Charles Bender (rabbi)

Charles Bender (Hebrew: יהושע בן יעקב אהרן בנדר; April 1, 1896 – April 23, 1993) was a British-Canadian rabbi. He was spiritual leader of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue from 1928 to 1940, and of the Adath Israel Congregation from 1940 until his retirement in 1969,[1] remaining rabbi emeritus at the latter institution until his death. He also served as founding president of the Montreal Board of Jewish Ministers, editor of the Canadian Jewish Chronicle, dean of the Jewish Teachers' Seminary of Montreal, and national chairman of the Jewish National Fund in Canada.[1][2][3]

Rabbi
Charles Bender
Personal
Born(1896-04-01)April 1, 1896
London, England, United Kingdom
DiedApril 23, 1993(1993-04-23) (aged 97)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
ReligionJudaism
Synagogue
BuriedBaron de Hirsch Cemetery

Early life

Charles Bender was born in London to Yetta Beila (née Simbalist; d. 1939) and Jacob Bender (d. 1929). His father came from a relatively well-off family from Poland, and worked as a wood-carver and cabinet maker.[4]

As a child Bender spent six months with his family at a hakhshara colony in Margo Chiflik, Cyprus, where his brother Joseph died of malaria.[5] The family returned to England in 1900, settling in Liverpool.[4] He attended Pleasant Street Primary School and Hebrew Higher Grade School.[6]

Career

Bender was first hired as choirmaster of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation at the age of 19.[6] In 1917 he became cantor of Temple Beth El, a conservative synagogue in Rochester, New York.[7] While in that city, he served as director for the Rochester Hebrew schools and president of the Rochester Hebrew Library. He also emerged as a prominent figure in the Zionist movement in the eastern United States, becoming president of Keren Hayesod and chairman for the United Palestine Appeal in New York State.[8][9]

In November 1928, Bender accepted a call to become rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in Montreal, the oldest synagogue in Canada.[10][11]

After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, Bender helped establish and served as chairman of the German-Jewish Relief Fund, a precursor to the re-established Canadian Jewish Congress affiliated with the American Joint Distribution Committee.[12] Soon after, he published the pamphlet From Luther to Hitler: Why Anti-Semitism Is Indigenous to the German People against Hitlerism.[13] He later served as Jewish Chaplain to the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War.[14]

During the 1939 royal tour of Canada, he was invited to meet King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.[15]

The Spanish and Portuguese synagogue faced financial difficulties during the Great Depression, and Bender assumed multiple roles within the synagogue, including cantor, shammash, teacher, and fundraiser.[14] Unable to pay Bender a fully salary, in 1939 the synagogue allowed him to serve as advising rabbi to the newly formed Adath Israel Congregation in Outremont.[16][17] He left the Spanish and Portuguese to become full-time rabbi at Adath Israel in 1940, but continued to assist the former in various capacities for several more years.[14]

Bender helped found the Adath Israel School in 1941, now the Hebrew Academy of Montreal.[18] He became founding president of the Montreal Board of Jewish Ministers in 1946.[19]

References
Archives at
LocationAlex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives
SourceCharles Bender personalia fond
How to use archival material
  1. "Rabbi is a beacon to several generations". The Gazette. Montreal. 1 April 1990. p. D3.
  2. "Rabbi C. Bender Heads J.N.F. in Canada". The Canadian Jewish Chronicle. April 9, 1954. p. 6.
  3. McMurchie, Laura Lyne (24 April 1993). "Rabbi Bender spent 65 years in Montreal". The Gazette. Montreal. p. D11.
  4. Shaftesley, John M. (1968–1969). "Nineteenth-Century Jewish Colonies in Cyprus". Transactions & Miscellanies. Jewish Historical Society of England. 22: 88–107. JSTOR 29778771.
  5. Goldman, Danny (2006). "Jewish settlers in Cyprus during the British rule, 1880s–1940s". Journal of Cyprus Studies. 12 (31). Gale A164327863.
  6. Bender, Charles (July 8, 1983). "Rabbi Charles Bender" (Interview). Interviewed by Joseph Wolfman. British Library.
  7. Rosenberg, Stuart E. (1954). The Jewish Community in Rochester, 1843–1925 (PDF). New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 177, 282–283.
  8. "Synagogue Fills Post: Rev. Charles Bender, of Rochester, Coming to Montreal". Vol. 157, no. 54. Montreal: The Gazette. March 3, 1928. p. 4.
  9. "Montreal Call Takes Temple Beth El Cantor". Democrat and Chronicle. Vol. 96. Rochester, N.Y. March 17, 1928. p. 15.
  10. "Installation of Rabbi Charles Bender" (PDF). Jewish Daily Bulletin. Vol. 5, no. 1214. November 11, 1928. p. 5.
  11. "New Leader Inducted at Synagogue". Canadian Jewish Review. Vol. 10, no. 3. Toronto. November 9, 1928. p. 4.
  12. Rome, David (1977). Clouds in the Thirties: On Antisemitism in Canada, 1929–1939. Vol. 10. Montreal: Canadian Jewish Congress. p. 401.
  13. Erwin, Norman (2014). Confronting Hitler's Legacy: Canadian Jews and Early Holocaust Discourse, 1933–1956 (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Waterloo.
  14. Blaustein, Esther I.; Esar, Rachel A.; Miller, Evelyn (1969–1970). "Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue (Shearith Israel) Montreal, 1768–1968". Transactions & Miscellanies. Jewish Historical Society of England. 23: 111–142. JSTOR 29778791.
  15. "Honoured In Canada". Liverpool Daily Post. No. 26168. May 27, 1939. p. 6.
  16. Landau-Chark, Susan J. (2008). Community, identity, and religious leadership as expressed through the role of the Rabbi's wife (PDF) (PhD thesis). Concordia University.
  17. Solomon, Frank (1971). Two Centuries in the Life of a Synagogue: Bicentennial Corporation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews. Montreal. pp. 99–101.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. Kokesch, Bill (30 September 1978). "Rabbi marks 50 years in city". The Gazette. Montreal. p. 93.
  19. Shuchat, Wilfred (2000). The Gate of Heaven: The Story of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim of Montreal, 1846–1996. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 333–334. ISBN 978-0-7735-2089-9.
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