The Jewish Hour: The Golden Age of a Toronto Yiddish Radio Show and Newspaper

The Jewish Hour tells the story of the author’s quest to learn more about his late father’s Yiddish radio show as described in the pages of a Toronto Yiddish newspaper, the Kanader Nayes (1936-1954). Many articles from the paper, translated into English for the first time, provide fresh and immediate accounts of a myriad of cultural events, political rallies and daily concerns within Toronto’s Jewish community in the pivotal periods before, during and after the Second World War. The Jewish Hour introduces us to Max Mandel, Opatow-born star of the local Yiddish radio scene; Dorothy Dworkin, newspaper publisher, travel agent and co-founder of Mount Sinai Hospital; and a plethora of local performers, politicians, cantors and impresarios. Mandel’s finely-researched tale also touches upon many renowned cultural and political visitors to Toronto including Molly Picon, Sholom Asch, Morris Schwartz, Emma Goldman, Chaim Weizmann and Golda Myerson (before she was Golda Meir). The Jewish Hour adds a significant new chapter to our knowledge of the history of Toronto’s Jewish community. An appendix offers translated and transliterated lyrics of great Yiddish songs from the radio show and provides an internet link for free streaming and downloading.

Michael Mandel (1948-2013) was a law professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto for almost 40 years as well as an author, activist and singer. This book was a labour of love which he completed in the final weeks of his life.