It took about three years to complete, but the Ontario Jewish Archives’ virtual exhibit that features the histories of 11 small Ontario Jewish communities has been up and running as of late last month.

From left, MPP Monte Kwinter, OJA board chair Brooky Robins, OJA director Ellen Scheinberg and Ontario Trillium Foundation board director Sharyn Salsberg Ezrin pose with a plaque presented to the OJA at the launch of its new virtual exhibit. [Michael Rajzman photo]

The Ontario Small Jewish Communities Virtual Exhibit – which was largely funded by a $117,000 grant awarded to the OJA in 2005 by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Ministry of Culture – is a virtual exhibit put together by historians and researchers who completed 69 oral histories, conducted seven oral history workshops in different cities and towns, and acquired 110 donations in the form of artifacts, documents, photographs and art.

OJA director Ellen Scheinberg said the donated material was scanned and photographed so that it could be viewed on the website alongside 250 pages of text and about 700 digitized documents, maps and video clips.

“We have a provincial mandate, so I wanted to ensure that we were covering the histories of communities outside of Toronto and making them more visible and establishing closer ties, acquiring and safeguarding records from these communities. This project really helped accomplish that,” said Scheinberg, adding that  the OJA partnered with the Ontario Historical Society and the Regional Jewish Communities of Ontario to complete the project.

“A lot of people have the misconception that Canadian Jews only live in big cities like Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver. It’s true that the majority do, but many Jews decided to live outside the big cities and pursue occupations in these smaller towns.”

The 11 Ontario communities featured in the exhibit are Cornwall, Belleville, Kingston, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Kitchener-Waterloo, Owen Sound, North Bay, Sudbury and Thunder Bay.

The communities were selected based on the criteria that they are at least 100 kilometres from Toronto, and have an operating synagogue and a population of less than 2,000 Jews.  

Scheinberg said the exception was Cornwall, which had to close its synagogue in 2007 because of a declining Jewish population, but a decision was made not to exclude the community, because it was selected before the closure, and because of its rich history.

Scheinberg said the decision to put the exhibit on the Internet rather than produce a physical one was made so that the information could reach people all over the world.

“Because the communities are situated so far apart from one another, it will enhance communication and they can learn from one another.”

She said that at the launch, held last month at the Lipa Green Centre in Toronto, several speakers, including MPP Monte Kwinter and Ontario Trillium Foundation Board director Sharyn Salsberg Ezrin, addressed some 150 people who came from all over the province to attend.

“I did a half-hour demonstration about the site, and I just went through the different towns and sections and tried to show the people all the interesting types of documents and clips that were there and showcase the sophisticated menu screens and links and pop-ups that we included,” Scheinberg said.

“They seemed really quite pleasantly surprised, and I think they were amazed at how ambitious it was and how comprehensive.”

Scheinberg said the Trillium grant has been used up, but she hopes that with  more fundraising, the OJA will be able to add more communities – such as Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Welland and Brantford – to the virtual exhibit.

OJA board chair Brooky Robins grew up in North Bay, so she understands the importance of documenting the Jewish histories of small towns.

“Everything about that small town is my heart and soul. The initiative, not just to me, but to everybody else, brings into focus and gives a much higher visibility and highlights the histories of the small communities and educates the public about the important role that many of them played over the years,” said Robins, who was born in North Bay in 1936 and lived there until 1954 before moving to Toronto.

“I think there isn’t one person from those 11 communities who were interviewed that weren’t extremely excited about what the [OJA] was doing and about the interviews and the initiative.”

She said the interviewees responded positively because “people in small communities have never been asked these questions before asked about their lives there.

“When someone asks you what it was like growing up in a small town, all of a sudden a flood of memories comes back.”

Robins recalled that “as a little kid… we used to live on the corner of two major streets,” and one of them was the main road that led to the military base in Petawawa, Ont., during World War II.

She said soldiers would stand at the corner of Fisher and Worthington streets to hitchhike to the base.

“Every Friday, my mother would say, ‘Brooky, go see if he’s Jewish’… So my mother would send me across the street and I would say, ‘My mother is cooking Friday night dinner and would you like to come for dinner?’… That’s the way we met all these young men during the war.”

Robins said anecdotes like that, as well as ones that provide a glimpse into the religious, social and business aspects of small Jewish communities, can be found on the site.

Visit the website at  www.ontariojewisharchives.org/exhibits/osjc