Hebrew School
The first Hebrew teacher in Belleville was Vova Vechter. Joe Burke recalls attending cheder from 4 to 6 p.m. every weekday. Under the guidance of the rabbi, students learned Hebrew and daily prayers. There were as many as 40 students attending Sunday school in 1940s. During the mid-1950s there were 55 families with 72 children under the age of 21. The older children assisted with the Sunday school classes.
By the 1960s, there were only 16 children enrolled in the same program, including five from Cobourg and one from Trenton. Sylvia Schwab and Debbi Shulman were active in assisting with Sunday Hebrew history class. An increased effort was made to incorporate the region’s young Jews from Cobourg and Trenton into the education program organized by Samuel Mandell and Rabbi Deutsch in early 1960s.
