Videos

More Stories from Reinach Avenue: Calgary’s Forgotten Jewish Street Part 2: Recorded on January 19, 2022

Part 2 of this program was again co-hosted by Beth Tzedec and JHSSA.

More Stories from Reinach Avenue: Calgary’s Forgotten Jewish Street Part 1 recorded on December 9th via Zoom. This program was a follow-up to Harry Sanders’ well-received HCW presentation, co-hosted by Beth Tzedec and JHSSA.

Known as Reinach Avenue from 1884–1904, 4 Avenue South was likely the only road in Calgary’s history with a Jewish namesake – Baron Jacques de Reinach, a French-German banker and a director of the CPR. Join Harry Sanders as he leads us in a rediscovery of its forgotten Jewish history, which includes the Calgary Public Market, the Summit Hotel, James Short School, and blocks of family homes. Explore Calgary’s history with Harry Sanders in this Historic Calgary Week presentation.

Memories of a Magnificent Man: The Manny Cohen Story

This heartwarming tribute to our longtime board member, Emanuel Cohen z”l was originally presented on February 17, 2022.

She Also Served was presented on November 16, 2021 over Zoom. Saundra Lipton presented her research for the “She also Served” website, a project she co-curated with Jennifer Eiserman in the spring of 2021. The presentation highlighted little-known stories of southern Alberta Jewish serivcewomen. The original exhibit can be found here.

2021 AGM – Jews of Silence: 50-year anniversary of the Calgary campaign supporting freedom for Soviet Jews

The year 1971 was a very unusual one for Jewish life in Calgary. Numerous regular events and fundraisers were cancelled in order to shift the focus to the campaign to free Soviet Jews. During the Cold War period, Jews who expressed a desire to leave the Soviet Union were punished with job loss, imprisonment and other economic and social sanctions.

(video revised Nov. 8 2021. )

History Unwrapped is an “unboxing” style video with information about our 2021 Canadian Jewish Heritage Month project, the History Mystery Box.

This local Yiddish television program was originally broadcast in 1994 by Rogers Cable, who have graciously given us permission to post it to our website. It was hosted by Aron Eichler ^z”l and features both fondly remembered and current friends of JHSSA among the many interesting guests. The program was produced, directed and edited by Martin Mitchnick, Calgary Jewish Centre, Colleen Kerr and Rogers Cable Calgary.

Recorded at our online program on November 17, 2020. Betty Sherwood presents her research on local Jewish contributions to the Home Front effort in World War II. Among the highlights, the importance of every dollar sent towards the war effort, and the many ways the community supported the morale and health of our soldiers. These wonderful stories and anecdotes are illustrated with images from our collections.

Our 2020 AGM program, 30 Years in 30 Minutes, was presented over Zoom on October 26, 2020 in celebration of our 30th Anniversary.

Addendum: in the information about early sponsors of JHSSA, there was a short section missing in the live presentation. To set the record straight: “Early on, financial support was forthcoming from many sources, including the Alvin & Mona Libin Foundation, Jewish War Veterans of Canada, Post #2 and also the Harry B. Cohen Foundation, whose grant enabled us to launch our library collection “

This collection of video vignettes was created in celebration of Canada’s sesquicentennial, to tell the stories of some of the Jewish men and women of southern Alberta who served in Canada’s armed forces during the First and Second World Wars.

The 2014 Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta AGM program presented the history of Calgary’s Chevra Kadisha (burial society). As the oldest Jewish institution in Calgary, it has a rich and important story, which, due to its private nature, is rarely told.