Our Mother, Allie Herman, was born Alice Suroff in Toronto in 1911. She lived with her parents and six older siblings in a small home on Grace Street. As a child, she studied classical piano on her family’s modest upright piano and always hoped that one day she would have a piano of her own.
When she and our father purchased a home eight years after their marriage, the first piece of furniture she bought was an upright piano. Her dream of owning a Grand piano was realized eight years later when our family moved to a larger home.
Mother began studying piano again but this time it was popular music that became her music of choice. Scales and tunes played on that ebony Heintzman Grand were heard throughout our home as our Mother played and both of us practiced daily, in preparation for our weekly lessons.
After the passing of our parents, the seventy-year old piano became ours; however, its interior was in need of complete restoration. The Piano Technology Program at the Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario completed the work. For the past six years, the piano has been on loan at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
We are delighted that our Mother’s piano has found its permanent home at Holy Blossom Temple. We believe this to be the ideal venue to honour her memory for she was confirmed at Holy Blossom’s Bond Street site in 1927. Now the fourth generation of our family will enjoy the music emanating from their great grandmother’s piano.
Wendy Eisen and Carole Zucker
By: Pam Albert
I want to share my perspective on what it means to tour and experience Israel at this point in time with our Holy Blossom community. Be it via our zoom interactive webinars or on the ground in Israel this coming fall.
When we thought of what that could look like, we thought of connecting with the land and the people. We thought of walking away with new, unique and creative ways of being in Israel. If it is through joining us for our Virtual Israel Tour, we wanted you to feel like you were there, following our guide Ishai from Fig Trips as he takes us to off the beaten track places so you can actually imagine what life was like through different generations, with people from different countries and different walks of life who brought alive, our Israel. We wanted you to feel like you could taste and smell the flavours and scenes as if you were walking with Ishai as our explorations of Israel became alive. The feedback from the 60 participants who attended our last Virtual Israel tour was just that. In addition, after attending our Virtual Israel Tour past President Judy Winberg shared the following,
I love to travel and I love Israel. And while the Corona virus imposed restrictions I was able to pursue both of these interests as a participant on a virtual visit for five days in 2020. Ishai, our tour guide, live in realtime on ZOOM and pre-recorded video in Israel led our group of …?… through a week of thoughtful, stimulating and unique tours. Like so many of the professional tour guides in Israel Ishai was knowledgeable, engaging and day by day we came to know and appreciate his love for the country.
There are many in the congregation who’ve told me that they’d love to travel to Israel but have never been able to make the trip. This is the perfect first trip to Israel! No packing, no flights, no hotels, no special clothing, no tour buses and your family won’t even notice you’re gone other than for two hours a day for a week. What could be better?
L’hitarot,
Judy
And since you asked for more, we are creating new journeys that walk beside Ishai in Israel. Our next experience, accompanied with wine and treats from Israel begins Monday, February 8th. To register by our extended cut-off date click this link.
And if this has enticed you to join us on the ground in Israel, we are optimistic that we can meet in Jaffa on Sunday, October 24. After reading the book, “City of Oranges” by Adam Lebor, I had numerous questions about the roots of and the routes to the land of Israel, where for centuries travellers passed through Jaffa, or arrived in the port in Jaffa and settled. This book sparked my curiosity and I wanted to learn more. We will explore Israel together through the lens of Jaffa. I was curious about different immigrant populations and religious groups. Where they settled and where their routes led them after Jaffa. I was curious about how they interacted and lived together. About how their lives were intertwined and how that affected their co-existence, their friendships, their beliefs and even what they ate each day. Imagine for example the spice store that only sold spices local to the area, that kept adding spices for groups of new immigrants that settled in Jaffa from Morocco and Lybia and Ethiopia and other Arab countries and Russia and Germany. All of a sudden this small spice store evolved into an experience where flavours and people emerged from all walks of life. We will explore Israel through the lenses of Jaffa, including socio-economically, culturally, co-existence, poverty, religion, culinary, the start-up scene in Jaffa, and much more. Would you like to join us? Stay tuned for more information once we feel really optimistic about the possibility of travel in October.
Please feel free to share your thoughts around what exploring Israel would look like to you, be it via our virtual engagements or on the ground. Contact [email protected]
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September 30 @ 5:00 pm
October 2-9, 2020
October 2 @ 6:00 pm
October 3 @ 10:00 am
October 9 @ 6:00 pm
October 10 @ 10:00 am
October 10 @ 7:00 pm
October 11 @ 9:00 am
Holy Blossom Temple’s Family Pack
PJ Library: High Holidays at Home
1950 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M5P 3K9
(416) 789-3291
[email protected]
Emergency Funeral Contact
Cell: 416-565-7561
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.