I Have a Story to Tell You

Acknowledgements

BARUCH HA’SHEM! I am grateful to have completed this work, first in partial fulfillment of my M.A. thesis in 1980 and now in the voices of these Jewish immigrants. Why did it take so long? It is within the cradle of Jewish Ethics (Mussar) that I have found myself worthy of completing this work. My gratitude abounds for the encouragement and positive feedback I have received from those I have talked to about this book. Twenty-five years ago, few in the publishing business and fewer still in the Jewish community were interested in this work. Times have changed, and with the appearance of another generation, so open and welcoming, came a thirst for Jewish historical data. My heart swells and opens in response. I thank you. It is difficult to begin to acknowledge and give thanks to the many who gave of themselves and who made this work a reality. My expression of gratitude follows neither a chronological methodology nor a meritorious one. Each and every person acknowledged here stands equally tall and needs to be counted. I am forever in your debt. To Penny Goldsmith, for your confidence , for your finding my work praiseworthy, for encouraging me to send my stories to Wilfrid Laurier University Press in the first place, I cannot thank you enough. To Laura Moodie, thank you for your support and help and for your faith in me. To Lisa Quinn, acquisitions editor at Laurier Press, now I can tell you that my mouth fell open when you asked me over the phone for the rest of my manuscript! I almost said, Huh? What manuscript? I had sent you a sampling and didn’t expect a positive response. Thank you, Lisa, for your faith in me from the very beginning, for working on this book to make it a reality, for just being there. Thank you also to Leslie Macredie at Laurier Press, for your encouragement and help always, even when I was losing it, together with files! For your quiet patience and understanding, thank you, Rob Kohlmeier, managing editor at Laurier Press. Thank you, Kristen Chew, for your queries and suggestions during copy editing. xiii Acknowledgements Thank you to Dr. Martin Meissner of the University of British Columbia , my sociology professor, now retired, who encouraged me to embark on the research that led me to this point. To Dr. Michael M. Ames, past director of the Museum of Anthropology, UBC, my supervisor and mentor, a friend who died too soon, my thanks to you always. To all those who entrusted their stories to me, I hope this publication will in some measure say thank you. I would like to say a quiet thank you to those of you in the academic world across Canada and in the United States who unhesitatingly responded so positively to this project when first I talked to you about its possible publication. It was your unqualified endorsement that filled me with confidence in the work I was doing. Thank you. To the children and grandchildren of the storytellers: David Abramowitz, the Barrett family, Judy Charles, Gallia Chud, Faigie Coodin, Jana Danelle, Dorothy and Irving Grad, Laura Jacamovitz, Rima and Clive Kaplan, Sylvia Friedman of Outlook, Claire Osipov, Bernie Zuker (who died in 2009) and his wife, Christine Hodgson, thank you for all the time spent searching through family albums, making copies, emailing material in the format requested and entrusting to me the photographs used in this book. Unfortunately I was unable to get images of all the good people who told me their stories. I am deeply grateful to those who had faith in me and my ability to complete this work: Gallia Chud and her children, Gyda Chud and Rita Chudnovsky, the Kirman Foundation (through the good offices of Al Stein and Seymour Levitan), Claire Osipov, Stuart Ostlund, RBC Royal Bank of Canada, the Sidney Sarkin Estate, Rabbi Yosef Wosk, Harold Berson, David Berson, Joshua Berson, Saul Berson, and Adam Berson. Thank you for your contributions. Thank you, Seymour Levitan.Your expertise in Yiddish/Hebrew guided me through minefields when working on Shaya Kirman’s story and the glossary . Any mistakes in this regard are entirely mine. To Michael Kader my grateful thanks for providing your time and advice so unstintingly, as always. To Linda Thayer my gratitude for giving of yourself, your time and knowledge , your constant faith and friendship. Hakarat Ha’tov. My family! Words cannot convey to you my eternal thanks for the...