Jewish Archives Market Trip

The OJA Presents: A Trip to the Market

Photograph of a man pushing a large wooden cart. In the cart is a large potato sack. He is dressed in a white collared shirt, a brown suit jacket, and a brown newsboy hat. Behind him is a couple pushing a stroller, a yellow moped and a black building with graffiti on the top most wall. — Peddler in Kensington Market, The OJA Presents: A Trip to the Market, 2021 Heritage Toronto Awards nominee. Image: Justine Apple.

Peddler in Kensington Market, The OJA Presents: A Trip to the Market, 2021 Heritage Toronto Awards nominee. Image: Justine Apple.

Photograph of a group of school children standing in a line outside watching a speaker with their backs to the camera. Behind the, is a small raised grass area surrounded by stone. In the background of the photo are a church, businesses and cars. The sun is shining. — Tour Participants, “The OJA Presents: A Trip to the Market”, 2021 Heritage Toronto Awards Public History Nominee. Image: Justine Apple.

Tour Participants, “The OJA Presents: A Trip to the Market”, 2021 Heritage Toronto Awards Public History Nominee. Image: Justine Apple.

Photograph of man speaking in front of a seated crowd. Man is wearing sunglasses, a black polo, and a brown baseball cap. Behind him are several large gold candelabras, all of which have a star of David near the bottom. — Speech at synagogue, The OJA Presents a Trip to the Market, 2021 Heritage Toronto Awards Public History Nominee. Image: Justine Apple.

Speech at synagogue, The OJA Presents a Trip to the Market, 2021 Heritage Toronto Awards Public History Nominee. Image: Justine Apple.

Presented by: The Ontario Jewish Archives

Date of Release: May 1, 2019

Winner: 2021 Public History Award

In May 2019, the Ontario Jewish Archives toured close to 3,000 students from grades 6–10 through Kensington Market as part of a collaborative initiative with the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Urban Studies Centre at the Kensington Community School, Ashkenaz Foundation, the Kiever Synagogue, and actor Ishai Buchbinder as a live street peddler. The tours ran twice daily for the entire month and were delivered by TUSC teachers. They included a stop inside the historic Kiever Synagogue. An OJA-produced video and a teacher resource package were also included.

The Public History jury felt A Trip to the Market was a well-thought-out and multidimensional project which effectively blurred past and present through an immersive experience. The jury was impressed with the depth and creativity of this youth-focused project, using the urban environment of Kensington Market as an outdoor classroom.

Built upon the OJA’s Stories of Spadina walking tour, the goals were to present the challenges and opportunities of living in early twentieth-century Toronto, to foster an understanding of local Jewish history, and to encourage contemporary connections between the historic experiences of Jewish Torontonians and other immigrant populations. The content of the tour highlighted the universal commonalities between current immigrant experiences and those of the early Jewish settlers: the need for community; the importance of cultural, religious, and linguistic connections to one’s past; and the challenges faced by minority populations in new countries.