Part Of

Yeshivah Torath Chaim Theological Seminary of Canada fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

21

Material Format

graphic material

textual record

Date

1937-[197-?]

Physical Description

37 cm of textual records

8 photographs : b&w and col. ; 21 x 26 cm or smaller

2 posters : 36 x 28 cm

Admin History/Bio

Yeshivah Torath Chaim was incorporated in December 1937 and was in operation until the mid-1980s. It 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.

Custodial History

The custodial history for this fonds is unclear. No accession records exists for this fonds.

Scope and Content

The fonds documents the administrative, educational, and religious functions of Yeshivah Torath Chaim from 1942 to 1977. The 38 files include minutes, financial reports, correspondence, legal documents, and enrollment records. Most of the records relate to the school, but there is some documentation and financial records relating to the yeshivah synagogue, and a very little relating to Gan Yelodim kindergarten. The fonds also includes some personal correspondence of Rabbi Price.

Also included are 8 photographs, including two of the building on College Street.

Name Access

Yeshivah Torath Chaim Theological Seminary of Canada

Subjects

Yeshivas

Related Material

See accession 1995-8-1.

Creator

Yeshivah Torath Chaim Theological Seminary

Accession Number

2005-2-8

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Yeshivah Torath Chaim Theological Seminary of Canada fonds

Level

File

Fonds

21

File

16

Material Format

textual record

Date

1942-1962

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

Admin History/Bio

Rabbi Abraham A. Price was a prominent Rabbi and Talmudic scholar in Toronto. He was born on December 10, 1900 in Stopnitz, Poland to Rabbi Joseph and Basia Price. He married Sarah Wine, and had two children: a son, Moshe Leib, who predeceased him, and a daughter, Leah (Lola) Zuchowsky. He also had a brother Lazar.

Price lived in Poland until 1923, when he moved to Berlin and became a banker. He left Berlin for Paris in 1931, and lived there for 6 years before fleeing to the United States in 1937. Rabbi Price originally went to New York City, but spent only ten days there before moving to Toronto.

Rabbi Price studied with world-famous scholars Rabbi Abraham Borenstein and Rabbi Sillman, by whom he was ordained at the Rabbinical Seminary Sochatzow (Sochatov), Poland in 1919. He was hired in 1937 by Moishe Oelbaum, Moishe Sigal, and W.J. Silverberg to head Yeshivah Torath Chaim and to act as the official rabbi of Chevra Shas Congregation. Price remained dean of the yeshivah until at least 1985. He published ten volumes of highly acclaimed rabbinical studies, including three volumes of Mishnath Avraham with commentaries of the Book of the Pious "Sefer Chasidim," which were awarded the Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook Award of Merit in 1965. It was the first time this prize was given to an author outside Israel.

Price was one of Toronto's most influential rabbinic authorities. He worked tirelessly to help European yeshivah students during and after the Second World War. In 1942 he orchestrated the release of over 50 German-Jewish men from an internment camp in Quebec, and brought them to study at the yeshivah. In 1948 he again intervened to sponsor 55 young yeshivah boys from Prague. He brought these boys to study at Torath Chaim as well.

Rabbi Price died on Thursday, March 31, 1994 in Toronto. His estate donated his collection of over 3000 printed rabbinical works to the University of Toronto Library, including over 300 items printed before 1800.

Scope and Content

This file contains correspondence sent and received by Rabbi Abraham A. Price between 1942 and 1962. The letters relate to Rabbi Price's involvement in having Jewish-German internees released from internment camps in 1942, and Czechoslovakian refugees brought over to study at the yeshivah in 1948. It also includes inquiries made and references given about former students.

Name Access

Price, Abraham A., 1900-1994

Subjects

Rabbis

Source

Archival Descriptions