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

Part Of

Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds

Committee for Soviet Jewry series

Protest activities sub-series

Level

File

Fonds

17

Series

3-5

File

3

Material Format

textual record

Date

[197-?]

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

Scope and Content

File consists of an undated list of the synagogue's activities for the Soviet Jewry cause.

Name Access

Beth Tikvah Synagogue (Toronto, Ont.)

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region fonds

Committee for Soviet Jewry series

Protest activities sub-series

Level

File

Fonds

17

Series

3-5

File

102

Material Format

textual record

Date

1980-1981

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

Scope and Content

File contains correspondence, programmes, and newspaper clippings concerning the inaugural award of the Scharansky Lectureship to Professor Irwin Cotler, 29 April 1980 at Beth Tikvah Synagogue in Toronto.

Name Access

Beth Tikvah Synagogue (Toronto, Ont.)

Cotler, Irwin

Subjects

Awards

Repro Restriction

Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

2023-2-1

Material Format

textual record

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

1 photograph : b&w ; 34 x 29 cm

Date

[19--]

Scope and Content

Accession consists of material that belonged to the late Gilbert Seltzer. Included are handwritten copies of a Camp Yungvelt paper, the Whoosis, and a photograph of a Yiddish youth group, the Yiddisher Kunst-Tsenter (Yiddish/Jewish Art Centre). The Whoosis issues are undated, while the photograph is from 1929/30.

Custodial History

Richard Seltzer discovered the material after his father's death and donated it to the Ontario Jewish Archives.

Administrative History

Gilbert Seltzer was born on 11 October 1914 in Toronto, Ontario, to Julius Seltzer and Marion Seltzer (née Liss). Gilbert's parents were both Russian immigrants. Julius owned a knitting mill, and Marion was a homemaker. Julius was also an anarchist, and he and Marion had a cottage in the Workmen's Circle Colony in Pickering, Ontario. As a child, Gilbert attended Camp Yungvelt, a Yiddish summer camp for Jewish children. His son, Richard, would later recall that Gilbert "sang songs from there and vaguely spoke of the Whosis," the camp's publication.

Gilbert studied architecture at the University of Toronto, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1937. After graduating, he worked for an architectural firm in Manhattan. During the Second World War, he served with the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, a secret army unit that would become known as the Ghost Army. According to Gilbert's obituary in the New York Times, "The unit fooled German forces with inflatable tanks, dummy airplanes, fake radio transmissions and sound effects." In later years, Gilbert would serve as an ambassador for the unit's veterans.

After the war, Gilbert resumed work as an architect. His projects included the Utica Memorial Auditorium in Utica, New York; buildings at West Point and the US Merchant Marine Academy; and the East Coast Memorial in Battery Park, Lower Manhattan. He worked as an architect until January 2020.

Gilbert met his future spouse, Molly Gold (m. Seltzer), in New Jersey. The couple had two children together: Joan Seltzer and Richard Seltzer. Molly died in 1994, and Gilbert died on 14 August 2021. He was 106.

Use Conditions

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Subjects

Architects

Camps

Portraits, Group

Name Access

Camp Yungvelt

Seltzer, Gilbert, 1914-2021

Places

Ontario

Source

Archival Accessions

Part Of

Morris Norman collection

Level

File

Fonds

22

File

1

Material Format

textual record

Date

1995

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

Name Access

Beth Tikvah Synagogue (Toronto, Ont.)

Subjects

High Holidays

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Morris Norman collection

Level

File

Fonds

22

File

2

Material Format

textual record

Date

1991-1992

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

Name Access

Beth Tikvah Synagogue (Toronto, Ont.)

Subjects

Anniversaries

Synagogues

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

2017-1-7

Material Format

textual record

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

Date

2011-2012

Scope and Content

Accession consists of two editions of Hakol bulletin published by Beth Tikvah and dated September/October 2011 and November/December 2011. Contents of the bulletins are messages from the rabbi and president, Sisterhood and Men's Club, activities, programs, donations, bereavements, as well as paid advertisements. Inserted in the November/December edition is a letter from Maurice Kulik, president, addressed to the members, informing them of proposed amendments to their constitution for consideration at the AGM. Also included is a flyer promoting their Pre-Hanukkah Choral concert on December 11, 2011.

Subjects

Synagogue bulletins

Name Access

Beth Tikvah Synagogue (Toronto, Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions