Auction 85 - Judaica: Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art

12 Issues of the HaDerech Monthly – Toronto, 1940-1941 – Bibliographically Unknown – Polemic on Kashrut of Meat in Toronto – Canadian Jewry During the Holocaust – Essays by Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky

Opening: $500
Sold for: $2,750
Including buyer's premium

HaDerech – The Way, monthly published by the Kehilla of Toronto. 12 consecutive issues. Toronto, 1940-1941. Yiddish and English.
Issues nos. 1-12. Possibly no other issues were published.
The monthly was published "in the interest of Kashrut and traditional Judaism (as stated at the opening of the issues) by the Kehilla of Toronto, an organization founded in 1923 to oversee the kashrut of meet in the city. The editor was Jacob I. Wohlgelernter.
The monthly was established in attempt to resolve the chaos which prevailed in the first half of the 20th century regarding the kashrut of meat (see previous item).
One of the rabbis who stood behind the monthly was R. Yaakov Kamenetsky (1891-1986), later one of the Torah leaders of the United States, who served at that time as rabbi of Toronto (1938-1945). Notices in the present issues reveal that he was one of the two rabbis at the head of the Vaad Hakashrut of the Kehilla of Toronto, to whom one could turn to on any matters of kashrut and religion (the other was R. Yosef Weinreb, 1869-1943, first chief rabbi of Toronto, known as the "Galitzianer Rav"). The issues also include a letter and declaration by the two rabbis, as well as two essays composed by R. Yaakov Kamenetsky, one of them containing a sharp protest against the United Jewish Welfare (this essay appears twice, in English in issue 6 and in Yiddish in issue 8); the other essay contains notes in preparation for Passover – mostly on kashrut matters (Yiddish, issue 10).
Apart from essays and notices on kashrut matters, as well as many essays regarding education of the young generation, the issues contain interesting information regarding the efforts of Canadian Jewry on behalf of their brethren during the Holocaust, items about the war, advertisements for Jewish organizations such as the JNF, essays upon the passing of R. Dov Revel (Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel, first president of RIETS in New York), an essay on kashrut by R. Shimshon Rafael Hirsch; and more. The issues also mention the names of many distinguished members of the Toronto community (surnames such as Korolnek, Tanenbaum, Shiff).
12 issues (dozens of leaves). Very good condition.
The monthly does not appear in OCLC nor in Ontario Jewish Archives, and is presumably bibliographically unknown. This may be a complete set of issues.


PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.

American and English Jewry
American and English Jewry