Accession Number

2018-7-12

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

450 cm of textual records and other material

ca. 350 audio cassettes

164 audio discs : vinyl

Date

[19--]

Scope and Content

Accession consists of material documenting Cantor Harold Klein. Included are audio recordings that belonged to Klein, sheet music, and other textual records.

Administrative History

Cantor Harold Klein was born in Borough Park, Brooklyn in 1929. The child of eastern European immigrants, Klein was the second of three sons. When he was four, the family moved to Williamsburg. It was there that he attended yeshiva.

As a child, Klein was inspired by Rabbi Levi Greenwald, Rabbi Dovid Rabinowitz, and Earl Spero to pursue his vocation as a cantor. He studied with Cantor Noah Schall and [Frederick?] Pugel. In a 1984 interview with author Mark Slobin, Klein credited both with his later success.

In the course of his career, Klein sung for several congregations. The first was Sutton Place Synagogue, aka the U.N. Synagogue, where he introduced congregational singing. In 1968, he moved to Toronto and became cantor at Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue. After several years at Beth Emeth, he went to Shaarei Shomayim, where he sung for many years.

In addition to regular singing, Klein occupied a number of important posts within the cantorial community. In the 1970s, he was elected to the executive council of the Cantors Assembly of America. At the time he was elected, Klein was serving as the president of the Toronto Council of Hazzanim.

Klein was also a published author. After a friend encouraged him to write a songbook, he formed Mydas Music Company, which published his Let's Sing and Daven songbook in 1985. The songbook, which was accompanied by a ninety-minute cassette of Klein singing to piano accompaniment, won praise from a number of cantors. A sequel, Let's Sing and Celebrate,was released in 1987.

In 1988, the Cantors Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary inducted Klein as one of its honourary fellows.

Use Conditions

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

Subjects

Cantors (Judaism)

Music by Jewish composers

Synagogue music

Name Access

Klein, Harold

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

Part Of

Harold S. Kaplan fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

27

Material Format

multiple media

Date

[ca.1910]-1968

Physical Description

345 architectural drawings and other material

Admin History/Bio

Harold Solomon Kaplan (1895-1973) was a Toronto-based architect who, in partnership with Abraham Sprachman in the firm Kaplan & Sprachman, was well-known for the design of Art deco and Art moderne movie theatres in the 1930s and 1940s and for designing buildings for Jewish communities across Canada from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Kaplan was born 10 Sept. 1895, in Bucharest, Romania. At the age of three, he and his widowed mother, Tillie Hohan, moved to London, England, and in 1902 they moved to Toronto where his mother subsequently married Frank Kaplan. While in his teens, Kaplan spent time in Philadelphia living with an uncle and studying draftsmanship. Upon returning to Toronto, Kaplan attended Toronto Technical School where he took courses in architecture and building construction. He also served an apprenticeship with the architect Henry Simpson. In 1919-1920, Kaplan worked for the firm of Page & Warrington, before establishing Kaplan & Sprachman with Abraham Sprachman in 1922. In 1923, he married Dorothy Spain. They had two daughters, Phyllis (Pepper) and Ruthetta (Reiss).

Kaplan & Sprachman were best known for their more than 300 movie theatre projects completed from the 1920s to the 1960s, designing and renovating theatres across Canada in progressive "modern" styles and using innovative building materials. In 1937, they were awarded the bronze medal in the Sixth Biennial Toronto Exhibition for their interiors to the Eglinton Theatre (400 Eglinton Ave. W.) in Toronto, considered to be the finest example of their Art deco design work.

Over the course of their careers, they designed many synagogues for the Jewish community, such as the Anshei Minsk and Shaarei Shomayim synagogues in Toronto, Beth Israel Synagogue, Edmonton, and Beth Israel Synagogue in Vancouver. They also designed the new Mount Sinai Hospital, the Oakdale Golf & Country Club, the Jewish Home for the Aged (Baycrest), and the Jewish Community Centres of Toronto and Hamilton. Their design for the Oakdale Golf & Country Club was chosen as a Canadian entrant in the Arts Competition of the 14th Olympic Games in London, 1948.

In addition to the projects already mentioned, Kaplan & Sprachman worked on retail stores, warehouses and factories, apartment buildings, and single family residences. Their partnership continued until 1965, when the firm of Kaplan & Sprachman was dissolved as of 30 October 1965. Kaplan continued to work as an architectural consultant for several years after this date. Harold Kaplan died 1 April 1973 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Kaplan was a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Ontario Association of Architects, and the Province of Quebec Association of Architects. Kaplan & Sprachman's contribution to the architecture profession was recognized by the Ontario Association of Architects when both Kaplan's and Abraham Sprachman's names were entered on the Honor Roll for prominent members of the profession, established by the association in 1989.

Scope and Content

The fonds documents Kaplan's work as an architect from the 1930s to the 1960s with Kaplan & Sprachman and some of the consulting work he undertook after the dissolution of the partnership in 1965, primarily through architectural drawings and photographs. The preponderance of the materials relates to a series of renovations of Loew's Yonge Street Theatre (189 Yonge St., Toronto, now the Elgin Theatre) and the Uptown Theatre (764 Yonge St., Toronto, just South of Bloor St.) between the 1930s and 1960s, and Kaplan & Sprachman's design of the Primrose Club (Russell Hill Rd at St. Clair Ave., Toronto) in 1958-1959. There is also a large number of photographs by commercial photographers of movie theatres designed or renovated by Kaplan & Sprachman.

Project records are arranged chronologically, with sub-sub-series defined for successive projects at the same site. Some of the materials document project proposals which were not carried out (e.g., proposed renovations of the Winter Garden Theatre).

Other series in the fonds contain business correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Kaplan & Sprachman projects, and a small amount of personal material such as family photographs, awards Kaplan received over the years for his design work and a colour photocopy of the invitation to Kaplan's stag party in 1923.

Notes

Includes: 132 photographs (131 b&w, including 8 negatives; 1 col.), 8 cm of textual records, and 1 bronze medal.

Name Access

Kaplan, Harold S., 1895-1973

Kaplan & Sprachman (Firm)

Loew's Yonge Street Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Primrose Club (Toronto, Ont.)

Uptown Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Physical Condition

Some of the blueprints and drawings are torn or water-damaged. All of the architectural drawings are currently stored in rolls.

Related Material

Accession 2003-7-1 contains additional photographs of buildings designed or renovated by Kaplan & Sprachman, as well as a copy of a published inventory of Kaplan & Sprachman movie theatre projects, compiled by Mandel Sprachman from Kaplan & Sprachman records

Mina Sprachman, widow of Abraham Sprachman, discusses Kaplan & Sprachman in oral history recording AC-142

Kaplan & Sprachman records can also be found in the Mandel Sprachman fonds, at the City of Toronto Archives

Creator

Kaplan, Harold S., 1895-1973

Accession Number

2003-6-1

2004-3-4

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

2003-5-5

Material Format

multiple media

Date

[192-?]-1975

Scope and Content

The records in this accession document the Raxlen family and the Raxlen Clinic and Doctor's Hospital that was set up by the Raxlen brothers. The records also include personal correspondence between Katie Cherney and her mother, family photographs, greeting cards, press clippings and a booklet of articles written by Rabbi Fine of Peterborough. This booklet includes translated documents that he produced as rabbi from 1926 to 1934. Finally, there are three historic postcards documenting Holy Blossom's building on Bond Street, Jarvis Collegiate, and the Doctor's Hospital

Custodial History

Records were collected by Karen Fejer, the daughter of Alexander Raxlen.

Administrative History

The Raxlen brothers were born in Toronto in Cabbagetown, where their father operated a grocery store. The four brothers were Saul, Benjamin, Alexander, and Sam. All of the brothers graduated in medicine during the 1930s, except for Sam, who became a dentist. Together, they opened up the Raxlen Clinic in 1937, which was located on Carleton Street.

In 1953, the brothers opened their own private hospital, the Doctor's Hospital, which was located on Brunswick Avenue. The hospital started in a ninety-year-old building that was owned by a religious order. The brothers modernized and expanded it from a facility accomodating 59 patients to one that could hold up to 168 beds by 1955. It soon became the largest privately-held, non-profit hospital in North America. By the time the brothers sold it during the late 1970s, it had 554 full-time staff and five hundred hospital beds.

The other family documented in this accession is the Cherney family from Peterborough. The patriarch and matriarch were Abraham and B. Cherney. They had two children, Katie ("Kaye") and Meyer. Abraham and B. divorced, and Abraham remarried and had three more kids: Harry, Helen, and Louis. The family remained in Peterbough, but the ex-wife moved to Toronto. Kaye married Dr. Alexander Raxlen, and they had three children. Karen Fejer, their daughter, is the donor.

Use Conditions

Correspondence is restricted. Researchers must contact donor for permission to access them. The rest of the collection is open.

Descriptive Notes

Restrictions on access, use, reproduction, and publication: Some of the photographs are the property of the City of Toronto Archives.

Subjects

Families

Hospitals

Rabbis

Name Access

Doctor's Hospital (Toronto, Ont.)

Fine, Abraham

Places

Peterborough (Ont.)

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2013-12-6

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

ca. 200 photographs and other material

Date

[193-]-[2007?]

Scope and Content

Accession consists of material documenting the personal life and family of Myra Merkur. The bulk of the accession consists of photographs and home movies documenting family activities and an outing to High Park and the Toronto Zoo, holiday celebrations (such as Hanukkah Purim, Passover, and New Year's Eve costume parties), milestones (such as, Myra's wedding and graduation), cottage life at Gamebridge Beach and Camp Wishiwami, and family holidays and travel (such as to Israel, Blue Mountains in Collingwood, and Grossingers in New York).

Also included are sound recordings of a speech made by David Merkur to Nomi Tepperman at her bat mitzvah (17 May 1998) and of an interview with David Merkur who explains to his tweleve year old granddaughter what life was like when he was twelve (1 Nov. 2000).

Finally, accession includes a photocopy of a tribute Myra wrote for her late mother Lena Charlotte Gula documenting Lena's life and Myra's memories of her.

Administrative History

Myra Merkur (née Gula) was born to Lena Gula (née Neimen) and Jack Gula in Toronto in 1933. She had one sister, Elaine Wolfish. As a child, Myra and her family lived with her maternal grandmother, Betty "Brindel", at 234 Markham Street. They later moved into their own home at 1 Enid Crescent in 1949. Myra's father initially worked as a tailor but later went into the sales business selling furniture and insurance. Myra's mother initially stayed at home but obtained work in the mid-1950s as a saleswoman at Morgan's department store.

Myra married David Israel Merkur in 1954. David was a civil engineer and lawyer. He later started a family real-estate business that involved buying, selling, and maintaining properties. Myra and David had three children together: Shauna Tepperman (b. 1956), Lorne Merkur (b. 1957), and Jordan Merkur (b. 1962).

Myra completed her undergraduate degree from Atkinson College (York University) around 1975. She obtained her master of education from OISE in 1982. Myra worked as an ESL teacher with the Toronto Public School Board and was involved as a volunteer and leader with the National Council of Jewish Women, JF&CS, and the Jewish Women's Federation (Women's Philanthropy).

Descriptive Notes

Physical description: includes 1 folder of textual records, 2 sound recordings (wav), and 7 DVDs

Subjects

Families

Vacations

Fasts and feasts--Judaism

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

New York (State)

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2020-12-4

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

2 web pages (WARC)

Date

2020

Scope and Content

Accession consists of material documenting No Silence on Race. Included are two web pages. The first web page was created in Google Forms and is titled "No Silence on Race: An open letter from Black Jews, Non-Black Jews of colour, and our allies to Jewish organizations in Canada." The letter is dated 30 June 2020 and is signed by Sara Yacobi-Harris, Akilah Allen-Silverstein, and Daisy Moriyama. The second web page is taken from Niv's Weekly Picks and is titled "Lessons from the Kosher Section." The piece is dated 18 November 2020 and is by Yoni Belete.

Administrative History

On 30 June 2020, No Silence on Race addressed an open letter "from Black Jews, non-Black Jews of colour, and our allies to Jewish congregations, federations, foundations, organizations, nonprofits and initiatives," urging the latter to "uphold the tenets of justice and equality and to commit to the creation of a truly anti-racist, inclusive and equitable Jewish community." To that end, the authors of the letter—Sara Yacobi-Harris, Akilah Allen-Silverstein, and Daisy Moriyama—devised nine pillars "intended to support Jewish congregations, federations, foundations, organizations, nonprofits and initiatives in their transformation towards greater inclusivity and equity." Those nine pillars were: allyship; education; Indigenous education and relationship building; equity consultancy; employment and recruimtnet; equity, inclusion, anti-racism advisory; Jews of colour leadership strategy; programming/events/partnerships; amplify the voices of Jews of colour in Canada.

As of 21 January 2021, the No Silence on Race team consisted of Sara Yacobi-Harris, Akilah Allen-Silverstein, and Yoni Belete. Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Koffler Centre of the Arts, CJPAC, Hillel Ontario, Secular Synagogue, the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation, Shoresh, JQT Vancouver, Lishma, the Miles Nadal JCC, Mazon Canada, the First Narayever Congregation, and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto had issued statements in response to the open letter, extracts of which are viewable on the No Silence on Race website.

Use Conditions

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

Subjects

Jews of Colour (JOC)

Multicultural Judaism

Jewish diversity

Name Access

Allen-Silverstein, Akilah

Belete, Yoni

Moriyama, Daisy

No Silence on Race

Yacobi-Harris, Sara

Places

Canada

Source

Archival Accessions