Join JHSSA and Calgary Public Library as we celebrate Canadian Jewish Heritage Month with this presentation by Irena Karshenbaum.
Migrating from the Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Jewish farming experience in
the Americas had its first foothold in the Argentine pampas.
A generation later, in the first decade of the 20th century, Jewish farming colonies in Alberta
settled in the eastern region of the province and were centred on three bloc settlements: Rumsey,
Trochu and the Montefiore Colony.
Once abandoned, these colonies left few physical traces of their presence, except for the
miraculous survival of the 1916 Montefiore Institute, which served the tiny Montefiore Colony
as a synagogue, school and community centre.
Irena Karshenbaum will speak about the forces in Europe that led to Jewish migration, first to the
Argentine pampas and later to the Canadian prairies, as well as, how one of the only physical
remnants of this presence in eastern Alberta — the lost 1916 Montefiore Institute — came to
Heritage Park Historical Village and today helps to tell a more diverse story of the early years of
the province.
In 2005, Irena Karshenbaum began a project to include a synagogue in the permanent collection
of Heritage Park Historical Village. She founded and served as president of The Little Synagogue
on the Prairie Project Society, that found, bought, moved and restored the lost Montefiore
Institute and gave it as a gift to Heritage Park.
Irena writes stories for various publications on the arts, history, heritage, travel and books,
organizes cultural events, gives public talks on history, participates in literary readings and
volunteers as a costumed interpreter in the Montefiore Institute at Heritage Park.
Please register on the CPL website.
Reach out to our office if you have questions, or any issues with registration.