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JHSBC Oral History Collection Canada Synagogues
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Aaron Devor

Interview with Aaron Devor as part of the BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project, in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Aaron shares his experience being both transgender and Jewish in BC. He also discusses his earlier experiences as a lesbian in the Jewish community, prior to transitioning. He experienced both friction and support. Aaron discusses leaving the Jewish community early in life because he felt there was no place for him as a woman. He returned later in life. He talks about same-sex marriage in the Jewish community, and shares stories about his transitioning ceremony. Aaron discusses anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic sentiments in the LGBTQ+ community. He talks about his career in academic, including his current position as chair of transgender studies at UVic.

Arthur Guttman

Interview with Arthur Guttman. Interviewed by Debby Freiman. Interview discusses early history of Temple Sholom and Arthur and wife Glenda's involvement its formation.

Barbara Weiser

Oral history interview with Barbara Weiser, born in 1946 in Quebec. She worked for Eaton's and a number of other companies as a Buyer, travelling across Canada. She is a prolific writer and researcher, having published 4 books / papers on the Jewish community with focuses on Synagogues and Holocaust memorials.

Bud Riback

Oral history interview with Bud Riback. Bud Riback, born in Portland, Oregon, in 1928, is a founding member of Temple Sholom and a frequent volunteer in Vancouver's Jewish community, including work with the 60 Plus Group, Beit Halochem, and the Jewish Community Centre's welcome booth for recently immigrated community members. Bud has also worked for Budget Rent-a-Car, franchising across Western Canada, and remains a partner of the business. He is married to Fay Riback. His work with the 60 Plus Group has been a particularly rewarding part of his life.

Bud has a very deep and personal connection to Temple Sholom, the State of Israel and to the Jewish community as a whole. Family is most important to Bud; there are three generation of Ribacks that are connected with Temple Sholom. Bud and his wife Fay were very instrumental in organizing the support for the Vietnamese boat family who were sponsored by Temple Sholom and he continues to support visits from the Beit Halochem veterans.

Bud is shy and doesn't like the spotlight on him. He has a strong sense of right and wrong and will let you know in very clear terms if he feels that an injustice has been done. Bud is a strong advocate for seniors - he does not tolerate ageism. On the other hand, he does not believe that age alone should command respect; respect needs to be earned at any age and he does not tolerate a sense of entitlement no matter how old or young a person may be. He never expects to receive something for nothing.

Daniel Ezekiel

Oral history interview with Daniel Ezekiel who was born in Manila. His family is split between Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Daniel talks about his family history and how they ended up in Manila. Daniel speaks 4 languages, his father speaks 5, and his mother 8. In the 1970s political change in Manila caused everyone who could to leave. His family moved to Vancouver. He went to medical school at the University of Toronto. He compares North American Jews to Jews in the Philippines. He went to Israel with a youth group in 1980 and still visits ever couple of years.

Harry Toban

Oral history interview with Harry Toban who was born in Lithuania in 1895, but family emigrated to Canada in 1911 because his uncle had gone to Montreal in 1895 and his aunts had come to Vancouver from Montreal in 1905. Mr. Toban primarily discusses being a business owner and helping the development of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue on Oak Street.

Iris Andrews

Oral History interview with Iris Andrews. Born in 1933, Iris lived in London before moving to Vancouver once war broke out in 1940. Iris’s maternal grandfather was the first in her family to come to Canada, arriving in Vancouver in 1911. He opened a kosher bakery called Mother Hubbard Bakery on the corner of West Broadway. Iris’s maternal grandparents belonged to the Beth Israel congregation prior to the construction of the synagogue on Oak St. Her paternal grandparents were from Balaya Tserkoff, Russia (Now Bila Tserkva, Ukraine). Her paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Russian Army in the calvary before being designated a free man. Iris’s paternal grandparents arrived in England in 1903, where her grandfather began to works as a cigarette maker. Iris lived in Vancouver from 1940-1945 as war evacuee, and later returned to the city with her husband and two children in 1962. Iris was very active in the Jewish community; she was involved with Sisterhood at Beth Israel, she joined the Nordau chapter of Hadassah-WIZO, she worked as a Rabbi Secretary at Beth Israel, and she was on the committee for the Beth Israel museum.

I.W. Chess and Jeanette Chess

Oral history interview with I.W. who started Chess Brothers Wholesale Fruit and Produce Company, which ran for almost 50 years. He lived in the East End of Vancouver, near Heatley Avenue. I.W. and his brother, were among the founders of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue.

Janna Ginsberg

Interview with Janna Ginsberg. Interviewed by Debby Freiman for The Scribe, 2018. Janna talks about her family's history and her experiences growing up with Jewish food. She describes her background in horticulture and talks extensively about her catering business and restaurant, Janna's Select Catering and Tudor Rose. Janna reflects on the food scene in Victoria over the years.

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