Part Of

Rabbi Samuel Sachs fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

106

Material Format

textual record

Date

1914-1979

Physical Description

63 cm of textual records

Admin History/Bio

Rabbi Samuel Sachs (1894-1989) was the spiritual leader of Goel Tzedec Synagogue from 1927 to 1946, when the congregation was housed on University Ave.

Rabbi Sachs was born on 1 September 1894 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He was the son of Yehuda Sachs and Reiza Malka Sachs. He had two siblings: sisters Khaya Sachs and Rebecca Sachs.

As a child he attended Radin, one of the classical yeshivas in Lithuania. Coming to the United States, he studied at the Isaac Eichanan Yeshiva and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He received his smicha (rabbinical ordination) in 1916 and in the ensuing ten years served in Brooklyn, Detroit, and Portland, Oregon.

He married Florence "Fayge" Farber (1902-1976) on 24 Oct. 1920 in Detroit, Michigan. Together, they had four children: Judah (Jerry) Raphael Walpert, David Sachs; Mendel Sachs and Elliott Sachs.

In 1927, Sachs moved to Toronto to become the spiritual leader of Goel Tzedec Synagogue.

Notably, Sachs led the deputations to Mayor William Stewart to stop the flaunting of an inflammatory swastika banner during the Christie Pits riot of 1933. The following year, when the Canadian Jewish Congress was reorganized, Sachs joined the public relations committee, which he chaired for a time. He was also active on the Jewish education committee, the German boycott committee and the arbitration committee.

Later, in the war years, he was chairman of the Intra-Jewish Committee — a body which undertook to enforce that Jewish merchants and dealers complied with the wartime restrictions on various supplies and provisions.

He acted as prison chaplain in the 1930s and honorary chaplain to the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War.

He left Toronto in 1946 because of an illness that was removing his voice leaving him unable to perform most of his rabbinical tasks. In California he partially regained this function and carried on certain rabbinical and teaching tasks. He died on 25 April 1989 in Santa Monica at the age of 94.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of records created by Rabbi Samuel Sachs. Included are his sermons and related notes on a number of biblical themes, general writings, prayers, speeches, and general correspondence.

Name Access

Sachs, Samuel, 1894-1989

Subjects

Rabbis

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Graubart fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

42

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

Date

1884-1974

Physical Description

21 cm of textual records

3 photographs : b&w ; 21 x 26 or smaller

Admin History/Bio

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Graubart (1862–1937) was chief rabbi to Toronto's Polish Jews, director of Eitz Chaim Talmud Torah, and a leading spokesman for Orthodox Jewry during the 1920s and 1930s. Rabbi Graubart was born in Poland, the descendant of a prominent rabbinical family. He was a noted rabbi and posek (legal decisor) in Poland, St. Louis (USA), and, later, Toronto. In Poland, he served in Stashov, the district from which most of Toronto's Polish Jews had emigrated. He was renowned for his religious knowledge and published works and for his efforts in creating rabbinical associations throughout Poland and Russia. He was also an enthusiastic Zionist.

On 18 August 1920, Rabbi Graubart became the communal rabbi of Toronto's Polish Jews, succeeding Rabbi Judah Rosenberg. He soon took charge of the Eitz Chaim Talmud Torah, and, in 1922, he formed a yeshivah called Shaarei Torah. He was the recognized authority for Polish-Jewish congregations on the supervision of kosher food production, which involved him in ongoing disputes with other Toronto rabbis of the time, including Rabbis Jacob Gordon and Joseph Weinreb.

Rabbi Graubart developed the first communal eruv in Toronto, enabling Jews to carry or move items outdoors on the Sabbath. He launched a campaign against Sabbath violation, publishing notices and holding open-air sermons in Kensington Market, urging Jewish workers and manufacturers not to work on Saturday. He also approached unions urging them to let their employees off for holy days. He was also a spokesman for Mizrachi, the movement of religious Zionists.

Toward the end of his life, Rabbi Graubart withdrew from communal work and concentrated almost exclusively on his writings and the study of rabbinic literature. He was renowned internationally as a scholar and authority in his field. He wrote an autobiography entitled "Book of Memoirs." Rabbi Graubart was married to Esther Graubart (née Liebschuetz), and they had three children: David, Hinda, and Deborah.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of Rabbi Graubart's marriage registers and certificates, personal and professional correspondence, articles, speeches, sermons, photographs, copies of the introductions to "Chavalim Ba-Ne'Imim" in Hebrew and English, and other personal and family documents.

Notes

ACCESS RESTRICTION NOTE: Rabbi Graubart's marriage registers and certificates post-1937 are closed in accordance with the OJA's privacy policy. Pre-1937 records are open and can be consulted.

Name Access

Graubart, Yehuda Leib, 1862-1937

Subjects

Orthodox Judaism

Rabbis

Access Restriction

Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA director prior to accessing some of the records.

Repro Restriction

Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.

Physical Condition

Many of the records are in very fragile condition.

Related Material

See also Photo #3413 and the Ontario Jewish Archives' news clippings file under "Graubart, Rabbi Yehuda Leib"

Creator

Graubart, Yehuda Leib, 1862-1937

Accession Number

1990-5-1

1992-8-6

Source

Archival Descriptions

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