Community History

David Gabel was the first known Jewish resident of Saint John. He arrived after the American Revolution with the Loyalists in 1783 and established a butcher shop and bakery on Kings Square. He raised a family in the city and when he died in 1816, he was buried in the Old Burying Ground across the street from his home.

 

In 1858, Solomon and Alice Hart arrived in Saint John with their family and are generally recognized as the founders of the Saint John Jewish community. Mr. Hart was an affluent cigar maker and operated a factory in the city. Mrs. Hart was a well-educated woman and she taught Hebrew School children in her home and looked after a day nursery. She was the founder of the Daughters of Israel, a group of ladies dedicated to helping the poor, the needy and the new immigrants to the city. Louis Green and his family, and the brothers, Abraham and Israel Isaacs followed. All three families were linked through marriage and worked as cigar makers.

 

Most of the Jewish families that settled in Saint John between 1892 and 1930 came from Eastern Europe (Lithuania, Poland, Russia). They left for North America as Jewish persecution worsened in Eastern Europe in the 1890s. More than 200 families came to Saint John, many from Dorbian, Lithuania, alongside others from Russia, Poland and Romania. These Jews had been confined to ghettoes, could speak only Yiddish, tended to be poor, and had different customs. Most started out as peddlers before opening their own stores in the north and central parts of the city.

Two synagogues were established to meet the needs of the community. The first synagogue, Ahavith Achim (Brotherly Love), was dedicated in 1899 and served the families from England. As the community grew and changed, it was necessary to start a second congregation. The Hazen Avenue Synagogue opened in 1906 and drew its membership from the more established community members, leaving the first synagogue to the more recent Eastern European arrivals.

 

By 1918, most of the cultural and linguistic differences that had divided the community had been overcome and the two small congregations merged to form Congregation Shaarei Zedek (Gates of Righteousness) and relocated to 76 Carleton Street.  The building had been constructed in the 1860s as a Calvin Presbyterian Church. The building was changed very little from the time of its purchase and dedication as a synagogue in March of 1919. At that time the community was Orthodox in its practice and men and women were seated separately, with the women accommodated in the balcony.

 

A small group of Holocaust survivors came to Saint John during or shortly after the Second World War, although not all of the arrivals made Saint John their permanent home.  Many of them already had family connections in the city.

 

The community flourished with more than 200 families from the 1920s to the 1960s. Services were held in the Synagogue every week and for Holy Days and as many as 100 children enrolled in Hebrew School classes. A number of Jewish organizations flourished during this period including Habonim, Hadassah and Young Judaea. Many individuals held office at the national levels of Hadassah and other Zionist organizations. There were more than 85 Jewish businesses throughout the city offering clothing, shoes, furniture, and groceries. More than seventy men and women gave distinguished service in all branches of the armed forces in during the Second World War. Many families had summer homes in the nearby community of Pamdenec and enjoyed activities along the St. John River. A number of community members distinguished themselves by taking on leadership roles in community organizations and in politics.

 

By the 1960’s the grandchildren of the immigrants were leaving the city to pursue educational and employment opportunities in larger Canadian and American cities. Most would not return and many parents joined their children after retirement. By the early 2000s, the community had dropped to less than 50 families and there were few children.

 

In 2008, the difficult decision was made to sell the Shaarei Zedek Synagogue building on Carleton Street and move to a former funeral home on Leinster Street. The former synagogue has been carefully renovated into office space and retains much of the look and feel of the original building.

The building at 91 Leinster Street dates from 1897 when it was built by Charles Peters as a wedding gift for his wife Fanny. The Peters lived in the building until the 1940s when it became the home of Senator Clarence and Mrs. Frances Emerson. In the mid-1960s the building was transformed into a funeral home and an addition was made to the back of the building of a chapel for funeral services. This space is now the synagogue with the first floor as display space for the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum. The upper floors accommodate the Museum’s library and archives and kitchen, dining space and Hebrew School classrooms for the congregation.

In 2010, a dedicated group of community members created a committee to encourage Jewish immigration to the city. The most recent wave of Jewish immigration has been mostly from Israel, with others coming here from central and western of Canada and around the world. These families have rejuvenated the community with new events and new traditions.

 

 The Saint John Jewish Historical Museum was created by Marcia Koven in 1986. She spent a lifetime involved in every aspect of the Jewish community life, including as a Sunday School teacher and as a member of Sisterhood and Hadassah, where she held every office, including four terms as president of each.  She represented Sisterhood on the National Women’s League and served for four years on the National Executive of Hadassah.  As a volunteer in the wider community, she canvassed for several charities.  She returned to university as a mature student and graduated with a B.A. in 1982. The following year, she began to research and to collect documents and photographs about the history of the Saint John Jewish Community. This marked the start of her venture to ensure that the history of the Saint John Jewish community would not be forgotten. As a result the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum opened in 1986.  She published a book about the history of this Jewish Community, Weaving the Past Into the Present in 1989 (available in the Museum gift shop).  Marcia received many awards for her work, including the Community Service Award from the Atlantic Jewish Council, the Louis Rosenberg Award from the Canadian Jewish Historical Society and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.