Level

Item

Item

2443

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1960]

Physical Description

2 photographs : (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Director: Mrs. Diamond.

2nd row, rear: Norman Nelson.

Name Access

Nelson, Norman

Diamond, Mrs.

Workmen's Circle

Arbeter Ring

Arbeiter Ring

Subjects

Choirs (Music)

Jews--Music

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1979-4-4

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Gilbert Studios fonds

Negev dinners series

Level

File

Fonds

37

Series

1

File

3

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1967

Physical Description

50 negatives : b&w ; 11 x 13 cm

Admin History/Bio

Nathan Silver was born in Warsaw, Poland to Blima and Shul Silver. He married Lily Anne Cooper and they had four children: Shul David, Deborah Ruth, Joseph Baruch, and Bonnie Suzanne. Nathan served in the Second World War as an artillery gunner in the Canadian Army. His occupation was that of a builder and developer and he played an active role within the Toronto Jewish community, operating as National Chairman of the Zionist Revisionist Organization of Canada, executive member of the United Zionist Congress, and, as well, he was a member of the World Executive Zionist Revisionist Movement. Nathan Silver was also an advocate of Jewish education and was Chairman for the Executive of the Associated Hebrew Schools.

Scope and Content

File consists of images documenting the Negev dinner held in honour of Nathan Silver at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto.

Included on the evening's programme were: Lewis J.E. Moses; Rabbi Emanuel Forman; Rabbi Joseph Kelman; Hon. Dr. Aba Gefen; Louis L. Lockshin; Eric Exton; Rabbi Dr. David Monson; Cantor Zvee Aroni accompanied by Leo Spellman; Philip G. Givens; William Stevenson; Samuel Shainhouse; and Stephen Berger. This file features several images of the aforementioned individuals participating in their assigned roles for the event.

Name Access

Moses, Lewis J.E.

Forman, Rabbi Emanuel

Kelman, Rabbi Joseph

Gefen, Hon. Dr. Aba

Lockshin, Louis L.

Exton, Eric, 1907-1997

Monson, Rabbi Dr. David

Aroni, Cantor Zvee

Spellman, Leo

Givens, Philip G.

Stevenson, William

Shainhouse, Samuel

Berger, Stephen

Negev dinners

Jewish National Fund

Subjects

Dinners and dining

Revisionist Zionists

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2447

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1960

Physical Description

2 photographs : (1 negative)

Name Access

Workmen's Circle

Arbeter Ring

Arbeiter Ring

I.L. Peretz

Subjects

School boards

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1979-4-4

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2446

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1960

Physical Description

2 photographs : (1 negative)

Name Access

Workmen's Circle

Arbeter Ring

Arbeiter Ring

I.L. Peretz

Subjects

Children's costumes

Children's theater

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1979-4-4

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2448

Material Format

graphic material

Date

2 Dec. 1965

Physical Description

2 photographs : (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Head table from left to right: Mrs. M. Rosenberg; Mrs. Atkin; Joe Silver; I. Matenko; Wargan; Norman Nelson (chairman); Dr. J. Diamond (director, Bureau of Jewish Education); Mrs. Reinhartz (principal, Peretz Shul); Mrs. Dworkin; I. Immergluck; Mrs. B. Nelson.

Name Access

Arbeiter Ring

Arbeter Ring

Atkin, Mrs.

Diamond, Dr. J.

Dworkin, Mrs.

I. L. Peretz

Immergluck, I.

Matenko, Isaac, 1874-1960

Nelson, Mrs. B.

Nelson, Norman

Reinhartz, Mrs.

Rosenberg, Mrs. M.

Silver, Joe

Wargan

Workmen's Circle

Subjects

Students

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1979-4-4

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2445

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1965

Physical Description

2 photographs : (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Teacher is Mrs. Reinhartz.

Name Access

Workmen's Circle

Arbeter Ring

Arbeiter Ring

I.L. Peretz

Subjects

Students

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1979-4-4

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Isaac Matenko fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

89

Material Format

graphic material

textual record

Date

1911-1971, predominant 1911-1935

Physical Description

6 cm of textual records

17 photographs

Admin History/Bio

Isaac Matenko (1874–1960) was a founder, teacher, and principal of the I. L. Peretz School. He worked tirelessly to preserve and promote secular Jewish culture and the Yiddish language in Toronto. He was also a prominent member of local Jewish organizations, such as the Socialist-Territorialist Club and the Yiddish Kultur Gesellshaft.

Isaac was born on 1 February 1874 in the town of Makariv, located in the Kyiv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. He married Elke Yelia Moshkevitch (1878–19 November 1953) on 4 August 1900 in Yekaterinoslav (today Dnipro). They immigrated from czarist Russia to Toronto in 1906, passing first through New York with their two children, Percy (30 June 1901–May 1987) and Theodore (1903–1906, died of measles at Ellis Island), and Yelia’s three sisters, Dvora, Bracha, and Celia, and Isaac’s younger half-brother, Paul Frumhartz. They had two more children after arriving: Abraham (14 August 1908–October 24, 1989) and Shoshana (Sue) (1911–2001). Although he had been a teacher in Russia, Isaac worked as an operator in a cloak factory in Toronto, where he was instrumental in forming the union (likely the Cloakmakers’ Union of Toronto, which later affiliated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union).

As a child, Isaac received a traditional Jewish education. This, combined with his self-taught secular education and the teachings of Yiddish nationalist Dr. Chaim Zhitlovski, informed his future career and philosophies. He was described as an idealist by his friends, whose dedication to Yiddish culture and language motivated him to bring this knowledge to a younger generation.

On 11 July 1911, Isaac and his fellow Socialist-Territorialist members established the Toronto Yiddish National-Radical School. By 1916, it had been taken over by the Workmen’s Circle and renamed the I. L. Peretz School, after the well-known Yiddish author and playwright. The school began in a rented room at the Zionist Institute on Simcoe Street, moving to larger locations on Richmond Street West, then Beverley Street as it grew. Eventually, several more branches opened, such as the Maria Street school that Isaac was affiliated with. He taught at the school for free in the evenings after working during the day in a shop. His brother Paul was also a founding teacher at the school.

Isaac was described by family, friends, and community members as a passionate teacher with an iron will. He was well-versed in Jewish knowledge, with a desire to pass it on to a younger generation and his fellow union members. He remained involved in the school and in teaching, even after retirement. He died on 2 June 1960 at the age of eighty-six.

Custodial History

These records were donated to the OJA by Sue Levy, daughter of Isaac Matenko.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of records documenting Isaac Matenko's involvement with the Workmen's Circle and other Jewish organizations. Included are photographs, programmes, certificates, I. L. Peretz School jubilee books, a songbook, a yearbook, articles, and newsclippings.

Fonds has been arranged into one series for the Workmen's Circle. There are also two files attached to the fonds-level. The records are described at the series and file-level, with some item-level descriptions.

Name Access

Arbeiter Ring

Arbeiter Ring Schools

Arbeter Ring

Camp Yungvelt

Frumhartz, Paul

I.L. Peretz

Matenko, Isaac, 1874-1960

Matenko, Percy

National Radical School

Peretz Shule

Workman's Circle

Workmen's Circle

Subjects

Schools

Teachers

Yiddish language

Related Material

For additional Workmen's Circle records, see: accessions 1979-4-4, 1980-2-2, 1983-6-3, 1984-10-1, 1986-4-1, 1992-1-2, 1997-2-1, 1998-3-32, 2004-5-41, 2004-5-105, and fonds 30.

For additional Camp Yungvelt records, see: accessions 1979-4-4, 1986-4-1, 1991-12-4, 1993-6-6, 1999-5-1, 2004-5-37, 2005-6-4, 2006-12-3, photographs # 2964, # 4014, # 6021, MG2N1K, Benjamin Brown fonds 49, and Dorothy Dworkin Fonds 10 (item 14).

Creator

Matenko, Isaac, 1874-1960

Accession Number

1987-11-4

1991-4-2

2007-5-3

2007-6-28

Source

Archival Descriptions