Video
Susan Mintz came to Edmonton with her husband and has lived here for over half a century. She is a former teacher who still hears from many of her former students.
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I think I’ve lived here since 1970. So that is what, a long time, 50 some odd years, 50. The synagogues Beth Israel and Beth Shalom, and Talmud Torah, and now I am a little bit involved in the Jewish Senior Centre -that’s another. So I guess those are the institutions that mean something to me.
Well I taught kindergarten when I first moved here at Talmud Torah. And where was Talmud Torah located at that time? It was located in Glenora, and then I had children. So I didn’t teach there. So you want to know the Jewish places? We’re going to talk about Jewish places, then we’ll talk about not Jewish places.
I also taught for Edmonton Public and when the Ghermezians set up the Menorah Academy I got a job teaching kindergarten there and I taught there for 20 years. Mostly just the kids. They were for the most part, I enjoyed working with them a lot. I enjoyed kindergarten, teaching that grade. So I would say it was just the kids who I taught. Some of them still communicate with me. A lot of them are now getting married or are married, which makes me feel older. But then I am older. Are a lot of them still in Edmonton? No, I don’t think so. Because a lot of those kids were imports from the other places. The Ghermezians brought them here, and so I would say most of them don’t live here anymore.
Now not Jewish places: the YMCA. I go there to work out and what else. Which YMCA? Jamie Platz. I usually go there to work out. I’m trying to think of other places. Just, I think any of the other places that are meaningful to me would be Jewish ones. You said that the Jewish Senior Centre is starting to become more important to you? Yes, I’m excited about that. My son-in-law is involved in the planning of it and I think that’s a good thing for the future of our Jewish community.
Well I came from Toronto. I grew up in Toronto. So I was used to having a lot of Jewish people around me and as friends, and the only one thing that is kind of disconcerting is I feel that the Jewish community here is very transient, and a lot of the friends who I have made over the years, most of them have moved away. So it can be a little depressing. I think you know, you make friends with people and then they leave, so yeah. What’s made you stay? Probably is my husband Bruce Mintz who grew up here. He’s lived here his whole life and he really likes it as a place to practice as a lawyer, and so I guess that’s why I stay, and my kids. I forgot that I have two adult kids with children of their own who live here too. So that’s, so I’m not going to leave them. And what do your kids do? The oldest one is a clinical psychologist. She has a practice here in Edmonton. The middle one is an engineer -chemical engineer who works for Environment Canada and my youngest child is the only one who lives away, and she lives in Montreal.
Well I think it would be a good thing to promote the city and try to get more Jewish people to move here. But I think that might be happening. I have met a few Israelis -younger couples who since the war began on October 7th, they have moved here. So I mean the war on October 7th was terrible, but it started on October 7th and continues. It is just horrific. But I kind of like meeting new Jewish people who have moved here. Hopefully they’ll stay. What do you think it would take to get more Jewish people to move here? Probably there needs to be jobs for them and they’re not going to -you know, move. I think they have to have jobs. One of them who I met I don’t think had a job -one of the couples. So yeah, that’s important, and then of course the whole infrastructure. You know, the Jewish infrastructure: the schools, the community centre -all of these things.
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