EXHIBIT CELEBRATES JEWISH CANADIANS
Calgarian helped spearhead national project
The Jewish contribution to Canada during 150 years of this country’s history is being celebrated this weekend at Calgary City Hall.
A series of nine panels, covering all facets of Jewish involvement through those many decades, is part of a nationwide exhibit coinciding with the country’s 150th birthday celebrations.
And it is a Calgarian, Sandra Morton Weizman, who has helped spearhead the national project by assembling and curating the entire bilingual display, highlighting how Jewish Canadians have contributed to the fabric of the land since Confederation.
The large panels, measuring almost seven feet tall, each feature themes ranging from original Jewish immigration, through to involvement in business, the arts, culture, architecture and military service.
Deciding what to include and what to leave out was a very difficult task for Weizman, although the process itself became a labour of love for the Calgary woman, who has worked as a successful museum curator for many years.
“There is only so much you can say in nine panels; there are so many stories about so many people,” she says.
The original exhibit opened in Ottawa in early April and, rather than transporting the panels across the country and limiting their accessibility, replicas were produced so that a total of 10 major cities will be able to display the works, entitled The Canadian Jewish Experience: A Tribute to Canada 150. In each city, one separate panel will feature a particularly local story inspired by a Jewish success in that locale. In Calgary it is the story of Morris Schumiatcher that is being featured.
Schumiatcher arrived with his family from Russia in 1910 and later, after changing the family name to Smith, he borrowed $300 to buy Calgary Hat Works. He changed the company name to Smithbilt Hats, eventually making the white hat synonymous with our city.
Many such stories became part of Weizman’s work since she be- gan curating the project last fall. Among the many remarkable Jewish individuals she came across in her research, she says one of her favourites is the story of boxer Sammy Luftspring, once the welterweight championship of Canada.
“He and another boxer boycotted the Berlin Olympics in 1936 because of what was going on with Nazism in Germany at the time and they always wore a Star of David on their boxing shorts. Even at a time when there was so much antiSemitism, prior to World War Two beginning, they were very proud of their Jewish identity,” she says.
Such anti- Semitism in Canada has waned down over the years and Weizman was pleased to track its gradual decline as she worked on the project.
In Calgary, the exhibit opened first at the Jewish Community Centre on June 25 before being moved to the atrium of City Hall Friday, where it will remain on display for five days. Next, it will be taken to Heritage Park for display from July 14 to 20. It is expected that a more permanent home will be found afterwards.
Weizman’s work as a curator and consultant has included a stint as senior curator of cultural history at the Glenbow Museum. Although Jewish history has not been her exclusive area of expertise. it is one for which she has become nationally well-known.
In addition to work on the ninepanel display, Weizman was also heavily involved in putting to- gether a complementary website, which allowed her to include more detail on the Jewish history in this country.
Those interested can check it out at www.cje2017.com