VOLUME 20, NO. 2 SPRING 2010

by Maxine Fischbein

Doris (Mittleman) Miller recalls purchasingher wedding dress at a shop on First Street SEin preparation for her big day in November1936. The dress, which she wore under thechupa at the original House of Jacob Syna-gogue on Fifth Avenue, SE subsequently tookona life of its own in the tradition of the belovedJewish folk tale Something from Nothing.

In the years following the Miller nuptials,Doris wore the dress as a costume in musicalrevues for I.L. Peretz Institute fundraisers. Later,thedressbecamea favouritenightgown. Finally,as the nightgown began to wear out, Dorisfashioned the remaining fabric into satin pillowsthat graced her home.

Sadly, those pillows don’t remain, butfortunately, the memory lives on and was oneof many stories shared at the Jewish Histor-ical Society’s Wedding Show and Tellprogram, held on Sunday, May 16th in thechapel at the JCC.

Following are just a fewmore of the storiesthat made the afternoon entertaining, edu-cational and memorable.

Something Old“Old Hebrew Ceremonies used at Jewish

Wedding,” said the headline in the January 7,1929 edition of the Albertan. It referred to thewedding of Fanny Malkin to Herman Nagler,who made history as the first Jewish couple towed at the Palliser Hotel.

According to our resident historian, JackSwitzer, the Albertan coverage of the Nagler’swedding was “the first time a Jewish weddinghad been given “high society” status in amajor Calgary newspaper.

TheAlbertan coverage of theweddingwasoverwhelming for the young couple, probablydue to the over-the-top description of theevent:

A ceremony which in its entirety datesback to the third century and in portionsis reminiscent of the times of Solomonand David, was performed Sundayevening in the ballroom of the HotelPalliser…in the quaint and time-honoured custom of the Jewish people.Rabbi S. Smolensky, the venerableRabbi, performed the ceremony, whichin its brilliance and local interest hasnot had its equal before among theJews of Calgary.There were some questionable explan-

ations of the details of the ceremony includingthe breaking of the glass by the groom which,according to theAlbertan “remind those beingmarried of the destruction of their indepen-dence in thewedding ceremony.”

In this Issue:Wedding Show and Tell ........................1JHSSA Reaches ImportantMilestone.............................................1

Calgary Women Strandedin Wartime Russia ..............................3

Cemetery Stories....................................4Book Review ...........................................5New Photo from our Collection ...........5Thank You to All Our 2010 Members...7JHSSA News...........................................8

JHSSA Wedding Show andTell Delights Audience

Doris Mittleman and MaxMiller, Calgary, November29, 1936. Source: Lila Mydlarski. JHSSA #2414

Continued on Page 2

To sponsor an upcoming issue of Discovery, contact our office at 403-444-3171.

JHSSA ReachesImportant Milestone

The Jewish Historical Society of South-ern Alberta will reach an important mile-stone on July 4, 2010. That date marks the20th anniversary of our incorporation.

To celebrate our 20 years of collecting andpreserving historical records and sharingthem with the community at large throughpublications, programs and exhibits, our 2010Annual General Meeting will focus on high-lights from our past programs.

Our anniversary year will feature addi-tional special programs. Please watch forfull details in the Fall 2010 issue ofDiscovery.

We warmly invite members of the Jew-ish community in southern Alberta to cele-brate with us by joining the JHSSA, attend-ing our programs and donating documentsand photos that chronicle your personalhistory and the history of our community.

We are always looking for photographsand archival treasures that tell a story. Ofparticular interest are items that depictsomething individual and unique, providingus with some insight into a specific story;and items that illustrate a trend or activitythat is iconic or typical of an era.

Thanks for providing us with a mirror tothe past. To donate or lend us items, pleasecontact our office at jhssa@shaw.ca or403-444-3171.

2 THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA SPRING 2010

for fertility, prosperity and protection from theevil eye.

On the following Sunday, the bride andgroom were married at the Beth Tzedec Syna-gogue. As her parents walked her up the aisle,AdamGirvitz serenaded Jennifer Charikar withthe traditional piyyut, Navah Mi’Kol or Yonati(My Dove) – written by Israel ben MosesNajara in the late 16th century.

At the end of the wedding ceremony, con-ducted byRabbi JordanOfseyer, another lovelyIndian-Jewish tradition was honoured as theparents of the bride and groom opened theAron Kodesh so that Jennifer and Adam couldbegin married life by kissing a Sefer Torah.

Something BorrowedA wedding story that fits the “something

borrowed” mould was related by BettySherwood, who gleaned the story from an oralhistory conducted by Bertha Gold in 1997.

When Bertha asked Jean Libin how shemet her husband, Sid, Jean replied, “You reallywant to know? I was going with his best friendHerbie Ludman who was a travellingsalesman. Herbie didn’t wantme to go outwithanyone else so he asked Sid to look after me.”

Jean and Sid Libin married in 1940.More than a few stories shared at the

Wedding Show and Tell had to do withborrowed gowns.

On July 18, 1951, Janet Estrin and HarryShermanwere wed at the historicMacDonaldHotel in Edmonton. According to theShermans’ daughter, Saundra Lipton, Janethad not yet found the perfect dress when herbrother suggested a solution. A local store hadbrought a new wedding dress to his drycleaning establishment to see if he couldremove a stain. Hy Estrin successfullyreturned the gown to its former glory, but thestore never claimed the dress.

To use some time-honoured weddingvernacular, it was beshert.

“My Mom tried it on and it fit and lookedgreat, so she wore it for her wedding,”recalled Saundra Lipton.

The proof is in the Sherman’s weddingphotos featuring Janet in an elegant gownwith a sweeping train worthy of royalty. Notbad at all for something borrowed!

Bev (Brodsky) Sheckter, whose weddingtook place on December 26, 1968, shared astory of something loaned. Bev’s husband,Larry, had a cousin whose relative was getting

The ceremonywas followed by a receptionand dance. The event was strictly kosher.Fanny Nagler’s mother was grantedpermission to prepare and bring the turkeysthat were another highlight of this first-of-its-kind wedding – early inspiration for koshercatering at the Palliser!

Embarrassed by all the attention and exag-geration of the article in the Albertan, theNaglers checked into the Banff Springs Hotelunder assumed names.

Something NewAlthough they are just celebrating their first

wedding anniversary, Jennifer Charikar andAdam Girvitz’s June 14, 2009 wedding madehistory in the Calgary Jewish community aseast met west.

The Charikar family spring from the ancientBene Israel of India and can trace their familyroots to the 17th century while the Girvitzfamily has deep roots in Alberta.

At the Wedding Show and Tell program,some of the highlights of Jennifer and Adam’spre-nuptial and wedding celebrations wereshared by Maxine Fischbein, including theladies-only henna night hosted by the bride’sparents at their home a week before thewedding.

While the guests enjoyed Indian delica-cies, the bride’s hands and forearms weredecorated with elaborate henna designs.

The following night, some 120 guests werefeted at an exotic dinner party, many of themdecked out in colourful traditional saris thathad been delivered to them as gifts togetherwith invitations to the party. At the centre ofthe colourful and joyous celebration was anelaborate Henna ceremony during which thebride’s mother, Yerusha Charikar, appliedhenna to the right forefingers of her daughterand future son-in-law.

Once the Henna was applied, family andfriends took pinches of rice, held them to theknees and shoulders of the bride and then thegroom and, finally, tossed the grains over thecouple’s shoulders.

They then waved gifts of money clockwiseover Jennifer and Adam’s heads and droppedthem in a basket at their feet. Finally, theycircled the bride and groom’s temples withtheir fingers and cracked their knucklesagainst their own temples.

Jennifer and Adam smiled through thefestivities, quite literally counting the blessings

married in Russia where wedding dresseswere a luxury, nearly impossible to come by.Bev sent her gown to the Soviet Union so thata bride she had never laid eyes on couldcelebrate her big day in style.

At the Wedding Show and Tell program,Bev learned that her mother, Annie (Switzer)helped out another Russian bride following herApril 4, 1948 marriage to Eddie Brodsky.

“I was sure I wouldn’t be using mineagain,” said Brodsky of the dress she sent toRussia when she learned that Annie Blevisshad a relative there who needed a weddingdress.

Something BlueRichard Bronstein shared an amusing

anecdote his wife, Judy Shapiro, had writtenconcerning her parents’ nuptials. CharnaManolson and Archie Shapiro had planned onan August 1940 wedding.

“On July 12, they heard a news report thatanyone married after July 15 would be

Continued on Page 6

Wedding Show and Tell Continued from Page 1

Janet Estrin and Harry Sherman, Edmonton, July 18,1951. Source: Saundra Lipton. JHSSA #2477

SPRING 2010 THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA 3

by Jack Switzer

In 1914 two local Jewish women, RebeccaDiamond and Luba Shumiatcher, planned tomake relatively brief visits to the Russiancities where they had lived before immigrat-ing to Canada. The outbreak of the First WorldWar in August of that year disrupted theirplans, and the women (traveling independent-ly) were forced to remain in Eastern Europefor several years.

Sources of data for both women haveinconsistent, sometimes incorrect, dates.

Luba Shumiatcher’s trip was to the Gomelarea, north of Kiev; Rebecca Diamond went toOshmana, a small town near Vilna, which wascaptured by the German army early in the war.Gomel remained as Russian until late in thewar, and was home to thousands of refugeesfleeing the Germans.

Rebecca (b. 1893) was the oldest of sevenchildren born to Ruchel and Phillip Diamond.Phillip immigrated to Calgary about 1905; hewent on to Canmore, where he operated ageneral store and had other business inter-ests. (He was a younger brother to AlbertaJewish pioneers Jacob and William Dia-mond.) Philip went back to Russia, but leftRuchel, then pregnant, back in Oshmana. Shedied shortly after her youngest child Fannywas born in 1908.

Rebecca traveled to Vilna, according tofamily memoirs, to place a headstone on hermother’s grave. She traveled with a cousinfrom New York, Vera Baran, described in anews article as coming from a wealthy Jew-ish family, and as a member of the Junior Civil

Society for Civil Relief (in Russia). Rebeccahad brought her cousin to the United States, itwas reported. (Much of the information andquotations come from a 1917 issue of theBanff Crag and Canyon.)

“Miss Diamond was with relatives in Vilnawhen the war god blew his bugle, and wasunable to return.” She had somehow acquireda Dutch passport, and we assume that VeraBaran had equally safe credentials.

In mid-1917 the German occupation au-thorities allowed the two young women totravel to Rotterdam, in neutral Holland.“Their trip from Vilna to Kovno (now Kaunas,and only 50 miles north) took 36 hours, andthe party was obliged to stay four days,”while their documents and belongings werescrutinized.

Their train was crowded with stranded“Hollanders” and German refugees, allwomen. “With lowered shades and guardedexits” their train made its way across the Ger-man Empire and into Holland. Rebecca andVera quickly found passage to New York,arriving on July 14, 1917.

Rebecca, then 24, returned to Calgary.(Much of her family remained in Canmore.) In1919 she married Peter Block; they had onedaughter, Martha Block Cohen.

According to herchildren’s memoirs,Luba Lubinsky dislikedCalgary. Her husband-to-be, Abraham IsaacShumiatcher, (known attimes as A.I. Smith) hadpromised that Calgaryhad a symphony or-chestra and a university.She arrived in Calgaryfrom western Russiaearly in 1911 and found abustling and smelly cowtown – with a publiclibrary and a firemen’s

band. The Gomel area, where both had lived inRussia, had many cultural institutions, and hada Jewish population of over 10,000 (who weresubject to pogroms and an anti-Semitic gov-ernment). She had earned a degree at the Uni-versity of Warsaw, and hoped for a careerteaching Russian Literature in Canada.

Despite her disappointment, Luba andAbraham were married in September of 1911.Luba became pregnant late in 1913 and fell ill.

Calgary Women Stranded in Wartime Russia: 1914 – 1917

LubaSchumiatcher fromfamily photo, Calgary, c.1919. Source: AnniePaperny and ClaraBlackstone. JHSSA#1169

Peter and Rebecca Block with daughter Martha,Calgary, c. 1925. Source: Martha Block Cohen. JHSSA#570

Life in a new, alien land and the separationfrom her family back in Russia caused her con-siderable anxiety. She decided to have herbaby in more-civilized Russia. “I’m not going tohave my baby here.”

One source suggests that she distrustedCalgary doctors; a sister, Anya Lubinsky, wasa doctor in the old country and could help herthrough pregnancy and delivery.

The Great War broke out in August, 1914;Russia, an ally of France and England, wasvery quickly involved. The residents ofGomel suffered hardships and deprivationthroughout the war. In the midst of thishome-front turmoil, Luba Shumiatcher gavebirth in September 1914 to a daughter shenamed Minuetta.

Wartime conditions made a return toCanada very difficult. But in 1916, before theanarchy and bloodshed of the Russian revo-lution, Abraham Shumiatcher found an exitroute for Luba and Minuetta. In 1915 Abra-ham had become a land inspector for theC.P.R., and he had many contacts with rail-way officials and the Canadian Pacific over-seas agents.

A Calgary News Telegram article head-lined “Calgary Woman Forced to Flee fromGermans in Russia” from November 4, 1915quotes from a translation of Luba’s descriptiveletter to her husband about the tribulations ofthose Russians being sent by freight trainsinto the Russian interior to escape the enemy.

Shumiatcher used his C.P.R. connectionsto provide Luba with information on viabletravel routes, and to help get visas, tickets andother documentation.

Mother and child took a refugee-filled trainfrom Gomel north to Leningrad (previously Pet-rograd and Saint Petersburg) and on to Finland,then part of the Russian Empire. They securedpassage on a neutral-nation ship and headedwest through the Baltic Sea, where despitetheir vessel’s status, German submarines werea constant threat.

Abraham met his wife and daughter inNew York, and they soon left for Calgary.Abraham later qualified as a lawyer, whileLuba became a patroness of the city’s classi-cal and Jewish music scenes. Minuetta, achild musical prodigy, became a noted con-cert pianist and composer (See Discovery,Winter 1995). Their son, Morris Cyril Shumi-atcher, a prominent Saskatchewan lawyer,was born in Calgary on September 20, 1917.

4 THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA SPRING 2010

Minnie Cobb, 1910A plain flat tombstone marks the grave

where Minnie Cobb was buried in the oldCalgary Jewish cemetery at Erlton inNovember of 1910.

Records of her life are sparse, but somevital information came to light when theJHSSA received material some years agofrom the trustee of an elderly CalgarywomannamedAlice Cobb. The legal guardian told usthat he strongly suspected Miss Cobb wasJewish, and supplied the names of her twosisters, Ethel Cobb and Lillian Cobb.

Minnie Cobb was their mother. Minniewas one of the first Western CanadianJews to marry a gentile, an uncommon andthen-vilified union. She died while the threegirls were still in grade school.

Archival and internet searches haveunearthed more data. Minnie Cobb wasdefinitely Jewish; the Chevra Kadisha wasthorough in its requirement that only per-sons who were considered Jewishaccording to halacha (Jewish law) couldbe buried in its cemetery. But her husband,Samuel Cobb (1874-1959), was not. Heraised his three daughters in a non-Jewishhome, and after his death in 1959 hisremains were cremated.

Samuel Cobb’s obituary makes no men-tion that his wife pre-deceased him.

We know nothing else about MinnieCobb, not hermaiden name, not hermarriagedate, nor her history before her marriage.

Samuel Cobb was apparently an Ameri-can who came north to British Columbia

around 1885. He may have been married toMinnie at the time. BC archives have norecord of their marriage, but do note thebirth of Alice in 1899 and Ethel in 1901, bothin Vancouver. We have no birth date for Lil-lian, their oldest daughter.

Samuel Cobb says he was a “sour-dough” during the Yukon gold rush at theturn of the century, about the same times hisdaughters were born in British Columbia.

The family moved to Calgary about 1909,when Cobb opened a grocery store at 404 -8th Avenue East. Soon after the storebecame a hardware outlet until the early1920s, when Samuel turned to real estatedealings. He retired in his 50s, apparentlywell-off financially.

Lillian Cobb attended the University ofAlberta in Edmonton, and then traveled atlength in Europe, spending time in Paris.She became a professor at Northern IllinoisUniversity, at de Kalb, Illinois, where sheserved as chair of the Foreign Languagesand Literature Department from 1930 to1966. Like her sisters, she never married.

Her estate has funded a faculty travelfellowship in “International Teaching andService” at her university, as well as ascholarship in Romance languages at theUniversity of Alberta.

Ethel Cobb also studied at the Universityof Alberta, earning an M.A. and playing onthe inter-varsity women’s basketball team.She taught school in Calgary, and then inMedicine Hat. She died in 1975, and like herfather was cremated in Calgary.

The youngest sister, Alice Cobb, was astenographer for most ofher work life. An accom-plished musician in bothpiano and violin, she playedfor several orchestras,including the CalgaryString Orchestra, whereshe became first violin. Shealso taught Sunday Schoolat a Calgary church.

Alice died in 1990; fol-lowing the family tradition,she endowed a Fine Artsscholarship at the Universi-ty of Calgary.

The Cobb family story is not very “Jew-ish,” but does raise some interesting ques-tions about this very early example of Jew-ish-Christian intermarriage in Calgary. HadMinnie Cobb lived to raise her daughters tomaturity, would they have led Jewish lives?Or is this a case where the husband’s wish-es over-ruled the more common influence ofthe Jewish-born mother?

Finally, why did none of the Cobb sistersmarry? Did they feel ambiguous and con-cerned about their religious status? Orwere they very bright, accomplished andprogressive feminists who preferred inde-pendence and achievement to domesticity?

In a long letter to a friend in 1923 (sup-plied by Alice Cobb’s trustee), Alice con-fesses her boredom with constant musicpractice andwith her life as a stenographer,and says she is a bit envious of her sisters’more exciting life. …”not so much enviousof them as discontented at the thought ofwhat I have missed, and what a staid old-maidish sort of person I have become.”

Jacob Gerber, 1917Jacob Gerber was only 50 when he died

in Bassano, a town about 65 miles east ofCalgary. He suffered a stroke in late Januaryof 1917, and died the next day. His wife,JennyGerber, was in Calgary visiting friendswhen he fell ill and she was unable to reachBassano before Gerber died. He was buriedin the Calgary Jewish cemetery (Erlton) onFebruary 2, 1917.

The life of JacobGerbermay seemunre-markable, but it illustrates several importantfeatures of early Jewish life in westernCanada. The first is that life expectancy inthe early decades of the 20th century wasshorter than now. Medicine was unsophis-ticated; sanitation in pioneer communitieswas often primitive, and modern drugs hadyet to be developed. Death at 50 or earlierwas common for frontier men and women.Infant and child mortality was also high.Wetend to forget the health challenges ourgrandparents faced.

Gerber was a small town merchant,another common characteristic of westernJewish life. Nearly every town had a Chi-nese café and a Jewish store. He operatedthe Hub Supply Store in Bassano. Small-town storekeeping was usually a one-gen-eration experience. Like their Jewish farm-

Cemetery Storiesby Jack Switzer

Continued on Page 6Gravestone of Minnie Cobb in Erlton cemetery. JHSSA Cemetery Archives

SPRING 2010 THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA 5

Book Review:

The Lipton Jewish Agricultural Colony: 1901 – 1951:Pioneering on Canada’s Prairies by Theodore H. Friedgutby Roberta Kerr

Theodore H. Friedgut’s monograph is an in-depth, fascinating look at one of the largerand more successful of the Jewish farmingcommunities set up across the prairiesaround the turn of the 20th century. Theauthor provides the historical context that ledto extensive Jewish emigration from Russiaand Eastern Europe in the preceding years,and the factors that brought many of thoseimmigrants to Canada and to the prairies,despite the fact that most of them had little, ifany, agricultural experience. Through adetailed study of the ‘political, economic,social and cultural issues’ that affected theLipton colony in particular and other Jewishfarming communities in general, Friedgutopens our eyes to the realities of these settle-ments, including ‘our own’ colonies at Rum-sey and Trochu, aswell as theMontefiore set-tlement (located near the town of Sibbald, justwest of the Saskatchewan border) on bothpractical and idealistic levels.

Of particular interest is the section con-cerning the fact that the Lipton colony was“…the first and only attempt in Canada to del-egate to government the founding and admin-istration of a Jewish agriculture settlement…” (p.16). Whereas the other communitiesgrew out of chainmigration and informal blocksettlement (i.e., groups of family members orfriends filing on adjacent homesteads), thefirst groups of Romanian immigrants whofounded the Lipton colony in 1901 and 1902 hadbeen recruited, screened and approved by aCanadian government immigration official,with the Deputy Minister of the Interior in con-trol not only of the colony’s physical set-up andadministration, but even of the funds providedby the British-based Jewish ColonizationAssociation. Perhaps logical on paper, thisprocess – and particularly its inexact applica-tion – brought several unique challenges tothe Lipton community, to add to those sharedwith the other communities.

In addition to detailed descriptions of manypractical issues in the colonists’ lives, there arefascinating portions dealing with the religiousand cultural aspects of the Lipton colony, bothof which were highly developed. The settlers’

determination not just tomake new lives, but tobuild a truly Jewish community, saw expres-sion in regular religious services and leader-ship, a Culture Club with lectures and discus-sions, three schoolswith Jewish curricula, andmuch charitable and social activity. They wereable to establish structures that supported andnourished the community as a whole, despite“factionalism on a multitude of axes”.

Throughout this monograph, the inaugurallecture of the Switzer-Cooperstock LectureSeries of the Jewish Heritage Centre ofWest-ern Canada, Friedgut captures the con-tradictions and accommodations that swayedthe Lipton colony throughout its 50-year exis-tence, and his conclusions regarding its ulti-mate demise are considered and thorough.

Theodore Friedgut is a professor of Russ-ian and Slavic studies at Hebrew University ofJerusalem. His grandfather, Issac Friedgut,began homesteading at the Lipton Colonyabout 1904. Calgarian David Spindel (1916 –2000), a founding director of JHSSA, grew upat Lipton.

Wedding at Lipton Jewish farm colony, 1916. Photoby Louis Rosenberg. Source: National Archives ofCanada.

Clara Maerov and friends, Calgary, c.1931. Clara Maerov, in coat, secondfrom left, is seen with friends,believed to be (l to r) sisters SophieBelkin, Anne Belkin and Clara Belkin.Sophie and Anne are wearing smocksfor their work as butter wrappers atCentral Creameries. Clara Maerovmarried Leon Lieberman late in 1931.Source: Lucien Lieberman, Vancouver.JHSSA #2424

New Photofrom ourCollection

6 THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA SPRING 2010

Wedding Show and TellContinued from Page 2

considered to be single for the draft,” wroteShapiro.

Charna and Archie weren’t in the leastconcerned. It was Stampede season, and theywent off to the fairgrounds.

“When they returned, they found thewholefamily gathered on the front porch waiting forthem,” wrote Shapiro. “In their absence adecision was made – they were gettingmarried on Sunday!”

The day before their hastily convenedmarriage, the Shapiros rushed downtown onlyto find that the new rule had caused astampede of its own as couples anxious toavoid the draft lined up for blood tests.

That evening, there was a run on koshermeat in Calgary.

“As soon as Shabbat was out, Fanny Man-olson, Charna’s mother, got the two kosherbutchers to open their shops and she boughteverything theyhad.Then thecookingmarathonbegan. All the aunts got together and prepareda huge feast,” wrote Shapiro.

Though it was a festive occasion, CharnaManolson felt blue on her wedding day.

“She had always dreamed of beingmarried in a white dress…. Instead she had towear a blue-grey gown that she’d worn oncebefore,” wrote Shapiro.

Nonetheless, the Shapiros enjoyed a“frailach wedding” and more than 60 years ofwedded bliss.

…And Something from YouBouquets (pun intended) to everyone who

contributed to the Wedding Show and Tell onMay 16th. The programwas so successful thatwe are already planning a follow-up event youwon’t want to miss.

We are looking for photographs, ketubahs,invitations, artefacts and stories that will helpus to learn more about Jewish courtship andweddings in southern Alberta. By exploringthese lifecycle events we gain valuableinsights into the history of our community.

Please join us in this fascinating journey ofdiscovery by adding your family to thehistorical record.

In addition to all those who presentedpersonal stories and artefacts, JHSSA thanksLarry Katz, Naomi Kerr and Roberta Kerr fortheir assistance with the Wedding Show andTell program.

Cemetery Stories Continued from Page 4

ing friends, most rural merchants eventual-ly moved to larger cities with their modernfacilities, Jewish milieus and opportunitiesfor their children to be educated and to findJewish marriage partners.

The Bassano store owner was also aveteran of the Jewish farm colony experi-ence. Many Prairie Jews tried home-steading in one of the dozen or so Jewishfarm settlements scattered through thePrairies. Jacob and Jenny Gerber wereamong the 19 Jewish families that settled atBender, in Manitoba, about 1903. The Ben-der settlement was unique in that the fami-lies lived near each other in the town, inclose proximity to each other, and commut-ed to their homestead lands nearby.

The Bender farmers faced social isola-tion, unproductive soil and a poor econo-my, and gradually left their farms. JacobGerber was among the first to leave, andgained business experience in Winnipeg,and possibly other towns, before comingto Bassano.

The Gerbers had two nieces living withthem in Bassano.We have no records of anychildren of their own. Following Jacob’spassing, Jenny and the girls returned to theirWinnipeg base, where Jenny died in 1958,having outlived her husband by 41 years.

Gravestone of Jacob Gerber in Erlton cemetery.JHSSA Cemetery Archives

Above: Bev Brodsky and Larry Sheckter, Calgary,December 26, 1968. Source: Bev and Larry Sheckter.JHSSA #2476

Left: Archie Shapiro and Charna Manolson, Calgary,July 14, 1940. Source: Judy Shapiro. JHSSA #2440

If any readers have information about theGerber or Cobb families please call theJHSSAoffice at 403-444-3171, andwewill bepleased to add it to the historical record. Welook forward to bringing you more “Ceme-tery Stories” in future Discovery issues.

SPRING 2010 THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA 7

Calgary BenefactorsWalter BarronHy & Jenny BelzbergTed BusheikinDov & Arlein ChetnerMartha CohenSidney & Bronia

CyngiserHarris & Lynette DvorkinJudith DwarkinJack & Rose EdelsonClifford & Marla

EisenbergLil FaiderRon &Myrna GhitterSam & Anne GoreshtDavid & Tybiez”l HalpernNoel & Lil HershfieldGordon & Eva HoffmanBarbara JoffeWilliam & Lea KohnAlvin LibinBarbara LibinEric & Gay LibinPhil & Harriet LibinNorman & Beulah MartinTherese NaglerMaurice &Myra

PapernyPhil & Judy ParkerHarvey & Rayna RabinDonna RibackFaith RibackTed RibackMurray & Pam RobinsBrian & Gayla RogersAlex & Phyllis RubinJerry & Fay SchwartzMarcel & Minnie SegalRuth ShapiroStan & Carey SmithNorman & Roz SteinbergIsrael & Bryna SwitzerDarlene Switzer-FosterWaterman HoldingsFania WedroRose Zivot

Out of Town BenefactorsJoel & Annette BermackMiriam Bloomberg

Delores Corenblum-Rosen

Murt DavisDavid & Rhoda

EisenstadtBernard GhertSonny & Gena GorashtBeryl LibinMichael & Phyllis

MoscovichLes MossJared Polsky & Debbie

LevySylvia PolskyMichael ShafronSam Switzer

Calgary PatronsDoreen AbugovJack & Alice AdlerRudy & Jeanette BergerClara BlackstoneCheryl CohenTrudy Cowan &

Leon LukerLabie & Eleanor DoctorJack & Brenda

EisenbergMilton &Maxine

FischbeinLeo & Arla FriedmanBruce & Halley GirvitzRalph & Sheila GurevitchBarry & Ila HardinRobert & Sydney KalefJoe &Maureen KatchenFrank & Sophie KettnerMinnie KowallRose ListerLarry & Sandy MartinMiriam MeirAllen &Wendy

MendelmanMiriamMilavskyEva MuskovitchStuart & Elaine MyronCliff & Ruth SecterJack & Betty SharpArnold ShermanBetty SherwoodBob & Cheryl ShiellRae Smithens

Sheldon SmithensJoe & Sondra SpierJack & Shauna SwitzerDoran & Patty VinerEvelyn VinerMaurice YacowarPaul ZiffChevra Kadisha of

Calgary

Out of Town PatronsMarilyn BelzbergMurray BlanksteinJack & Sylvia ChetnerRosalind Corenblum-

CitronMickey DavidsHerb GuttmanBetty HorodezkyCyril LeonoffGeorge & Connie NaglerBrian & Heather SaltmanFred SchaefferSyd ShafronEvelyn SheftelBlanche ShindellDavid SidorskyNat & Betty StarrTobey SwitzerMarc & Suzanne

Waterman

Calgary MembersWilliam AizanmanEthel AllmanGerry BarronJean BarronShel BercovichJack & Sheila BermackDavid & Sonia BickmanFran BloomfieldAnne BrodskyDavid BusheikinGeta ChurginJeri ChurginEmanuel & Donna CohenGeneva CohenLes &Mim DiamondLorne & Zena DrabinskyJerry & Faith DubiskyNorman & Ruth DvorkinDave & Delsie Dworkin

Reva FaberPaul FinklemanReesa GirvitzSaul & Louise GlinGeorge & Sondra

GoodmanHenry & Avrona GutmanLucille HansonZelda HansonLeon & Becky HaptonBurt & Leni HoffmanCy &Mona JoffeDavid JoffeJonathan JoffeLily JoffeSandra KalefIrena KarshenbaumLarry & Deborah KatzNaomi KerrMorley & Eta KerrSarah Jane Kerr-LapsleyOscar KirshnerAllan & Annette KolinskySharna LavenMel & Carol LevittJean LibinSaundra LiptonJulius ListerBarry LitchinskyBetty MayerChana McKereghanLee MosterFrances PearlmanSusan PodlogMel & Reata PolskyTiby PresmaCorinne PromislowShirley RabinovitchAgi Romer Segal &

Eliezer SegalBen &Mona RosenbaumStuart & Irene RossMercia SafranLeah SaltmanMarilyn Samuels &

David CraimerMiriam SandersAllan & Sharon SattinHarold SegallRobert & Tamara SeilerRuth SherwoodSvetlana Shklarov

Morley & Cheryl ShoreBrian & Gail SidorskyHelen SignerMorley & Karen SklarTillie SklarPat SmolenskyBarry & Debby SmolkinJerry SnukalSam & Ida SwitzerPhil & Ruth UllmanJack Van AmeringenVera VogelHelen WalkerSandra Morton WeizmanJack WiseAbe & Alice ZeislerLeon & Lillian

ZimmermanCalgary Jewish AcademyJewish War Veterans of

Canada, Post #2

Out of TownMembersJonathan AnschellAl BloomenthalFrancis BondaroffRena CohenWilliam & Bernice CohenGary & Francoise

DvorkinTish DvorkinBarry FinkelmanMel & Deana FishmanJudith GhertCharles GoldmanDvorah HeckelmanRon HurovAlice KalenskyDan KauffmanLucien & Carole

LiebermanChuck MozesonIda RodichRoberta ShepsAndria SpindelGoldie SteeleDavid StockhammerBill WatersElizabeth YanAllen County Public

Library

Thank You to all our 2010 MembersMembership donations are used to support the projects and operations of the JHSSAwhich is an independent, self-sustaining organization. Weissue official tax receipts for all donations. Our membership year is from September to August. Special thanks to all those members who havemade donations beyond their membership fees. Please inform our office of any omissions or corrections.

8 THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN ALBERTA SPRING 2010

Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta

Founding President: Jay JoffePast President: Sheldon SmithensPresident: Jack SwitzerVice-Presidents: Brenda Eisenberg, Donna RibackTreasurer: Deborah KatzSecretary: Zena DrabinskyDirectors: Shel Bercovich, David Bickman,David Busheikin, Emanuel Cohen, Trudy Cowan,Cliff Eisenberg, Barry Finkelman, Paul Finkleman,Maxine Fischbein, Sheila Gurevitch, Noel Hershfield,Barbara Joffe, Harriet Libin, Saundra Lipton,Therese Nagler, Betty Sherwood, Svetlana Shklarov,Carey Smith, Darlene Switzer-FosterHonourary Directors: Hy Belzberg, Jack Edelson,Henry Gutman, Mel PolskyArchivist: Agi Romer SegalOffice Staff: Naomi Kerr, Roberta KerrEditors: Jack Switzer, Agi Romer Segal,

Maxine Fischbein

The editors welcome submissions for publication relatingto areas of Calgary and Southern Alberta Jewish history.All articles should be typed, documented and sent for con-sideration.

Statements of fact or opinion appearing in Discovery aremade on the responsibility of the authors alone, and do notimply the endorsement of the editors or the JHSSA.

Please address all communications on editorial and circu-lation matters to:

Discoveryc/o The Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta1607 - 90th Avenue S.W.,Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2V 4V7

Phone 444-3171Email: jhssa@shaw.caWebsite: www.jhssa.org

ISSN: 1916 – 3886

DISCOVERY

© 2010 by the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta(a non-profit, registered society). Donations gratefully accepted.

JHSSA News

A Joyful Harvest ExhibitGoes to Vancouver

JHSSA is pleased to announce that our2005 exhibit A Joyful Harvest is going westandwill be on view in Vancouver in the ZackGallery in the Vancouver JCC under the aus-pices of the Jewish Museum and Archivesof B.C. from August 5 to August 31, 2010.

Directors of JHSSA will be on hand forthe Gala Opening reception of the exhibit onAugust 5th at 7:00 pm. All former Calgariansliving in B.C. are encouraged to attend sincethis is awonderful opportunity to learn of thedevelopment of the Jewish community insouthern Alberta over more than a century.The many photos of people, places and or-ganizationswill surely bring backmemories.

For further details about the Vancouvershowinggo tohttp://www.jewishmuseum.ca.

Our Readers Help OutThank you to a number of readers who

called to identify the lovely young ladies fea-tured in the photo on page 5 of the Winter2010 issue. Alice Adler was first to contactour office with the following names (fromleft to right), back – Becky Gurevitch, GoldieGopman, Ida Aisenstat; front – MollyMadorsky, Sarah ??

Alice thinks the photo, which came toJHSSA from the estate of Goldie GopmanSheftel, must have been taken prior to 1934,when her sister Molly Madorsky becameMrs. Sugarman .

Our faithful readers have contacted us toprovided further information supplementingthe answers to the Fall 2009 History Quiz,which were printed in theWinter 2010 issueof Discovery. Helen Birns noted the roleplayed by Leo Dvorkin as a Kosher Butcheron 5th Avenue near 4th Street East from1926 to1943.

Devorah Smolensky called in response tothe article about the 2009 Jay JoffeMemorialProgram, which featured a documentaryabout the Jewish chicken farmers of Peta-luma, California. She told us that Calgary’sfirst permanent Rabbi, SimonSmolensky, hada brother who became a turkey farmer inPetaluma. There are still Smolensky relativesin the area and there is a road named afterthe family, with an anglicized spelling.

We love to hear from our readers. If youhave any additional information about any ofthe stories in Discovery, please contact usat 403-444-3171, or jhssa@shaw.ca.

JHSSA Represented atNational Conference

JHSSA archivist, Agi Romer Segal, par-ticipated in a special session entitled“Canadian Jewish Archives Out Loud: Illus-trated Readings fromHistorical Sources” aspart of this year’s Association of CanadianJewish Studies Conference in Montreal onJune 1, 2010. Archivists from Jewish ar-chives from Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg,Calgary and Vancouver shared treasuresfrom their collections dealing with thethemes “First Impressions”, “LanguagesOld and New”, “Responding to those inNeed” and “Cultural Exchanges”.

The talks highlighted the importance ofarchives for continued research in the fieldof Canadian Jewish Studies.

This session was followed on June 2ndby the first national conference of the Asso-ciation of Canadian Jewish Archives andMuseums (ACJAM). Participants focusedon the role of digitization in the future of ourarchives.

Your donations areworking harder than ever!

Thanks to your ongoing contributionsand a time-limited Province of Alberta initia-tive called the Community Spirit Program,our income from donations has almost dou-bled! This grant has just provided us with acheque for 90% of the total donationsreceived from our Alberta supporters lastyear (not including Individual or Familymemberships).

These donations are from Tribute Cards,Benefactors and Patrons and additional onetime donations. Virtually all contributionsqualify for an almost-matching amount ofprovincial dollars. We can designate thegrant money for any of the projectswe iden-tified on our application, including digitizingour archives, digital recorders for oral histo-ries, and new upgraded display panels.

Please consider making an additionaldonation to JHSSA before the end of our fis-cal year (August 31st). We have no guaran-tee that the Community Spirit Program willbe continued beyond 2010; by contributingnow, you can maximize support of projectsthat help us to better preserve and show-case our heritage.

JOIN THE JHSSAFamily membership – $36Single membership – $18Institution/Corporation – $36Patron – $50Benefactor – $100

Please make cheques payable to:Jewish Historical Society

of Southern Alberta1607 - 90 Avenue SWCalgary, AB T2V 4V7

Membership payable bycredit card through our office.

Please do not send cash through the mail.