Hebrew School
Eastern European immigrant Jews throughout North America established Hebrew schools soon after their arrival to Canada. These schools were called cheder. In Owen Sound, a series of teachers were engaged in the years before there was a resident rabbi. The quality of their teaching varied. Rabbi Kirshenbaum, who taught in the 1920s, seems to have been one of the lively ones. In his first year, he organized a Purim party for the children and their parents at the home of Jacob Cadesky. The next teacher was Rabbi Revson, who served Owen Sound during the 1930s. Mike Rabovsky’s memories of cheder with Rabbi Revson were dismal. Although he learned to read Hebrew fluently, Rabovsky described the room where classes were held as being like a “dungeon.” In fact, many Jewish children felt cooped up by having to sit and study Hebrew several days a week while their non-Jewish friends were outside playing.
Owen Sound’s children, both boys and girls, continued to receive Hebrew education through the years. Studies were more serious for the boys, since they needed to prepare for their Bar Mitzvahs. Goldie Ronald recalls going to Hebrew school in the late 1950s and early 1960s. She attended from age 5 until she was 12. Classes were held in the basement of the shul. The sanctuary was on the main floor and the rabbi’s residence was upstairs. Goldie stated that the upstairs was off limits, but once in a while she would go up to play with the rabbi’s children. Bernie and Myrna Fishman’s boys, Jason and Joel, studied Hebrew with Rabbi Gottesman during the 1970s. Bernie recalls that he was “fantastic” and that “everyone loved him.” The affection was mutual; Rabbi Gottesman remembers the teaching he did in Owen Sound as one of the most meaningful experiences of his life.
