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Benjamin Sarner


Birth Certificate, March 1, 1886

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Benjamin Sarner at the Jewish Home for the Aged

This document contains excepts from two books that mention Benjamin Sarner's involvement with the Jewish Home for the Aged. This was researched by Benjy Rubin.
  • The Sharon Home History
  • Communal Solidarity: Immigration, Settlement and Social Welfare in Winnipeg's Jewish Community 1882-1930 by Arthur Ross
View the history of Benjamin at the Jewish Home for the Aged
Download a printable version of Benjamin at the Jewish Home for the Aged

Jewish Home for the Aged Annual Report, 1923

Benjamin presented this report to the Board of Directors at the Jewish Home for the Aged in 1923
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A Plaque to Honor Benjamin, 1988

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In 1988, a plaque commemorating Benjamin's service to The Jewish Old Folks Home of Western Canada was installed in the Sharon Home. This article about that appears in The Jewish Post and News.
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Telegram to Dorothy

From Benjamin to Dorothy on her first wedding anniversary
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Letters to Dorothy

1940 - This is a translation of a letter Benjamin sent shortly after his second grandchild was born. 
NOTE: The picture he refers to has been added into the letter. 
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Click to view the original in his beautiful handwriting in Yiddish

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1950 Benjamin sends his blessing to Dorothy on her moving to her new home on Spadina Road. NOTE: The date of the move was actually 1950, not 1956 as shown in the translation that was done.
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Obituary April 14, 1957

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Golden Age Travel IV: North End 1924: Original Fantastical Musical by Benjy Rubin

Based on the life of Benjamin Sarner in Winnipeg in the 1920s.
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​Cast! Ralph Benmergui as Maimonides • Nava Yefet Rubin as Prophetess Devora • Daniel Samson as Hershel of Ostropol • Ron Riesenbach as Izzy • Perla Riesenbach as Sati • Susan Charendoff as Joni • Stewart Stein as Argo • Art Kaminsky as Art • Ruth Rohn as Dr. Maimenbaum • Benjamin Rubin as Yehuda HaLevi
Music! "Dror Yikra" by Ron Davis  "Absolutely Sweet Beliefs" by Louis Simao "Meyn Shtetele Beltz" by Toronto Jewish Chorus "Partinglass Dreamspeech" by Wendy Rubin 
Among other things, it tells the story of “Yisroyel Koretz”, who is closely modeled on the actual Benjamin (Ben Tzion) Sarner.
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Amusingly combines 12th century Mission Impossible, 1920s Winnipeg Yiddish theatre, and stirring music, in an exploration of who we are and where we come from. 

Toronto’s Izzy Zimmerman, a Bob Dylan wannabe on a self-knowledge quest, convinces his old Brandeis University rock band to travel back to Winnipeg 1924, when his mother was born. Accompanied by time travel spy, 12th century Hebrew poet Yehuda HaLevi, and the Baal Shem Tov’s grandson’s jester, they investigate the mysteries and histories - personal and collective - of Izzy’s grandfather and of North End Winnipeg 1924, the Golden Age of Yiddish Canada.   
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