- Part Of
- Board of Jewish Education fonds
- Bible Contest series
- Level
- Series
- Fonds
- 48
- Series
- 9
- Material Format
- textual record
- Date
- 1960-1998
- Physical Description
- 85 cm of textual records
- 7 photographs
- Admin History/Bio
- The Bible Contest (Chidon Hatanach) is an annual interschool program organized and administered by the BJE that began in 1959. The purpose of the contest is to promote the interest in and love of the Bible among Jewish students and to strengthen the role of Bible studies in the school curriculum
- Students from BJE affiliated day and supplementary schools participate in the contest. The contest usually has an oral and written component and is conducted in Hebrew for the day school students and English for the supplementary school students. There are different divisions of the contest according to the grade level of the students. There are local, regional, national, and international stages to the competition. The international contest is held in Israel. Prizes have included trips to Israel, summer camp scholarships, and Israel Bonds
- From 1959 to 1969, the national contest was organized by the Toronto BJE in cooperation with the Department of Education and Culture of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israel Bible Society based in New York. In the 1970s and 1980s, the national contest was organized by the Toronto BJE in cooperation with the Canadian Zionist Federation (CZF), Bureau of Education and Culture, National Bible Contest Committee. The Ontario Regional Bible Contest was co-sponsored by the B'nai Brith Lodges of Upper Canada and Leonard Mayzel. As of 2006, the national contest is organized by the Canadian National Bible Contest Committee, a joint venture of the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre (BJEC) in Montreal and the Toronto BJE
- Scope and Content
- The series documents the work of the BJE -- carried out for many years by the director and associate director, and, later, by the BJE school consultant -- in sponsoring and managing the local and regional Bible contests, and its participation on the committee organizing the national contest. The series consists of meeting minutes, memoranda and correspondence relating to the organization of the contests, copies of contest questions, and contest results. The files are organized by the stages of the competition -- local, regional, national and international -- and then chronologically within these categories. The photographs are contained in a publicity file and consist of group shots or individual portraits of contest winners.
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Name
- Mort Abramsky
- Material Format
- moving images
- Interview Date
- 17 Oct. 2007
- Source
- Oral Histories
- Name
- Mort Abramsky
- Number
- OH 322
- Subject
- Families
- Rotary Club
- retail business
- Synagogues
- B'nai Brith
- Interview Date
- 17 Oct. 2007
- Quantity
- 2 mini-DVs, 2 archival DVDs, 2 reference DVDs
- Interviewer
- Sharon Gubbay Helfer
- Total Running Time
- 1 hr 45 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
- Mort Abramsky was born in Montreal but spent his life in Kingston. He inherited a family business empire started more than a century ago by his grandfather, Polish immigrant Joseph Abramsky, and his parents, Harry and Ethel.
- Joseph Abramsky turned a door-to-door trade in clothes, sheets and towels into a business empire that at one time counted ten department stores spread across eastern Ontario. It was handed down through successive generations of family who gradually diversified into real estate and property management, as the margins in downtown general merchandise retailing shrank and then disappeared entirely. The flagship of that empire was Abramsky's general store, which closed in 1996, a victim of the poor economy of the time and increased competition from other retailers in the sector.
- Abramsky also owned Mort Enterprises, which managed and developed properties and was responsible for initially bringing chains, including McDonald's Restaurant and Blockbuster Video, to downtown Kingston. He was a philanthropist and tireless booster of Kingston, active with local organizations including the Beth Israel Synagogue, the B'nai Brith and Jewish Council, the YMCA, the Rotary Club, St. John Ambulance, Kingston General Hospital, and the Masonic Order. The family's Abramsky Charitable Foundation has also helped hundreds of local organizations and families in causes large and small, ranging from Queen's campus construction to assisting local families who had been burned out of their homes.
- Abramsky was married to Shirley, his wife of fifty-three years. The couple had three children, Jay, Karen and Leonard, and nine grandchildren. Abrahamsky died in November 2009, aged eighty-two.
- Material Format
- moving images
- Geographic Access
- Kingston (Ont.)
- Montréal (Québec)
- 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