Digging deep into local Jewish life

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This article was published 10/02/2024 (948 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What role did Jews play in the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike? What was the impact of the Jewish community on the garment industry in the city? What do we know about Jewish dance bands in Manitoba or the Jewish chess club?

Those are some of the topics covered in a new book titled Jewish Life & Times, Volume X.

The book, the 10th collection of essays published by the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, explores those subjects and 18 more, with a focus on Jewish life in Western Canada — including military, labour and social history, along with gender, class, leisure activities and religion. All essays are based on presentations sponsored by the centre over the past 15 years.

The goal of the book is to “provide a perspective about the Jewish community and its contributions to life in Western Canada,” said Stan Carbone, director of programs and exhibits at the centre.

At the same time, it shows that the Jewish community “is not monolithic,” he said, noting the essays reveal an array of views and indicate “the complexities of Jewish life.”

For Carbone, the essays show how “history is a dynamic process, it’s not linear and uniform. The Jewish community, like other communities, is always evolving and changing, inventing and re-inventing itself.”

Dan Stone, a retired history professor from the University of Winnipeg, is one of the editors of the newest collection.

“We want to increase the historical knowledge of the Jewish community,” he says, adding the essays would be of interest to non-Jews, since many of the topics are about the way Jews interacted with others in Manitoba over the past century.

For him, it’s a way to “put on the record” this rich history, making it available for generations to come.

The essays, all but one of which are about Jewish life in the province, show how the Jewish community was “gradually integrated into and accepted in the broader Manitoba community,” he said.

Essay titles include A Stitch in Time: Winnipeg Jews and the Garment Industry; Jews and the 1919 General Strike; Manitoba’s Jewish Dance Bands and Musicians; Jews in Winnipeg’s Influenza Epidemic, 1918-1919; Moving South: The Other Jewish Winnipeg Before World War Two; and Drawing Lines in the Sand: Winnipeg’s Jewish Community and Winnipeg Beach.

Considering the challenges to the community since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and the subsequent war in Gaza, both Carbone and Stone expect a future edition will feature essays looking back on this time as well.

“I hope that discussion will take place,” Carbone says. “It should.”

Stone adds, “It will be interesting then to look back on how things developed.”

Jewish Life & Times, Volume X is available from the Heritage Centre at jhcwc.org or by calling 204-477-7460. The cost is $15.

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