Talmud Torah Alumni

When my parents David and Clara Mintz moved to Edmonton in 1949, I was almost three years old. Our first home was in an apartment around 116 Street and Jasper Avenue. Then they moved to 133 Street and 105 Avenue.

I started kindergarten at the Talmud Torah school located in the Driscoll Building on 103 street south of Jasper Avenue. I remember the school yard in front of the school was tin, and being transported to school in a taxicab from our home with a few other students. This was well before the days of a school-bus that picked up my own children.

Then the school was moved to 133 Street and 106 Avenue. I lived a block away. Before it was built, I remember the land which it occupied was like a bog with lots of water. Groat Road was still a ravine.

Our class was comprised of 27 or so students. I recall Frank Phillet, Jeff Dvorkin and I were the smallest kids in the class. In Kindergarten we had Mrs.Goelman as our kindergarten teacher. Mr. Goelman was the principal. Mike and Lisa did the cooking of the kosher lunches. Even though my home was less than a block from the school, I usually ate my lunch at school.

My other classmates included Wayne Shur, Milton Bogoch, Benny Landa, Sheldon Schloss, Brian Sussman, later Mel Tussman, Jody Bell, Gail Pakes, Leona Katzin, Ruth Ellen Silverman, Carol Kettner, Shirley Deitch, Julie Levine, Laurie Fefferman,  Serena Rolingher, Gene Greenstein, Barry Slawsky, Gary Woodrow, Larry Sheckter, and a few  others whose names I cannot remember.

A few students in the class were badly behaved and got on the nerves of the teachers. I would rather not provide their names.

In about 1954 Jack Chetner who was from New York was hired as a teacher at the school. Mr. Yedlin was also there. They were two of the best Hebrew teachers I ever had. I had wonderful English program teachers like Mrs. McLeod in grade 3 and Mrs. Flint in grade 6.

The playground at the school was interesting. The baseball diamond was reserved only for the grade 6 students so before that we were consigned to playing in other areas of it.

One of my fondest memories of Talmud Torah was the Junior Congregation program run by Mr. Chetner and Mr. Yedlin. We, the students, ran the services. This is how we got ready for our Bar Mitzvas. Every student who went to it got a part or parts of the services to perform. Then afterwards we had cookies and ice cream. I attended over 90% of the Shabbos’ over the years.

After finishing grade 6 I went to Westminster Junior High School and on Mondays to Thursdays I attended Talmud Torah Night school from 4:30 to 6:00 PM for grades 7, 8 and 9. Mr.Yedlin and Mr. Chetner were the main teachers. One crazy incident I remember was in grade 8, when Mr. Yedlin told Benny Landa to leave the classroom. So, he complied by jumping out of the second story window.

In grade 9 I never missed a class. However, Wayne Shur and some others wanted to make sure my attendance was not 100% so they grabbed me, tied me up, and put me in a classroom closet that was not being utilized that day. I was able to escape my bonds and made it back into class with about an hour to go that day.

In 1961 we celebrated our graduation – I remember there were about 8 – 10 us who graduated, and the ceremony was in the lower auditorium of the school.

I married Susan (Yalowsky) from Toronto in 1970. In September 1971 (or the year after) she was employed at TT for one year as a kindergarten teacher. That was the positive start of her teaching career. She really enjoyed the children.

My daughters, Alisa, Rachel, and Lezlie all enrolled for 6 years at TT followed by Alisa’s children Asher, Lylah and Solly. Currently, Rachel’s children Neve and Joni are students at TT. All the children went to the current TT school.

I am proud to say three generations of Mintz children attended or currently attend at the school.

After I went to Westminster for Junior High, I went to Ross Sheppard Composite High School. I was an active member of the Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA – BBYO) and served as President of Mandel Bloomfield Chapter 121 and the Regional President for Northwest Canada Region. I attended Kallah and the International Leadership Training Convention in Starlight Pennsylvania. After graduating in 1964, I attended the University of Alberta for my  BA – psychology major and a sociology minor. I was President of Hillel and member of the Sammies (Sigma Alpha Mu) fraternity on campus.

Then I moved to Toronto after being accepted to the University of Toronto Law School.

While our children were growing up, I continued my connection to the Talmud Torah. In the mid-eighties I was a member of the Board and served as a Vice-President. My highlight of involvement was being a chairperson along with Wayne Shur and Ruth Ellen Shafir (nee Silverman) for the organization of the 75^th Anniversary of Talmud Torah held in 1987. Ron Pascoe a former student of the school drafted a book about the school’s 75 year history. I organized a Junior Congregation service at the school. At first, we thought only 30 or 40 would attend but over two hundred showed up to relive this beautiful program. We had a school tour and a special dinner for the Jewish Community. We asked people to bring in artifacts celebrating their past participation at Talmud Torah. They were displayed at the school. The program was massively successful.

Susan and I have continuously lived in Edmonton. Her teaching career involved teaching French as a second language, sub-teaching, and 22 years of teaching kindergarten at Menorah Academy. Susan has maintained a connection to the school by volunteering time in the library.

My career as a lawyer has continued unabated. To date I have practiced for 53 years.

Through the years I have been active in road racing, track and field and soccer. Another person and I established the Victoria Masters Soccer League in Edmonton 10 years ago and I function as the Discipline Chair of the league. In the track and field community I have been the President of the Edmonton Masters Athletics Association for 25 years.

Susan and I have travelled internationally but most important in 2013 we visited and toured Israel which I treat as a life highlight.

What was Talmud Torah’s impact on me? It was a major contributor to my identity as a Jewish person, religiously and educationally. It has equipped me with those tools needed to understand my Judaism and the value system needed to participate in the Jewish and general community. Susan and I have received nachas from the accomplishments of our grandchildren who attended or who currently attend there.

The Edmonton Talmud Torah is an essential Jewish institution in Edmonton that deserves complete support from the Edmonton Jewish Community. Without it we do not have a meaningful Jewish community. It is an important vehicle that bridges the generations by ensuring our Jewish heritage is handed down from the parents to their children.

Sid graduated from Talmud Torah in 1969, then on to Laurier Junior High and Ross Sheppard High School. After graduating from Shep, Sid tried his hand at being a milkman and a truck driver, but everything changed when he spent seven months backpacking through Europe.

That adventure inspired him to head to NAIT, followed by a brief stint as a property manager. But Sid wasn’t done reinventing himself – he went back to school, earning degrees from the University of Alberta and the University of South Carolina.

Despite struggling with Hebrew and French, Sid eventually picked up Spanish and Portuguese, which landed him a banking gig at the Canadian Export Development Corporation in Ottawa and later at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation in Washington, DC. Along the way, he picked up some valuable lessons—like how to say, “There is oil leaking from the wing. Perhaps we should land,” in Portuguese. Oh, and push-starting a taxi in Ecuador after a meeting where he represented the Canadian Government!

Work took him all over Latin America, Africa, and Europe, including two years in Costa Rica along with short stints in Zimbabwe and Ghana.

Now retired, Sid lives in DC, with his wife, Betsy. They’ve got a house with a three-car garage where Sid spends his days building furniture and turning bowls on the lathe. They have two sons: Alexander, in DC, and Nathan, in Minneapolis.

Fond memories of TT:

• Carpooling with the Millers, including stops at Bon Ton Bakery.
• Playing on the monkey bars in winter.
• Climbing the wall on the way to the cafeteria.

Sid still keeps in touch with Gary Lyons, Marni Dlin, and others on Facebook. And in a wild coincidence, he once ran into Sue Guild in the Nairobi airport!

I have nothing but fond memories of Talmud Torah, despite receiving the strap (in what seems to me) on average once a week during grades one and two. I am sure I deserved it, for I also recall being something of an unruly scamp in those early, rambunctious years. Nevertheless, Talmud Torah laid the foundation for my understanding and appreciation of Hebrew, Judaism in general, and in particular Israel and Zionism, during my formative years from kindergarten and grade one through junior high. I graduated grade six in 1959 when Israel was not yet a teenager but already a heroic and historical entity. In those days we used to exalt that in Israel if you threw a stone at someone, they Samuel Koplowicz Samuel Koplowicz Class of ’59 Class of ’59 would use it to start building a house.

My earliest memory is of the original school on 103rd Street, where I attended kindergarten. Then the “new” school opened in Glenora at 106th Avenue and 133rd Street opposite the old traffic circle on 107th Avenue and Groat Road. I went to Oliver Junior High for grades 7 and 8, and continued the afterschool program at TT for two years while also studying for my Bar Mitzvah with Mr. Yedlin and Mr. Chetner. For grade nine I was sent to yeshiva at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois, after which I returned to Edmonton to complete high school at Ross Sheppard, class of 1965. I then attended the University of Alberta, majoring in English with a minor in Philosophy, class of 1968. In 1969, I attended the University of California, Los Angeles, in the MFA program for Motion Picture Direction & Production. I returned to Edmonton in 1970, where I eventually worked with Film West Associates Ltd, a local independent film production company, and also ran the Cinematheque 16 at the Edmonton Art Gallery for several years. I then worked for the City of Edmonton Parks & Recreation Department out of the Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium, writing, directing and producing audio/visual programs for a number of city departments.

In 1982, I accepted a job in Victoria, working first for the Ministry of Social Services in a staff training capacity, then for Government Information Services for a number of years. In 1987-88, I moved to northern California and worked for twenty years as an audio/visual and multimedia producer at San Jose State University in the Academic Technology Department. In 2007, after my Dad passed away, I took early retirement and moved back to Edmonton to look after my elderly mom and quickly became involved with the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival, which continues to this day.

I remember most, but not all, of my TT teachers. They included Mrs. Gershon and Mr. Bar-El, Mrs. McLeod, Mrs. Yedlin, Mr. Yedlin, and Mr. Chetner, who was also the principal and ran Junior Congregation, where we learned to daven the Shabbat service. I think I also had a Mrs. Flint at some point, who made us sing “Santa Lucia” over and over again. My favorites were Mrs. McLeod and Mrs. Yedlin. Mrs. Yedlin in particular encouraged my interest and skill in Hebrew calligraphy by having me fill the chalkboards that ran along the upper edge of the classroom with Hebrew sayings in upper case lettering. I am sure it was her way of keeping me busy by channeling my youthful exuberance into something productive. I also remember most of my classmates from elementary school at Talmud Torah. They include (on the male side) my cousin Sam Winter. I was Shmuel alef, he was Shmuel bet. Other members of my cohort were Mike Mishna, Ben Zalmanovich, Joe Shafir, Sid Shugarman, Irving Kusin, Nathan Feldman, Jack Lisker, Stan Wiseman, Jack Epstein, David Milner, Sid Antflick, Cliff Goldstein, Saul Markovich and Selig Sacks. On the female side, my cohort included Lynn Weinlos, Anita Satanove, Janet Rosen, Bonnie Koliger, Maxine Frolich, Beth Rudolph, Evelyn Eaman and Evelyn Hardin. I was also friends with certain students who were one year older as well as one year younger than I. In particular I recall Benny Landa, Wayne Shur, Jeff Dvorkin, Ralph Shapiro, Frank Phillet, Sheldon Schloss, Bruce Mintz, Milton Bogoch and Barry Slawsky. From the younger class I remember Mitch Wise, Earl Bogoch, Sid Estrin, Bobby Landa and Arnie Landa.

I was very active in Young Judaea in those days, and went on to hold some local, regional and national offices, as well as conducting drama programs at senior YJ camps in Ontario and British Columbia through the 1960s. Perhaps my most vivid memory of my Talmud Torah years is riding my 3-speed bicycle to school, both summer and winter, down Stony Plain Road from my home on 116th Street, and through Glenora and Capitol Hill after school to the Weinlos house to hang out with my lifelong friend, Lynn Weinlos, then riding home later down 102nd Avenue.

I went to Jasper Place High School and U of A for my Education degree and have always lived in Edmonton. I’ve been to Israel a few times, a variety of places in the States, Aruba, Mexico. Most of our travels now, (once COVID is over) will be to see our children and granddaughter in Toronto and Vancouver. My husband, David and I have two children; Max who is married to Eliana and lives in Toronto, and Annie who is married to Corey Sobel and live in Vancouver. Annie and Corey have recently “given” us our first grandchild, Rayna Ava. Both of our kids attended TT.

Memories of TT:

• Lunches and the lunchroom
• Our teachers
• The playground
• Friendships
• TT Jr. High after school classes

I have never left our school – I’ve now been teaching at Talmud Torah for more than 25 years — both English and Hebrew subjects in Kindergarten, and more recently in grade 1. (Robin officially retired after the 2023-24 school year, but has been seen in the hallways since then as a substitute teacher.)

Robin attended the class of ’72 virtual reunion in July 2021.

Hello, I am Melissa Benjamin and I am a TT alumna. I attended Talmud Torah from Kindergarten to Grade 9. From there I graduated from Ross Sheppard High school and received my Bachelor of Management Degree-Major in Finance from University of Lethbridge. I worked many years at RBC in the financial industry and was now able to move over to Sun Life and work side by side with my parents as a Financial Advisor. I met my husband in Edmonton-Leor Benjamin (Class of ’96) and we have 2 children-Zoe and Jamie and we are lucky that they are both able to attend Talmud Torah. Having both the Early Learning Centre and the School all in the same building is a dream come true. All the staff and students know each other, and it builds a wonderful atmosphere for the children.

The weekly Shabbat songs that my children come home singing, saying the prayer on the candles, wine and bread makes my husband, family and I so happy to hear. This school played an integral part in my childhood and growing up. The friendships you build are your friends that you have for life. They are the ones that will be there for you and the ones I speak to daily and spend the most time with. We are all in touch today and some of us see each other at the school and can say a quick hi while dropping or picking up our kids.

There are so many wonderful memories from being at TT-the Grade 9 class trip to Israel, the annual sock-hops, Purim carnivals and all the teachers that made every year so special. I am excited that my children get to attend TT and will be able to experience similar opportunities. grow their Jewish identity, learn Hebrew and the history as well as building friends for life.

My time at TT undoubtedly shaped the rest of my life, especially professionally.  I developed an interest in video production sometime around grade 2, and played around with the camera at home.  I started borrowing that big VHS shoulder mount camera, bringing it to school to use for my projects around grade 4.  Up until I graduated in grade 9, there wasn’t a project that didn’t involve me making a video.  I used to hire myself out to classmates to make their videos for their projects… Mostly for favors or candy.  We shot many movies for fun in the halls and classrooms of the schools in both Glenora and then Callingwood, and even had teachers and custodians playing characters.  I still have some of these movies, and now I’m older than the teachers who were playing around with us.  We felt so at home in school, and had such special connections with the staff.   In grade 7, I failed the report portion of a project, but got 100% on the video portion, and my teacher Leslie Heppleston said, “Don’t worry, one day you can make videos for a living, and won’t have to write reports”.  

So, fast-forward to 2021.  I have a video production studio in Edmonton called Reel Mensch Studio.  We produce TV commercials, documentaries, event videos and the likes.  We are also the place where you take your old VHS tapes and film reels to digitize to watch them on a computer.  So to bring you up to speed on what I’m up to now… It’s the same thing I was up to when I attended TT as a student, except now we charge money for our video productions, and I don’t write reports… And I’m bald with a beard.  My circle of friends is still the same cohort that grew up together at TT.  I drop my daughter Ella off every morning at the same school we went to, and I always run into one, if not several of my classmates in the layby, dropping their kids off too.  (Jan. 2021)

Jamie graduated from Ross Sheppard High School and then on to Alberta College. In 1978 she moved to Vancouver for a couple of years, and then set her sights on Amsterdam where she attended Rietveld Academie for Fine Arts, from 1980 to 1988. Jamie graduated from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto in 1990, and then moved to New York (1990-1997) where she earned a Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts. She has been living in Vancouver ever since.

“I am currently sub-letting 18 fine art studios to local artists, designers, and a couple of tattooists!

I have raised 2 Lhasa Apsos, Lazlo and Izzy, and see dog rescue in retirement as well as travel if we ever get the shot in BC.” Jamie is “single, free as a bird and loving it”.

Fond memories of TT:

• Spaghetti Mondays
• Birthday cupcakes from Bon Ton Bakery
• “Rubber tires never wreck”
• Sliding down the bannister to the lunchroom
• Debbie Katz and I hiding in the closet in grade 4 and getting caught and sent to Mr. Chetner, Mr. Yedlin and so many more

Jamie is still in touch with Jonathan Miller, Rob Edelmann, Marcia K., several folks on Facebook, and bumped into Howie Cooper on the streets of New York City, on “8th Avenue I believe, that was a shocker!”.

“At 85, my memories of TT are a bit dim. I remember taxis to 103 Street where the first building was. I did love school, and with one exception, the teachers. There was one chap who could not abide anything but the strictest self discipline from us. It was some years later that I connected his strictness with the Holocaust. [During recesses] we used to etch a marble course into the sand so we could play marbles. It was quite extensive, like a miniature golf course. I was privileged from time to time to walk the two blocks to the Edmonton Journal printers to get tail end rolls of newsprint for the school. I was allowed to use the gelatine hectograph (old copy machine) which my mother disliked because I sometimes came home with ink on my clothes. When the school moved to just south of Stony Plain Road, it was close enough to our house that I could bike to it, or walk in the winter. When I graduated and went to junior high school I found it strange that it was all in English.”

“I studied Electronic Engineering at the U of A and did well my first two years. Summer times were taken up being in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as an officer cadet. I got to do stuff like jumping out of an airplane. Most of the work was electronic and radar. In my third year I did so badly that I was told never to darken their door again. I spent the next year in the Yukon working for Canadian National Telecommunications (CNT). I begged my way back into the university and did well in my repeated third year.”

“The beginning of my fourth year was great, but not for academic reasons. I found myself with a girlfriend, Roberta Sheps, from Calgary. We married after graduation and, 62 years later, we still are. I developed hardware and software skills by working on the first mini computer (DEC PDP8), and then worked at the brand new Bell Canada Research Institute in the computer section. Then there was a three year appointment to the Atomic Energy Research Station (non-military) in the UK.”

Dave and Roberta were blessed with two children; Vivenne was born in 1969 just before they moved from Berkshire to Essex, England. Dave taught the first computer sicence course for undergraduates in the UK. They then adopted their son Tony (after an 18 month search). Dave writes that, as a baby, Tony was considered in those days to be “borderline unadoptable” (being black and having club feet). “He is one terrific kid”, Dave writes, and is an accountant, helping Dave with all the DIY stuff and other things he cannot do, and taking care of Roberta while Dave was in the hospital (having lost his leg). After teaching computer science for 40 years, Dave became heavily involved in theatre doing admin and lighting, while Roberta acted and directed. He became very interested in students with disabilities and became the university’s disability officer. Of course, the disability field became very personal once Vivienne was diagnosed with MS at the age of fifteen. “She was quite a gal; physics PhD, a senior scientific officer, sky diver and rock headbanger.” Tragically, Vivienne passed away in 2021.

At age 60, Dave “became chair of the charity Opportunities through Technology, which operated under the social model of disability: client driven”. For 12 years that the charity existed, Dave writes proudly that they had about 1,500 clients with a 95% success rate. When he retired at age 65, the university made him an honourary fellow and keeps in contact with the department to this day. Of course, Dave cannot be idle, and keeps busy running a small jazz club (Fleece Jazz) in the UK, where he is the “sound guy”. He’s also on the committee of the Suffolk Villages Festival, which “holds concerts of early music, with a professional orchestra, a great choir and world class soloists. The jazz club gets top musicians from the UK, Europe and sometimes the US”.

Thank you, Dave Lyons, for sharing your story with us. Interested in re-connecting with Dave? You are welcome to reach out to Natalie at nataliesoroka@talmudtorahsociety.com. (Jan. 2024)

To say that my Jewish upbringing and my time at Talmud Torah had a profound impact on my life is an understatement. Professionally, Judaism is part of my every day as the current Editor of Alberta Jewish News, formally Edmonton Jewish News, the newspaper that has been in my family for over 30 years. In addition to my work with Alberta Jewish News, I am also the Advertising Lead with Alberta Native News, and a Statistical Research Consultant with Raze Sports, an NHLPA Certified Player Agency. Personally speaking, my best friends from my earliest years at Talmud Torah continue to be my best friends to this day.

As Editor of the province’s only Jewish newspaper, I do my best to stay up to date on current events in the Edmonton and Calgary communities and beyond. That means checking in with organizations, attending events, keeping my fingers on the pulse of the community, and making sure that every month we produce a newspaper that the Alberta Jewish community can be proud of. The Judaic knowledge base, including my study of Hebrew, Judaic culture, religion, and history (both biblical and current), is integral to producing content that I know Jewish Alberta will enjoy. To this day I’m still using techniques that Rob Petrovic taught me in our computing classes in Junior high. HTML to work on our websites, photo-editing and graphic design techniques to build ads and graphics for the newspapers, websites, and NHL player strategy presentations. If you’d ever like to see my humble beginnings working with graphics, find a copy of our Grade 9 yearbook which features 18 photo edits, one for each of my classmates (shout out DEL, the computing company we started in grade 9…..we maybe should have kept that going ha!).

If you’re not already a subscriber, I encourage you to visit us online or on Facebook or pick up a free copy of Alberta Jewish News at your nearest Jewish organization. If you’re reading this newsletter, I have a feeling you’re going to love Alberta Jewish News.

The personal relationships I made at Talmud Torah were just as important as the lessons I learned in the classroom. From the very start, there was a core group of us and we were inseparable, and it’s just as true today. Even though decades have passed, both in terms of time, and life events, we are all still best friends, and it’s those relationships that I value most from my time at Talmud Torah, K-9.

“I was born in Edmonton in 1932 and we lived on 112 St and 99 Ave. I attended the Edmonton Talmud Torah school located at 103 St., just south of Jasper Ave. I remember being taught half-day of the English curriculum and half-day of Hebrew, which is something that I never questioned – it was just the way it was. My experience at Talmud Torah was positive in all aspects. It was an integral part of my professional and family life. However, I did not stay connected in a meaningful way with any of my classmates, although Mel Hurtig z”l was the exception, as we were also neighbours growing up. I have lived in Toronto since the late 1950s, although my parents remained in Edmonton for the rest of their lives. I have two daughters who were born and raised in Toronto (Natalie and Rona). My eldest daughter, Natalie (in picture), moved to Edmonton right after getting married to her husband, Ken, who had been living in Toronto for almost three years. Her husband, Ken, is a Class of 1969 Grade 6 graduate of Talmud Torah at the Glenora location. It does my heart good that not only did I benefit from a fine education at Talmud Torah, but both my Edmonton granddaughters, Marlee Soroka (Class of 2010) and Jenna Soroka (Class of 2012) attended there from pre-school to Grade 9. In fact, my first-born granddaughter, Marlee, just finished her second year of teaching at Talmud Torah.

I attended the University of Alberta earning a BSc in Electrical Engineering in 1954. One of my former Engineering Professors was David Panar z”l, who years earlier had taken a sabbatical to actively participate in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. After graduation, I was accepted for a fellowship to train in England from 1954-1956.

Upon returning to Canada, I moved to Toronto and spent most of my career as a partner with the Toronto mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm, ECE Group (originally formed in 1955), whose founding principals were Jewish. I was the President of the firm until my retirement at age 65. My biggest accomplishment as President was to make the firm 100% employee owned. ECE acquired a considerable reputation for award-winning work. Notable projects include landmarks such as the National Art Gallery of Canada, the National Archives of Canada, and the Toronto Eaton Centre.

I have been retired for 25 years and enjoy living in in Toronto with my beautiful wife, Hyla. We enjoy it when our daughter, Natalie, visits us (sometimes with Marlee and Jenna) and gives us updates on what’s happening at Talmud Torah School. I’m always interested in hearing how Talmud Torah is doing, and pleased that it is strong and viable, 111 years after it was first established in 1912. Living in Toronto it was very expensive, even back then, to send your child to private Hebrew schools. This was one of the reasons my daughters only attended a Sunday Hebrew school. Today, it is over-the-top expensive at any of the private Hebrew day schools in Toronto. When I learned that my granddaughters were going to be attending Talmud Torah School, I was thrilled knowing they would be getting an exceptional Judaic and Hebrew education, along with an equally wonderful education through Edmonton Public Schools. Jewish families in Edmonton are very lucky that they can send their children to a Jewish public school at such a low cost.”

*David passed away August 2024, one month shy of his 92nd birthday.

When we moved into our house, my wife started picking through my box of Talmud Torah documents. On my “About Me” profile from the first day of kindergarten was written “When I grow up I want to be a… teacher.” After kindergarten, I went on to write Jewish songs, make Jewish board games- all
the classic Jewish TT experiences, including going to Israel with my classmates at the end of grade 9. That Israel experience left me wanting more, and thirty years after that day in kindergarten, I am in my 13th year teaching at TT.

Earlier this year, the kindergarten assistant who wrote that down for me was teaching in the classroom next to mine. I take pride in this community offering Jewish experiences from Cradle to Grave and I
teach my students about them. I’m also lucky to have had many of these experiences and to continue sharing them with my family and Jewish network.

For example, my two-year-old son enjoys PJ Library books and programs, and he is named after my Dad’s best friend, whom he met in BBYO. He’s also named after my grandmother, who volunteered with my grandfather at the JCC in the ’80s when he was the director there. Noam is currently distracting me by showing off a craft he made with his teacher at Talmud Torah’s Early Learning Centre, whose three children were my students over the last seven years. No less than six of Noam’s classmates’ parents were in TT or BBYO with me. I have taken up residence in Toronto and Tel Aviv along the way, but my roots are deep in Edmonton’s Jewish community, giving me great cause to work every day, trying to help the next generation grow deep roots as well. So where am I now? Not far from where I was then! Just instead of seeing Shabbat Shalom on the chalkboard, I’m writing it on the Smartboard.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Richard (Rick) Ostashower, TT class of ’68. Rick provided me with a wealth of information, both informative and humorous. He lives in Calgary with his wife, Shoo, and their three dogs. Rick has 40+ years in the Canadian Military, achieving the rank of Master Warrant Officer and holding the appointment of Sergeant Major. He worked 12 years as a Firearms Officer, Inspection Officer, Investigation Officers and adjunct Armourer with the Calgary Police Service, and member of 4 Canadian Brigade Group Counter Terrorist Team. (Natalie Soroka)

“I think a Jewish education is critical. When I was at TT, starting in grade two, we had a half day of Hebrew, with ½ hour for either French or PT and a half day of English with ½ hour again for either French or PT. This was years before French was even offered at the Jr. High level. We thought this was normal. You go to school to learn. It never occurred to us that we were doing a full day’s curriculum in half a day and then doing it again in Hebrew, along with religious studies. If you’re lucky, you have an atmosphere of support that makes learning all the more enjoyable.

The absolute top of the list of staff memories, bar none, were Mike and his wife Lisa, the Caretaker and the Cook. Everyone knew and loved them, and they returned it. I treasure the memories of Lisa coming to see me on macaroni and cheese days because she knew how much I loved the crust. Others probably got it, too, but I remember her coming straight to me. And Mr. Yedlin, who by grade six came up to about my shoulders. He so terrified all of us; “I want it so quiet in here that I can hear A PIN DROP!” but come to him with a question or a concern, and you got his undivided attention. Mr. Chetner, too, was an imposing figure, but approachable.“

Rick recounted a memory of meeting up with one of his TT classmates, 50 years later, at the annual Robbie Bernstein Dinner at Beth Tzedec in Calgary. “At one point, a man approached me and, with awe, asked if he could take a picture of me because, in my regalia (Calgary Highlanders formal Mess Dress – kilt, assorted knives, etc.), I was the spitting image of a guy he had gone to school with (Dave Wilkins). I said certainly.

He came and stood beside me and mentioned Dave’s name, which took me somewhat by surprise as, to the best of my knowledge, Dave’s not Jewish (I knew him too). I said so, and this guy, much shorter than I am, I was astounded and literally at a loss for words. I asked him what his name was, and he replied, “Mike, Mike Paull”. You could have knocked me over with a feather. We had been in the same group from Kindergarten through grade six, attended all the Bar Mitzvahs together, and then went through different schools. We hadn’t seen each other in almost 50 years, with me leaving so soon after graduation. I looked at Mike and said, “I’m Rick Ostashower.” The range of emotions that went over his face, and I’m sure mine, was staggering. After a few seconds, he stepped closer and hugged me as hard as I’d ever been clutched. I returned the compliment. We spent the next few minutes being dragged around and introduced or re-introduced to people I hadn’t seen as long as or longer than Mike. We wound up being introduced to Maxine Fischbein, who I vaguely remembered as being a classmate of my sister Jane. We wound up with an invitation for a Shabbat Dinner. It was a delightful evening, and we were made to feel most welcome.”