On the chilly Friday afternoon of October 24th, 1945, nine Lubavitch students arrived in Montreal, Canada, from Shanghai, China. The young men had moved to town in order to strengthen the Jewish community under the direction of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yossef Y. Schneerson.
Video: First Smicha Ceremony in Canadian History!
On the chilly Friday afternoon of October 24th, 1945, nine Lubavitch students arrived in Montreal, Canada, from Shanghai, China. The young men had moved to town in order to strengthen the Jewish community under the direction of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yossef Y. Schneerson.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe told Rabbi Aryeh Leib Kramer to establish a Yeshiva in Montreal in collaboration with the other students living there. Thus, hardly a day after his arrival in Montreal, on Motzei Shabbos, Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch of Montreal – Rabbinical College of Canada – was established. On Sunday, the very next day, the Yeshiva opened in Montreal’s Nusach Ari Shul with Rabbi Kramer as its acting director.
In Shevat of 1944, the Lubavitcher Rebbe sent a letter to the Montreal community, officially appointing Rabbi Kramer as the director of the school.
Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim did not charge tuition and it grew rapidly from the start. By 1955, there were five hundred students enrolled. In addition to its intensive Judaic curriculum, the Yeshiva also had a strong secular program, and attracted students with all types of Jewish backgrounds. Many of the graduates went on to become professionals.
On the 19th of Kislev, 1955, Rabbi Kramer organized the first ever (documented) Chag Hasmicha ceremony in Canada. This monumental event, which took place at Montreal’s Young Israel, was celebrated in style, complete with a catered meal and a sizeable representation of the Montreal Jewish community.
As we near the 70-year anniversary since the arrival of those 9 students in Montreal, a unique documentary is being produced about Rabbi Kramer’s legacy – the continuing growth and development of the Jewish community in Montreal.
Today we commemorate the 11th Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Aryeh Leib Kramer, of blessed memory, who passed away on the 27th of Cheshvan, 5760 (1999).
In honor of this special day we bring you a short clip of colored footage from the Chag Hasmicha of 1955, as part of the documentary to be released.
Please visit RabbiKramersLegacy.com for information on the life of Rabbi Kramer. To share valuable information with us or to learn more about this project, please email:Yosef@RabbiKramersLegacy.com or call (347) 497-6286.
oise vorff
i was a talmind 1970 13 1/2 8th grd pre misifta ,i rember one nite rabbi figelshtok ask a few boys to help clean out his office ,,well we found invitations to this chag hasmica
well what we noticed was all of the chsidasha boucurim were all wearing the same tie 4 the pictures,any ways when i asked ,one of those bacurim about this , reb zalmen marozov
obm, who i miss so much,wat a yid wat a chosid,,he laugh and said “ vagen dos baderet der ? ” so i knew were he was on that, i said ok learn a pice of tanya with me .. i wish moshiac comes now i miss zalmen
grandson
very nice!!!! its intresting to see my grandfather Reb Zalmen Marasow at that age on a video, and especially when we do not have many video’s of him being that he was not well for a long period of time before his passing. and it was also intresting to see his father Reb Dovid Leib Marasow on video too.
sara
One of the most moving and touching videos I have seen in a long time! Those were the days!
correction
the dates are a little off, the year was 1942.
ohis vorrff
yes yr right # 4 i rember seeing the plac on the yeshiva wall with all the name of the nine bacuirim ,and it said
tof shin yud bais . wiel we are on this topic , we should all wish reb wollff a refua shlima , menachem zev halevi ben chava yutah , ah tiara yid , more then words can express
as you can see alot of spelling mistakes . my father did not let me learn english, in the afternoon we learn with reb yehda chitrik obm. and reb avrom karp obm . such gr8 people
ainikel
wow! i never new there was a video of my grandfather so young!!
Correction - Yosef Kramer
To #4 & 5
Yes you are correct it was a typo they arrived on October 24th, 1941.
Ibn Ibraham
Intereting to note that the seating was mixed.
a Montrealer
what a handsome chap Rabbi Zalmen Marozov obm
to number 7
actually your right, tof shin bais was 1941
beutiiful
this was a very personal and emotional video, being a native montrealer and an ainkel. thanks for posting.