Book of Life Stories

Cecil and Elaine Brauer

For Cecil and Elaine Brauer, community is where the heart is.

It is where their passion for the State of Israel is most evident and where their work in assisting the most vulnerable in Toronto's Jewish community is most beneficial.

Cecil's commitment to the Jewish people was ingrained in h…

Leonard Borer

My grandparents made their way to Canada before World War I, so my four grandchildren, Kali, Nati, Rivi and Ellie are fourth generation Canadian Jews.  I hope they’ll have a sense of how privileged they are to have the freedoms my grandparents were seeking when they left behind sisters, b…

Ida z”l & Philip z”l Bloom

Philanthropy was not something we spoke about in my house when I was growing up. We weren't rich by any means. My father was the youngest president of his society — the Pride of Israel. He died when I was just a little girl, and my mother worked in a factory until I was 16 years old. But a…

Peter Block z”l

I was born in Magdeburg, Germany in 1923. My father was a military man, who served his country in the early 1900s. He was devoted to Germany, as any patriot would be. Even when Hitler rose to power, my father firmly believed that his “madness” would not last. My father, like so many Germ…

Erika & Ernie z”l Bloch

My beloved late husband Ernie Z"L passed away just over a year ago. It was only in his last few living years that he became involved with the March of the Living program. Ernie was a Holocaust survivor and despite the horrible losses — his entire family was murdered and his life as a Cze…