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Cantor Maissner z’l, Sweet Singer of Israel Exhibit

From the Archives: Cantor Benjamin Zeev Maissner z’l, Sweet Singer of Israel Exhibit

By Denise Gordon

The indomitable spirit of our beloved Cantor Benjamin Zeev Maissner, z’l, continues to touch our hearts and minds when we least suspect. We might be attending a service, listening to a particular prayer, or remembering a life-cycle event when we conjure these memories.  How we loved Beny’s voice, his devotion to Holy Blossom, his love of Judaism, and Beny’s absolute zest for living.

In collaboration with the Archives Committee and, of course, Hope Maissner and her children, Eva Ormut-Fleishman and I (both members of Temple Singers) assembled a display of items from the Archives and from the cantor’s family. The exhibit:  Cantor Benjamin Zeev Maissner z’l, Sweet Singer of Israel, highlights aspects of his extraordinary 40-year tenure here, as well as glimpses into his personal and musical life beyond Temple. At each display case, a convenient QR code takes you directly to his own voice and music.

The first of the display cases dedicated to this exhibition in the Schwartz/Reisman Atrium is lovingly called Between Heaven and Earth.  You may tingle with nostalgia upon seeing Beny’s shofar and a photo of him blowing it. The feelings may continue upon viewing and remembering Beny wearing the tallit on display. There are also three handwritten music manuscripts, each one composed by him to honour his three children. In my mind’s eye, I recall Beny’s beautiful hand gestures as he held or wore these items, how he spoke with us, led us in prayer, taught us, celebrated a simcha or consoled us in sorrow throughout various Jewish lifecycle events. These items practically whisper and transport us into the past. Lean in and see if they speak to your heart or conjure a loving memory.

The other case encapsulates Beny’s great love and prolific musical programming at Holy Blossom and across the globe. Featured in the cabinet are more of Beny’s ritual items shared with us from the Maissner family: his yad, kippah, and even his kiddush cup. And of course, there is Beny’s famous tuning fork. How I remember the latter at various rehearsals, whether of Temple Singers or Lachan, his beloved community choir. Beny was so proud when we kept in tune.  And boy, did we hear about it when we weren’t!

We are grateful to the Maissner family for also sharing a wonderful collection of photos and personal memorabilia to deepen our memories.  In cabinets, one can glimpse photos of Beny kibbitzing with colleagues, Beny conducting, Beny on his innumerable musical missions, Beny bearing witness to tragic historical events in Jewish history, and most compellingly, Beny with his beautiful and cherished Hope and family, truly enjoying his life to the brim. Seeing these photos captures the love Beny gave and the love he received from all who knew him, personally and professionally.

The Archives Committee warmly invites you to catch a glimpse of Beny’s good life as seen in the exhibit: Cantor Benjamin Zeev Maissner z’l, Sweet Singer of Israel. It will be on display until December 2025 and is located on the main floor of the Schwartz/Reisman Atrium, adjacent to the living (plant) wall on the west side.

May Cantor Benjamin Z. Maissner’s memory continue to be a beacon and a blessing for all of us at Holy Blossom and beyond.

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From the Archives: Nathan Robinson (1840—1899)

From the Archives: Nathan Robinson (1840—1899)

Michael Cole and Sheila Smolkin, Holy Blossom Archives Committee

In the early years of Holy Blossom’s existence, we didn’t have a rabbi. Founded in 1856, we didn’t engage a rabbi until 1890. We did, however, need someone who could read from the Torah, slaughter chickens, teach children, and circumcise baby boys. Needless to say, finding one person who could fill the duties of ba’al koreh, shoichet, melamud, and mohel was not easy. Indeed, several candidates were tried and found wanting in at least one of these tasks and dismissed.

Eventually, we did find one man who could fulfill all the required duties. Nathan Robinson had been engaged by a small, short-lived congregation that was absorbed into Holy Blossom shortly after we moved into our first permanent building on Richmond Street in 1876, and he became our first employee who lasted more than a short time. (There was a period when, after an argument with the congregation over whether he would be allowed to provide kosher meat to non-congregants, Mr. Robinson left Holy Blossom. He returned a few years later when the dispute was resolved.)

A learned Jew with a Yeshiva background, Nathan Robinson was an unusual presence among the Holy Blossom crowd in that he was from Eastern Europe. Most of our members, like most Torontonians of the day, were British by birth and/or persuasion. Nevertheless, Mr. Robinson stayed with us until his passing in 1899, and he is buried in our Pape Avenue cemetery.

This past September, we were approached by Mr. Robinson’s great-great-grandson, David Robinson, who asked to visit Nathan’s burial site, and on Monday, September 29, we accompanied David and three of his cousins to Pape Avenue. David told us that Nathan’s son moved to Winnipeg, and David lives there still. David has taken a great interest in his ancestry, and we were happy to provide him with information on Nathan’s part in Holy Blossom’s history and to lead him to his ancestor’s final resting place.

 

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A Psalm in Cloth: The Pulpit Covers of Temma Gentles

A Psalm in Cloth: The Pulpit Covers of Temma Gentles

By Mikhael Klassen-Kay, HBT Archives Summer Intern

Over the past couple of months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Holy Blossom’s archives committee as they digitally catalogue all of the files contained in the temple archives, which date from the early 19th century to the present day. On several lunch breaks spent meandering the hallways of the temple, I came across objects discussed in the files I was cataloguing. Many congregants will be familiar with the orange parochet outside the first-floor boardroom, which is believed to have hung in the original Holy Blossom location above Coombes’ Drug Store, when the synagogue was called Sons of Israel. Others might have noticed Sorel Etrog’s “Chasidic Head” statue, originally part of a Holocaust memorial in the courtyard prior to the building renewal, which is now stationed in the grass on the Bathurst side of Holy Blossom. Most of the archival materials on these objects, however, were photographic or textual. So, the discovery of fabric samples and textile blueprints in the archives took me by surprise.

In section HB3 D1b of the Holy Blossom archives, one can find blueprints, letters, and textiles created by the late artist Temma Gentles. The projects of hers that we have archival documentation of include Torah covers, ark textiles, a chuppah, and pulpit covers. Unlike in the chuppah and Torah mantle files in the archives, there are no fabric samples for the pulpit covers. As Gentles explains in a letter to Estelle Latchman, who was chairman of Holy Blossom’s art and acquisitions committee in 1990, the fabric needed for the project was too expensive to justify the creation of a sample textile. Instead, Gentles provided the art and acquisitions committee with a layered art piece as a sample of what the finished product would look like. The drawn sample is for the cover of the Torah pulpit, featuring the first line of Psalm 100:3.

Each of the three finished tapestries depicts four figures rejoicing, with the Hebrew text from a fragment of Psalm 100 overlaid. In a December 1989 letter to Rabbi Dow Marmur, Gentles cites the psalm as the primary inspiration for the pulpit covers. She uses the following translation of verse two and the first line of verse three—“Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing! Acknowledge that the Lord is God.” Though the covers now hang in the northwestern stairwell and not upon any pulpits, they remain beautiful examples of a great Toronto textile artist’s work, and they are well worth seeing if you have the opportunity.

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From the HBT Archives: Jewish Summer Camps

From the HBT Archives Committee: Jewish Summer Camps

By Susan Mogil

When Pesach is over, the minds of some turn to summer camp.  Even the parents and grandparents of campers recall their summers at sleepover camp with fondness. In the early days of the community, establishing activities for Jewish youth was an important way for Jewish organizations to not only occupy children during the summer months but also to impart specific Jewish values and political principles.

Readers may read more and see photos of Jewish camping movement on the website of the Ontario Jewish Archives. OJA has a vast amount of archival material related to this unique experience. The collection reveals the early days of the community when summer camps were aligned with political movements or branches of Judaism.

As early as the 1930s, private summer camps that catered to the Jewish communities around Ontario were established all over the Muskoka and Kawartha regions. At many of these camps, Jewish traditions such as a Shabbat service, were blended into a largely secular program. Several Jewish summer camps have owners with strong ties to Holy Blossom.

Camps Winnebagoe and Ogama

Camp Winnebagoe was the first Jewish co-educational camp established in Canada. Founded by Joe and Sadie Danson in 1933, it has always been steeped in rich traditions, particularly mindful of its Jewish heritage. The camp had several lakeside locations, but in 1971, Camp Winnegaboe purchased Camp Ogama, originally operated by Jill and Ben Lustig on Fox Lake near Huntsville, and it has been there since. Both Danson and Lustig families are long-time Temple members. Daughter Ilyse Lustig now runs the camp.

Camp Wahanowin

Harold Nashman and his mother, Anne (Bubby Nash), always dreamed of owning a summer camp for Jewish children. They discovered the site on Lake Couchiching near Orillia, and Camp Wahanowin welcomed its first campers in the summer of 1955. Harold’s son Bruce and his wife Patti own and run the camp 80 years on.

Camp White Pine

Joe Kronick founded Camp White Pine in 1956 in Haliburton on Hurricane Lake (also known as Lake Placid). Camp White Pine has a strong tradition as a Jewish camp, with programming, rituals, and community involvement designed to teach campers about their heritage. Joe and Doreen Kronick were active members of Holy Blossom, and Joe was the temple’s Youth Director in the 1950s. Their son Adam and daughter-in-law Dana took over as camp directors in 1987, continuing Joe’s approach to camping.

Camp Kawagama

Elsie and David Palter opened Camp Kawagama in 1945 on Hollow Lakes in Haliburton. They promoted Kawagama as a progressive Jewish camp with special meals on Friday night and services. In later years, it was run by their son David Palter and daughter-in-law Ruth-Ellen Soles.

Camp George is the 1st and only Canadian camp run by URJ and has a close connection to Holy Blossom. It was founded in 1999 on Maple Lake on a campsite previously owned by Camp Winnebago since 1960. HBT and Temple Sinai brotherhoods were “hands-on” to clear the site. Camp George has many staff and campers who are HBT members. Every summer, the camp is visited by HBT and Leo Baeck clergy & staff. Holy Blossom also supports 4 Camp George scholarships.  Watch here for the introductory Camp George video.

 

(The Archives Committee receives inquiries regularly. We invite you to contact us about this or other areas of interest at:  [email protected].   We are always interested in learning and sharing more about our remarkable history.  We also encourage you to examine the archival displays in the Schwartz-Reisman Atrium.)

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Basya Hunter: A Woman For All Seasons

From the Holy Blossom Archives Committee 

Basya Hunter: A Woman For All Seasons

by Michael Cole, Holy Blossom Temple Archives

In April 1951, Basya Hunter, Supervisor of Hebrew at Holy Blossom, wrote a letter to the Temple’s Board of Trustees asking for a raise in pay.

My job has not been part-time. I meet with staff and students on Saturdays, holidays and evenings … I devote four mornings a week to preparation (at home). I am at Temple from four to five afternoons a week for regular working schedules or rehearsals, plus regular Sunday mornings … Unless I am given a wage commensurate with the time spent and the responsibilities carried, I cannot continue with this position.

At the next meeting of the Board, Basya’s request was granted without discussion.

Basya’s responsibilities at Holy Blossom were indeed many and varied. Not only was she head of the Hebrew Department, she was also responsible for Confirmation (an onerous task, involving working with individual students on their contribution to what, in those years, was a large, well-rehearsed production), and she was in charge of programming for Hanukkah and Purim.

However, with all of her contributions to the educational side of Holy Blossom’s life (and she was the assistant principal and then principal of our Religious School in the early 1940s), it is as a director of drama, both of students in the Religious School and then with Temple Players, for which she is most remembered. During the 1950s and 1960s, she directed Temple Players in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, All My Sons, and Death of A Salesman. (A socially conscious woman, Basya was attracted to Miller’s dramas.) Temple Players also mounted a play based on the Thomas Mann novel, Joseph and His Brothers and another, The World of Sholom Aleichem, based on tales of the Yiddish story-teller.

In February 1977, Basya’s own play, Johannes and the Talmud, opened at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. The play was based on the life of Johannes Reuchlin, according to a column in The Globe and Mail, “a 16th century German scholar and Christian who steadfastly defended the right of Jews to practise their religion.” The play took Basya twelve years to write and went through nearly twenty drafts. The same Globe article noted that Johannes was widely acclaimed in religious circles, if not among professional critics. Notwithstanding the critics, the play was remounted twice in Toronto, first at St. Michael’s College in 1979 and then at the Leah Posluns Theatre in 1988.

Born in 1911, Basya Zavin grew up in a tenement on New York City’s Lower East Side, one of seven children. As a young girl, she directed her friends in plays on the city’s streets. At age eighteen, she went to Russia to study drama with Konstantin Stanislavsky at the Moscow Arts Theatre. Stanislavsky was the inventor of ‘the method,’ a theory of acting according to which actors are encouraged to discover their characters’ inner emotions and motivations. As adapted by Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler in New York, ‘the method’ produced such stars as Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, and Robert De Niro. Basya brought method acting to a group of amateurs at Holy Blossom!

On the ship taking her to Russia, Basya met Peter Hunter. They later married and had one son, David. Peter was an interesting person. His devotion to and later disillusionment with the Communist Party and Soviet Russia is the subject of a fascinating memoir, Which Side Are You On, Boys?

Basya’s work in establishing the Canadian theatre scene was remarkable. She taught such luminaries of Canadian drama as William Shatner, Robert Goulet, and Toby Robins, first at her own Arts Theatre and then at Ryerson (now TMU).

I knew Basya; she and my mother were good friends. I missed the years when she worked in Holy Blossom’s Religious and Hebrew School, and I was too young to be involved in Temple Players. At one visit to our home, Basya told me of her discovery of the teaching skills of a young German immigrant. He was Heinz Warschauer, who succeeded her as Principal of Holy Blossom’s Religious School and went on to a legendary thirty-year career as the Temple’s first Director of Education.

Basya died in 1997. Few people at Holy Blossom are around today who remember her, but Basya’s legacy to Temple in so many areas is still felt.

 

(The Archives Committee receives inquiries regularly. We invite you to contact us about this or other areas of interest at [email protected]. We are always interested in learning and sharing more about our remarkable history. We also encourage you to examine the archival displays in the Schwartz-Reisman Atrium.)

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From the Holy Blossom Archives Committee

Refugee Musician: A Simple Question Reveals an Inspiring Story

By Susan Cohen, Holy Blossom Temple Archives

 

Sometimes a simple outside query to the Holy Blossom Archives leads us to information that expands our understanding of the synagogue’s personnel and their role in Toronto.

So it was with a request last year from a University of Toronto student working on a musical database of émigré musicians who influenced Canadian musical life. She asked us what we knew about a German organist named Erich Schaeffer who was hired at Holy Blossom in 1938.

The name was not familiar to us, so we started on a hunt through our archival collection and gradually built up a picture of Erich Schaeffer.  First, his name was listed in the commemoration booklet for the opening of our synagogue on Bathurst Street in May 1938.  Erich Schaeffer was both the organist and choir conductor for that splendid weekend in the presence of the Governor-General.  From the repertoire he assembled for that occasion, it was clear that he was an experienced musician with a knowledge of the grand classical repertoire and the masterpieces of the German Jewish Reform tradition.

Then we searched through our Board minutes from 1938 and found reference to him in March, just a few months before the opening. A Board member had gone to New York to interview him for the position of organist and to bring him to Toronto. In doing outside research, we found his name under a special federal government program that brought some talented German and Austrian musicians to Canada in the late 1930s.

The synagogue’s minutes tell us that Holy Blossom not only paid him as organist and music director but helped establish him and his family in the city.  A spring bulletin from 1938 introduces him to the congregation as “a most eminent German-Jewish organist” who had served for over 11 years at the New Synagogue in Breslau Germany. The bulletin encourages congregants to employ him as a teacher.

Erich Schaeffer and his family left Germany just in time. The rabbi of the New Synagogue recommended him to us as a distinguished soloist with a masterful technique on the organ and a “thorough musical education, especially in the field of Hebraic tradition and liturgy.” German Jewish histories tell us that Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland) was the third largest Jewish community in Germany, that the New Synagogue was an architectural masterpiece (the second largest synagogue in the country), that the synagogue was burned to the ground in Kristallnacht, and that the very last rabbi there died in a concentration camp.

Erich Schaeffer brought more than the classical tradition to Toronto. He stayed at Holy Blossom until 1955, cementing the synagogue’s reputation for musical excellence. Newspapers tell us he taught students at various places and showed his versatility by playing for more than a decade in the Hans Kaufman Trio at prominent supper clubs in the city. As the organist of Holy Blossom, he gave concerts at important venues and of course offered his services to bridal couples at the synagogue. In a special concert for the Toronto Star, he tried to expand Toronto’s knowledge about Jewish musical traditions and their influence on music in general.  Fred Schaeffer, his son, just 7 when he came to Toronto, passed away 18 months ago; he built up a thriving engineering practice in the city and became an established collector of Canadian art. His obituary acknowledges the family’s start at Holy Blossom.

 

(The Archives Committee receives inquiries regularly. We invite you to contact us about this or other areas of interest at:  [email protected].   We are always interested in learning and sharing more about our remarkable history.  We also encourage you to examine the archival displays in the Schwartz-Reisman Atrium.)

 

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Hiddur Mitzvah: Holy Blossom’s Living Museum

Hiddur Mitzvah: Holy Blossom’s Living Museum

by Ephrem King

I am a fellow member of Holy Blossom and a passionate museum enthusiast. My love for museums inspired me to pursue a career in the field, earning a degree in Museum Studies with a focus on collections and research. This journey began with a BA in Anthropology and Art History from UBC and continued with a Master’s in Provenance Studies from the University of Glasgow. To contribute to our wonderful community, I have volunteered to assist in developing a new exhibition for the Living Museum at Holy Blossom. As part of an upcoming exhibition project for the Living Museum dedicated by George z”l and Susan Cohon and Family, we are reaching out to ask if members of our congregation would be willing to loan their Kiddush cups for display.

Aligned with Holy Blossom’s strategic plan to share the stories of our congregants, we believe there is no better object to represent the connection between family and community than the Kiddush cup—a vessel that holds such ritual significance every Shabbat. Our goal is to showcase the unique stories behind these cups, whether they belong to ancestors you never met or to recent B’nei mitzvah, were handmade, or have travelled thousands of miles to grace your Shabbat table. We want to hear your story!

We invite you to loan your cup for three months (exact dates TBD) to be featured in the secure, locked exhibition space. If you’re interested, please reach out ([email protected]), and we will provide a brief form to help you share your cup’s story. This includes details such as the owner’s name (if you wish to share), the year you acquired it, its provenance, and any special memories associated with it.

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From the Archives Committee: Out of the Cold

From the Archives Committee: Out of the Cold

By Sheila Smolkin

Every day, we read about or see a news report on the homeless in Toronto. This issue has been with us for many years, and try as we might, society does not seem to be able to make the issue go away.

In 1994, through the urging of Temple member Freda Ariella Muscovitch and with the support of Rabbi Marmur, the Temple Board agreed to allow the synagogue to affiliate with Out of the Cold, (an interfaith coalition founded in 1987, to provide shelter, food and warmth during the coldest months of the year to persons in need,) and to explore the possibility of operating one of its programs on site.

The archive collection contains an extensive file on Temple’s involvement in Out of the Cold. At this time of year, the Archives Committee thought it appropriate to share highlights of this history with you.

Throughout 1995-96, Temple volunteers were mentored by St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, which had a well-established program. Freda Ariela then led a year-long planning and consultative process that led to the formation of Temple’s program held in-house.

On December 5, 1996, the first night of Chanukah, the Temple welcomed its first guests, the first Jewish congregation to establish an in-house program as part of the Out of the Cold coalition.

Until the pandemic, the program operated at Temple every Thursday evening from the beginning of November to the end of March. The program offered the guests a safe, comfortable and quiet environment, a mattress, blanket and overnight shelter, a wholesome hot dinner and breakfast, a lunch bag filled with sandwiches, fruit and dessert, basic medical attention, entertainment, games and art classes.

The program attracted many volunteers ranging from high-school students who were able to collect needed hours of social service to seniors who just wanted to give back to the community. One of the most faithful volunteers was Rabbi Plaut. The Rabbi not only served dinner to the guests, but he sat with them at one of the tables and engaged them on topics of the day.

During the pandemic, the in-house program stopped. However, Holy Blossom’s committee supported a food project at St. Luke’s Church. Last year, Holy Blossom’s program reopened for an in-person dinner. This year the program will run from November 7 to March 27 and will include dinner,  bingo and art activities. The overnight option has been discontinued. The program continues to attract many new Temple volunteers including bar/bat mitzvah children and their parents.

Rabbi Plaut taught that Judaism begins with community. Rabbi Marmur went on to say, “Our participation in Out of the Cold is yet another indication that we see ourselves as full partners in society.” It’s a way “to express our Judaism in its richness and strength.”

The Temple’s Out of the Cold program is an excellent example of one of the fundamental ways to live life as a Jew.

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Founded in 1856, Holy Blossom Temple is Toronto’s first synagogue with a rich history of tradition and modernity in our religious and spiritual expression.

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