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Now operating as a program under the administration of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, CZF is an umbrella organization for all Zionist groups in the community. It also provides information for Israel tourism and trade.

Congregation Schara Tzedeck, a Modern Orthodox Synagogue, is the oldest and largest Orthodox Synagogue in Vancouver. It has been in existence since 1907, when it was known by the name of Benei Yehuda. The first services were held in a small rented home, at 14 West Cordova Street. In 1910 the ‘Sons of Israel’ purchased property at Pender Street and Heatley Avenue, and by 1911 a Synagogue was built large enough to hold 200 worshipers. The congregation was renamed “Schara Tzedeck”, upon being legally incorporated on June 14, 1917. In 1921 the new synagogue opened at Heatley and Pender and it was used until the end of 1947. This building had a capacity of 600.

On September 13, 1945, the site of the present Synagogue was purchased. Building was started in 1947 and completed by the end of September of that year. The Synagogue was officially opened on January 25, 1948. At that time it was the most modern and largest Synagogue west of Montreal. The Synagogue was designed to be a house of prayer (Bait Tefila), House of Learning (Beit Midrash), and House of Meeting (Beit Knesset). The oak Aron Kodesh which presently is seen on entering the main sanctuary was built originally in about 1921 for the Synagogue at Heatley and Pender.

On October 2, 1957 the Congregation acquired the property immediately to the north of the Synagogue. The purpose was to accommodate offices, classrooms, a large auditorium, and other facilities. Construction began in the early part of 1963 and it was completed for the High Holidays of the same year.

The Pacific Region Branch of this national organization was established in the late 1930s to act on behalf of the Jewish community on issues such as interfaith, multicultural, and media relations, local, Israel and world Jewish affairs.

Congregation Beth Israel was formed August 2, 1932 as a Conservative synagogue in cooperation with United Synagogue of America. It was first housed in the then existing Jewish Community Centre at 11th and Oak Street. Services were held there from 1932 to 1948. Mr. Nathan Bell was the first President of the Congregation, Mrs. Etta Koenisberg the first Sisterhood President. Rabbi Benzion Bokser was hired September 1, 1932 as the Congregation’s first Rabbi. The School was established in 1933, and the choir was formed shortly thereafter. As the Congregation grew, it required more space, especially for High Holyday series, bar mitzvahs, and weddings. A building fund was established in 1937. Land at the present site was purchased in 1944 and consecrated in 1946. The first High Holyday services were held in the present sanctuary in 1948 and the synagogue dedication was held September 11, 1949. In 1945 the cemetery grounds were purchased.

In 1965 Congregation Beth Israel’s constitution was amended to give women membership and voting rights with two women elected to the Board of Directors. The role of women’s participation was first raised in 1969, while the issue of aliyot for women began in the early 1980’s, gained momentum after Yom Kippur 1986 and settled in its present form in 1995. Today women are full participants at all services and in all roles.

Today the mission of Congregation Beth Israel, member of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, is dedicated to the strengthening of all aspects of Jewish life, including worship and Torah study, religious, educational and social activities for all ages, and the observance of life cycle events.

Further Dates of Note:
• In 1970 the Groberman Chapel was renovated and refurnished.
• In 1982 the Koch Memorial Chapel at the Beth Israel Cemetery was dedicated.
• In 1992 the Beth Israel Cemetery Refurbishment project was completed.
• In 1993 the renovation of the entire synagogue was completed.
• 2007 was the 75th anniversary.
• 2012 was the 80th anniversary.
• In 2012 a major renovation and expansion was undertaken which was completed in 2014.

For a more in-depth history on Beth Israel, please see the "Beth Israel 80th Anniversary History Presentation", written by Yale M. Chernoff December 15, 2012.

Tracy Ames provided contract services to the Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA) to produce a video and a commemorative book for JFSA’s 50th anniversary in 1986.

Morris Levine (Jewish name Maishe Simcha Doctorovich) was born August 14, 1903, in the Red Bank district of Manchester, England. His father, Jacob, was born in Vilna, Lithuania, coming to England with his four brothers at the very end of the nineteenth century. Morris’ mother, Sarah, was born in Smolensk, in White Russia (now Byelorussia). Sarah came to Manchester, after arriving in Hull in Eastern England. Like many Jews of that time she was travelling through England on her way to the United States of America – the new promised land. Sarah’s mother died in Philadelphia and her sister ended up in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sarah did not travel on to the USA because she met Jacob.

Sara and Jacob had met in England and were married in 1899 or 1900. Their first son Samuel was born in 1901. When Morris was born, his birth registration listed his last name as “Le Vien.” His 1931 marriage certificate listed his family name as “Levene”. And when he came to Canada in 1947 he became “Levine” (rhyming with “fine”, he was probably surprised to discover was the Vancouver custom). After Sammy and Morris, Sarah and Jacob had five more children, all born in Manchester: Elsie, Becky, Bailey, Harry, and Sarah.

When Morris was a baby, the Levene family moved away from Red Bank to the district of Salford, one of Manchester’s inner suburbs. He grew up speaking Yiddish, which was the language of the street in that largely Jewish quarter of the Salford district, in the shadow of the infamous Strangeways Prison. Nowadays, the Jews have moved north to the outer suburbs of Manchester and the house on Pimblett Street is currently being used as a sweat-shop factory, staffed by Bangladeshi immigrants.

The house on Pimblett Street was small – two-up, two-down, like many English terraced-houses, without electricity or in-door plumbing. It was heated by its coal-fireplace, over which food was cooked in a large pot. Morris only ate with a spoon until he was nine years old. His parents kept an orthodox Jewish home: there are family stories that his father, Jacob, was a Hasid.

Jacob Levine worked a variety of jobs. He was described as a “cigar-box maker” on Morris’ birth certificate. He also did some street-peddling and other odd jobs. At some point during Morris’ youth, his parents set up a corner-store in their front parlour. Sarah helped out, as did the girls. Like many immigrants, Jacob and Sarah literally worked themselves into early graves by toiling for eighteen-hours a day when their family was growing. By the time they were in their forties, they were physically worn-out and increasingly supported by their children’s earnings.

Morris was the only one of the six surviving children who went to school past the age of twelve. Like Sammy before them, the girls - Elsie, Becky, and Bailey - all left school at the minimum school-leaving age: twelve. They bitterly resented Morris’ prolonged schooling because they had been required to go out to work as little more than children while he went to Manchester Grammar School on a scholarship. (At that time – and, in fact, until the present - MGS has been known as the most famous grammar schools in Britain.) Sammy emigrated to the US in 1918 (where Sarah’s parents and siblings had moved), eventually rising to become a department store manager in Jackson, Michigan. Harry, too, like his sisters, left school at twelve. He ran a little tailoring factory; he had been a sewing machine operator. Sarah died as a baby.

Morris went to Southall Street School and won an open scholarship to Manchester Grammar School at the age of eleven. Seven of the twelve open scholarships to MGS were won by Jewish boys from Southall Street School in 1914. At Manchester Grammar School, Morris blossomed into a classical scholar, completing the “Transitus” (Latin and Greek) “with distinction”. His success won him a scholarship and admission to Brasenose College, Oxford. However, he turned it down and used the funds from his scholarship to pay for his tuition at Manchester University’s Medical School, from which he graduated in 1926. As the oldest male child living in Manchester, he was expected to provide for his parents, to release his sisters from that obligation, and to provide them with modest dowries. He therefore declined the prestigious opportunity to study at Oxford and had to turn his back on employment in the John Rylands Library in Manchester.

Morris Levene married Ruby Hattenstone on August, 18, 1931; he was 28, she was 26. The Hattenstones were well-off in contrast to the Levenes. After their honeymoon in Devonshire and Cornwall, they moved into an apartment above his medical office on Ashton Road in Denton, Manchester, where he was a GP as well as doing psychiatric work. He was also the physician-on-call for the local police constabulary.

In March, 1933, Morris and Ruby’s first son, Sefton Lewis, was born in Manchester. In the late winter of 1940, during the period known as “the phony war”, Ruby and Sefton, together with a large number of aristocratic ladies and their children, boarded a ship in Liverpool which was to take them to relative safety in Canada. Ruby and Sefton came to Vancouver, living with Ruby’s widowed mother (Jane Groberman Hattenstone), as well as her sister (who was then Doris Schwartz – later Doris Berg) and her son (David Schwartz – later David Berg) on West 35th Avenue in the Dunbar neighbourhood, where they stayed until 1945. Meanwhile Morris had been enlisted in the military in England and given the rank of captain; he spent the war years in public service, continuing to work as a doctor in Manchester.

In the summer of 1945, after VE Day, Ruby and Sefton returned to England. In October, 1946, Morris and Ruby’s second son, David Cyril, was born in Manchester. A year later, after Morris’ parents had both died, the family left England from Liverpool aboard a CPR ship, “The Empress of Canada”, arriving in Quebec City in November, 1947. From there, they took the train to Vancouver. Before leaving for Canada, Morris cut all ties with his siblings in England.

When the Levine family came to Vancouver, Ruby’s mother, Jane Groberman Hattenstone, had purchased them a house on 49th Avenue, just east of Hudson Street. However, they moved almost immediately to 5990 Hudson Street, where they lived until 1989.

Morris wasn’t expecting to continue practicing medicine in Canada (he had been a doctor for twenty years by this time). He thought he could get a job with his wife’s relations, the Groberman family in Vancouver. That didn’t work out. He had to study all his basic medical courses once more in order to re-qualify so that he could be licensed to practice medicine in Canada. To do this, he went to Toronto in 1948, taking exams to gain his medical license.

Once he had re-qualified, Morris set up his practice in the Birks Building, on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver, where he employed one nurse. However, Morris was not interested in a high-overhead medical practice and he would move down-market, whenever his rent went up. In the early 1960s he moved from the Birks Building to a medical-dental building on East Broadway at Main Street. There, he maintained a low-cost, family practice and worked alone, without a nurse. In the 1970s he moved again, taking an office on Kingsway below Main Street.

Morris worked as a doctor to make a living; he had a core group of patients, mainly from the working and lower classes. At that time, there was no medicare and he often waived a fee for his services. As a family doctor, he looked after pregnant women, delivered babies, cared for infants, counseled adolescents, and was the doctor-on-call for his patients and their families. For many years, he was a geriatric-doctor working with the city’s large number of older men and women who lived alone, in retirement, or in “private hospitals”, which were located in large houses in the West End before the massive demolitions and their replacement with high rise apartment blocks.

In the 1950s Morris began to write poetry. He had a few poems published in local literary journals such as The Simon Fraser Review during his lifetime and was much more interested in this activity than in his medical practice. He was an avid reader and surrounded himself with books. He read widely and passionately – literary essays, short stories, classical Greek and Latin poets and playwrights, as well as personal favourites such as William Blake, Thomas Hardy, and John Cowper Powys. He subscribed to, and followed debates in Encounter and The New York Review of Books. He was also drawn to twentieth-century poets such as Nikos Kazantsakis, George Seferis, Osip Mandelstam, and the poet laureate Ted Hughes.

Morris had a prodigious memory and took great enjoyment in showing it off by reciting, off the cuff, favourite bits to visitors and family members before launching into a disquisition that careened from one interesting idea to another, often in no obvious order. He just loved an admiring audience, and there was much to admire and lots to infuriate his listeners. He was not particularly interested in debate since he often said that he refused to be bound down by other people’s categories.

He wrote largely for himself. His own poetry, which by the end of his life added up to many shoeboxes full of papers, was almost exclusively in the form of Shakespearian sonnets. Much of his work was composed in bed, after midnight, and seemed to have the attraction of a mental challenge. The sonnet form suited his purposes. He admired their shapely concision – the two-line turn at the end and the chance they offered, in fourteen lines to compress a great deal of word play and allusiveness.

He was not fazed by the fact that many of his listeners found his allusions opaque – and, indeed, he sometimes admitted that years later he was himself unsure of his references. He took great pride in his sense of difference, achievement, and experiences. Much of his poetry is shot through with personal reminiscences and reflections of self-discovery. He poured himself into his writing – his ghetto childhood of deprivation, parental love and sibling rivalry, his opportunities for advanced classical education, his experience of medical practice, and his life-long awkwardness in his own skin. He was ambivalent about authority, in whatever guise, and was suspicious of power, in whatever form it took.

By the 1960s, as he was increasingly drawn to his literary pursuits, he would often close his office, leaving a note on the door that emergencies should go directly to Vancouver General Hospital and all others should call him at home so that he could provide them with a home-visit in the evening. On such sunny days, Morris Levine was to be found at Spanish Banks, sitting on a deck chair reading or else composing his own verse. He was torn between his two callings and, increasingly, he became aware that his commitment to science was lagging behind the dramatic new innovations that transformed medical practice in the post-war era.

In these years, he was a quintessential family doctor – running a practice of the kind that was being out-dated by new developments in group practice and specialization. Aware of the leaps and bounds being made in medicine, when his patients needed more specialized care, he would arrange for it to be made available for them. His willingness to refer his patients to specialists created tensions with the BC Medical Plan; they thought that Dr Morris Levine was providing too much care-per-patient. In any event, Morris retired from his medical practice in the late 1970s.

Like many couples, Morris and Ruby Levine didn’t see eye-to-eye – he enjoyed the company of counter-culturalists while in contrast she wanted to be involved in Vancouver’s Jewish society. Their divergent interests and obstinate personalities resulted in a kind of stalemate. Morris had developed an alternative work and lifestyle, becoming connected to a group of “beatniks”. These young people referred to him as “Uncle”, because that was how the charismatic David Berg referred to him.

Morris was opinionated and not in the least shy about arguing passionately about anything and everything. He was gifted with a fabulous memory and remained mentally alert all his days. Intellectually, he was something of a gadfly. He was also very cheap – it was said he quit buying “LifeSavers” when the manufacturer put a hole into the candies. Before it was chic, he took great pleasure in dressing shabbily. He might have been born into an orthodox Jewish family, but Morris Levine was an atheist and a communist in his youth; as he grew older, he soon became disillusioned with party-politics and developed into something of an anarchist in his attitude towards hard-line authority of any stripe. He was always contemptuous of The Royals and suspicious of privilege. He always felt like an outsider yet he always wanted to be given the “respect” that his own position as “the Doctor” provided. Like so many people, he was a bundle of contradictions.

Morris was a terrible driver and, in the interest of public safety, gave up his license in the late 1970s, when he retired from his medical practice. No longer driving, he was isolated on Hudson Street but he remained a mesmerizing storyteller and a prolific writer of sonnets. He would recite Homeric verse with (or without) an invitation to do so. He also took enormous pleasure in composing naughty limericks.

Morris had been a heavy smoker, from the 1920s-1950s, smoking as many as four packs-a-day. Then, in the 1950s he quit “cold turkey” but subsequently he put on a great deal of weight. In 1973, while vacationing in Hawaii, he suffered a heart attack. In response to this setback, he threw himself into a rigorous program of power walking and diet restriction. His weight dropped from 230 pounds to 165 pounds in a couple of years.

In retirement, he spent a lot of time working in his garden, reading, writing poetry, and actively grand-parenting Sefton’s three children – Sara, Jason, and Ben – who lived nearby, on West 46th Avenue. He always took enormous pleasure in having his grandchildren sitting on his knee, telling them stories about “Jimmy and Teddy and Inspector Smith”. Having the grand-kids sit on his lap, rubbing his “story spot” in the middle of his forehead, he would reach back to his Manchester childhood and “gurn” - making-faces by sliding his false teeth in-and-out. Morris Levine was in his element. Later, when David’s children, Matthew and Rachel, would come to visit from Toronto, the same mad-cap antics prolonged his grand-parenting, which was a special joy to an old man.

Sometime in the early middle 1980s, Ruby became afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease. Morris tried to provide in-home care but it became increasingly difficult as she became violent, anxious, and mistrustful of anyone and everyone. In 1989 Morris and Ruby sold their house on Hudson Street, moving to Toronto to live with their son David and his family. In a state of deep depression, and feeling bereft of hope as Ruby’s mental competence slipped away, in July 1990 Morris had surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm. To his great surprise and disappointment, he survived the surgery.

Morris had thought that he was killing himself by electing to have this surgery. A short while after recovering from this surgery, Morris took matters into his own hands. He stopped eating and drinking. Nine weeks later - on October 9, 1990 - Morris Levine died; his death was an attenuated form of suicide.

By this time, Ruby was living in a care facility with advanced Alzheimer’s Disease. At the time of Morris’ death, she was incapable of understanding that he had died. After Morris died, Ruby lived for almost three more years, increasingly losing touch with the world around her; she died on August 18, 1993 – the 62nd anniversary of her marriage.

Both Morris and Ruby Levine are buried in a family plot in the Beth Israel Cemetery in Burnaby – a long way from Red Bank, Manchester.

Ralph David Barer was born July 8, 1922 to parents Michael and Fanny Barer. He had one brother, Harry Barer, and one sister, Thelma Stein (nee Barer). Ralph grew up in Vancouver, attending Magee Secondary School before going on to UBC, where he received a BASc in Engineering in 1945. This was followed by varied industrial and academic experiences, including a period as an assistant professor at UBC. He completed a Masters degree in Metallurgical Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1948. Ralph married Aileen (nee Gordon) in Sarnia, Ontario in 1950, after which he spent over a year working for Cominco in Trail, B.C. He then accepted a position in Victoria to head up a new material science and engineering group for Defence Research Canada in the fall of 1952. This group focused on material failures in naval, aircraft and military equipment. He led this group for 36 years, until his retirement in 1988. Ralph enjoyed raising a large family, and was particularly proud of the achievements of each of his children in their own pursuits. Ralph and Aileen had five children: Morris, Denise, Daniel, Philip and Steven. He was able to enjoy the early years of all ten [at the time of this publication in 2004] grandchildren: Justin, Naom, Michael, Ariana, Lisa, David, Benjamin, Elliot, Amichai and Simon. Ralph was an avid hiker, and spent some of his happiest times tramping through the woods of southern Vancouver Island. Walking the woods with him was always an education, as he had extensive knowledge of all things that move and grow in the Pacific Northwest. He was a passionate supporter of many of the environmental groups struggling to protect the dwindling wilderness places in British Columbia and the rest of Canada.

When Mr. Barer arrived in Victoria in 1952, the Emanuel Congregation had a lay rabbi who led infrequent services and a Jewish community which was run by a few individuals. Due mainly to his and his wife’s desire to create a Jewish environment for their growing family of five, Ralph became actively involved in the Jewish community with special emphasis on the revival of the synagogue. This led to over 50 years of dedicated work on many different committees, serving on the board, serving as a president and editing for 12 years the synagogue’s bulletin “Koleinu” (Our Voice). The results of his work were spectacular. Professional Rabbis were hired and took care of the spiritual life of the growing congregation, funds were raised to improve and enlarge the physical structure of the synagogue, Jewish teachers grew the Hebrew school, and as a result membership grew larger.

Irving Snider, officially born Isaac Schneider, was born in London, England in 1903 to Annie and Jacob Snider. Annie was born in Warsaw, while Jacob was born in Odessa. Irving’s parents met and married in London sometime around the turn of the century. After the birth of Irving, the Snider’s stayed in England for two years. During that time period, Irving’s sister Jeanette was born. In 1905, the Snider family sailed to Vancouver.

Irving attended Strathcona School and Britannia High School. While in High School, he joined the cadets. Irving also attended cheder (after school Hebrew classes), and in 1916 he was bar mitzvahed at the old synagogue. While growing up, Irving attended the “Y” camp at Hopkins Landing.

Irving graduated from Britannia High School in 1919 at the top of his class, and he enrolled at the University of British Columbia. During his second year he became a member of the UBC Junior Hockey Team. While on vacation with his mother and sister, he visited the North Pacific College, a dental college in Portland, Oregon. Although he was only 15, he decided to enroll at the dental college in 1920. Irving’s childhood friend, Robert Franks, was also at the college, and Irving and Robert graduated together in 1924.

After graduating, Robert and Irving heard that there were no dentists in the Yukon, so they decided to try their luck. In 1925, Robert and Irving headed to the Yukon with only $200 each in their pockets. According to Irving in his autobiography, when they reached Whitehorse they only had $1 left between them. After a long journey and several stops, including Juneau, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon, Robert and Irving arrived in Dawson City, Yukon where they stayed until Robert left for California in 1937 and Irving left for Vancouver three years later.

During WWII Irving served for four years as a Captain with the Dental Corp. He mainly served in Vancouver, but he also spent time in Trois-Rivières, Quebec and Prince Rupert. Irving was discharged in 1945. After the war, he bought a practice in the old Medical Dental Building.

Irving met his wife Phyliss Reta Nemetz through her father Harry Nemetz who was one of his patients. Irving and Phyliss married in 1947 in Victoria at the Empress Hotel. Phyliss was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on April 22, 1921 to parents Harry and Ann Nemetz. Phyliss was a journalist, although she spent time in New York working in advertising. When she returned to Vancouver she continued her career in journalism as well as working for Godfrey’s Travel Agency and with her father in real estate.

Irving and Phyliss spent much of their time traveling around the world, including spending time on every continent. On many of their trips they played golf, including playing at the famous St. Andrew’s course.

Irving and Phyliss moved to Whytecliff in West Vancouver where they lived for forty years. Irving and Phyliss did not have any children, but doted on their beloved dogs. Phyliss was also known for her love of animals, and was known for feeding and befriending wild raccoons in their backyard (as seen in many of the slides).

They were known for their philanthropy, including giving a major contribution to the new Har-El building. Phyliss was also an active Hadassah member and she donated all of her real estate commissions she earned to Hadassah. In 1994, Irving and Phyliss established the Phyliss and Irving Snider Foundation, a private charitable foundation, for which Louis Brier Home and Hospital was a major beneficiary. Gifts from the Foundation have supported Hillel, Jewish Family Service Agency, the Jewish Community Foundation, The Jewish Historical Society of BC, Hadassah-Wizo, Ben Gurion University, the Technion in Israel and the Vancouver Talmud Torah school.

Phyliss passed away on July 14, 1999. The couple was married for 52 years. Bequests from Phyliss’ estate have gone to several organizations including the United Way and Children’s Hospital. Irving passed away in January 17, 2002 at the approximate age of 99.