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Patriarchs and Pioneers
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Moses Bilsky (1829-1923)
Ottawa was still called By Town when Moses Bilsky arrived from Kovno, Lithuania. After an early life filled of adventure in the Cariboo Goldfields followed by a horseback journey to California, he married Pauline Reich of Brooklyn, New York and established his home on Nicholas Street, Ottawa.
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In the later part of the nineteenth century, both Moses Bilsky and his home became the centre of Jewish life in Ottawa. Before the first synagogue was built, religious services were held at the Bilsky's. "Imagine the crowds on the Day of Atonement and New Year's, on festivals like Passover. People from the city presented a grave problem but those from the outlying districts strained all resources." Mr. Bilsky conducted most of the services himself until a synagogue was obtained and he brought Rev. Jacob Mirsky to Ottawa.
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He was a founder of Adath Jeshurun Congregation in 1892 and went to New York to obtain the city's first Torah Scroll, handwritten on parchment in one continuous length. Bilsky, travelling by train and concerned about the damage or irreverent handling, would not lay it down and sat up all night holding the Torah.
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John Dover (1864-1952)
When John Dover left the height of Russian pogroms in 1882, he was firm in his Orthodoxy. He was the first Orthodox Jewish person to live and eventually settle in Ottawa in 1889. In the intervening seven years, he added English to his Russian, Yiddish and a little German and sold watches and chains to lumbermen and railway men as far west as Winnipeg, Manitoba. When John Dover settled in Ottawa, he "found there were three Reformed Jews - Rosenthal, Tichman and Max - all in the jewellery business - but he was the only Orthodox Jew".
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| Along with the homes of Moses Bilsky, Jacob Cohen and the Rosenfields, John Dover's home was also open for religious services. He was always associated with the Congregation Adath Jeshurun. He was the first president of the Congregation in 1890 to 1893. When the congregation marked its 50th anniversary in 1942, John Dover was honoured when the first meeting of the congregation held on March 13, 1892 was re-enacted with John Dover, the man who was in the chair at the time, wielding the gavel again fifty years later. |
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| "A patriarchal leader of what became a strong Jewish community in the Capital, he lived to be 88 years of age, a clear-minded, lovable gentleman who liked nothing better than reminiscing over "the good old days." |
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Jacob Mirsky: (1859-1942)
"From the moment Rev. Jacob Mirsky arrived in Ottawa in 1894 as a cantor and shochet, Mr. Mirksy endeared himself to all the members of our community by impressive dignity and majestic carriage of his person and by his unyielding devotion to the interests of all who were in need. He served not only as the Capital's first Jewish, spiritual leader, but was, for many years, the social service and charitable arm of the Jewish community."
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| "Picture with me this grand old man taking his accustomed place in the Synagogue (Adath Jeshurun) before the Holy Ark, with marked dignity - his beautiful pure white beard in contrast to the black gown in which he was neatly robed. Listen to his sweet, melodious voice ringing and praying to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, together with and in the name of his beloved Congregants, who regarded him with affection and respect." |
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| As a mark of the esteem for Rev. Jacob Mirsky, a banquet was held in his honour at the Talmud Torah Hall in October, 1927. He was presented with a beautifully illuminated manuscript and a purse of gold. |
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| His music was not only a delight but was also very influential to Rev. Joseph Rabin. Many of his songs were his own creation and one was recently included in a Canadian Musical Heritage publication, which is a Carleton University project. |
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| Rev. Joseph Rabin (1892-1968)
Rev. Joseph Rabin was the third consectutive generation of his family to become a cantor, having received his training in his country of birth, Lithuania, and also Amsterdam (1918-1922). Before arriving in Ottawa in 1929, he spent fourteen months at Kirkland Lake where he served the small Jewish communtiy as spiritual leader.
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| 1929 was a turning point in his life. He was reunited with his younger family who arrived in Montreal from Luthuania and he accepted the position of chazan at the Adath Jeshurun Congregation. In addition, he was appointed shochet. In 1936, after completing a special course in New York, he began his practice as mohel. |
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| It was music that pervaded the life of Rev. Rabin. He was an accomplished composer of cantorial music and served as cantor and choirmaster at Adath Jeshurun Congregation. He continued to direct the Beth Shalom Congregation choir after amalgamation. He was also responsible for the organization of the Jewish Community Centre Choral Group in 1956. |
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| As chazan, musician, mohel, educator and shochet, Rev. Rabin exerted a profound influence on the spiritual and cultural life of the Ottawa Jewish community for nearly forty years. He was honoured by a Jewish National Fund Negev Dinner in 1967. |
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| Rabbi Boruch Kravetz (1907-1956)
From the moment of Rabbi Kravetz's arrival in Ottawa in 1938 until his sudden death in 1956, he was dedicated to learning and scholarship. "As a great teacher, he undertook to instill in the youth of Ottawa the will to be Jews today, tomorrow and forever. There are few men indeed who had his single-minded devotion to a constant ideal the propagation of Jewish knowledge, "lehagdil Torah ullilhandira" to magnify and glorify the Torah to both young and old.
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| He worked for Jewish education under the trying circumstances of cramped physical quarters. He laboured with a labour of love for the Jewishness of our children with incessant zeal and guided the destiny of our Talmud Torah. He made the Talmud Torah the pride and credit of Ottawa Jewry. |
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| Rabbi Kravetz was a kindly, warm-hearted man, patient and tolerant. He laboured selflessly and constantly for the advancement of Hebrew cultural values in his adopted community. The rewarding fruits of his efforts are to be found in the honourable and creditable record firmly established in our Ottawa Hebrew Day School" |
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| The Day School was established in 1949 and became the cornerstone of the current Hillel Academy. Because Rabbi Kravetz supervised all branches of the Talmud Torah, his position changed in 1951 from Principal to Director of Education. The school "engaged and excited" Jewish students by incorporating what was "strong and rich" in the North American education tradition with the "central and powerful" elements in the eastern European Judaic tradition. The new Hebrew Day School was for him the realization of a dream. |
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| Rabbi Oscar Z. Fasman (b. 1908)
When he accepted the call of Ottawa in 1940, he found a remarkable community. There were five congregations, four with a women's gallery and one with a mechitza to separate the womens's section. Neither a Reform nor a Conservative temple existed.
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| Arriving from Oklahoma, he was received by a large delegation of community leaders. Rabbi Fasman was formally introduced to his new congregation at a service sponsored by the Vaad Ha'Ir on March 22nd at Adath Jeshurun Synagogue, when he spoke on the topic of "A new Rabbi looks at his community." |
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| Rabbi Fasman, in looking back over his career, remembered that in Ottawa "the Vaad had complete control of kashrut and collected 10 cents on every fowl slaughtered and one cent on every pound of meat, with the income accruing to the benefit of the city Talmud Torah. |
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| "Perhaps the most striking manifestation of the strong traditional climate was the closing of all Jewish stores in the city both days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Since the largest department store in Ottawa, A.J. Freiman, observed all three days, all other Jewish merchants followed the pattern. And of 800 Jewish families, 780 bought kosher meat". |
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| Along with being the spiritual leader of the whole Jewish community, Rabbi Fasman served as chaplain for the Jewish men stationed at Petawawa, Landsdowne, Rockcliffe and Uplands military bases and edited the newspaper, the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin. In 1946, he accepted a position with the Hebrew Theological College, in Chicago. |
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Patriarchs and Pioneers