Last week, on a beautiful fall day Erev Sukkot, my first cousins and I gathered from far and wide with our children and grandchildren, (including several by zoom who couldn’t travel) to celebrate 100 years since our grandparents arrived in Canada from Poland.

As my Boobie used to tell us, it was a long and difficult journey for a pregnant Etka and her young husband, Mayer. They left almost everything behind in their stetdl of Glowaczow near Radom (Glovitz in Yiddish), travelling by horse-drawn cart to Strzyżyna to board the train to Warsaw, where they booked their tickets for the remainder of the trip — third class steerage tickets that included some food: black bread, herring, and water. It was an arduous train ride from Warsaw to Berlin and then on to Hamburg to board the ship that would take them to Hull, England.

By 1922, the various Jewish communities along the migrant route in Europe had become well organized, in the same way as JIAS was created in 1922 to play that role in Canada. They provided showers, meals, new clothes, sleeping accommodations, medical assistance, and most importantly, kosher food for the travellers. In Berlin, members of the city’s Jewish Relief Committee distributed tea, kosher bread and soup, and provided medical attention to those who needed it.

Once in Hamburg, the local Jewish Relief Committee again came to the aid of the migrants, providing meals, simple accommodation, medical care and even steamship tickets. After five to six days confined in a crowded train carriage, everyone needed to visit the public baths, get de-loused and choose new clothing. They also had to stock up on kosher provisions for the upcoming voyage. They worried, as well, about passing the multiple inspections they faced. Each passenger was closely examined at each stop along the way since shipping agents were required to certify the health and intellectual fitness of all passengers. When they arrived in Hull, England a day or two later, they were taken directly from the ship to a waiting room on the docks, where there were bathing facilities. After a brief rest, the travellers boarded a special train for ‘transmigrants’ that took them straight across England to the busy port of Liverpool, a journey of about 7 hours. They had to wait several days there for their ship, confined on the train. And again they faced a medical inspection and another bout of de-lousing.

Majer and Etka crossed the Atlantic on the SS Canada on June 17, 1922, arriving 9 days later at a port near Quebec City. They were again questioned and inspected by immigration officers and medical personnel. But this time they were denied entry and detained at what is now known as Quarantine Island, or Grosse Isle. They appealed and were “admitted by permit” on the 30^th of June, 1922. When questioned by immigration officers, both Majer, a shoemaker by trade, and Etka, stated that they were tailors, as they had been advised that tailors were in high demand in Canada at that time. Holy Blossom’s Max Enkin was instrumental in what came to be known as the Tailor Project, which helped many Jewish immigrants fleeing from antisemitic Europe find refuge in Canada.

From Quebec, they took the train to Montreal, then on to Toronto, and finally to their destination in Timmins, where Majer’s parents and four younger siblings greeted them. The Greenberg family of Glovitz was united once again.

Why Timmins? It was at the epicentre of Canada’s largest gold and silver deposits. Each month, thousands poured into the city to work in the mines. The Jewish immigrants, who were skilled workers and merchants, opened barbershops, shoe repair shops, dry goods and second-hand stores.