Rabbi Fine

Abraham Fine was born in 1893 in Kopil, in the province of Minsk, Russia. He studied Jewish and secular subjects and worked as a Hebrew teacher there until the Communists took over and made life difficult. In 1917, Fine walked from Kopil into Poland, where he found work with the American Joint Distribution Committee, assisting refugees from the First World War. In 1923, he met and married his wife, Rose. Three years later, Abraham Fine left for Canada. He arrived in Sydney, Nova Scotia, where Rose’s brother lived. Rose and the Fine’s young son Samuel stayed on for a while so Rose could look after her parents. Fine found work as a shochet and teacher in the nearby small Nova Scotia community of New Waterford, but he felt too isolated to stay there. Soon, he answered an ad for a similar position from the Peterborough community. His application was successful and Fine was hired at $35 a week and free accommodation, despite the fact that he did not yet speak English. In fact, community leaders were happy, because Fine’s lack of English meant he would be teaching the children in Yiddish.

With help from Philip Black, the community’s first spiritual leader, as well as from the Florences, Cheslers, Fines and Lows, Fine settled into town nicely. He found the community friendly, despite the fact that, as he wrote in his memoirs, “it wasn’t organized and had no real budget”.

The Fines became very much a part of the life of Peterborough’s Jewish community during the 13 years Abraham Fine served as shochet and teacher, and afterwards as well. Fine’s wife Rose was a friendly person. She enjoyed inviting people over after the stores closed at 6 p.m. At the Fine’s home, Peterborough’s Jews could visit and enjoy each other’s company in the days before community associations were organized. After 13 years of service, like his predecessor Philip Black, Abraham Fine went into business. First he peddled goods and then he opened a store. After his wife died in 1970, he moved to Toronto.

In 1981, with the help of a student lodger, Rabbi Fine began translating and typing up the series of small articles he had written about Jewish life in Peterborough between 1926 and 1938. The articles, to which Philip Black sometimes contributed, had originally appeared in Toronto’s Yiddish-language daily newspaper. Written with considerable pride and affection, these columns offer an intriguing glimpse into Peterborough’s Jewish community during the years between the two World Wars.

Rabbi Babb

Flight Lieutenant Rabbi Abraham Babb, ca. 1945
Saint John Jewish Historical Museum, Saint John, N.B. Accession #1988.54.14

Rabbi Abraham Meyer Babb came to Peterborough in September, 1952 from Belleville. His early career had been in the Maritimes, where he had served as rabbi to the Jewish community of St. John, New Brunswick, for 25 years. He also served as Chaplain in the Royal Canadian Air Force, stationed in Halifax, between 1940 and 1945. Rabbi Babb’s wife Sarah was the granddaughter of a well-known rabbi, Israel Lerman, Head of Lubleshov community.

Rabbi Babb remained devoted to the Peterborough community for the more than 20 years that he served as their rabbi. He was active on many fronts. He organized the Hebrew school and taught with devotion and conviction. This became a challenging task during his years of service because the number of children kept increasing. In addition to his teaching duties, Rabbi Babb was involved in inter-faith work. Christian groups were regularly invited to the synagogue and Babb spoke in many churches. As well, he was in great demand as a speaker and lecturer by the universities, the Masons and other service clubs. Rabbi Babb’s devotion to community service included a membership in the John Howard Society and serving as director of the Victorian Order of Nurses. He was also an executive member of the Zionist Organization of Canada and was vigilant where Israel’s interests and image were concerned. In 1961, for example, he publicly objected to the version of history presented by an Arab expert to the United Nations club in Peterborough.

Rabbi Babb was also a scholar and an intellectual. He treated his congregation to erudite sermons, sometimes so sophisticated as to be difficult for some of his listeners to grasp (Moldaver quote about falling asleep?) When Rabbi Babb died in 1976, four years after retiring from his duties in Peterborough, he was sorely missed. He had continued to keep in touch with community members after his retirement and was often asked to officiate at weddings and bar mitzvahs. Even to the end, when he was sick and dying, he asked from his hospital bed for news of Peterborough and the people there.