Part Of

Jewish Community Centre of Toronto fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

61

Material Format

multiple media

Date

[ca. 1920]-1994

Physical Description

3 m of textual records (19 v.) and other material

Admin History/Bio

The Schwartz-Reisman Jewish Community Centre, the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre (formerly the Bathurst Jewish Community Centre or BJCC) and the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre (MNJCC) in Toronto are the current incarnations of what began, in 1919, as the Hebrew Association of Young Men's and Young Women's Clubs, later known as the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association of Toronto (YM-YWHA). The YM-YWHA, in turn, began as a merger between several other small athletic clubs operating in the city. The original mandate was strictly athletic, but soon broadened to include other areas of interest, in order to provide a sense of Jewish identity and camaraderie through physical, educational, cultural and community based programming. During the 1920s, the 'Y' became known simply as the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) – the name under which it was incorporated in 1930.

For close to two decades, the ‘Y’ had rented rooms in the Brunswick Avenue and College Street area, including the basement facilities of the Brunswick Avenue Talmud Torah. By the mid-1930s, these facilities were overcrowded and unable to support the growing membership, particularly when the young women’s programming was reintroduced in 1936.

As a result, in 1937, the YM-YWHA constructed its own athletic building at 15 Brunswick Avenue, next door to the Talmud Torah, to ease the overcrowding. However, the ‘Y’ still had to make use of five scattered buildings to meet its needs, including the Central YMCA gym for its basketball teams. The early ‘Y’ was staffed by volunteers who were granted free memberships in exchange for their time and expertise.

On 3 February 1953, a new Jewish Community Centre was dedicated at the corner of Bloor Street and Spadina Avenue. By the end of the 1950s, the ‘Y’ was providing services for all ages, ranging from a nursery school to their Good Age Club for seniors.

As the Jewish community moved northward, so too did the ‘Y’, with the dedication of a new northern branch on 1 May 1961. This new branch, located at Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue, was created in order to address the athletic, educational, cultural and community needs of the expanding Jewish community in the north end of the city. Fourteen years later, an improved cultural and physical education wing was added as part of the completion campaign. This included the addition of the Leah Posluns Theatre and the Murray Koffler Centre of the Arts. In 1978, the YM-YWHA changed its name to the Jewish Community Centre of Toronto, in order to better reflect its broader role in the community. A new Northeast Valley branch was also established in Thornhill in the early 1980s and later closed in the late 1990s.

In 1994, the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto took over the operation of the northern branch, due to financial difficulties. At this point, all three branches became independent of one another and were no longer constituted as the Jewish Community Centre of Toronto. They each had independent boards of directors, while still receiving some of their operating funds from the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto.

Scope and Content

This fonds consists of the records created and accumulated by the Jewish Community Centre of Toronto -- which included the Bloor branch and the northern Bathurst Jewish Community Centre -- and its predecessor, the YM-YWHA. The records include textual records maintained by the office of the executive director, financial reports, architectural plans, Y-Times newsletters, program material, photographs and oral histories.

The records have been arranged into the following series: Executive director, Jewish Community Centre Archives Committee, Publication Committee, Communications Department, Sports Celebrity Dinner, and Combined Building Campaign Committee.

Notes

Includes 2539 photographs, 42 architectural drawings, 13 sound recordings, 4 artifacts, and 2 posters.

Name Access

Jewish Community Centre of Toronto

Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre

Subjects

Community centers

Related Material

See photo #2369-2646, 3412, 3519, 3804, 4201, 5004, 6125, accession #1986-7-8, MG2 N1a

Creator

Jewish Community Centre of Toronto (Toronto, Ont.)

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

2004-6-6

2004-5-13

2004-5-2

1988-11-7

1988-4-9

1984-7-2

1983-12-1

1982-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

2014-2-8

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

55 photographs : col.

10 cm of textual records

1 VHS

1 CD

1 DVD

1 medal

Date

1975-2013

Scope and Content

Accession consists of photographs from the Israel at 50 event, canvasser training materials from 2011, Joshua Institute records 2011-2012, the "Jewish campus life task force report" of April 24, 2009, a booklet of plans in the project proposal for upgrading Yoseftal Hospital in Eilat (ca. 2013), campaign donor list from 1975, UJA Federation annual meeting "toward tomorrow" booklet from October 29, 2001, 2007-2008 UJA budget records, and an organizational chart for Foundation. Also included is a VHS tape "The Mission: Under the wing of God and the Shadow of Amalek" by Dubi Arie, DVD of "Becoming a witness: The march of the living interfaith experience" (2005), CD with photographs from the UIA of Canada visit to Israel in August 2006, and a medal from the UJA Federation Fun Run of 2000.

Custodial History

Records were transferred to the archives by Ted Sokolsky, president and CEO of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

Use Conditions

UJA Federation meeting minutes and general correspondence are closed for 10 years from date of creation. Contracts and donor agreements are permanently closed.

Name Access

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2014-5-2

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

15 cm of textual records

8 architectural drawings

2 CDs

Date

1960-2011, predominant 2011

Scope and Content

Accession consists of architectural drawings for the construction of the Northern YM-YWHA at 4600 Bathurst Street (1960) as well as floor plans for the proposed re-development of the site in 1999. Also included are submissions for the competition to design and build the Jewish War Veterans of Canada memorial at the Sherman Campus (2011).

Use Conditions

UJA Federation meeting minutes and general correspondence are closed for 10 years from date of creation. Contracts and donor agreements are permanently closed.

Subjects

Architecture

Charities

Veterans--Canada

Name Access

Young Men's Hebrew Association (Toronto, Ont.)

Bathurst Jewish Community Centre

Jewish War Veterans of Canada

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2018-6-21 [Processed]

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

13 cm of textual records

Date

1982-1989

Scope and Content

Accession consists of material documenting Cantor Harold Klein and Rabbi Stuart Rosenberg. Cantor Klein's records include sound recordings and sheet music. Rabbi Rosenberg's records include certificates of conversion, divorce, and marriage; counselling and pastoral cards; decree absolutes; a letter to Mr. A. Copnick from Garry Goldberg regarding a "Burn the Mortgage Campaign" (the letter includes a note to the rabbi); a letter to Rabbi Rosenberg from Rabbi Bernard Baskin; and wedding record cards.

Custodial History

6/25/2018: Rabbi Yossi Sapirman of Beth Torah Congregation donated the records to the Ontario Jewish Archives.

Administrative History

Cantor Harold Klein was the chazzan of the Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in Toronto. Cantor Klein was a classmate, and then later a student for many years, of Professor Noach Schall of Yeshiva University.

Rabbi Stuart E. Rosenberg led Beth Torah Congregation for nine years. Prior to that, he was senior rabbi for seventeen years at Beth Tzedic, the largest Conservative congregation in Canada.

Use Conditions

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

Subjects

Cantors (Judaism)

Rabbis

Name Access

Klein, Harold

Rosenberg, Stuart E

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

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

United Jewish Welfare Fund fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

67

Material Format

multiple media

Date

1936-2010, predominant 1938-1976

Physical Description

14.3 m of textual records

5593 photographs, 25 x 20 cm and smaller, and other media

Admin History/Bio

The Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto (FJPT) was incorporated in Ontario in March 1917 to coordinate the fundraising activities of Jewish charitable, philanthropic, and social service agencies in Toronto. In 1918, ten separate agencies were funded by the FJPT. By 1937, fourteen agencies were funded. The Great Depression of the 1930s and the development of several newer Jewish aid, education, and medical care organizations created both increased need for resources and growing competition for ever-more scarce dollars. Within a very few years, this funding crisis forced a major review of the organization.

During 1936, a series of special meetings of leading individuals were held to examine the income and expenditures of all Toronto Jewish agencies and also to speculate about the need for a new Toronto Jewish "community chest" as the sole fund-raising organization for a federation of all Jewish agencies, including the FJPT. In 1938, the new United Jewish Welfare Fund was formally constituted. Added to the FJPT's previous list of Toronto client agencies in 1938 were: the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Hebrew National Association, the Jewish Immigrant Aid Association, the Mizrachi Society, the Toronto Free Loan Association, the Geverkshaften, and Old Folks Home, and the United Palestine Appeal, raising the total number of agencies to twenty-two.

When the State of Israel was established in 1948, the UJWF's annual fundraising campaign was combined with the CJC's United Palestine appeal to form a new, combined campaign named the United Jewish Appeal (UJA). In 1967, the UJA name was legally changed to the United Jewish Appeal of Metropolitan Toronto.

In mid-1976, the organization's public name was changed to the Toronto Jewish Congress. Although initially thought of as a merger between the UJWF and the CJC, the actual result was the expansion of the UJWF responsibilities to include local education and welfare services previously shared with the Canadian Jewish Congress, Central Region. The UJWF, however, remained the legal senior entity.

In 1991, the public name was again changed to the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto and, in 1999, to UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. By this date, over thirty beneficiary and affiliated agencies, forty-nine affiliated schools and five federation departments were fully or partly funded by the federation.

In June 2010, the organization altered its legal structure, with the senior legal entity becoming the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of 25 series: Annual Meetings, Annual Reports, Board of Directors, Constitution Committee, Executive Committee, Officers Committee, Budget and Finance Committee, Administration Committee, Social Planning Committee, Committee on Capital Needs and Planning, Central Committee on Scholarships in Aid, Joint Committee of the BJE and UJWF Study on Jewish Education, Nominations Committee, Pension Fund Committee, Coordinating Committee, Special Ad Hoc and Temporary Committees, Annual Campaign, Client Agencies, Joint Committee of the CJC and the UJWF, Committee on Community Organization, Sub-Committee on Construction and Administration of Community Schools, Joint Committee on Fundraising, Personnel Committee, Community Leadership Development Council, and Israel at Fifty Community Celebration.

Over 4500 photographs and a variety of other media are managed within Series 17, Campaign records.

Notes

For exact details about the contents of individual series and sub-series, please review their scope and contents notes.

Name Access

United Jewish Welfare Fund

Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto

United Jewish Appeal

Toronto Jewish Congress

Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

Subjects

Charities

Fund raising

Access Restriction

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

Related Material

For records of the predecessor of the UJWF, see Fonds 66, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto fonds.

Further detailed documentation of the proposed merger between the UJWF and the CJC (creation of the TJC) may be found in Fonds 67, Sub-sub-series 5-5-1, Files 171 and 221.

Further documentation on the United Jewish Welfare Fund may be found within Fonds 9, Series 7, records of the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society.

For further detailed records of a key community leader's involvement with the UJWF see Accession 1982-8-8, the records of Samuel Godfrey, 1943-1972.

Creator

United Jewish Welfare Fund (1938-)

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

2023-5-5

Material Format

multiple media

Physical Description

40 cm of textual records and other material

Date

1982-2017, predominant 2014-2015

Scope and Content

Accession consists of records documenting David Matlow's role as chair of the UJA Campaign 2015, his involvement in the March of the Living, and other community organizations. Also reflects Andrea Cohen's role as co-chair of campaign and Allison Himel as chair of Women's Philanthropy. Includes 40 cm of textual records, 16 photographs (col. ; 22 x 28 cm or smaller), 2 prints (poster ; 28 x 36 cm or smaller), 1 wristband, 1 medal (8 cm in diam. on loop 4 x 42 cm), 1 t-shirt, and 1 papercut (18 x 18 cm in frame 30 x 36 cm).

Administrative History

David Matlow is the owner of the world’s largest private collection of Theodor Herzl memorabilia and is the producer of My Herzl, a 52 minute documentary by Israeli film maker Eli Tal-El. A partner at Goodmans LLP in Toronto, David was the co-chair, together with Andrea Cohen, of Toronto’s 2015 Campaign for the United Jewish Appeal.

Subjects

Fund raising

Jewish outreach

Jewish philanthropists

Name Access

Matlow, David

UJA Federation of Greater Toronto

Source

Archival Accessions