TORONTO —Current and past members of Toronto Workmen’s Circle, as well as its former campers and students, will converge Nov. 14 and 15 to celebrate the organization’s 100th anniversary.
Being held at the Workmen’s Circle building at 471 Lawrence Ave. W., the celebration includes a Yiddish Radio Show, a brunch and presentation about the Workmen’s Circle’s past and present, an alumni reunion, and a concert and sing-along with Yiddish singer Adrienne Cooper and pianist Marilyn Lerner.
Marvin Schiff, chair of the city committee, the governing body of the local Workmen’s Circle, said that the centenary celebrations are important “because Workmen’s Circle is one of the venerable organizations. From the earliest times, it was a potent force in the community.”
The organization was founded in New York City in 1903, he said, by immigrants who wanted health benefits and a setting in which to promote their culture and language.
It was founded on three principles, including rendering aid in moments of stress or emergency, preserving and strengthening cultural Jewishness among its members and the Jewish community, and serving the community by working for social justice.
Its declaration of principles states that it’s devoted “to the liberation of all people; participates in democratic, progressive, cultural and social endeavours; and is joined with the labour movement in striving for a higher standard of living and genuine economic security, and in lighting the pathway to further progress and a fuller democracy.”
The peak times for the local organization, were in the 1920s and then again in the 1960s, he said. “At the apex, there were 1,000 members all over Ontario.”
Now, he said there are about 250 members, including a 23-year-old who joined after learning about the organization’s activities while at university.
Since its inception, Toronto Workmen’s Circle established a Jewish supplementary school that taught Yiddish and Yiddishkeit, as well as a residential camp in Pickering, Ont., Camp Yungvelt – no longer in operation– that was known in its early days for accepting poor immigrants’ children for little money.
Mel Cederbaum, director of Toronto Workmen’s Circle, said the centenary is supported by the Committee for Yiddish of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto under its program Yiddish Canada in the 20th century.
“I’m hoping to draw people back who have memories of going to camp or school. They might want to become active again.”
Helen Schreibman-Smith, a former Camp Yungvelt camper who is travelling from London, England, to take part in the celebration said that “my best memories of my childhood and teen years were summers spent at camp. It was a place where it was like having a big family, many of the same campers and staff turning up year after year.”
Cederbaum said Workmen’s Circle is looking to develop a younger generation of leaders “to guide [us] into the 21st century. It is important to have an organization that celebrates the secular approach to Judaism.”
For information on the centenary celebration call 416-787-2081 or e-mail [email protected].
