The Second Wave
The second wave of immigrants arrived during the turn of the 20th century. These families established deep roots in the community and contributed to the establishment of the synagogue. First among these individuals in Owen Sound was Isaac Ezekiel Cadesky, for whom the town’s synagogue, Beth Ezekiel, was named. Cadesky arrived in Toronto around 1905 and in Owen Sound about a year later. He began by peddling and then became a scrap dealer. He and his wife Esther had twelve children.
In 1909, one of the Cadesky’s daughters, Goldie, married Nathan Rabovsky, who had arrived in Owen Sound in 1907. Theirs was reportedly the first Jewish wedding held in Owen Sound. The marriage was performed by a rabbi from Toronto and attended by both Jews and non-Jews. Nathan became a second-hand trader like several of the Jews in Town. The family that resulted from their union became central to Owen Sound’s Jewish community. In 1919, Isaac’s son Jake married Rebecca Rabovsky at Beth Ezekiel Synagogue. The two families were thus intertwined through marriage and their connection to the community.
Two other founding and enduring families in Owen Sound who arrived a little later were the Gorbets and the Oretskys. Benjamin Gorbet came from Kiev and settled in Toronto in 1904. He and his wife Pearl relocated to Owen Sound in 1919 with their three children. They subsequently had three more kids during the 1920s. Ben and Fanny Oretsky also hailed from Russia. They had six children and like Ben Gorbet ran a fur business in town.
A Complete Family Unit
Ruth Gorbet speaks about how Ben Gorbet moved his family to Owen Sound where grandparents, parents and children all lived together.
Interview with Ruth Gorbet, 13 June 2007, Sharon Gubbay Helfer. OJA, Oral History #295
