The Jews of Windsor, 1790-1990. Jonathan V. Plaut

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СКАЧАТЬ of the services, which began last night. He was assisted by Max Bernstein, president and A. Moretsky [sic, Meretsky], trustee. The congregation consisted of Jewish residents in the city numbering about sixty, including the women and “children of the ghetto.” They wore loose-flowing garments such as are pictured in biblical illustrations.¹³

      Reverend Hirsch was listed in the Windsor City Directory by September 24, 1900, and he likely stayed with the congregation for a year or two. Although it is doubtful that he was an ordained rabbi, he probably served as both baal Koreh (reader of the Torah) and as shochet.

      Other readers may have been brought in to perform such dual functions during the High Holidays. In 1902 for example, when the number of Jewish families on record was fifteen, the Belle River farmer, Isaac Labetsky, preached the sermons at the two Rosh Hashanah services.¹⁴ Despite the fact that he was living in Detroit by the spring of 1903, he must have regarded it as a great honour to be asked to lead the Purim services as well as to officiate as chazan at Yom Kippur in the fall. Confirmation that he regularly returned to Windsor to attend to these functions is provided by the 1904 newspaper article, which referred to him as “the Rabbi in charge of the High Holiday services.”¹⁵ Other records, however, show that weddings were almost exclusively held in Detroit, with the exception of the few ceremonies performed in Windsor by ordained rabbis brought in from Detroit.¹⁶

      In 1903, Samuel Geller became president of the synagogue¹⁷ and a year later, during Aaron Meretsky’s presidency,¹⁸ Rabbi Morris Gitlin was brought over from Russian Poland, likely by the Meretsky family. Ordained in Pinsk, this stocky gentleman, no more than a few inches over five feet tall, became the synagogue’s spiritual leader.¹⁹ As well, he served as religious teacher and shochet.²⁰ Soon after taking office a conflict developed between him and his congregation. Despite the fact that its members all had the same Orthodox background, they were certainly not a homogeneous body. By then, some had become so assimilated that they saw Rabbi Gitlin’s very strict rules as a hindrance to their efforts to earn a livelihood. They advocated new approaches to the way services were conducted. In view of the fact that this very pious traditionalist was obviously unwilling to implement any changes, there is reason to believe that some of the more intractable members even decided to attend the Reform services that had become available in Detroit.²¹

      The discord between rabbi and congregation ultimately provoked internal squabbles that often degenerated into such severe differences that the police had to be called to restore order. Occasionally, these disagreements led to court actions, which were frequently reported in great detail in the local newspaper. In 1903, for example, Samuel Geller charged Jacob and Peter Meretsky with “disturbing the peace at a meeting in the Jewish Synagogue.”²² Fines of $5 and $10, plus court costs, were levied against both Meretskys.²³ At another time, Joseph Kovinsky accused Aaron Meretsky of using insulting language in the synagogue. The case was delayed, apparently to give Aaron more time to prepare his defence. However, during the trial, he turned the tables on the plaintiff, accusing Joseph of eating pork. A week later, the latter was fined $5 plus $7.25 in court costs.²⁴

      Another case, involving alleged infractions of dietary laws, led William Englander to bring charges against Barney Kaplan. Denouncing him for using insulting language in the synagogue, Kaplan countered by accusing Englander of eating pork.²⁵ Although Englander admitted his guilt, Kaplan’s boisterous courtroom behaviour earned him a fine of $2.²⁶ Englander was embarrassed to find congregation members present to hear his confession in court. He felt his dignity somewhat restored, however, when he heard that Joel Gelber and Simon Meretsky (the synagogue president and vice president, respectively) had been caught buying potatoes and poultry at the market on a Saturday morning.²⁷ In the old country such disagreements would normally be settled by a bet din (Jewish court) or within the Jewish community and would never be resolved by a civil authority. Taking their disagreements to a civil court seemed an acceptable practice and indicated conformity to their new surroundings.

       Not Strictly Kosher?

      Just as Windsor’s Jewish community had its ups and downs during the pre-1900 growth period, shochetim (Jewish butchers) also had a difficult time getting established. They had to find additional sources of income because many individuals either slaughtered animals in their own backyards, or they brought in kosher meat from Detroit.²⁸ The first was of course illegal and if discovered, resulted in fines.²⁹

      William Englander may have been the first to offer kosher meat to Windsor’s Jewish residents at his butcher shop at the corner of Wyandotte and Windsor streets.³⁰ Subsequently, others acted as the shochet or set aside a portion of their shops for the sale of kosher meat. Since many of them also stocked non-kosher meat, disputes arose between the “real shochet” and the butcher storeowners. Not only were they accused of selling meat that was not really kosher, they were also berated by non-Jews who were astonished to be offered food that had been rejected by the Jews.³¹ These and other controversies may have persuaded some Jewish women to continue buying their meat in Detroit, even though it was then available in Windsor at lower prices.³² Nathan Cherniak was one of Windsor’s first residents to become a shochet and melamed (teacher).³³ Having left his hometown of Shiletz in the Russian Province of Mohilev, he had followed Esther Rogin, the woman he loved, who emigrated, with her family in 1902, to New York. When Cherniak saw an advertisement for a shochet and melamed in a town called Windsor in Canada, he applied for the job and got it. After his beloved had joined him there in 1903, the couple was married and eventually became the parents of four children, Harry, Rose, May, and Archie.

      Cherniak saved his money to allow him to bring members of his and his wife’s families, over to Canada. This included his wife’s brother, Charles Rogin, as well as her sister, Sarah, who eventually married Henry Greenberg. Nathan’s brother, Samuel, was the first to arrive. They then sent for their four other brothers and Minnie (Minca), their sister. Brothers Samuel, Jacob, and David, eventually changed their names to Schwartz. Nathan, Meyer, and Isidore, however, continued to carry the Cherniak name. Minnie married Hillel Croll and they became the future parents of David, who one day would be Windsor’s mayor.

      Nathan now had a large family that included the Orechkins, to whom he was related through his paternal grandmother.³⁴ A thoughtful, spirited individual with a fine sense of humour, he acted as shochet between 1903 and 1914. He lost the position due to a disagreement with members of the Jewish community.³⁵ Trying to find a new source of income, he peddled a little in the countryside, taught Hebrew in his spare time, and opened a small grocery store on Monmouth Road that was run by his wife. He later had a large shop at the corner of Marentette and Wyandotte Street East and eventually went into business with his brother, Samuel Schwartz. When that partnership did not work out, he joined Reuben Madoff at his store at the corner of Riverside Drive and Goyeau Street. That association did not last either and Nathan again went into business on his own, starting a men’s wear shop that grew into a small department store by the middle 1920s.³⁶

      Isidore Katzman was another one of Windsor’s Jewish butchers. He and his wife had come from Mogolov in western Russia. Isidore had been born there in 1868 and Lottie, née Jaffe, was five years younger. They had seven children. Sophie was the eldest and became the wife of Mr. Rogin (likely a relative of Mrs. Nathan Cherniak); two of their sons died during childhood in Russia (Saul, at the age of 3 and Milton, at 11). Daughter Rose married a Mr. Berger, while Sally married a Mr. Matlen. The two remaining Katzman sons, were Abe and Harry, the latter of whom died in 1973. Isidore had come to America in 1904. A year later he opened a butcher shop in Detroit that he operated until 1912, when he decided to go into the wholesale meat business in Windsor. He bought Samuel Abrahamson’s Mercer Street store in 1921,³⁷ continuing as a shochet until his retirement in 1942.³⁸

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