Acquisition Category: Recent

 John Judah Glass was the son of Morris and Pearl Glass. He was born in England in 1897 and came to Canada in 1907 (two years after his father). In the First World War, Glass served overseas in the 58th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery. After the war, he atended Osgoode Hall Law School and became a practicing barrister and solicitor. With his law degree in hand, Glass went on to have a fifteen-year political career that included serving as a trustee for the Toronto Board of Education, alderman at Toronto City Council, and Liberal MPP in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He left the world of active politics in 1943. This collection consists of records documenting Glass’ involvement in the military, politics, and the Jewish community. Of note is a signed photograph of Vladimir Jabotinsky given to Glass when Jabotinsky was in Toronto in the 1920s.

The Canadian Association for Ethiopian Jews was a non-profit organization that operated between 1980 and 1992 for the sole purpose of assisting Ethiopian Jews. Its main work consisted of rescue and relief, rescue taking the form of a visa program and relief taking the form of monthly stipends delivered to Ethiopians in need. The collection consists of records documenting the organization’s work, including letters, meeting minutes and agendas, newspaper clippings, reference materials, audio records, an office manual, and an event poster. Ndali Ugboma, a former practicum student at the Ontario Jewish Archives, processed the collection.

This rich collection of over 1000 photographs, documents and artifacts offers a glimpse into the everyday and the extraordinary lives of the Rose, Harris and Geldzaeler families, as well as their connected branches, the Perlman, Ruskin, Ruben, Shumer, Shayne, Spiegel, and Rothbart families. Documenting Jewish life in Toronto beginning in 1880 through the lens of one extended family, this collection will surely provide endless research opportunities for those interested in Jewish family life

Ken Crystal, son of Sam Crystal, donated his father’s photographs from a 1967 mission to Israel. Taken some six months after the Six-Day War, the photographs document some of the locations that were conquered by Israel during the war, including Jerusalem, Nablus, and the Golan Heights. The photographs also depict a number of well-known individuals, including former Toronto mayor Nathan Philips, the then Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol, and the then Israeli president Zalman Shazar. All 149 of the photographs have been digitized and can be viewed

Founded in 1924, the Ostrowtzer Hilfs Farein was named after the town of Ostrowiec in Poland. The society’s mission was to provide support to Ostrovtzers who had immigrated to Toronto, offering small loans, medical assistance, and a fostering a sense of community. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the society extended its relief efforts to surviving Ostrovtzers around the globe and became known as the United Ostrowtzer Hilfs Committee. This collection comprises over three hundred letters sent to Max Hartstone in his role as secretary of the committee. These letters document the efforts of the United Ostrowtzer Hilfs Committee, in collaboration with Ostrovtzer societies worldwide, to aid and support to Holocaust survivors from Ostrowiec. They also offer insight into the immediate, postwar experiences of Holocaust survivors. The letters have been digitized and can be found here.

n the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza, a group of Jewish women in Toronto launched Letters to the Future—a grassroots initiative to document personal responses to a rapidly changing world. Participants were invited to write letters not for immediate recipients, but for future generations—sharing what it felt like to be Jewish during a time of fear, resilience, and transformation.