Max Goldberg arrived in Vancouver in 1923. He had 50 cents in his pocket but 2 brothers, Morris, and Jake, that were already here.

Initially it was hard for him to find work because he spoke Polish, Russian and Yiddish but no English. But he did and began plumbing houses with a partner. In those days they would work from sunup to sundown because “work lights” had yet to be invented.

Rebecca, Myer, and Harry Goldberg arrived in 1927. The entered Canada through Halifax and proceeded, by train, with the help of the Jewish Resettlement Organization in Winnipeg, to Vancouver. Myer and Harry started school at the Fairview School of Commerce (before it was called King Edward high school) unable to speak English.

The family’s connection with Schara Tzedeck began on Heatley street at the Benai Yehuda synagogue at Heatley and Pender. Such was their relationship that when it moved from Pender to 19th and Oak the Lions over the Aron Kodesh were stored in Max Goldberg’s basement while they were refinished before mounting them in the current synagogue.

As a child, I learned the story of those Lions. They are like old friends I visit whenever I’m in Shule. Those memories of my grandfather, father, and uncle are with me whenever I enter Schara Tzedeck. I also remember Rabbi Goldenberg at my preparation for my Bar mitzvah coached me on various issues. He shared that I should count the ½ diamonds in the stained- glass windows on the south wall so it looks like I’m paying rapt attention to what the Rabbi is saying. To have the Rabbi speak to me in a way that implied we were “in cahoots” made me feel quite grown up. That was more important to me than the fountain pen.

My working life with Schara Tzedeck has been interesting. I’ve been on the board and in the executive of the Shule during Presidents Charles Diamond’s (z”l), Herb Silber, Hodie Kahn, Howard Kallner, and now Jonathon Leipsic. Yet when my son and my daughter had their Mitzvahs I was also a member of Temple Sholom and Har’El. Schara Tzedeck has always felt like home and yet I attend infrequently.

It’s a magnificent institution which I cherish but deal with on my own terms.