The Vancouver Jewish community has a proud heritage in the Oppenheimer brothers, David and Isaac, who emigrated from Germany in the late 1800s. They founded a wholesale grocery business called Oppenheimer Brothers, today the city’s oldest firm. At one time, they owned much of the downtown waterfront.
David proved both a tireless business promoter and a progressive four term mayor of Vancouver. He established public services such as water supply, sewers, a fire department, street construction, schools, and parks, and helped found institutions such as the YMCA and Board of Trade. The Oppenheimers’ presence is commemorated in Oppenheimer Park (between Powell Street and Cordova Street, East Vancouver). Though now a centerpiece of the city’s poorest neighborhood, the area was once the hub of a new coastal metropolis.
A later wave of Jews from Eastern Europe settled in nearby Strathcona. The first synagogue, an odd Mediterranean-style structure at East Pender and Heatley streets, was built in the 1920s (it has since been converted to condos). By the 1960s, almost all the city’s Jews had moved to the south-center of Vancouver. Oak Street has evolved into a Jewish thoroughfare, with large Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform temples still prominently marking the way. On Oak Street at West 41st Avenue, the community reaches its apotheosis with the Jewish Community Centre (950 West 41st Avenue, South Vancouver, 604-257-5111), which includes a library, art gallery, public theater and the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.
The area also has several good food stores. Start with Kaplan’s deli and eatery (5775 Oak Street, South Vancouver, 604-263-2625) for Montreal-style smoked meat, bar none. For basic kosher provisions, there’s Omnitsky Kosher (5866 Cambie Street, South Vancouver, 604-321-1818) and Sabra Kosher Bakery (3844 Oak Street, Central Vancouver, 604-733-4912).
In recent decades, many young Jews have moved to the suburbs: an estimated twenty congregations, with small synagogues, thrive in
communities such as Surrey, Coquitlam, and particularly Richmond. The Western Jewish Bulletin, one of Vancouver’s oldest ethnic! religious community newspapers, remains a well-respected source of news.
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