TORONTO — Rabbi Shmuel Spero, spiritual leader of Congregation Anshei Minsk, credits Cantor Ruben Schwebel for having kept the downtown synagogue alive in the years before the congregation and the area experienced a revitalization of Jewish life.
Cantor Schwebel, who served the Kensington Market shul for more than half a century, died unexpectedly at Baycrest on Nov. 8, almost two months after surgery for a broken hip. He was 92.
Rabbi Spero, who has been with the congregation since 1988, told The CJN that the cantor remained active at the synagogue even in recent years after becoming cantor emeritus.
“You might have thought he was 75,” the rabbi said. “He was full of strength.”
Schwebel was born to a chassidic family on Feb. 28, 1916, in Dinov, Galicia.
His yeshiva education was cut short by the outbreak of World War II, his son Allan said in a eulogy. One of the few Jewish officers in the Polish army, Schwebel fled to Russia following the Nazi invasion of Poland. He spent three years in a labour camp in Siberia, living on a meagre diet of black bread and an occasional bowl of herring soup cooked in snow, Allan said.
While in Siberia, Schwebel was arrested for conducting Jewish prayer services, “a testament to his unyielding faith despite all the adversity and risks.”
Schwebel kept a record of the names of Jews who died there, and later gave them to Yad Vashem, said Rabbi Spero.
The rabbi remembers the cantor as a “very warm, very friendly” man, and a perfectionist as a chazzan. He enjoyed interacting with people at the shul and “wasn’t too fazed by the difference in dress or mannerisms or notions of young people.”
Schwebel met his wife Helen in Munich after the war. They were married in 1947, and left to join extended family in Toronto two years later with their daughter Ruthie, then six months old.
Schwebel’s father, Zvi Avigdor (Harry) Schwebel, became the first mashgiach at the Murray House, a once-popular venue for weddings and bar mitzvahs. An uncle of the cantor’s, Benny Schweibel, who had emigrated to the United States in the 1920s, was a cantor in Niagara Falls and Buffalo, N.Y.
Following his arrival in Toronto, Schwebel worked multiple jobs during the week, juggling them with his duties as a bar mitzvah teacher and cantor at Anshei Minsk.
Allan said his father lived for his family and the synagogue, taking great pride in his grandchildren. He said Schwebel had an optimistic outlook and a strong handshake, and was devout but also had “a performing side.” Likewise, the chazzan’s extensive collection of cantorial music ranged from traditional to “on the Hollywood side.”
Schwebel’s grandson, Evan Gold, who also spoke at the funeral, said that he and his grandfather bonded over hockey. “He was a huge hockey fan.”
Schwebel leaves Helen, his wife of 61 years; daughter Ruth Gold and son Allan Schwebel; grandchildren Evan, Jessica and Caitlin Gold, and Danielle and Talia Schwebel; and sister Blima Dym. He was predeceased by his sisters Mala, Fayge and Gittel, who died in the Holocaust, and by his brothers Jack and Abie.
