Conference: Association for Canadian Jewish Studies

Conference: Association for Canadian Jewish Studies

(ISJM) The annual conference of the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies will be held this week in Ottawa, from May 24th to 26th. The preliminary program is available online here.

Two ISJM members will be giving papers of interest on Tuesday May 26th. Barbara Weiser, an independent researcher from Montreal who has been indefatigably documenting art in Canadian synagogues will speak on “The Narratives In the Stained Glass Windows at the Sephardic Kehillah Centre (Abir Yacov Congregation),” The new, lavish and monumental Spanish-inspired Centre is located on Steeles Ave. on Bathurst St. in Thornhill, within greater metropolitan Toronto. Click here for a virtual view of the facilities and sanctuary.

Dr. Barry Stiefel of the College of Charleston, who has recently joined the Board of ISJM, will speak on “Three New World Synagogues: Preserved Symbols of Toleration, Pride and Continuity.” His talk will compare historic preservation efforts of synagogues in the United States and Canada. Barry received his Ph.D. from Tulane University in 2008. His dissertation about the forty plus synagogues erected by the Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English-American Jewish communities of the Atlantic basin from the 17th through 19th centuries will be published as Jewish Sanctuary in the Atlantic World: A Social and Architectural History by the University of South Carolina Press.