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CONGREGATION SHAAR HASHOMAYIM - Synagogue administrative records

https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn78466

Collection: CONGREGATION SHAAR HASHOMAYIM - Synagogue administrative records

Description Level: Fonds

Material Type: textual record; graphic material

Physical Description: 10.65 metres of textual records. - Env. 7 photographs.

Fonds No.: I0106

Date: 1858-2015.

Scope and Content: The collection consists of the equivalent of 32 banker's boxes of textual records, although most of contents are oversize. Includes: Bound books of minutes, (1858-1990), Annual reports (1955-1990), membership and seating books (1918-1985?), cemetery books, rentals books, various committee and schoo…

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Collection: CONGREGATION SHAAR HASHOMAYIM - Synagogue administrative records

Description Level: Fonds

Material Type: textual record; graphic material

Physical Description: 10.65 metres of textual records. - Env. 7 photographs.

Scope and Content: The collection consists of the equivalent of 32 banker's boxes of textual records, although most of contents are oversize. Includes: Bound books of minutes, (1858-1990), Annual reports (1955-1990), membership and seating books (1918-1985?), cemetery books, rentals books, various committee and school ledgers, other ledgers and financial records and synagogue Bulletins (bound and unbound.) In addition to the administrative documentation there is a wealth of nominative information about congregation members which could be of genealogical and sociological interest. There are numerous books and files of Minutes, including: Board of Trustees minutes 1955-1960; Board Minutes 1960-1995; Executive minutes, 1920, 1946-1951, 1969-1976, and 1979-2009; "ACM" 1974-1983; Woman's auxiliary youth minutes, 1952-1956; and Youth committee minutes 1952-1956.A large part of the fonds consists of Membership and Holiday Seating Plan books, dating from 1918-1980 (some of the years are written as Hebrew dates.) These books usually include names, addresses, seat numbers, their cost, and remarks. Some years contain separate sections, such as membership without seats, cemetary plot sales, school membership, and assembly hall seat membership bookings. Some books include loose papers containing information on bookings gains and losses, overcrowding, concessions granted, correspondence for seat renewals and requests. The Cemetery records include Plans (maps) of the Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery plots in 2 long black books that record spaces allotted to individuals from 1902-1989. The Cemetery books duplicate much of the same content, but vary in handwritten notes and years covered; one finishes in the 1970s, the other in the 1990s. There is also a folder of cemetery titles (1910-1972). Five wide brown books contain cemetery plans for part of Shaar Hashoymayim Cemetery, dated January 15, 1954. Four of are nearly duplicates, with minor variations. The other varies more and features "S"s in the plots.There is also a ledger without its cover recording memorial observances by family members 1930s-1969?, which includes death dates and Hebrew names. There is documentation on Hall Rentals by the Men's Association, along with their minutes, some correspondence, event programs, other miscellany. and 7 photographs (1949-1955). Other Rental records in the collection list the event type, name of booker, number of guests, costs and remarks. Documents for rentals rates and holiday restrictions are also contained in these books (1966-1977 and 1986-1990).Also: Hebrew Sunday School records, including lists of students and teachers, class attendance reports, student discipline and daily weather reports, 1946-1957; and Hebrew Young Ladies Sewing Society, minutes of meetings, 1917-1927. Synagogue bulletins are present in a near complete series from 1928-2010, with the exception of vols. XI-XII for 1937-1939.There are various financial ledgers dating from 1911-1982, among them Cashbook 1911-1918; School ledger 1938-1946; Financial ledger 1950-1955.Added in June 2013: Printed legal documents for a name change for the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue and the incorporation of the B'nai Jacob synagogue (both 1890), and the incorporation of the Temple Emanu-El (1883), old news clippings about the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue and Jewish Montreal, original letters from Moses Montefiore in London, England, payment booklet for the Shomrim Laboker congregation printed in 1905 and used between 1908-1937, 3 original prints of Rabbi Abraham de Sola's booklet Behemoth Hatevoth (1853), and various ephemeral documents pertaining to the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, including an invitation to the cornerstone laying of their Stanley Street building, two order of Service handouts, and a notice of a Masonic meeting. All the documents received in this group are in very fragile condition.

Date: 1858-2015.

Fonds No.: I0106

History / Biographical: In 1846, members of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue and other Montreal Jews decided that they wanted Ashkenazi synagogue services. They therefore formed the Corporation of English, German and Polish Jews which was modelled on a British synagogue. The congregation rented space, then constructed its first building on St. Constant Street. In 1875, the congregation almost amalgamated with the Spanish and Portuguese to form one large synagogue in the west end of the city, but this was not successful. After several other moves, and the adoption of the name Shaar Hashomayim in 1917, land was purchased in 1920 in Westmount and the new building completed in 1922. A school was added after the Second World War, and the building was expanded in 1967. Though Orthodox by charter, the congregation is Conservative. It is the second oldest synagogue in Canada, and the oldest Ashkenazi one.

Custodial History: The initial donation was made in 2012 by the Administrative Director of the congregation, during a time of renovations to the vault where the papers and ledgers had been stored. In June 2013 five centimetres of old documents formerly from the Shaar Hashomayim Museum were donated by the volunteer in charge of the museum and archives collection. These items were de-accessioned from the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Museum at the discretion of the museum personnel because they refer to other synagogues.

Notes: Alpha-numeric designations: P12/ 14, P13/11.Associated material: Shaar Hashomayim synagogue files accumulated in the CJC collection, series ZH.

Archival / Genealogical: Archival Descriptions

Repository: Canadian Jewish Archives

Images

i0106-shaarhashomayinbulletin-jan1957 thumbnail

I. Elsbach Herford Shirt Factory

https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn75215

Collection: MONTREAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTRE (MHMC-01)

Description Level: Item

Material Type: graphic material

Physical Description: Print : Ht: 12 cm x W: 16 cm

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Collection: MONTREAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTRE (MHMC-01)

Description Level: Item

Material Type: graphic material

Physical Description: Print : Ht: 12 cm x W: 16 cm

Other Title Information: Advertising Medium

Physical Condition: Excellent

Language: German

Notes: Print of an etching in black ink on white paper. Illustration of the Herforder Hemdenfabrik (Herford shirt factory) building with chimneys blowing smokes and horses pulling carriages inscribed with the name of the factory. Narrative: Brothers Josef and Hermann Elsbach founded the company in 1873 and in 1875 registered it as Herforder shirt factory J.Elsbach & Co. The founders came from a Jewish family in the clothing business since 1848. In 1907 Elsbach became a corporation. In 1914 the company was regarded as Europe's largest clothing company. More than 1,200 factory workers and thousands of home workers were employed. As part of the forced aryanizations of 1938, the family had to sell their shares. The company was taken over and renamed by Ahlers AG Herford linen factories. At the end of the Second World War, the factory buildings were heavily damaged by fire and looting. The military government in the British zone of occupation confiscated the shares of Ahlers in the company. In 1947, Ahlers came back to run the company but he died in1954. From 1952 the company was called back Elsbach linen factories AG. The shares were returned to the surviving heirs of the Elsbach family.

Accession No.: 2010.07.08

Name Access: Maass, Joan

Places: Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Germany, Europe

Archival / Genealogical: Archival Descriptions

Repository: Montreal Holocaust Museum

Images

Photograph

https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn113340

Collection: MONTREAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTRE (MHMC-01)

Description Level: Item

Material Type: graphic material

Physical Description: Photograph : silver print ; Ht: 13,5 cm x W: 8,5 cm

Date: October 27, 1948

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Collection: MONTREAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTRE (MHMC-01)

Description Level: Item

Material Type: graphic material

Physical Description: Photograph : silver print ; Ht: 13,5 cm x W: 8,5 cm

Date: October 27, 1948

Language: German; English

Notes: Black and white photo of the memorial for the Warsaw Ghetto in 1948. Jagged outline. Narrative: Sonia Smolnik-Aronowicz-Tencer was born in 1915, in Vilnius, formerly part of Poland. Her family has lived in Vilnius for many generations. She was married to a lawyer named Misha Aronowicz and studied to become an accountant. The city was under the Soviet occupation when the Nazis invaded on June 22, 1941. In September 1941, Sonia and her family were deported to the Vilnius ghetto, created by the Nazis to dehumanize and exploit the Jews. They remained there until 1943, when the men and women were separated. It was the last time she saw her brother, Ariye, and her husband, Misha. In the ghetto of Vilnius, Sonia befriended Miriam and Minya (Miriam's sister-in-law). Together, they made a pact to help each other survive the war. Their friendship and alliance represent a form of resistance against the abuse they suffered in the ghetto and labor camps. The same year, Sonia's parents went into hiding. Sonia and her two friends were then deported to the concentration camps of Riga-Kaiserwald and Riga-Strasdenhof in Latvia where they were used as forced labor. In 1945, they were deported to Bromberg-Ost, a women's annex of the Stutthof concentration camp where they were forced to build German railroads and barracks. The camp was liquidated on January 20, 1945, 300 survivors set off on a death march to Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg. Sonia managed to escape. She spent the next few weeks hiding in abandoned German houses before her liberation by the Soviet Army. On the day of her liberation near Pomerania, a Soviet soldier gave Sonia a necklace as a symbol of hope and comfort. He told her she would be able to wear jewelry again one day. After the war, Sonia reunited with her two friends. Miriam then immigrated to Boston where she became an administrative assistant in the Chemistry Department at Harvard. Minya remained in France, where she married and had two sons. Sonia arrived in Canada aboard the ship Samaria in 1950.