Biographical Sketch:
Manfred Saalheimer was born in 1906 in Wuersburg, Germany, where he was educated and practiced law until 1933; he did community work in Germany until World War II, when he escaped to England and later came to Canada; joined Canadian Jewish Congress in 1942 and remained on staff until his death in 1967; he represented Canadian Jewish Congress at many conferences; was Canadian director, United Restitution Organization; associate director, CJC National Joint Community Relations Committee; was member of Montreal Section of International Law Association, Canada Foundation, Canadian Welfare Council, B’nai Brith and Reconstructionist Synagogue. He died in 1967 in Montreal.

Scope and Content:
Programs, minutes, membership lists of organizations in which he was active. Articles in Food for Thought. Articles in Information and Comment. Correspondence. Reports and articles about Human Rights Commission. Minutes and workshop reports on intergroup relations.

Biographical Sketch:
B.G. Sack was born in 1889. He was a historian, journalist; author of History of the Jews in Canada in Yiddish; former editor of Keneder Adler; chronicler of Canadian and world events; pioneered Catholic-Jewish relations; early supporter of French-Canadian nationalism. He died in 1967.

Scope and Content:
Yiddish press clippings of published articles. Typescripts in Yiddish and English of preparatory material for his history books. Correspondence in English pertaining to his books. Clippings about world events, Canadian Jewish history, personalia, politics, literature, social and cultural activities.

Notes:
Language: Yiddish and English.
General Note: The Yiddish material is mainly unprocessed.

Biographical Sketch:
Moshe Sambatyon was born in 1926. He was a professor and author; resided in Israel and Montreal, where he promoted publication of the Canadian Jewish Lexicon.

Scope and Content:
2 sets ringbound edition of the Canadian Jewish Lexicon, a hand-published work in Hebrew and English.

Notes:
Language: English and Hebrew.
Related Materials: Book in CJC library International Encyclopedia: World of Love and Marriage.
General Note: Mainly unprocessed.

Biographical Sketch:
Edmund Scheuer was born in Prussia in 1847. He was a Justice of the Peace in York County in 1905; he was a wholesale jeweller from 1880; he opened first Jewish religious school in Hamilton, 1872; helped acquire land for a Jewish farm school in Georgetown, Ontario, 1925. He died in Toronto in 1943.

Scope and Content:
Correspondence, sermon, reminiscence. Press clippings. Obituaries. Canadian Jewish Farm School 1926-1929. Miscellaneous.

Notes:
Related Materials: Farm school photo in JCA collection.
General Note: Mostly originals, press clippings.

Biographical Sketch:
Musia Schwartz came to Canada as a war orphan after having lived under a false identity through the war years. She was a student and later close friend of Irving Layton, who dedicated a poem to her, For Musia’s grandchildren.

Custodial History:
The photos were made available to CJCNA through filmmaker Dov Okouneff, who is also using them in a film. They were donated, with Musia’s permission, on June 1, 2002.

Scope and Content:
22 TIFF scans of photos borrowed from her personal album, showing Eschwege DP camp. Glasterhausen orphanage. Hamburg and scenes after immigrating to Montreal. Some are portraits of the donor, and some include husband Leon and friends, aunt.

Notes:
Alpha-Numeric Designations: PCAT, P06/02.
Associated Material: UJRA - War Orphans collection.

Biographical Sketch:
Jacob Isaac Segal was born in 1896. Considered to be Canada’s greatest Yiddish poet; journalist. He died in 1954.

Scope and Content:
Yiddish press clippings. Published poems and prose. Reviews.

Notes:
Language: Yiddish and English.

Biographical Sketch:
Journalist, illustrator.

Scope and Content:
Canadian Jewish News press clippings of interviews and caricatures of a cross-section of Montreal Jewry.

Notes:
Alpha-Numeric Designation: P85/03.

Administrative History:
The Shaare Zedek Congregation was begun in 1951 as the Jewish Congregation of Western N.D.G. Established to meet the needs of those Jewish families moving to western Montreal, its other main priority was to set up a Hebrew elementary school. At first, both school and services were housed in temporary locations until land was purchased and a building constructed. The new building, on Chester in N.D.G., was ready in 1954; it was further expanded in 1962. In 1955, the school became affiliated with the United Talmud Torahs and is now rented as a day care centre. Started as an Orthodox synagogue, the congregation changed to the Conservative rite in 1955. The facade of the synagogue, added in 1985, depicts the Ten Commandments in blue neon lights.

Scope and Content:
Minutes (1959). Correspondence (1964). Bulletins (1957-1961, 1957-1961, 1965-1967, 1969-1971, 1982). Course list (1955). Special service (1981). Men's Club publications (1960, 1965). Jewish Yearbook entry (1964). Synagogue Council of Greater Montreal list (1956). Flyers. Invitations. Campaign literature. Clippings (1983-1990).

Notes:
General Note: Mostly copies.

Administrative History:
The Shaare Zion Congregation was begun in 1920, when services were held in two members’ homes. As the congregation grew, a variety of locations were used until an Anglican church building was bought in 1925. A charter was granted in 1926 and the synagogue was officially founded. A Hebrew school was established in 1926 as well. The synagogue merged with the B’nai Israel Congregation in 1932. In 1939 the synagogue building was destroyed by fire. A temporary location was used until land was purchased on Cote St. Luc Road. The initial part of the new synagogue was finished in 1941, the completed building in 1947. In 1951 the Shaare Zion began the first Conservative day school in Canada, the Shaare Zion Academy, now known as the Solomon Schechter Academy. In 1955, a school building was added on and was recently expanded. The synagogue building was dedicated to the memory of synagogues destroyed in Europe by the Nazis.

Scope and Content:
Congregation list. Correspondence (1948, 1963). Synagogue bulletins (1937-1989). Sisterhood calendars and bulletins (1970, 1973, 1977). Men’s club programs and calendars (1946, 1954, 1964). Conference agenda (1953). Dedication program (1957). Campaign

Administrative History:
In 1889, the principal members of Winnipeg’s Bethel Synagogue left to form their own congregation, the Shaarey Zedek. This Conservative synagogue, which has its own cemetery, also ran a Hebrew school for several years. In 1913, a new building was to be erected, but instead the synagogue amalgamated with the Shaarey Shomayim, its own offshoot congregation, which was having financial difficulties. The original building was then expanded, rather than a new one constructed. A new building was eventually erected in 1950. The synagogue is still in existence.

Scope and Content:
Correspondence. Conversion certificates. Marriage certificates. Child naming certificates.

Biographical Sketch:
Moishe Mordechai Shaffir was born in 1909. Canadian Yiddish poet, the last of the Ravitch-Zipper-Stern-Dunsky group of Montreal Yiddish literati. Author of 17 collections of poems published in Canada since 1940, presented in a rich soft folkloric language reflecting gentleness and personal strength. His outlook enabled him to bear the harshness of his Rumanian youth, the national catastrophe of the Holocaust and the years of his severe illness and virtual blindness. Many of his poems are known and published in Israel, Mexico, Argentina and the United States. He died in 1988.

Scope and Content:
Poems published in Jewish magazines such as The Future, Seviva, Oifn Shvel, Yiddisher Kempfer, Montreal Heften, etc. Reviews of his book in The Forward, Keneder Adler, Canadian Jewish News.

Notes:
Related Materials: See also 10 books - library collection.

Administrative History:
The Shearith Israel Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue was founded in 1768 in Montreal by, among others, Simon Levy and Aaron Hart. Prominent members have included the families Joseph, Hays, David, Solomon and Wolff. As many of the original members (from England, Germany, and the American colonies) were descended from Spanish and Portuguese Jews, the Orthodox synagogue followed the Sepharadi customs. It was modelled on similar synagogues in London and New York. At first, a building was rented, and then a new one erected on Notre Dame in 1778. After several moves and buildings, the edifice at the present location on Lemieux Street was constructed in 1947. The famed Reverend Abraham de Sola and his son Meldola de Sola were rabbis of the synagogue in the 1800s. Members of the congregation founded the Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society of Montreal (later the Baron de Hirsch Institute) in the 1850s. The synagogue has a cemetery and a school and was the recipient of the first two Torah scrolls ever sent to Canada. Some of its Torah cases are over 200 years old as well. The Shearith Israel is the oldest congregation in Canada.

Biographical Sketch:
Born around 1924 and now in frail health, Mr. Sheinker now lives in Toronto, as does his daughter.

Custodial History:
Leonid Sheinker donated this collection on Nov. 26, 2004.

Scope and Content:
Author of book Jewish Heroes in WWII.

Notes:
Alpha-Numeric Designations: P04/01-51.

Administrative History:
The roots of this congregation go back to 1920, when members met in a rented building on Cadieux Street. By 1925, they had recruited a larger membership and chosen the name Shevet Achim, which was the name of the founder Solomon Scharf’s previous synagogue in New York. In 1928 the congregation also arranged a free loan association. In 1930 a friend of Scharf’s, who owned the building, allowed the synagogue to lease it rent-free and donated land for a cemetery as well. The Orthodox congregation added “Bet Abraham” to its name in his honour. With its members moving out of that district, the synagogue relocated to Jeanne Mance in 1943 and then to Cote des Neiges in 1950 (the refurbished duplex was completed in 1952). In 1963 it amalgamated with Chaverim Kol Israel and built a new facade in 1965. Due to financial difficulties, the congregation debated merging with the Beth Israel Synagogue in 1981 but decided against it. In 1984, it was unable to prevent a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise from being built within inches of the synagogue building. Soon afterwards, a dwindling congregation and the aforementioned problems resulted in the congregation’s closing and affiliating with the Chevra Shaas Adath Jeshurum Hadrath Kodesh on Lavoie Street. As of February 26, 2006, the synagogue on Lavoie officially closed. The building is now used as a school for intellectually handicapped children, run by Chabad Lubavitch.

Biographical Sketch:
A labour organizer, Maurice Silcoff was involved with various labour unions, including the Milliners and the Capmakers Unions. After World War II, he was the union delegate sent to the DP camps to select workers for Canada.

Custodial history:
Addition was made to the collection on February 16, 2009, by Maurice Silcoff.

Scope and Content:
4 minute books, initial entries in Yiddish, subsequent ones in English (1926-1971) for the Capmakers’ Union (Headgear Workers Central Bureau of Canada - cloth hat, cap and millinery workers international union). The books include some inter-filed clippings and loose correspondence. 2 oversize photos; cloak workers union and ILGWU (International Ladies Garment Workers Union).

Addition 2009: Booklet Scenes from a Home for the Elderly, second edition by the Montefiore Observer, consisting of humorous essays written by Maurice Silcoff about life in the Manoir Montefiore Jewish seniors residence in Cote St. Luc. The booklet was produced by his granddaughter, journalist Mireille Silcoff, with endorsements from other family members on the back cover. Also a 3-page biographical poem by Mirielle Silcoff composed for Mr. Silcoff’s 98th birthday and describing highlights from his life.

Notes:
Alpha-Numeric Designation: P94/14.
Language: English and Yiddish.

Biographical Sketch:
Russian schools.

Custodial History:
Tatiana Sitnikova donated this collection on September 9, 2004.

Scope and Content:
3 images prints. 6 photos.

Notes:
Alpha-Numeric Designations: P04/01-40.

Biographical Sketch:
Mrs. Slutzky-Kohn, a Holocaust survivor born in the Ukraine, came to Canada in 1980. She was a teacher as well as a poet and writer in Yiddish. She is currently completing two books on the Jewish community, one poetry and one prose.

Custodial History:
Grunia Slutzky-Kohn donated this collection in April 21, 2004.

Scope and Content:
4 books, 2 of poetry (Yiddish) and 2 of children’s songs (Jewish Peretz School). Added later: published articles, poems in magazines and newspapers. 22 photos. 10 pages of image prints.

Notes:
Alpha-Numeric Designations: P04/01-07.
Language: Mostly in Yiddish.

Biographical Sketch:
Michel Solomon was born in Galatz, Rumania, in 1909. After studying law he became a journalist and was posted to London just before World War II. After serving in the British army, he returned to Rumania in 1946, was arrested for his political views, and spent 17 years in prison camps there and in Siberia. He was released in 1964 and arrived in Canada a year later. He was a correspondent for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, editor of a journal on the Middle East, and a prolific author and poet. His published books include Mon Calvaire Roumain, Le Struma, and Magadan. He died in 1994.

Scope and Content:
Manuscripts. Published essays and articles. Poems. Correspondence. Documentation and research for books. Magazines. Clippings. Cassettes of interviews.

Biographical Sketch:
Beverly Spanier (donor) was born in 1945, in Hartford, Connecticut. She graduated from McGill University in Economics and Political Science in 1967. She was a high school teacher in Montreal, Quebec, from 1969 to 1997 and is involved with religious programming at the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue in Westmount, Quebec. Family members highlighted in the collection are brother Allen Spanier, a teacher, surgeon, and director of the intensive care unit at Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, and father Albert Spanier, born on January 4, 1914, in Enger, Germany. Albert was one of four children: Albert, Gertrude, Irwin and Werner. In 1938 the family left Nazi Germany to travel abroad and to eventually reunite in Hartford, Connecticut, after the war. Albert Spanier died on Nov. 17, 1995, in West Hartford.

Custodial History:
Part of this collection was transferred from the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, at the request of the donor, Beverly Spanier. Several additions to the collection were made after the initial transfer in 1994.

Biographical Sketch:
Jack Spier was born in 1912. He was a philatelist by profession. For many years Jack Spier collected information on Canadian Jewish artists in the hope of eventually publishing a directory on this subject. After his death, this information was further organized by his daughter, Susan Spier. Jack Spier also created automated musical sculptures as a hobby. He died in 1986 in Montreal.

Scope and Content:
Biographical data and exhibition information on approximately 425 Canadian Jewish artists, filed on index cards. One 4-piece sculpture (wood, cloth, mechanical parts) of a Klezmer musical band, and 1 individual sculpture of a fiddler, stored in artefact collection.

Notes:
Alpha-Numeric Designation: P88/03/08, P88/07/07, P89/07/12, P90/06/20.
Finding Aids: There are computerized listings for the artist files.
Related Materials: General Canadian Jewish Congress documentation collection files (ZB) on individual artists.

Biographical Sketch:
Manny Spinner is a Jewish community leader, founder of the March to Jerusalem, among other activities.

Custodial History:
The collection was donated throught his friend Joe King.

Scope and Content:
Immigration documents (passports, naturalization, affidavit, etc.) life cycle documents including circumcision certificate 1918, marriage, etc.

Notes:
Physical Condition: Some document are fragile.
Alpha-Numeric Designation: P2001/03.

Biographical Sketch:
Rabbi Harry Joshua Stern was born in Lithuania in 1897. He came to Montreal from Pennsylvania in 1927, when he became rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, Montreal’s first Reform (Liberal) Jewish congregation. He was educated at University of Cincinnati, Hebrew Union College (Rabbinical degree) and University of Chicago; author of many essays and sermon pamphlets; wrote nine books on religious and Zionist subjects; attended First Jewish Congress in Geneva, Switzerland in 1936 and was elected secretary; elected to Executive Board of Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Scope and Content:
Addresses and sermons (in pamphlet form) on Reform Judaism 1927-1979. Programs for Fellowship Dinners 1967-1972. Canadian Jewish Congress Brief on Divorce 1967. Catholic Youth Organization minutes and correspondence 1937-1938. Correspondence 1937-1976. Institute on Judaism 1942-1977. Press Clippings 1934-1984.

Biographical Sketch:
Louis (Leiser) Sternberg was born in 1903 in Lipkon, Bessarabia, and came to Canada around the age of 16, in the late 1910s or early 1920s. He was the Saskatoon correspondent for the Yiddish paper The Israelite Daily Press and also Dos Yiddishe Vort. He acted in local Yiddish theatre in Saskatoon and was active in Histadrut and Zionist issues. He first worked for Adilman’s Department Store and eventually owned a store of his own, Stern’s Silk Shop. The store had doubled in size before he closed it in the late 1970s, retiring to Edmonton, where he died in 1979.

Custodial History:
The documents were donated by his children, Sharon Melmed (Montreal), Beverly Sternberg (Edmonton) and Dr. Harvey Sternberg (Edmonton).