W. Gunther Plaut

PLAUT

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from a Jewish value or religious concepts. Plaut has been linked to the Portuguese word Plato, which means "dish/plate", but also to the Hebrew term Palit, that is "refugee". The name is borne by several families- some of whom trace their origins to the 12th century - who fled from Spain and Portugal, eventually settling in Hessen, Germany. Modifications in the pronounciation and spelling of the first consonant produced variants such as Flaut, Blaut/Blauth. Plaut is documented as a Jewish family name in 1677 with Josef Plaut of Witzenhausen, Hessen, Germany, and again in 1691 with Victor Plaut of Sontra, also in Hessen.

Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Plaut include the German bacteriologist, educator and author Hugo Carl Plaut (1858-1928), and the 20th century German-born Canadian Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut.

Toronto

Capital of province of Ontario, Canada.

In early 21st century, more than half of the Jewish population of Canada lives in Toronto. Jews have lived in the city since the 19th century. The Jewish population of Toronto is diverse in terms of its varied religious currents, historical background as well as unique cultural and social identities.

Toronto is home to congregations of several currents of Judaism, including Reform, Reconstructionist, Humanist, conservative and Orthodox. In various waves of immigration, Jews arrived from different localities, bringing with them a different heritage, experience and religious movement.

Organized Jewish community life in Toronto is thought to have begun in 1849. The first synagogue established in Toronto was the Holy blossom Temple, a Reform congregation founded in 1856 by Jews from Germany, the United States, Great Britain and Eastern Europe. Many of the small immigrant congregations later merged, creating larger congregations of mixed communities.

Shortly after 1856 two groups merged as the Holy Blossom Temple retaining the corporate name of Toronto Hebrew congregation (1971). Members of this congregation, Orthodox at its inception, were from various parts of Europe. The synagogue was known as the Daytshishe Shul not for "ethnic" reasons so much as for its tendency to a modernized way of worship.

With the influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe in the Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Chevra T'hillim (1883), whose members originated from Russia; and Shomrei Shabbos (Orthodox,1889), in the early 1950s the former two merged as Beth Tzedec (Conservative). In 1899 Beth Jacob, known as the Poylishe Shul, and in 1902 the Romanian synagogue, also known as Adath Israel, began to function. After the turn of the century shtiblech, kleyzlech (small prayer houses), and synagogues proliferated, and by the 1940s, there were close to sixty synagogues in the city of Toronto. By 2011, there were more than one hundred.

Reform Judaism developed slowly in Toronto. The first moves in that direction were made in the 1880s. From the turn of the 20th century to about the end of the 1930s each "ethnic" segment of immigrant Jewry had its spiritual leader.

In 1871 there were 157 Jews and in 1881, 548. Toronto's Jewish population grew steadily from the 1890s through the post-World War I period.

Immigration dropped in the 1930s due to the restrictions imposed and to the depression, but groups of Austrian and German Jews who fled from Hitler arrived during this period. In the 1940s and early 1950s, about 40,000 Holocaust survivors came to Canada, settling mainly in Toronto and Montreal. During the 1960's thousands of Moroccan-born Jews (as well as Spain) immigrated to Canada and established the first Sephardic community in Toronto and established their synagogues and associations. As of 2011, this community numbered 27,000 people.

With the rise of Quebec Sovereignty Movement, the Jews of Montreal, a primarily Anglophone community, were faced with increased anti-Semitism which resulted in mass migration to Toronto. By the 1970s, Toronto had become the epicenter of Canadian Jewry and home to the largest Jewish population in Canada. According to the 2011 National Household Survey, there were 188,715 Jews residing in the Toronto Metropolitan area with 11,070 in the city of Toronto itself. The majority of Toronto's Jewish population has lived in Toronto for only one or two generations.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Canada was a major center of Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Approximately 70% of Jewish immigrants from the FSU reside in Greater Toronto. In 1996, there were about 16,000 Jews born of Soviet parents, primarily refuses who arrived during the 1970s and 1980s. By 2003, the number of Jews from the FSU was estimated to be between 25,000 and 30,000.

In the first years of the 21st century, in Toronto, 20% of the Jews identify as Orthodox, 40% Conservative, 35% Reform, and the rest as nondenominational. Jews comprise approximately 3.4% of the city's total population.

Like most cities with a sizeable Jewish population, Toronto has its Jewish enclaves. By the 1930s, much of the Jewish community had moved west from "The Ward" to the Kensington Market district, where Jews represented upwards of 80% of the population. Following World War II, a number of wealthier Jewish families moved to Forest Hill, a neighborhood located north of Toronto's downtown. Since the early 20th century, Bathurst Street has been the heart of the Jewish community, and since the 1970s, its northern section has been the cultural center for the city's Russian-Jewish population. After so many Russian delicatessens and stores were established, the neighborhood was nicknamed "Little Moscow".

A Jewish Cultural and social life have been prosperous for over a century in Toronto, beginning with World War I, where Christian missionaries were active in the Jewish quarter. The missions provided medical and obstetric services, and this stimulated the Jewish community efforts to provide their own services.

In 1911 a coalition of radical groups founded the National Radical School in Toronto, the first such Yiddish school in North America. Several years later there was a split on the language issue and the Po'alei Zion left to start their own Farband Folk School. Those who remained renamed the institution the I.L. Peretz School of the Workmen's Circle (Arbeter Ring). In 1945 the United Jewish People's Order established its own children's school, the Morris Winchevsky School. The left Po'alei Zion, an ideological segment that did not reach Toronto until well after World War I, established its Borochov School and kindergarten in 1932. Toronto's first permanent educational institution was the Simcoe Street Talmud Torah, founded in 1908. Though Orthodox in character and content, it followed the technique of Ivrit be-Ivrit. In 1916 a group, consisting mainly of Jews from Russian Poland who felt that the Ivrit be-Ivrit did not ensure a traditional enough training, started the Eitz Chaim Talmud Torah on D'arcy Street. An important development since the end of World War II was the growth of the congregational school and more strikingly the growth and expansion of the day school. From 1950 the bureau of Jewish education (later known as the Board of Jewish Education) was the central administrative body.

The Ezras Noshim, a women's aid group, was responsible for setting up the Mount Sinai hospital in 1923. From 1948 the welfare fund in partnership with the Toronto Zionist council assumed the functions of the United Jewish Appeal. There were over 70 chapters of Hadassah in Toronto, and 28 branches of the national council of Jewish women. B'nai B'rith had 26 men's lodges and 18 women's chapters. In addition, the Ontario offices of the Canadian Jewish Congress and of the Federated Zionist Organization of Canada were located in Toronto.

Serving the Jewish community of Toronto and its neighboring areas are more than two hundred separate organizations, including several committees, foundations and associations, many of which work in partnership with the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. These organizations are largely dedicated to social services. Some provide financial support for individuals and outreach programs while others advocate for human rights and Jewish causes. Notable organizations include the Centre for Israel& Jewish Affairs, the Jewish Free Loan Toronto, Hillel of Greater Toronto, B'nai B'rith Canada, and the Canadian Jewish Political Jewish Affairs Committee.

There are also a number of Philanthropic organizations which offer grants and fund programs administrated by groups throughout the city. One such organization is The Philanthropy Forum, which provides funding for educational programs for both families and individuals. Battling hunger throughout Canada to feed the country is Mazon, an organization which has allocated more than seven million dollars to groups in Canada to feed the hungry. Ve'ahavta and United Chesed are two organizations which deliver poverty alleviation programs and offer urgent, short-term relief to those in crisis situations.

For healthcare and medical needs, there is Mount Sinai Hospital, a part of the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex. Internationally recognized, Mount Sinai is well known for providing excellent in patient and family care. Over the years, the hospital has received many awards and is one of the top employers in Canada.

The Jewish community of Toronto is replete with educational programs. Not only day school for children, but educational programming for adults as well. There are 43 after-school Jewish schools, 20 elementary schools for grades one through eight, and 16 Jewish high schools, including a number of yeshivas. Jewish education is also provided by social and cultural associations such as BBYO, the Jewish Youth Network (Chabad Youth Network) and Hillel, which is located on the campuses of University of Toronto, York University and Ryerson University.

The city of Toronto boasts a number of Jewish cultural centers. One in particular is the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre; a popular tourist destination, the center features a permanent collection of archival photography, art, witness testimony and artifacts. Another important Jewish center is the Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre (OJA) holds the largest warehouse of Jewish life in Canada; founded in 1973, if offers guests a chance to explore Canada's Jewish past through a diverse collection of historic records.

Additionally, Toronto has three major community centers which offer a whole variety of different programs for individuals and families. The Posserman Jewish community Centre and the Schwartz Reisman Centre organize community events, provide athletic, educational and cultural programs, and promote community engagement and cohesion. The Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario was established to integrate the Jews from the Former Soviet Union by providing cultural, religious and educational services.

Toronto's Jews had a long history of landsmannschaften and sick benefit societies. With the advent of public medical services the sick benefit aspect subsided, and with growing acculturation the landsmannschaft phase also diminished. Post-World War II immigration, however, gave a new impetus to some of the landsmannschaften. A tendency to adapt to new conditions was reflected in the transformation of some of the sick benefit societies into synagogues, e.g., Beth Radom and Pride of Israel.

Located throughout the Greater Toronto area are over 80 Jewish landmarks. Many points of Jewish interest can be found in the Kensington Market/ Spadina area. Most landmarks are locations once home to historic Jewish institutions such as synagogues, schools, restaurants, businesses and organizations. In the Kensington Market neighborhood are two synagogues that remain from the early 20th century, the Kiever synagogue on Bellevue Avenue and Anshei Minsk on St. Andrews Street. A popular tourist site is the Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto's oldest congregation. Another notable landmark is the Balfour Building; names after Arthur J. Balfour, author of the Balfour Declaration, the historic building was listed as a Toronto Heritage Property in 2011.

Among the notable Jewish aldermen were Philip G. Givens, Q.C. (1963-1966) and Newman Leopold (1883-85, and 1897). Two other early aldermen were Louis M. Singer (1914-1917) and Joseph Singer (1920, 1923), the first Jew to become a member of Toronto's Board of Control. From the 1920s Jewish aldermen and school trustees were elected frequently, especially from ward four. In the early 1970s Jews were playing a prominent role in Toronto's civic, cultural, musical, and theatrical circles.

In addition, there is also a fast developing media market in the Jewish communities of Toronto, including four major Jewish publications which circulate throughout greater Toronto. The largest is Canadian Jewish News, a weekly newspaper. This publication is read by as many as 100,000 people each week, making it not only the largest in Toronto but in all of Canada. Other Jewish publications include the Jewish Standard, Shalom Toronto, which is available in English and Hebrew, and The Jewish Tribune.

Muenster

Münster

A city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Jews lived there from at least the middle of the 13th century, maintaining a synagogue, a cemetery (mentioned in 1301; a fragment of a tombstone dated 1324 has been preserved), and a mikveh. In the wake of the Black Death persecutions (1349-1350), the Jews were expelled or killed and their property confiscated or destroyed.

Between 1350 and 1810, Jews were not allowed to reside in Münster but were only allowed to pass through. They were, however, tolerated since the 16th century within the Bishopric of Münster. They received letters of protection from the Bishop and founded several congregations. After 1650 these congregations were united in the Landjudenschaft. The head of this corporation was the "Judenvorgaenger", the first was (1657) Nini Levi, brother of Behrend Levi. The seat of the rabbi of the Landjudenschaft (Landrabbiner) was in Warendorf (near Münster), the largest Jewish community of the Bishopric. The last Landrabbiner were the court Jew Michael Mayer Breslauer (1771-1789) and his son David (1789-1815). When Münster passed to the Duchy of Berg (1808-1810) and to the French Empire (1810-1813), the first Jews settled in the town; their residence there was legalized by Prussia in 1819. They officially founded a new community in 1854. The first prayer house was situated in the Loerstrasse; the cemetery was established in 1811, and the synagogue was built in 1880.

From 1816 Landrabbiner Abraham Sutro lived in Münster, although he did not act as rabbi of the community, which in 1879 appointed Dr. J. Mansbach as preacher and cantor. He was succeeded by S. Kessler. The first rabbi, who took office in 1919, was Dr. Fritz Steinthal (who emigrated to South America in 1938). His successor, Dr. Julius Voos of Kamen, was deported to Auschwitz in 1943. Among the most notable members of the community were professor Alexander Haindorf (1782-1862), co-founder of the Marks-Haindorf foundation for the training of elementary school teachers and for the advancement of artisans and artists among the Jews, and the first Jewish professor at Münster academy (university); and the poet Eli Marcus (1854-1935), co-founder of the "Zoological Evening Society", author of poems and many plays in the low German dialect of the Münsterland.

During the Nazi era the community was reduced from 558 Jews (0.4% of the population) in 1933 to 308 (0.2%) in 1939. The synagogue was destroyed in November 1938. The first deportation from Münster town and district (to Riga) took place in December 1941 (403 persons); in 1942 the last large scale transport went eastward, followed by individual deportations in 1943 and 1944.

After World War II a new congregation was founded, which included, besides Münster, the Jews of Ahaus, Beckum, Borken, Burgsteinfurt, Coesfeld. This new community of Münster numbered 142 members in 1970. The synagogue was built in 1961.

In 2012, the community numbered about 800 members, most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union. A research institute on the Nazi era and a memorial center for Holocaust victims were set up in the city.

The community has a synagogue and a community center as well as a teacher and cantor. It also maintains a variety of socio-cultural and religious activities and gatherings on Saturdays and holidays. Youth clubs, senior clubs, women's clubs and choir have been set up in the city.

St. Paul, MN

St. Paul was incorporated in 1849. The first Jews who came to settle there came from other parts of the US, but later newcomers arrived from Germany and Eastern Europe. Many members of the Jewish community were involved in retail and wholesale businesses.

In the 1850s, two separate congregations of German Jews decided to merge and they established the Mount Zion Hebrew Congregation. Among the founders were members of the Rose family, the fur trader Joseph Ullman, and Chazzan Kalman Lion. Though Mount Zion began as a traditional congregation, in 1871 Rabbi Leopold Winter, a Reform rabbi, was hired as the first rabbi of Mount Zion, and in 1871 the congregation officially joined the Reform movement. In 1875 an Orthodox synagogue, Sons of Jacob, was established. Among the founders were Samuel Coddon, Moses Calmenson, and Aaron Mark. Mark was later honored in 1912 when Temple of Aaron (Conservative) was established and named after him.

After 1881, a number of Eastern European Jews arrived and began to settle on the west side of the Mississippi River, near the downtown area. The Jewish social welfare worker Sophie Wirth established the Neighborhood House to aid newly arrived Russian Jewish immigrants in acclimating to their new life in America.

In the wake of World War I, the Jews of St. Paul and Minneapolis established the Talmud Torah, and a retirement home. The community of St. Paul additionally founded a community center, a convalescent home (Sholom Residence), a Jewish golf club, and a short-lived Jewish country club. The weekly St. Paul Jewish News has been published since 1953.

In addition to their numerous communal activities, the Jews of St. Paul were also involved in politics. Jacob J. Noah became the Secretary of the Constitutional Convention, and Isaac M. Cardozo was the United States Commissioner for 30 years. He was succeeded by Charles Bechhoefer, who later became Minnesota's first Jewish district court judge. Indeed, St. Paul demonstrated an unusual degree of tolerance for its Jewish community, allowing Jews to become members of country clubs and electing them as civic leaders.

Post World War II, the Jewish community was concentrated in Highland Park, where they formed a significant part of the city's upper middle class population.

Cincinnati

City on the Ohio River in the state of Ohio, United States.
The oldest Jewish community west of the Allegheny Mountains and a center of American Reform Judaism.

21st CENTURY

In 2019, there were 18,900 Jewish households in the Greater Cincinnati area, comprising 32,100 Jewish individuals. There were 10,200 children living in the Jewish households, of which 5,700 (56%) were being raised Jewish in some way. The city has an active Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation.

HISTORY

The first permanent Jewish settler in Cincinnati was Joseph Jonas, a watchmaker, who arrived from Plymouth, England in 1817. Two years later, in 1819, he was joined by several additional Jews from England, including his brother Abraham Jonas and his sister and brother-in-law Sarah and Morris Moses. That year, for the High Holidays these Jews of Cincinnati joined with David Israel Johnson of Brookville, Indiana (originally of Portsmouth, England) and held their first Jewish service.

Jewish settlers continued to arrive, mostly from England, and High Holiday services continued to be held. In 1824, the Jewish population of Cincinnati had reached 20 families, and they met in the home of Morris Moses to draft a constitution for a synagogue, B’Nai Israel (later to be renamed the Rockdale Temple). It was chartered by the State of Ohio on January 8, 1830, and Joseph Jonas became its first president. in 1836, after 12 years of meeting for services in rented rooms, the congregation dedicated a new synagogue building, a stucco structure, measuring 60 feet by 33 feet with a 12-foot dome and four columns in front.  Because of a growth in membership, a new building was constructed in 1852.  By 1860 there were over 200 families in the congregation, and in 1869 a new more spacious edifice was erected on Eighth and Mound Streets.

Subsequently, many Jews from Germany began settling in Cincinnati. In 1840 German immigrants founded their own synagogue, B'nai Yeshurun. It was incorporated by the State of Ohio in 1842, and its new building dedicated in 1848 with a procession of 300 people accompanied by a band. It was replaced in 1866 by the ornate Plum Street Synagogue. Other German Orthodox congregations were established included Ahabath Achim (1848), and Sherith Israel (1855). The Orthodox congregation, Adath Israel (1847), was established by Eastern European immigrants. Ahabath Achim and Sherith Israel became more liberal and merged in 1907, becoming the Reading Road Temple. The Reading Road Temple, in turn, would later merge with the Wise Temple in 1931.

Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1819-1900) came to Cincinnati in 1854 to lead both the B’Nai Yeshurun and B’Nai Israel synagogues. In 1855 Rabbi Max Lilienthal (1815-1882) assumed the leadership of the B’Nai Israel Synagogue. The two rabbis collaborated in introducing the rituals of Reform Judaism into both congregations, and in the next decades Cincinnati became a center for the Reform movement. Wise became the leading figure in the development of the institutions  of Reform Judaism in the US. In 1873 he founded in Cincinnati  the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC). All the local pre-Civil War congregations joined the organization although Adath Israel withdrew in 1886 and eventually became a Conservative congregation.  In 1875 Wise founded Hebrew Union College and in 1889 he established  the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Although the Reform movement had a major impact on the Cincinnati Jewish community, an influx of East European Jews founded a number of Orthodox congregations. Shachne Isaacs who arrived from Lithuania in 1853 and founded Bet Tefillah in 1866, known as Reb Shachne’s Shul, was a vociferous opponent of reform and supporter of tradition, and publicly burned a Reform prayer book. In 1931 Rabbi Eliezer Silver, head of Agudat Israel (Union of Orthodox Rabbis) became the leader of Kneseth Israel synagogue, which had been founded in 1912.  He helped organize the Va’ad ha-Hazzalah, the worldwide rescue effort organized by Orthodox Jewry during the Holocaust.

In the 1840s, Bene Israel established the first religious school and Talmud Torah. In 1848  B'nai Yeshurun opened an all-day school which became the Talmud Yelodim Institute, supported by a grant from Judah Touro. It operated until 1868, after which it became a Sabbath and eventually a Sunday school. Bene Israel's Noyoth School, established in 1855 merged with it for a short time. In later years all of the major synagogues maintained religious schools. A Talmud Torah was established by Moses Isaacs and Dov Behr Manischewitz to accommodate the needs of the increasing number of immigrants from eastern Europe. When he died in 1914, Manischewitz left a bequest that provided the seed money for constructing a new building for the school that served the community until 1927.

The Bureau of Jewish Education began operations in 1925. On the level of higher education,  Zion College was short-lived (1855-1857), but Hebrew Union College became a major center of higher Jewish learning and Reform rabbinical training, and continues to be so today.

In 1947 the Orthodox Chofetz Chaim School (later renamed the Cincinnati Hebrew Day School) was founded. In 1952 a non-Orthodox Yavneh Day School was opened, and in 1988 a Hebrew high school for girls, the Regional Institute for Torah and Secular Studies (RITTS).  In 1995 the Cincinnati Kollel was established to provide Torah study and Jewish learning opportunities for the entire community.
Jewish newspapers that were published in Cincinnati include the English-language The Israelite, begun in 1854 and the German-language weekly Die Deborah (1855-1900), both founded by Isaac Mayer Wise. The Israelite was renamed The American Israelite in 1874 and is still published today, being the oldest English Jewish weekly in the US. The Sabbath Visitor appeared between 1874 and 1893, and the weekly Every Friday between 1927 and 1965.

In 1838 a Benevolent Society was founded, and in 1849 a B’nai Brith Lodge, the first in the western part of the US, was opened. The Jewish Hospital of Cincinnati, the first Jewish hospital in the US, was founded in 1850 in response to a cholera epidemic that broke out in the city, and in reaction to the pressure to convert exercised by Christian missionaries on dying Jewish patients at local medical institutions. Although it subsequently merged with other health institutions, it retains to this day its original name and association with the Jewish community.

In the 1880’s the Jewish Home for the Aged and Infirm (later renamed Glen Manor) was established on the grounds of the Jewish Hospital.  In 1914 the Orthodox community founded their own Jewish Home for the Aged.  In the 1990’s, with the migration of the Jewish community to the northern suburbs, the two institutions merged at a new location, creating Cedar Village staffed by both an Orthodox and a Reform rabbi.

By the 1890s numerous philanthropic organizations had been established, uniting in 1898 under the umbrella organization United Jewish Charities (which would later be renamed Associated Jewish Agencies, or AJA). In 1904 Boris Bogen, who would become  instrumental in the professionalization of social work in the US, became its director. In 1967, the Jewish Welfare Fund merged with AJA to form the Jewish Federation. The Jewish Community Center began operations in 1932, acting as a successor to the YMHA-Settlement House Movement of the previous generation. There were also two Jewish country clubs, Losantiville and Crest Hills (to merge in 2004 to form the Ridge Club).

Jews have been represented in nearly every sector of Cincinnati's economy. During the mid-1800s they were especially prominent in the garment and distilling industries. B'nai Yeshurun's impressive Plum St. Temple building, dedicated in 1866, reflects the level of prosperity attained by Cincinnati's Jews during the Civil War era.

The B. Manischewitz Company was founded in 1888 in Cincinnati by Dov Behr Manischewitz, an immigrant from Lithuania. It revolutionized the baking of matzo by automating its production, cutting it in uniform squares and packing it in shippable boxes.

 During the 20th century Jews were prominent in merchandising, real estate, construction, law, and medicine. One of America's leading mercantile empires, Federated Department Stores Inc., which later merged with other companies to form Macy's, was controlled by Cincinnati's Lazarus family, whose patriarch was Fred Lazarus Jr. The Jews of Cincinnati were active politically and in the local judiciary. There have been six Jewish mayors of the city, and in 1900 two Jews ran against each other for this office.

Jewish residential movement reflected Cincinnati's growth as a city. What had been the center of the community during the 19th century in the downtown west end, shifted in the early 1900s to Walnut Hills and Avondale. Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, it shifted yet again, to Roselawn and Amberley. By the mid-1960s, Cincinnati Jewry had become a largely upper-middle class suburban community, and in 1968 they numbered 28,000.

In 1972 the University of Cincinnati established a Jewish Studies Program. The Hillel student organization which had been founded in 1948 was greatly expanded in the 1970s.