A second congregation, of Polish and German, or Ashkenazic Jews, was organized in Montreal in 1846, but existed only for a short time. Another effort was made about twelve years later with more success, and the result was the congregation “Shaar ha-Shomaim,” which was established in 1858. Abraham Hofnung, M. A. Ollendorf and Samuel Silverman were among the most active of its charter members, and the Rev. Samuel Hofnung was its earliest minister, who was soon succeeded by Rev. M. Fass. The first building of this congregation was in St. Constant Street, and was dedicated in 1860. In 1886 it removed to its present edifice in McGill College avenue. It has now two rabbis, Rev. Dr. Herman Abramowitz and S. Goldstein. In 1863 was founded the Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society (now called the Baron de Hirsch Institute and Hebrew Benevolent Society), through which Baron de Hirsch and his executors did much for the education and colonization of the Russian immigrants who began to come to Canada in considerable numbers after 1881. The present Jewish population of Montreal is probably about 40,000, and it has ten synagogues, besides the two mentioned above. Of these, the Bet David Congregation (established 1888) is designated as Roumanian; the Bet Israel Congregation, of which Rev. Hirschel Cohen is rabbi, is surnamed “Chevra Shaas”; the B’nai Jacob Synagogue (founded 1885) is mainly Russian. There is also an Austro-Hungarian Congregation, a Galician (“Chevra Kadisha Jeshurun”) and a Reform Temple (Emanuel, founded 1882). There is also the usual complement of charitable, educational, fraternal and social organizations, including Talmud Torah, a branch of the Jewish Theological Seminary of New York, and a Jewish Lads’ Brigade. The Jewish community in Montreal and in Canada generally is in many respects like the communities of the United States of a similar size. But owing to the dissensions between religious denominations, and especially the complicated school question, there is more open partisan hostility to Jews, both on the part of the press and in public life, than in the United States, where the government is strictly secular.
About 1845 a sufficient number of Jews had settled in Toronto, Ont., to begin to think about the organization of a synagogue; but little was accomplished until 1852, when a cemetery was purchased and the Holy Blossom congregation was established. Mark Samuel, Lewis Samuel and Alexander Miller did much to sustain the congregation in its early struggles. It grew in strength and numbers under the presidency of Alfred D. Benjamin during the closing years of the nineteenth century, and it became necessary to remove from its first building in Richmond Street to the present commodious edifice in Bon Street (1902). Toronto, which had 1425 Jews in 1891 and 3,038 in 1901, now has considerably over 10,000, with about ten congregations and several charitable and fraternal organizations.
The discovery of gold in British Columbia in 1857 led to the settlement there of a number of Jews, who built a synagogue in Victoria in 1862. In 1882 a synagogue was erected in Hamilton, and several years later the Jews of Winnipeg (who numbered 645 in 1891) organized two congregations. There are now seven congregations in Winnipeg, with a Jewish population of about 8,000. It also has among the various communal organizations a Hebrew Liberal Club and a Hebrew Conservative Club. North Winnipeg is now represented in the Provincial Parliament of Manitoba by S. Hart Green (b. ab. 1885), the honorary secretary of the Congregation Shaare Shomayim and the president of the local B’nai B’rith Lodge.
There are now Jewish communities in more than twenty-five separate localities in Canada, and the total number of Jews is about 70,000 and growing very fast (it was only 16,060 in 1901). Besides the towns mentioned, there are Jews in Berlin (Ont.), Belleville, Brandford, Calgary (Alberta), Chatham, N. B.; Dawson (Yukon Territory), Glace Bay, C. B.; Halifax, London, Magnetowan, Ont.; Ottawa, Quebec, Regina (Saskatchewan), St. Catherine’s, St. John, Sydney, Sherbrooke, Vancouver, Woodstock and Salt River, N. B.; Yarmouth and Yorkton.
There are in Canada about a dozen Jewish agricultural colonies, most of which were founded or promoted by the Baron de Hirsch Fund. The most important of them are Bender, Hirsch, Ox Bow and Qu’appelle. There are altogether about 700 Jewish farms occupying more than 110,000 acres, and sustaining a farming population of about 3,000.
Montreal has a Yiddish daily newspaper, the “Canadian Eagle,” and an English Jewish weekly, “The Jewish Times,” and there is a Yiddish weekly in Winnipeg called the “Canadian Jew.”
CHAPTER XL.
JEWS IN SOUTH AMERICA, MEXICO AND CUBA.
The first “minyan” in Buenos Ayres, Argentine, in 1861—Estimate of the Jewish population in Argentine—Occupations and economic condition of the various groups—Kosher meat and temporary synagogues as indications of the religious conditions—Communities in twenty-six other cities—The Agricultural Colonies—Brazil—The rumor that General Floriano Peixotto, the second president of the new Republic, was of Jewish origin—Communities in several cities—The Colony Philippson—Jews in Montevido, Uruguay—Other South American Republics—Isidor Borowski, who fought under Bolivar—Panama—Moroccan Jews are liked by Peru Indians—About ten thousand Jews in Mexico—Slowly increasing number in Cuba, where Jews help to spread the American influence.