until the 1980s, his greatest fame came to him later in life, as an actor in the Academy Award nominated NFB short film “The Violin”.
Maurice Solway's family lived at 164 York Street, Toronto, where he was born, in 1906. His parents, Jakob (b.1877) and Roza Solway (b.1877), had only just emigrated that year from Halofzen, Russia, where Jakob had been a musician and band leader. In Canada, Jakob adopted his father's trade and worked as a Kosher butcher, in Toronto’s St. John’s Ward. As a youth, Maurice played the violin in variety programmes with his sister, Dora, accompanying him on piano. His father was his first teacher, but he quickly showed enough promise to warrant private lessons with Harry Adaskin, and later with Dr. Luigi von Kunits, at the Canadian Academy of Music. He also studied at the Hambourg Conservatory in Toronto with Henri Czaplinsky and Geza de Kresz, starting in 1921.
Solway began his professional career with the New Symphony, which later became the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). During the 1920s, he also played in the Famous Players Cinema orchestras that accompanied silent films, and performed lunch concerts in Toronto hotel and department store orchestras, professional venues that would disappear by the 1930s.
From 1926 to 1928, Solway left Canada to study in Brussels with the highly regarded violinist, Eugène Ysaÿe. There he befriended other students of Ysaÿe, such as Nathan Milstein, William Primrose, Viola Mitchell, Robert Velton, and Joseph Gingold.
Upon his return to Toronto, Solway gave several recitals that were both critically and publicly well-received. Few such opportunities, however, existed in Canada at the time, and Solway was obliged to find work in-between solo concerts. He also suffered an injury to his left hand while moving a piano in 1929 that required him to adjust his technique for three fingers and interfered with his being able to play comfortably for a number of years.
He was married in 1930 to Anne Cass (1907-1994), and they had a son, Stephen. Facing his financial obligations to his new family, he opted for the more dependable income of orchestral playing versus the riskier and transitory life of a soloist. Besides classical music, he played with jazz groups like the Jolly Bachelor’s Orchestra, Oscar Peterson, Jerome Kern, and Percy Faith, and on numerous recordings for the CBC, CFCA, and CKGW radio stations. He also played chamber music with the Joyce Trio, founded by Simeon Joyce (piano) and featuring Charles Mathe (cello).
In 1952, Solway retired from the TSO, dedicating himself to his chamber playing and radio work. He founded the Solway String Quartet (SSQ) in 1947, with Marcus Adeney (cello), Nathan Green (viola) and Jack Groob (violin). The quartet played a mixed repertoire that included standard classical music with more widely recognized popular songs and new compositions, especially works by Canadian composers such as Howard Cable, John Weinzweig and Jean Coulthard. Sponsored by the Ontario Board of Education and the CBC, the SSQ played rural Ontario towns and broadcast concerts for a wide demographic of music listeners. In 1955, they performed the Canadian debut of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Quintet for guitar and strings with Andres Segovia. The SSQ, with frequent changes in personnel, continued performing until 1968. Other players in the SSQ included Robert Warburton, Martin Chenhall, Murray Adaskin, Arthur Milligan, Charles Dobias, Eugene Hudson, Berul Sugerman, Joseph Pach and Ivan Romanoff.
In 1973, Solway was invited to act in a short children’s film “The Violin,” co-produced by George Pastic and Andrew Walsh. Solway also contributed the original music to the film, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1975. Following the success of the film, Solway also appeared on television, making guest appearances with Sharon, Lois and Bram, on the Elephant Show and Mr. Dressup. During this time, his wife Anne traveled with him and managed his appointments.
Solway was also a violin teacher throughout his career. In 1989, he published a preparatory book, Fiddling for Fun: the Visual and Aural Art of Violin Playing, in which he outlined a new theory for violin practice that proposed an easy to use visual system for familiarizing students with intervals and fingerboard positions.
He also wrote an autobiography, Recollections of a Violinist, in 1984, and continued to lecture and speak about music. In 1981 and 1983 he devised a lecture performance series to commemorate Ysaÿe, the proceeds of which went to the establishment of a music scholarship at the Royal Conservatory. As he began to play less frequently in the 1980s, he also began to compose more regularly, completing more than one hundred compositions, primarily works for solo violin and for violin and piano. As a composer, he returned frequently to folk themes and completed a series of songs based on his travels around the world. Among his folk themes are songs inspired by his visits to such diverse countries as Norway, Maui, Japan, Israel and Spain.
Maurice Solway was affiliated with the Beth Tzedec Synagogue and frequently contributed to charity concerts and fundraising efforts for organizations such as the Inner City Angels, a cultural society for disadvantaged children. He died in 2001 in Toronto.
Paul Edell (1882-1966) was the owner of a Toronto printing business and a prominent member of Shomrai Shabbos Congregation.
Edell was born in Poland and emigrated to Toronto in 1910. He married Molly Weinreb in 1915 and they had 5 children: David, Sol, Ethel, Connie and Sara. When he arrived in Canada he found work as a clerk and salesman. He later apprenticed as a printer and in 1921, he opened his own business, Royal Printing, at 113 Elizabeth Street in Toronto. Edell continued to work at the business until his retirement in the 1960s. His customers included many Jewish businesses, institutions and organizations. Edell was also involved in a number of community activities, mostly centered around religious matters. He served as president of Shomrai Shabbos Congregation for many year and was also involved in the maintenance of the Jones Avenue cemetery. He passed away in 1966.
Sol Edell (1919-2000) was a prominant member of the Toronto Jewish community who initially pursued a career as a pharmacist and was later founder and president of the property development company, Elmdale Investments. He held positions as board member or chair in a wide variety of religious, educational and social service organizations and institutions both in Canada and Israel. In Toronto, these included: Clanton Park Synagogue, Adas Israel Synagogue, Jones Avenue Cemetery, Canadian Jewish Congress and the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto (formerly Toronto Jewish Congress, and now the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto).
Edell was born in Toronto on 5 March 1919, the son of Pesach and Molly Edell. He attended Harbord Collegiate and graduated from the Toronto College of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, in 1943 while on leave of absence from the army. He was enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War and served in the signal corps.
After he completed his army service, he opened Edell’s Drug Store at 1978 Queen Street in Etobicoke in 1948, the first shomer Shabbat drug store in the city. He operated a second store at 494 Spadina Avenue in the late 1940s. In 1955 the Queen Street location was expropriated by the City of Toronto. Subsequently, Edell founded Elmdale Investments, the company which built and managed the Elmhurst Plaza in Etobicoke. He reopened the drug store, which was renamed Elmhurst Drugs in the plaza. He also invested in two retail textile stores, Deltex Drapery and Dodd’s Drapery which had been founded by group of businessmen including his cousin Israel Edell.
In 1952 he married Dolly Weinstock, the daughter of Moishe and Sylvia Weinstock. They lived in the newly developed suburb of North York with their four children: Ethel, Simcha, Malka and Joseph. After 10 years of marriage, Dolly died and in 1966, he married Celia Rogen Hoffman.
Sol Edell was a founding member and first president of the Clanton Park Congregation. He was actively involved in the construction of the synagogue and its development. He continued to be affiliated with Shomrai Shabbos where his grandfather Rabbi Yosef Weinreb had been the rabbi. He was also involved with Adas Israel, the synagogue in Hamilton where his wife Celia had been an active member.
He was chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region -- Toronto Jewish Congress Archives Committee, which subsequently became the Ontario Jewish Archives. During his tenure, the archives was responsible for the reconstruction of the Kiever Synagogue which had been built in the early 1900s but had fallen into a state of disrepair by the 1960s.
Sol Edell was also involved in a number of Zionist organizations. He was the founding chair of the Aliyah Support Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto, whose mandate was to assist Torontonians who had moved to Israel and ease their transition into Israeli society. He was also an active member of the Mizrachi organization and its affiliated institutions. Another one of Sol Edell’s interests was ensuring the preservation of local cemeteries. He was president of the Jones Avenue Cemetery and on the board of Pardes Shalom and the Bathurst Lawn Cemetery, Clanton Park section.
Shirley (Gertzbein) Baine (1910-2005) was born in Lithuania in 1910. She came to Toronto to live with her extended family during the 1930s. She later married Arthur Baine, a widower who had two children. Together, they had three additional children of their own.
Soon after her arrival in Canada, Shirley Baine became very involved in the Mizrachi organization. She was first a member of the Bruria Girls, during the late 1930s, and then joined the Etzion women's chapter later in her life. The role of both groups was to raise funds and provide support for Palestine (and later Israel). In 1972, she was honoured by this chapter with an inscription of her name into their Golden Book. She died in Toronto in 2005.
Benjamin Dunkelman (1913-1997) was a successful businessman and President of Tip Top Tailors. He had a distinguished military career in both the Canadian army during the Second World War and in the Haganah during the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli War.
Dunkelman was born in Toronto to David Dunkelman (1883-1978) and Rose (nee Miller) (1889-1949). He had three sisters and two brothers: Joseph, a movie executive; Ernest, a manufacturer; Zelda; Veronica; and Theodora. His father, David, was a successful entrepreneur who established Tip Top Tailors in 1910. Both David and his wife Rose were fervent Zionist community activists.
Benjamin Dunkelman attended Upper Canada College and, at the age of 18, visited Palestine (now Israel). While in Palestine, he worked for a year on a kibbutz, mostly as a guard protecting it from nearby Palestinians. During the Second World War, Dunkelman served as a Major in the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada and in that role gained respect for his knowledge of mortars. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1945 for his role in the final Allied assault on Germany. Two years later, Benjamin Dunkelman returned to Palestine to join the Haganah in the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli War. As a commander, Dunkelman captured Nazareth, and brought northern Galilee under Jewish control. Near the end of the war, Dunkelman met and married Yael Lifshitz, a corporal in the Israeli Army. Dunkelman was elected National Commander of the Jewish War Veterans of Canada in 1977.
In addition to his work as a soldier, Dunkelman was a successful businessman. He served as president of Tip Top Tailors after his father stepped down, and was also director of Colonial Finance Corporation, president of Cloverdale Shopping Centre and president of Renforth Developments. Besides operating the Dunkelman Gallery for modern art, Dunkelman and his wife Yael ran the Constellation Hotel and Dunkelman’s Restaurant.
Dunkelman later wrote of his experiences in both wars in his autobiography Dual allegiance (MacMillan, 1976). As well as the DSO, Dunkelman was awarded the Fighter’s Decoration of the State of Israel (1970), and an Israel Bonds Award Dinner in Tribute to Ben Dunkelman (1977). He was a guest of honour both at a reception hosted by the Canadian Society for the Weizmann Institute of Science and the veterans of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada (1976) and at a 7th Brigade Reunion in Israel (1991).