Plaque unveiled to honour Western Canada’s chief rabbi

A plaque honouring Israel Isaac Kahanovitch, a Winnipegger who served as chief rabbi for Western Canada, was unveiled Sunday at the Asper Jewish Community Campus.

The plaque, which was provided by Parks Canada, names Kahanovitch as a National Historic Person for his role uniting the Jewish community in Manitoba and across the Prairies from 1906-1945, when he died, and for his work within the Zionist movement and his role in the founding of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Kahanovitch was also lauded for his authoritative guidance on questions of Jewish law, dietary rules and religious rituals.

Kahanovitch, who was born in Poland in 1872, left that country for the U.S. in 1905 and immigrated to Canada a year later. He arrived in the booming city of Winnipeg, its population growing from 42,000 to 179,000 between 1900 and 1921.

The Jewish population in the city was increasing, too, from 5,000 to 9,000 from 1906-1911, said Daniel Stone, chair of the program and events committee for the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada and the organization that arranged the unveiling of the plaque.

The growing Jewish community in Winnipeg needed a visionary and educated rabbi, Stone said, adding that Kanahovitch fit the bill. “He was an outstanding scholar and leader who helped build the community and established its institutions,” he said.

Among other things, Kahanovitch helped create kosher guidelines across the Prairies for the ritual slaughter of animals, was instrumental in founding Winnipeg’s Talmud Torah (Hebrew Free School) in 1912, the Jewish Orphanage and also a care home for Jewish seniors.

In 1914, he became the chief rabbi for all of Western Canada. In that role, he supported, guided and visited Jewish communities from Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ont. to Victoria, B.C.

He also preached regularly, officiated at weddings and mediated between personal and business disputes — while always finding time to study the Torah (written Jewish law) and the Talmud (rabbinical teachings on Jewish law).

Kahanovitch, who was Orthodox, was known for his commitment to building bridges between the various Jewish groups in Winnipeg and across Western Canada. “He was committed to the construction of a Jewish life that would include all Jews,” Stone said.

Jill Winograd is president of the board of the Asper Jewish Community Campus. In her remarks, she said the campus represented a fulfillment of Kahanovitch’s vision for Jews in Winnipeg.

“He was a builder of Jewish life, wanting it to grow and be strong with a voice in the wider society,” she said. “We carry on that same work today, a reflection of the seeds he planted. He set us on a path we still walk together.”

Kahanovitch was honoured in 1989 by the Manitoba Heritage Council, also with a plaque at the Asper Jewish Community Campus.

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