Accession Number
1982-7-1
Source
Archival Accessions
Accession Number
1982-7-1
Material Format
textual record
Physical Description
1 folder of textual records
Date
1939-1947
Scope and Content
Accession consists of Canadian Jewish Congress records related to a study carried out by Saul Hayes and Jacob Finkelman on discriminatory employment practices in Ontario. The title of the resulting report is "Evidence of Unequal Opportunity in Employment and a Suggested Fair Employment Practices Legislation". Included are reports, memorandi, correspondence, sample applications from different employers, and a booklet by Gurston Allen entitled "Jewish Occupational Difficulties" (1939).
Subjects
Antisemitism
Name Access
Hayes, Saul
Finkelman, Jacob
Allen, Gurston
Canadian Jewish Congress, Central Region (Toronto, Ont.)
Source
Archival Accessions
Accession Number
1976-5-1
Source
Archival Accessions
Accession Number
1976-5-1
Material Format
textual record
Physical Description
1 folder of textual records
Date
1943-1944
Scope and Content
Accession consists of records relating to the work of the JPRC Summer Resorts Sub-Committee, which Hart D. Wintrob chaired. Material includes advice offered to Jews on appropriate behaviour at resorts frequented by non-Jews and efforts to have "Gentiles only" signs removed from resorts and other businesses. Also included is a list of JPRC members from which the members of the subcommitte were chosen and an agenda for a meeting of this group.
Subjects
Antisemitism
Resorts
Name Access
Canadian Jewish Congress, Central Region (Toronto, Ont.)
Places
Ontario
Source
Archival Accessions
Accession Number
2015-6-7
Source
Archival Accessions
Accession Number
2015-6-7
Material Format
multiple media
Physical Description
30 cm of textual records and other material
Date
1964-2003
Scope and Content
Accession consists of Canadian Jewish Congress Joint Community Relations Committee files pertaining to incidents of antisemitism in Canada. Files include examples of material distributed by neo-Nazi groups, clippings documenting hate crimes trials and antisemitism in scholarship, and JCRC correspondence.
Use Conditions
Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA Director prior to accessing some of the records.
Subjects
Antisemitism
Name Access
Canadian Jewish Congress, Central Region (Toronto, Ont.)
Source
Archival Accessions
Name
Mike Rabovsky
Material Format
moving images
Interview Date
13 Jun. 2007
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Mike Rabovsky
Number
OH 296
Subject
Owen Sound
Family history
Cadesky family
Beth Ezekiel
furniture business
World War, 1939-1945
Rabbi Kirschenbaum
Bar mitzvah
Mr. Amsterdam
Antisemitism
Sauble Beach
Cemeteries
Interview Date
13 Jun. 2007
Quantity
2 mini DV's, 1 archival DVD and 1 reference DVD
Interviewer
Sharon Gubbay Helfer
Notes
Ontario Small Jewish Communities Project
Availability of other formats: Also available as an M4V Video File
Use Restrictions
Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
Biography
Mike Rabovsky married Miriam Levinson, and their story is best told through this historical narrative:
Owen Sound's Beth Ezekiel Synagogue, a designated building under Ontario’s Heritage Act, remains the last example of the early small town synagogue that was once so common across Canada. The most compelling window in the synagogue is dedicated to the Rabovsky and Levison's families and tells the story of two immigrant families and the establishment of a Jewish community in Owen Sound.
The jagged shards of glass depict the Levison family's harrowing experience of Kristallnacht (night of broken glass), prelude to the Holocaust. Desperate to escape Germany, the family was just one boat ticket away from freedom. Moments before they were to leave, an elderly couple offered their tickets to the Levisons, effectively sealing their own fate as victims of the Final Solution, while giving the young family a chance to escape the coming storm. Waiting out the war in China, the family eventually made it to Canada where Manfred Levison immediately began to look for work as a Rabbi. At the same time, Isaac Ezekiel Cadesky, a refugee of the Russian pogroms and the man for whom our Synagogue is named, was looking for a Rabbi to serve Owen Sound's bourgeoning Jewish community. Manfred Levison took the job, and in time his daughter Miriam married Isaac's grandson Mike.
Miriam met Myer (Mike) Rabovsky. He was 29 and she was 19. Theirs was a happy marriage, lasting more than fifty years. Miriam and Mike had one daughter, Goldie (m. Bruce Ronald) and two grandchildren.
Material Format
moving images
Original Format
Mini DV
Copy Format
DVD
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Eleanor Jourard
Material Format
moving images
Interview Date
18 Sep. 2007
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Eleanor Jourard
Number
OH 310
Subject
Belleville
keeping kosher
Hadassah
synagogue
Jewish education
Antisemitism
Interview Date
18 Sep. 2007
Quantity
2 mini DVs; 2 reference copy DVDs; 2 archival DVDs
Interviewer
Sharon Gubbay Helfer
Notes
Part of Ontario Small Jewish Communities Project.
Use Restrictions
Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
Biography
Eleanor Jourard's parents and grandparents came to Montreal from Russia and Poland. Eleanor attended McGill University but left after her third year. She met her husband, veteran broadcaster Lee Jourard (1929–2014), when he was a camp counsellor at Lake Temagami, north of North Bay. Eleanor and Lee were married in 1951 and moved to Belleville shortly after. A radio job at Quinte Broadcasting’s CJBQ station drew Lee to the Quinte region.
Eleanor went back to university to get her teaching degree and worked as a high school teacher from 1970 to 1990. She and her husband were affiliated with the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville and were original Belleville Theatre Guild members who helped create an outstanding community theatre. They had four children—Lewis (d. 2013), Mike, Andrew, and Tigger—and three grandchildren.
Material Format
moving images
Original Format
Mini DV
Copy Format
DVD
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Rheta Rosen
Material Format
moving images
Interview Date
19 Sep. 2007
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Rheta Rosen
Number
OH 317
Subject
Immigration and settlement
Education
Antisemitism
Clubs
Business
Recreation
Interview Date
19 Sep. 2007
Quantity
2 mini DVs
2 reference DVDs
2 archival DVDs
Interviewer
Sharon Gubbay Helfer
Total Running Time
1:31 minutes
Notes
Part of Ontario Small Jewish Communities Project
Use Restrictions
Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
Biography
Rheta Rosen (née Rosen) was the daughter of Nathan Rivelis, the owner of Rivelis, a large clothing store in North Bay from 1926 until 1986. The business grew from a small, family-run store into a large department store employing between twenty-five and thirty people. The store was famous for their annual sale held yearly on 16 November. Rheta became a full-time professor in family studies at Ryerson University. She was coordinator of the Learning and Teaching Office and coordinator of the Interpersonal Skills Teaching Centre, Simulation Program. Rheta's area of interest and research lay in the area of intergenerational relationships in the older family. She was a family mediator focusing on issues in the older family, adult children, and their ageing parents. Rheta Rosen died on 22 August 2016.
Material Format
moving images
Name Access
Rosen, Rheta
Geographic Access
North Bay (Ont.)
Toronto (Ont.)
Original Format
Mini DV
Copy Format
DVD
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Merle Koven
Material Format
moving images
Interview Date
17 Oct. 2007
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Merle Koven
Number
OH 324
Subject
Antisemitism
Education
Synagogues
Interview Date
17 Oct. 2007
Quantity
2 mini DVs, 2 archival DVDs, 2 reference DVDs
Interviewer
Sharon Gubbay Helfer
Total Running Time
2 hrs
Notes
Part of Ontario Small Jewish Communities Project.
Use Restrictions
Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
Biography
Merle Koven grew up in Kingston, Ontario and attended Kingston Collegiate. After high school, Merle enrolled in teachers college in Toronto. He later taught school in Kingston. Merle married Philip Koven, a well-known local businessman, philanthropist and community volunteer, who died in 2008. He was owner of Rosen Heating and Cooling, which merged with another old, established city business to form Rosen, Triheat and Anglin, now run by their two sons.
During their forty-five years of marriage, the Kovens raised three children, Adam, Kenneth, and Rebecca. Both Phil and Merle Koven were prominent in the community. In 1982, Merle Koven broke new ground when she became president of Beth Israel in Kingston, possibly the first woman president of an Orthodox synagogue in North America. She was vice chair of Queens 1990s, although she did not have a degree.
The Merle and Philip Koven Bursary in Art History at Queen's University was initially established by Philip Koven in honour of his wife, Merle Koven, both passionate supporters of the arts in Kingston. This fund provides financial support for upper-year students in art history. After Philip Koven passed away in 2008, the fund received many gifts in his memory.
Material Format
moving images
Name Access
Queen's University
Hadassah WIZO Organization of Canada
Bader, Alfred
Geographic Access
Kingston
Original Format
Mini DV
Copy Format
DVD
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Laura Bowman (née Petersiel)
Material Format
moving images
Interview Date
31 Oct. 2007
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Laura Bowman (née Petersiel)
Number
OH 330
Subject
Antisemitism
Communities
Families
Interview Date
31 Oct. 2007
Quantity
1 mini DV; 1 archival DVD; 1 reference DVD
Interviewer
Sharon Gubbay Helfer
Total Running Time
60 mins Microphone disconnected for final 10 minutes; volume is reduced but still audible.
Notes
Part of Ontario Small Jewish Communities Project. No restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
Biography
Laura Bowman (née Petersiel) grew up in Peterborough when antisemitism was latent in the community. She experienced it personally when she went to work as a young teacher in the early 1950s for the Catholic School Board in Campbellford. Laura married Sydney Bowman and they had three children, Carol, David and Gayle, and six grandchildren. She passed away in February 2010.
Material Format
moving images
Geographic Access
Peterborough (Ont.)
Original Format
Mini DV
Copy Format
DVD
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Eve Gordon
Material Format
moving images
Interview Date
29 Jan. 2008
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Eve Gordon
Number
OH 354
Subject
Kitchener
immigration
scrap business
Jewish education
Antisemitism
Hadassah
Weiss, Lillian
synagogue
Tarraday family
Budds
Rabbi Feivel Rosensweig
Brown, Bessie
Rabbi Levy
Interview Date
29 Jan. 2008
Quantity
1 mini DV; 1 archival DVD; 1 reference DVD
Interviewer
Sharon Gubbay Helfer
Total Running Time
61 mins
Notes
Part of Ontario Small Jewish Communities Project.
Use Restrictions
Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
Biography
Eve Gordon (née Rosen) was born in 1923 in Russia. She came to Canada in 1927 with her sister, three-week-old brother, parents, and paternal grandparents. They settled in Kitchener, Ontario. Her father, Israel, began working for his brother in the scrap metal business before being able to build a large industrial waste business that provided for three families. As a youth, Eve joined Young Judaea and attended Commercial College, where she was a top student.
Material Format
moving images
Original Format
Mini DV
Copy Format
DVD
Source
Oral Histories