Book of Life Stories

Dr. Scarlat z"l & Shirley Albright

We write this story in tribute to our beloved son Adam Stephen Albright who we lost tragically on March 5th, 2005 in a skiing accident.

Adam was many things to many different people. He was an accomplished lawyer, respected colleague, popular professor, talented and competitive athlete, gre…

The Alberga Family

Our family can trace its Jamaican roots back to the 18th century. In 1655 the Island of Jamaica was captured by the British from the Spanish. From that date the secret Jews (or conversos) who were then living on the island disguised as Christians, along with thousands of Sephardic Jews who m…

Steve & Rosanne Ain

Growing up in very different homes, we learned the importance of community from divergent approaches. For Steve, learning about community at an early age was unavoidable. It was in his genes; it was, as they say, besheret.

Steve learned from his parents, both of whom were extremely active i…

The Agudas Hamispoche — United Families Organization

Our family organization, the Agudas Hamispoche, was formed in 1928 by dozens of cousins from the Rubinoff, Naftolin and Arnoff families who came to Toronto from "White Russia" (now Belarus), beginning about 1905. Many treasured friends and in-laws were also "adopted into the mispoche" over t…

Morris Adams

I am a child of immigrants. My father, Zelig came from Zhitomir in Russia, and my mother, Annie from Pzemszyl in Galicia. They met in Toronto and were married in the early 1920's.

My father was a barber, and my mother a hand-sewer in a garment factory on Spadina Avenue. My sisters, Rita and…