Hello,
I am the grand daughter of Joseph J. Goodman who lived in Winnipeg from 1900 to 1923. Joseph Goodman was dedicated to the Jewish people and the Zionist cause and became one of the best known and admired Jews in Western Canada. He is well documented in Arthur Chiel’s book, Jews of Winnipeg.
I will be coming to Winnipeg, August 12 to 16, after the IAJGS in Boston, where I will be joint venturing with Aaron Lansky and the National Yiddish Book Center, where Joseph J. Goodman’s Yiddish book, Collected Writings, was saved. I will be meeting with The University of Manitoba and the Jewish Heritage Center of Western Canada on Monday, August 12. I would very much appreciate the opportunity to meet with you during my stay in Winnipeg.
If I might give you a little background:
Joseph J. Goodman was an Ukrainian immigrant and wrote poems about love and heartbreak, stories telling of the difficulties of life, essays about the Canadian prairies and reflections about how life should be lived. He was able to converse with the Slavic immigrants who were important to the construction of the transcontinental railroads and was appointed Naturalization Commissioner for Western Canada by King George. He traveled widely and wrote for both English and Yiddish newspapers. Sensitive to the difficulties of immigrants, he describes the struggles of pioneering Jewish settlers in Canadian prairie homesteads and towns. The range of feeling and observations in Collected Writings reveals Goodman’s keen eye for life as he laments cultural changes and social inequalities.
Goodman published this book, originally Gezamelte Shriften, with People’s Printing Company, Limited, 982 Main Street, Winnipeg, MB. Collected Writings has been translated and republished by Xlibris in a side-by-side Yiddish-English presentation. Appended with an extensive chronology about Goodman’s life, a biography of his Russian years, information about people and places mentioned in the text, the growth of the Canadian Jewish community, and the Yiddish language it is both a historical document and a personal testament.
Collected Writings is on Amazon:
I look forward to hearing from you with the hope of setting up an appointment to meet with you personally. I would be happy to send a book in advance and/or have the opportunity to give you one when I am Winnipeg.
With best "shaloha",
Hart Goodman Hoffman
Honolulu, HI, USA