Name

Isaac Segal

Number

OH 25

Subject

Antisemitism

Charities

Communities

Interview Date

1972

Quantity

1

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

AccessionNumber

1978-2-2

Total Running Time

Side 1: 46 minutes 15 seconds

Side 2: 45 minutes 50 seconds

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Isaac "Ike" Segel, the son of Russian immigrants, was born and lived in Toronto’s Ward district until 1900 when the family moved to Orillia, Ontario. Isaac recalls his experiences as one of three Jewish boys attending the local Orillia high school and working in his father’s general store. In order to provide a proper Jewish life for Isaac, the family returned to Toronto. In 1917 Isaac enlisted in the army and after his father’s death in 1918, Isaac made his home in Hamilton, Ontario. He was a business executive, active on several executive committees of Jewish and Zionist organizations in Hamilton.

Issac maried Esther Segal (née Kenen) who was influential in the National Council of Jewish Women, Hamilton Branch, and their successful attempt to repeal the law that refused the right of women to serve on jury duty.

Material Format

sound recording

Name Access

Beube, Lillian

Segal, Esther

Segal, Isaac

Silbert, Morris

Geographic Access

Hamilton (Ont.)

Orillia (Ont.)

St. John's Ward (Toronto, Ont.)

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 25 - Segal\OH25_001_Log.docx

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 25 - Segal\OH25_002_Log.docx

Source

Oral Histories

Name

Joe Lewis

Number

OH 26

Interview Date

1972

Quantity

1

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

AccessionNumber

1978-2-2

Total Running Time

41:58

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Notes

Second side inaudible

Last 2 minutes of recording inaudible

Use Restrictions

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

Conditional access. Researchers must receive permission from the interviewee or their heir prior to accessing the interview. Please contact the OJA for more information.

Biography

Lewis’ father immigrated to to Canada in 1906. He contributed to local synagogues and established a Hamilton chapter of the socialist organization the Grand Order of Israel. Lewis grew up in Hamilton and attended the Talmud Torah and the Beth Jacob Synagogue.

Material Format

sound recording

Name Access

Lewis, Joe

Silbert, Morris

Geographic Access

Hamilton (Ont.)

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 26 - Lewis\OH26_Log.docx

Source

Oral Histories

Name

Lillian Beube

Number

OH 27

Subject

Nonprofit organizations

Interview Date

1972

Quantity

1

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

AccessionNumber

1978-2-2

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Notes

Second side inaudible

Use Restrictions

Conditional access. Researchers must receive permission from the interviewee or their heir prior to accessing the interview. Please contact the OJA for more information.

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

Material Format

sound recording

Name Access

Beube, LIllian

Silbert, Morris

Geographic Access

Hamilton (Ont.)

Toronto (Ont.)

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Source

Oral Histories

Name

Harry Finkelman

Number

OH 28

Subject

Antisemitism

Education

Occupations

Pharmacists

Interview Date

1972

Quantity

1

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

AccessionNumber

1978-2-2

Total Running Time

028A: 46 minutes 028B: 7 minutes

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Notes

Parts inaudible

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Harry Finkelman was born in 1909 in Hamilton and was one of the first Jewish pharmacists in Hamilton. His father was a tailor and an active member of several Jewish organizations including the Hess Street Synagogue and the Talmud Torah. Harry attended the Talmud Torah and was involved with Young Judaea and groups from the Talmud Torah. In this interview, he discusses the early history of Hamilton and discrimination against Jews entering the professions.

Material Format

sound recording

Name Access

Finkelman, Harry

Silbert, Morris

Geographic Access

Hamilton (Ont.)

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 28 - Finkelman\OH28_001_Log.docx

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 28 - Finkelman\OH28_002_Log.docx

Source

Oral Histories

In this clip, Harry Finkelman shares some of his early memories of the Hamilton Jewish community in the 1910s. He notes name of shops, shop owners, streets and describes some of the synagogues

In this clip, Harry Finkelman describes the difficulty for a Jew in the 1920s to find a placement to complete a mandatory three-year apprenticeship before he could enter pharmacy at aniversity.

Name

Jack Shapiro

Number

OH 31

Interview Date

1973

Quantity

1

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

AccessionNumber

1978-2-2

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Use Restrictions

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

Conditional access. Researchers must receive permission from the interviewee or their heir prior to accessing the interview. Please contact the OJA for more information.

Biography

Jack served as a private in the 4th Division Algonquin Tank Corps in the Canadian military in Holland. He worked as a pants presser in Toronto when he first emigrated from Poland in 1927. He lived in both Toronto and Hamilton.

Material Format

sound recording

Geographic Access

Toronto, Ont.

Hamilton, Ont.

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 31 - Shapiro\OH31_Log.doc

Source

Oral Histories

Name

Fanny Gertzbein

Number

OH 33

Subject

Charities

Immigrants--Canada

Interview Date

2 Oct. 1984

Quantity

1

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

Total Running Time

OH 033: 27:34 minutes

Conservation

Copied August 2003.

Notes

Language: Fanny often speaks Yiddish with Morris Silbert providing a translation.

Related group of records external to the unit being described: accession 2019-7/2 includes comments by Gella Rothstein on this oral history.

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Fanny Gurtzbein (née Goldhar) immigrated from Poland to Toronto in 1903. Fanny lived with her parents and siblings in Toronto's Ward district. Although raised in poverty, Barney, Fanny's brother, went on to become a successful furrier; Fanny's mother, Tzyerl Goldhar, became the organizer of the Mothers and Babes Summer Rest Home.

Material Format

sound recording

Language

Yiddish

English

Name Access

Goldhar, Myer

Goldhar, Tzeryl

Goldhar, Barney

Gurtzbein, Fanny

Geographic Access

St. John's Ward (Toronto, Ont.)

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 33 - Gertzbein\OH33_001_Log.docx

Source

Oral Histories

Name

Jack Abel

Number

OH 34

OH 35

Subject

Antisemitism

Cemeteries

Labor unions

Occupations

Recreation

Societies

Interview Date

1986

Quantity

2

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

Total Running Time

034A: 31:10 minutes 034B: 31:10 minutes 035A: 31:10 minuets 035B: 13:52 minuets

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Notes

The end of the reference copy of AC 35 is not very audible. The original cassette may be clearer.

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Jack Abel's career in the garment industry began in the 1920s taking him through the dressmaker's strike of 1932. Abel's experiences with antisemitism were numerous. He participated in the Christie Pits riot, he was active in politics, and he became an early member of the Mozirer Society. Abel became financial secretary of the Mozirer Society and was involved in the purchase and administration of the Roselawn and Bathurst Lawn cemeteries.

Material Format

sound recording

Name Access

Abel, Jack

Mozirer Sick Benefit Society

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 34, OH 35 - Abel\OH34_001_Log.docx

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 34, OH 35 - Abel\OH34_002_Log.docx

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 34, OH 35 - Abel\OH35_001_Log.docx

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 34, OH 35 - Abel\OH35_002_Log.docx

Source

Oral Histories

Name

Joe and Minna Loewith

Number

OH 37

OH 38

Subject

Agriculture

Immigrants--Canada

Interview Date

3 Jun. 1984

Quantity

2

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

Total Running Time

OH 037_001: 31 minutes OH 037_002: 31 minutes OH 038_001 8 minutes

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Joe and Minna Loewith immigrated to Canada in November 1938 from the Sudetenland. After arriving in Canada, they settled on the Wren Farm outside of Hamilton, Ontario, along with their family and other members of the immigration group. They got married in 1942. Afterwards, they bought a farm from their brother-in-law and then lived with their three sons on the farm.

Material Format

sound recording

Language

English

Name Access

Loewith, Joe

Loewith, Mina

Silbert, Morris

Geographic Access

Hamilton (Ont.)

Sudetenland (Czech Republic)

Burlington (Ont.)

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 37, OH 38 - Loewith\OH37_001_Log.pdf

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 37, OH 38 - Loewith\OH37_002_Log.pdf

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 37, OH 38 - Loewith\OH38_001_Log.pdf

Source

Oral Histories

In this clip, Minna Loewith recalls the events beginning in the summer through the fall of 1938 that led her family to emigrate from Czechoslovakia to Canada.

In this clip, Minna shares some of her earliest recollections of when she and her family arrived in Canada in November 1938.

In this clip, Joe Loewith explains the conditions for Czech immigration to Canada set by the CPR and how they were met.

Name

Dr. Meyers Stitt

Number

OH 39

Subject

Port Arthur and Fort. William (Thunder Bay)

Family history

Interview Date

10 Oct. 1985

Quantity

1

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

Total Running Time

001: 31.20 minutes 002: 10.09 minutes

Conservation

Copied to cassette in August 2003

Copied to digital file on 9 Dec. 2014.

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Dr. Meyers Lawson Stitt graduated in dentistry from the University of Toronto in 1927. A scholarship in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto was established in honour of his memory by his son, Mr. Bert Stitt, and his family. These awards are to be given to the students with the highest overall academic achievement in the work of first-year dentistry and were first awarded in 1998.

Material Format

sound recording

Language

English

Geographic Access

Toronto (Ont.)

Fort William (Ont.)

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 39 - Stitt\OH39_001_Log.pdf

Source

Oral Histories

Name

Dr. Coleman Solursh

Number

OH 40

OH 41

Subject

Physicians

Societies

Occupations

Medical care

Interview Date

3 Jan. 1985

Quantity

2

Interviewer

Morris Silbert

Total Running Time

040A: 34 minutes 040B: 31 minutes 041A: 11 minutes

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Coleman Solursh was born in Toronto in 1906. He graduated as a physician in 1932. He worked as a lodge doctor. He was involved in the Toronto Jewish Lodge Doctors Association. He worked in the field of family medicine and was appointed chief of the Department of Family Practice at Mount Sinai Hospital. He was appointed associate chief of medicine at Baycrest, Jewish Home for the Aged. He married Zelda Singer, a third-generation Canadian. Zelda's maternal grandfather was appointed colonization chairman in 1897 for Baron de Hirsch settlement for Jewish immigrants. Zelda's father, Manny Singer, was the first Jewish pharmacist in Toronto. Zelda's uncle, Fred Singer, was the first Jewish member of parliament for Ontario.

Material Format

sound recording

Language

English

Name Access

Solursh, Coleman

Silbert, Morris

Mount Sinai Hospital

Singer, Zelda

Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care

Geographic Access

Toronto (Ont.)

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 40, OH 41 - Solursh\OH40_001_Log.pdf

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 40, OH 41 - Solursh\OH40_002_Log.pdf

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 40, OH 41 - Solursh\OH41_001_Log.pdf

Source

Oral Histories

In this clip, Dr. Coleman Solursh describes a meeting between executives from the Toronto Jewish Lodge Doctors' Association and representatives from various Jewish Lodges. The meeting resulted in significant changes to the way medical services and payment were provided to the physicians.

In this clip, Dr. Coleman Solursh describes his role as Chief of the Department of Family Practice in the new Mount Sinai Hospital in 1953. He explains how this department pioneered the model for family practice within a hospital setting across Canada.

Name

Morris Silbert

Number

OH 123

OH 124

Subject

Agriculture

Immigrants--Canada

Nonprofit organizations

Communities

Interview Date

1986

Quantity

2

Interviewer

Brooky Robins

Total Running Time

OH123_001: 30 minutes OH123_002: 31 minutes OH124_001: 46 minutes OH124_002: 44 minutes

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Morris Silbert was born in 1912 on a farm outside of Hamilton. His parents came from Lithuania. His father arrived in Canada in 1905, and his mother and three older siblings joined him in 1906. Morris spent his youth growing up on farms. At the age of sixteen in 1928, he and his family moved to Hamilton. In his youth, Morris was involved in several Jewish organizations, including Young Judaea, AZA, and Hashomer Hatzair. He was married in 1938. He served in the army in 1943 during the Second World War. Morris was the second vice president of the Council of Jewish Organizations. He also served on the executive board as chair of the nursery school board and participated in several committees.

Material Format

sound recording

Language

English

Name Access

Silbert, Morris

Robins, Brooky

Geographic Access

Hamilton

Wentworth

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Digital file

Transcript

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 123, OH 124 - Silbert\OH123_001_Log.pdf

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 123, OH 124 - Silbert\OH123_002_Log.pdf

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 123, OH 124 - Silbert\OH124_001_Log.pdf

G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 123, OH 124 - Silbert\OH124_002_Log.pdf

Source

Oral Histories

In this clip, Morris Silbert shares memories about Jewish peddlers who were welcomed on his family's farm in southern Ontario. He includes names of peddlers with descriptions of their wares and their carts.

In this clip, Morris Silbert shares memories about Jewish peddlers who were welcomed on his family

In this clip, Morris Silbert describes the restructuring of the Hamilton Jewish community as a result of the Depression in the 1930s. He explains how the Council of Jewish Organizations was formed to replace United Hebrew Association.

Name

Morris Silbert

Number

OH 160

Subject

Czechoslovakian immigration in 1938 good

Interview Date

14 Nov. 1989

Quantity

1

Conservation

Copied August 2003

Use Restrictions

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

Biography

Morris Silbert was born in 1912 on a farm outside of Hamilton. His parents came from Lithuania. His father arrived in Canada in 1905, and his mother and three older siblings joined him in 1906.

Morris spent his youth growing up on farms. In 1928, at age sixteen, Morris and his family moved to Hamilton. In his youth, Morris was involved in several Jewish organizations including Young Judaea, AZA, and Hashomer Hatzair. He married in 1938. He served in the army in 1943 during the Second World War. Morris was second vice president of the Council of Jewish Organizations, served on the executive, was chairman of the nursery school board, and participated on several committees.

Material Format

sound recording

Original Format

Audio cassette

Copy Format

Audio cassette

Source

Oral Histories