Famous Jewish Sports Legends…

I haven’t posted anything since March. I’d been pretty busy until recently. In February, I started conversations with Firefly Books (for whom I’ve written several) about something new for their Hockey Hall of Fame series. They wanted something less stats-driven than most of their recent books … and they wanted it fast! So, in early March, I started writing and I delivered a lengthy manuscript at the end of April. It was quite the crunch.

The new book is called Hockey Hall of Fame True Stories. It’ll be out in November. And it’ll be a lot like the stories I post here. Some are actually re-writes of stories I’ve already posted. Many of the new ones would make great posts too … except it seems silly to “scoop” the book at this point. I’m sure you’ll hear more about this from me in the fall.

Meanwhile, there’s nothing about this story that’s so compelling I had to write it now, but I don’t like to stay away too long, and I thought it was sort of interesting since it demonstrates the twists and turns my research (I’m sure lots of people’s research!) often take. Also, I recently discovered that May is Canadian Jewish Heritage Month in Canada. So, there’s that too.

Martin Rosenthal as he appeared in the “Silver Seven” Stanley Cup photo circa 1904.

I rarely write about anything Jewish — although the very first thing I ever had published was a story about shtetl life that I wrote in my grade six religious school class and was printed in the Temple Har Zion bulletin. And just last week, I said to a few different people that I think I care less about Jews in sports than many other Jewish sports fans. But, I do like history, so I’ve long been aware of Martin Rosenthal and his role as an executive with the Ottawa Hockey Club from about 1901 until 1918.

The Rosenthal family, I’m told by my colleague Irv Osterer of Ottawa, was a pioneering Ottawa Jewish family. Aaron Rosenthal, Martin’s father, was born in Germany circa 1835. Aaron’s wife, the former Bertha Lehman, was also German, born in 1850. According to Aaron’s obituary in 1909, he spent much of his young life in Australia, India, and other countries. Martin was born in 1873 in Kent, England. Genealogical records show the family arrived in Quebec City on June 21, 1874. After settling in Montreal, the Rosenthals came to Ottawa around 1878.

Aaron Rosenthal was a jeweller, and several of his sons followed him into the business. In addition to the Jewish causes Aaron and Bertha supported (or created) in Ottawa, the family was very sports-minded too. Martin and his older brothers, Harry and Samuel, all played hockey at a fairly high level. And the family business supplied club pins to many Ottawa sports organizations too. After Martin got involved in management with the hockey team soon to be known as the “Silver Seven,” tickets to games were often sold through the Rosenthal business, and the Stanley Cup was sometimes displayed in the store window. (The building still exists, as the Birks Building, in Ottawa’s downtown Sparks Street Mall.)

From the Ottawa Citizen on August 3, 1900.

In doing my brief research on Rosenthal, I discovered that Martin didn’t seem to be very Jewish by the end of his life. His children had married outside the faith, his funeral was handled by a non-Jewish funeral home, he was buried in the Beechwood cemetery … and the service was officiated by a reverend. His obviously non-Jewish funeral, in fact, caused me to wonder if maybe the Rosenthal family wasn’t Jewish, but only German, and launched me into my brief genealogical search.

Clearly, the Rosenthal family WAS Jewish. Aaron and Bertha had very strong ties to Jewish life in Ottawa. But Martin definitely shared fewer and fewer of those ties over the years.

Martin Rosenthal’s parents from newspaper stories at the times of their deaths.

In the the Canadian censuses in 1881, 1891, and 1901, when Martin Rosenthal still lived with his parents, the family is recorded as “Hebrew” or “Jewish.” By 1911, he’s married and has started a family of his own. The listing is tricky to find because the name has been transcribed incorrectly, but Martin, his wife, Mary, and son, Lionel, are all listed as Jewish. In 1921, Martin, Mary, Lionel, a daughter named Phyllis, and another son named Malcolm, all have “Jewish” listed as their religion … but for everyone except Martin, it’s been crossed out.

Sections of the Rosenthal entry from the 1921 Canadian census.

When Mary died two years later in 1923 (at about 52 years of age), her funeral service was conducted by Reverend T.E. Holling of St. Paul’s Methodist church. So, were Mary Belle Rosenthal (nee Adams) and her children every really Jewish?

Maybe.

Probably.

But I don’t know.

The Marriage record of Martin Rosenthal and Mary Adams. Perhaps she took Ruth as her Hebrew name if she did actually convert? (Religious denominations for the bride aren’t filled out for any of the three women married by Solomon Jacobs on this page.)

As you can see above, Mary Adams married Martin Rosenthal on October 10, 1905. They were wed in Toronto, and the record shows the marriage was performed by Solomon Jacobs. Though that name meant nothing to me, I do know that even now, it’s hard to find a rabbi to perform the ceremony for a “mixed marriage.” Solomon Jacobs certainly sounded like a Jewish name. But was he a rabbi?

He most certainly was!

British-born, and a rabbi to the once-flourishing Jewish community in Jamaica for 15 years, Solomon Jacobs became the rabbi at Holy Blossom synagogue in Toronto in 1901 and served until his death in 1920.

Because Rabbi Jacobs spoke English so well (I suppose most other Toronto rabbis at the time were from Eastern Europe and probably spoke Yiddish as their first language), he was often called on when newspapers were looking for the Jewish perspective on issues in Toronto. He seems to have been quite liberal in his views, but was able to keep the peace between older, Orthodox members of Holy Blossom and the younger Toronto Jews who would later push the synagogue toward the Reform movement.

Rabbi Solomon Jacobs.

Rabbi Jacobs seems like a fascinating guy. (Google him if you care to!) Still, he doesn’t strike me as someone who would have performed the marriage of Martin Rosenthal and Mary Adams unless she had converted to Judaism. But I don’t know that.

Still, for me, the connection (albeit brief) of Martin Rosenthal to Holy Blossom was particularly interesting. My family has a very long affiliation with that synagogue. On my father’s side, my Zweig grandparents were deeply involved there for years and years, and on my mother’s side, several of my Freedman and Rosen aunts, uncles, and cousins, are still members to this day. My earliest Jewish life began at Holy Blossom with Rabbi Gunther Plaut and then Rabbi Michael Stroh, a friend of my parents who presided over some of my first “lifecycle” events at Holy Blossom before moving to Har Zion, where he later performed the ceremonies at my bar mitzvah, my wedding, my father’s funeral, and many other family events as well.

So, in a strange way (and even though he seems to have fallen much further from the faith than I ever have or likely will), all of this feels like it has given my a bit of a “six degrees of separation” connection to Martin Rosenthal, and therefore to the Ottawa Silver Seven … which is kind of neat for someone like me.

This is the new book that will be out in November. One of three I’ve got due in the fall!

(Oh, and the title of this story… It’s a bit of a joke based on the leaflet handed out to the old woman in the movie Airplane! when she asked if there was something light to read…)

20 thoughts on “Famous Jewish Sports Legends…

  1. The story parallels that of the “Hollywood Jews” who “fell away” from their Jewish roots as they assimilated into North American society. Michael Douglas is an interesting exception. Technically not Jewish, his mother wasn’t, he is very involved and gives strong support to Jewish causes. His wife and kids are not involved. As his dad, Kirk, got older (he lived past 100) he reconnected with his heritage. We are a strange hybrid. We are part of the So-called “In” group, yet are still “outsiders”.
    In sport, however, the key seems to be “did your team win?’
    Black athletes, who may earn millions, and are seen as idols to the very young, are still “outside”. Hopefully the day will come when athletes are only judged by who they are rather than what they are. And that they reflect an inclusive, moral society.
    Maybe when I, too, pass 100?

  2. Loved this Eric!! Great sleuthing and fascinating. You should be writing mysteries on the side!!! Great that you have yet another book coming out!!

  3. Another superior piece of writing and research from The Duke of Zweig. As a Brooklyn Jew, I took quite an interest in Jewish athletes. My first heroes, Max Labovitch and Hyman Buller of the NY Rovers, circa 42-43.

  4. This is just a terrific piece Eric. The history is so interesting. This post will certainly assist my efforts to have Martin inducted into Ottawa’s Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. The trouble you take to find all the supporting period photos, hand written documents, and newspaper clips really enrich the experience for all concerned. Yashar Koah! 🙂

  5. Well now I know why we haven’t heard from you in so long. Glad to hear you’ve got another book to the publisher. Following anyone’s Jewish ancestry can be pretty twisty turny for sure. Good sleuthing.

  6. Great detective work — as always — and congrats on your upcoming book. Now let’s do something about “This Date in Hockey”!

  7. Fascinating piece!
    Mazel Tov on your upcoming book!
    I’m lucky to know such a talented writer and researcher!
    Linda

  8. Wow, Eric – this is a great story. And now you have THREE, count’em, THREE new books coming out in the Fall. It’s plain to see that NETFLIX wasn’t a big player in YOUR Covid isolation!! Keep us posted on the release dates – wouldn’t want to break the tradition!
    Hugs, Linda and Paul

  9. Eric, not only are you a gifted writer, a researcher non-pariel, but most importantly you are a historian. NOT just a hockey historian but a ‘historian’, PERIOD!
    I have thought about this in the past but this wonderful article forced my hand.
    Eric, you should ruminate, ponder profoundly, and then select a figure from the past who has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with hockey, baseball or any other sport, save than if those activities fall, by happenstance, as an aside within the purview of their life, who you have an interest in, admire, are curious about, or who you feel has not been given their due. Write their biography that will throw open the ‘Havisham’ curtains and illuminate your chosen figure as has never been done before.

    It will be awesome!

    CHEERS!
    TOSH

  10. Glad to hear you’ve been keeping busy and congratulations on the literary “Hat Trick!” Look forward to hearing more about the new material!
    All the best, Eric!

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