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HISTORY from page 1
life of the region. Pearl and Leopold Levey were among the pioneers who helped found the communal infrastructure of the town of Trail. Well-known as a destination for generations of Italian immigrants, Trail benefited enormously from the work of Jews like the Leveys, who were instrumental in starting the Ki-wanis Club, the Junior Chamber of Commerce and the hospital board after their arrival in 1936. Pearl Levey even foimded a Trail chapter of Hadassah. Their son Gerald, a Sea Cadet, was personal aide-de-camp to Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip on a 1951 tour and commanded his own ship in the Korean War. Cantorially trained Leopold Levey led the town's Jewish religious services.
Figure skaters tend to cut a wide swath on the ice, but not so much in political life. But Louis Rubenstein, a winner of the Quebec, Canadian and American figure skating championships, was able to draw world attention to the plight ofRussian Jewiy. In a public relations coup over a dictatorship that would presage the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, Rubenstein was entitled to compete in an 1890 world championship in Russia While there, he was subjected to anti-Semitic harassment, culminating in the refusal by Russian offidaJs to award him the first-place trophy he had rightfully won. Canadian and American government oflSdals intervened and Rubenstein's victory was recognized, as was the necessity to permit Jewish emigres of the Russian empire into North America to escape relentless discrimination in Russia.
Religion-based education has always been a prickly political issue in Canada, because of the "two founding nations" concept that defined Canada as French/Catholic and English/ Protestant. In 1901, a new vmn-kle was added, when Jacob Pinsler graduated from Dufferin elementary school in Montreal. Young Pinslei's academic achicve-ment should have assured him free secondary education but, as an English-speaking Quebeckcr who was not Protestant, there was no tuition-fiw school for him to attend. Pinsler's father, Paul, sued the Protestant Board of School Commissioners, Though his case failed, the issue never went away. Attendance at a Protestant school was deemed a privilege, not a right, by successive courts, until the Supreme Court of Canada reversed the position in 1928. Still, it wasn't until 1960 that Jewish day schools were admitted to Quebec's publicly funded school system.
Ruth Solomon (later Ruth Kirsh, wife of Boy Scout leader
A scene from The (Big) BanicRobbeiy, a Wayne and Shuster television sicetch. 1965. Photo courtesy of tlie National Archives of Canada (PA-205915) and the CBC Still Photo Dept.
Moo Kirsh) was the first captain of the 19th Company of the Girl Guides. Based out of Montreal's Congregation Shaar Hashomay-im, the 19th Company was the first explicitly Jewish Brownie and Guide troop when it began in 1953, about 40 years after Guiding first came to Canada fix)m the U.K Though Guiding is non-sectarian, the troop, and other similar troops that followed it, were overwhelmingly or entirely comprised of Jewish girls.
Ralph Mostcr, a yoimg Van-couverite who died in 1948, is not a household name. But he was the only one of just a few Canadians who died in Israel's War of Independence. About 5,000 Jewish Canadians joined the fight, spurred on by, in some cases, a lifetime of Zionist dedication and perhaps a romantic sense of cause. Though many of the volunteers had experience in the Second World War, they were ill-equipped to fight five invading Arab armies. In some cases, three soldiers shared one rifle. But it was the dedication and tenacity of foreign and sabra warriors like Moster who helped defend the newborn Jewish state.
Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster met at a Toronto high school, where they shared a mutual interest in theatre, particularly comical revues. Their pairing didn't end at graduation, though. As the duo Wayne and Shuster, the school pals would practically invent Canadian comedy, first as the principals in 77ie Army Siiow, which entertained troops during the Second World War, then in the emerging media of radio and television during the 1950s and on, as Canada became known as a source of an inordinate amount of humor. Though their big break came when they appeared (the first of 67 times)
on the Ed Sullivan Sliow, the pair remained based in Canada and resisted the lure of American fortime that has drawn so many Canadian comics - including Howie Mandell Mort Sahl, David Steinberg and Eugene Levy - south of the border.
Every Torontonian - and anyone who has walked down Bloor Street at Bathurst - knows the name Ed Mirvish. The discount retailer is responsible for more than one monument in this coim-try. Honest Ed's discount department store is a little bit of Las Vegas crossed with a vaudcvil-lian's taste for corny jokes and flashing neon. Though he got his start as a low-end purveyor of kitchen utensils and minimal thread-count sheet sets, ho has become a household name and one of Canada's most prolific supporters of the arts and other philanthropic endeavors.
As the world made plans to visit Montreal for the Expo year of 1967, Rabbi Wilfred Shuchat decided that the experiences of Jewish Canada and the world should be represented at the world's fair and set about creating the Pavilion of Judaism. Offering exhibits and live performances, the pavilion was based on two maxims Shuchat took from Ethics oftlie Fathers: that the world stands on three things - Torah, worship and acts of charity and loving kindness - and that the world is preserved by three things - truth, justice and peace. These are some of the principles that have guided Canadian Jewish life over 136 years and which continue to serve as guideposts for this coimtiys Jewish citizens. □
Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and commentator.