Item is a photograph of members of the Poalei Zion assembled in front of an unidentified house in Toronto. Indentified in the photograph are: Archie Edelstein; Izzie Edelstein; Mr. and Mrs. Frankel; [?] Belke; Mr. Feldman; Zalman Cohen; Abie Shatz; David Gold; Abe Wolerstein; Esther Wolerstein (m. Grant); Sholom Katz; Chaim Langer; Mr. and Mrs. Sokol; Harry Sher; Louis Koldoff; H. M. Kirshenbaum; Leibe Bograd; Mr. Shapiro (Ben-Zion's father); Min Shapiro; Kalmen Wagner; David Lewis; Pesach Kates; Mr. Mitchell; Florence Monson; Max Monson.
Notes
From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.
Name Access
Farband
Poalei Zion
Repro Restriction
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.
447 photographs : b&w and col. (392 negatives) ; 26 x 21 cm or smaller
Admin History/Bio
The Negev dinners were established in 1948, coinciding with the creation of the State of Israel, as an annual fundraising dinner. The Jewish National Fund hosted these annual dinners in honour of a leading Canadian citizen, and the proceeds from the dinners were used to establish JNF projects in Israel in the name of the honouree. The JNF projects have, and continue to do so today, raised money to purchase land in Israel's Negev desert and for re-forestation efforts.
The annual dinner was dedicated to a member of the Toronto Jewish community, who had demonstrated outstanding support and commitment to the Community and to the State of Israel. In honour of this individual's contributions, the secured land in Negev was named after them. The honourary guests were presented with awards of appreciation from members of the Canadian and International Jewish community, often including delegates from Israel. The dinners were attended by prominent members of Toronto's Jewish community, including politicians, business men, and philanthropists.
Each subsequent dinner became larger and more successful in its aim to raise funds for Israel, as a result this event soon became the most significant Jewish event in Toronto. As well, it was also the largest annual kosher meal served in Toronto.
The JNF produced an annual Negev Dinner yearbook, commemorating the event, and documenting both the lives of the honouree's family and the current activities of the JNF. As well, the names of individuals who donated money for the JNF projects were recorded in the Souvenir books under patrons and sponsors of the dinners.
Scope and Content
Series consists of negatives taken by Al Gilbert documenting eight Negev Dinners hosted by the Jewish National Fund. The images depict the various activities undertaken at these dinners including: the procession and introduction of the head table guests, the presentation of awards, speeches, toasts, presentation of flowers to the honouree or the wife of the honouree, and the entertainment. The majority of the negatives are portraits taken of the guests posing with the honouree and his or her family. One dinner in this series was dedicated to the Toronto Jewish Community (1956) on the year of its centenary, while the others are in honour of one significant member of the community.
There were Negev dinners held across Canada; however, the dinners in this series were all held in Toronto and were primarily attended by members of the Toronto Jewish community. The honourees documented in this series include: 1956, Toronto Jewish Community; 1966, Bert Godfrey; 1967, Nathan Silver; 1968, Phil Givens; 1970, Leon E. Weinstein; 1973, Rt. Hon. John G. Diefenbaker; 1974, Phil Granovsky; 1978, Eric and Esther Exton.
Notes
Selection for this series reflects the various activities of the Negev dinners, including: speeches, toasts, award presentations, dinner tables, introductions, honourees, entertainment and presentation of flowers. In addition, we selected a sample of images documenting the dinner tables and guests who were not part of the evening's programme, and therefore, would not be captured in the aforementioned criteria.
Name Access
Negev
Jewish National Fund
Godfrey, Bert
Silver, Nathan
Givens, Phil
Weinstein, Leon E.
Diefenbaker, Rt. Hon. John G.
Granovsky, Phil
Exton, Eric
Exton, Esther
Subjects
Awards
Dinners and dining
Fund raising
Arrangement
Series has been arranged into files representing each annual dinner.
Mark Geldzaeler was born in 1862 in Galicia, probably Kolbuszowa, and died in Toronto in 1932. His wife Yetta [Shumer] (1870-1952) had immigrated to Toronto from Stanislau with her parents, Louis (Leib) and Chava Shumer, in the mid-1880s. Mark and Yetta were married in Toronto on February 2, 1890.
Prior to his arrival in Toronto, Mark Geldzaeler had been a religious scholar and teacher in the old country. In 1892, he became the Assistant Chazan at Holy Blossom synagogue on Bond Street. This official title notwithstanding, he was also the synagogue's shamus [caretaker], religious school teacher, and bar mitzvah tutor. He lived with his family just behind the synagogue, in a property owned by the synagogue, before eventually moving to a house on Walmer Road.
The family had six children: Bernard (1891-1974) m. Hortense; Rose (1892-1966) m. Samuel Aaron Harris; Rachel (1897-?) m Isidore Ruskin; Solly (1899-1902); Alfred ("Alfie") Benjamin (1901-1918) d. of influenza during the epidemic; and Freda Frances (1907-2002) m. Simon Ramm.
Scope and Content
Item is a studio portrait of Mark Geldzaeler.
Notes
Photo by A. Barrett, 324 Yonge St., Toronto.
Name Access
Geldzaeler, Mark
Holy Blossom Temple (Toronto, Ont.)
Subjects
Cantors (Judaism)
Immigrants--Canada
Portraits
Repro Restriction
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.
Item is a group photograph of members of the Farband group, taken in a yard. Identified are Willie Silverberg; Abi Shatz; Benny Shatz; and Mr. Frankel.
Notes
From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.
Name Access
Farband
Frankel, Mr.
Shatz, Abi
Shatz, Benny
Silverberg, Willie
Repro Restriction
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.
File contains the essay of Lynn Milstone and Sidney Tenenbaum, written as students in the University of Toronto School of Architecture, which first sparked their interest and research into synagogues. It considers the architecture of Holy Blossom Synagogue (Both the old location on Bond Street and the new one on Bathurst), the Minsker, the Kiever, the Palmerston synagogue, the Henry Street Synagogue, the Shaw Street Synagogue, and the Maria Street Synagogue (Knesset Yisrael).
Name Access
Anshei Minsk Synagogue (Toronto, Ont.)
Holy Blossom Temple (Toronto, Ont.)
Kiever Synagogue (Toronto, Ont.)
Subjects
Synagogues
Repro Restriction
Copyright is not held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
From its inception in 1856 until the building of its first synagogue a block east on Richmond Street at Victoria Street in 1876, the Holy Blossom congregation held traditional Orthodox services in a rented room over Coombe's Drugstore on the south-east corner of Yonge and Richmond Streets.
Scope and Content
Item is a drawing of Coombe's Drugstore that appeared in the 1856 Toronto City Directory as part of an advertisement for said drugstore.