TORONTO — An irreplaceable collection of more than 100 audiotapes of notable figures in the Toronto Jewish community, many no longer alive, was recently donated to the Ontario Jewish Archives (OJA).
Sam Hoffer, president of Second Encounter, a group that presented seminars on a variety of topics in the mid-1970s, said the tapes include such personalities as Joseph B. Salsberg, Prof. Emil Fackenheim, Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut, Basya Hunter, Ben Kayfetz, Rabbi Stuart Rosenberg, Vivian Rakoff and many more.
“I am delighted to have donated the tapes to the Jewish Archives,” Hoffer said. “They can now not only be properly preserved, but also hopefully digitized and made available to future generations.”
The former Toronto Jewish Congress (TJC) and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) jointly sponsored Second Encounter, along with the TJC’s Holocaust Remembrance Committee.
“We are absolutely thrilled to add the Second Encounter collection to the Ontario Jewish Archives,” said OJA director Dara Solomon.
“The audio recordings of this speaker series, which includes the most important community leaders, scholars and thinkers of the era, will be an invaluable resource to the OJA’s community of researchers.
“Through this series, we have the opportunity to explore further the issues of the post-Holocaust period. We look forward to processing this material and making it accessible to our community.”
In 1976, Hoffer was studying at OISE and decided to put his learning to work. He and a group of friends launched Second Encounter as an educational program for the community.
He said the Second Encounter group wanted to do something meaningful to engage young adults. The name was derived from the belief that the Holocaust was so cataclysmic that each generation would have to confront the reality of what had occurred.
The initial program focused on the Holocaust. Over time, seminar themes expanded to include a broad range of subjects.
Second Encounter presented eight events over four years. Some of the seminar topics were “Holocaust,” “Exploring Canadian-Jewish Experience,” “An Encounter with Israel,” “Perspectives on Anti-Semitism,” “Judaism, Religion and Identity” and “Survival of a People.”
The concept immediately struck a chord in the community, starting with the very first event, and the programs attracted hundreds of people, young and old, from across Toronto and beyond, Hoffer said.
After four years, OISE decided to charge for the use of its facilities, which, along with other financial constraints, led to the program being discontinued.
Speaking of the OJA, Hoffer said he was delighted “that such an institution exists in our community, one that can preserve and more importantly make accessible to future generations, our invaluable treasured voices.
“The recordings of these remarkable keynote speakers and seminar leaders of the community will hopefully be a worthy legacy and a lasting contribution to our community,” he added.
