http://frumlife.blogspot.ca/2010/12/shema-yisroela-legend-and-song.html

Canada is now regarded as one of the most accepting nations, embracing a multitude of cultures and religions to form a unique mosaic society which strives to maintain equality amongst all members. However, with the tensions existing between various cultures and countries during World War Two in the mid-twentieth century came prevalent antisemitism, even in Canada. The widespread notion that Jews were attempting to exert influence over politics and economics to control the world had historical and biblical roots, which Adolf used in his own failed quest for world domination in the 1930s and 1940s. Under Hitler’s oppressive dictatorship, six million European Jews were murdered between 1941-1945, accounting for approximately two thirds of the Jewish population living in Europe at the time. There was a massive European Jewish diaspora to countries free of Nazi occupation, with upwards of 340,000 people emigrating from Germany, Austria, Poland, France, and Italy between 1939 and 1945 due to the Nazi regime’s persecution of Jews in Europe.

Nevertheless, unoccupied countries rejected the idea of Jewish people emigrating due to the lengthy history of tension between the followers of Christian religions and those of Judaism; which existed mainly due to the belief that Jewish people were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and therefore were perceived as a threat to Christianity. Canada, being a predominantly Christian country at the time, was not alone in its decision to pass laws making the migration of European Jews nearly impossible between 1931 and 1945, with many Jewish newcomers being deported back to their inhospitable  home countries. The Canadian government, accused of antisemitism, claimed that “allowing tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants into Canada would have exceeded the proportional representation of Jews in the country as a whole,” an explanation which would be retracted by the Canadian government in the fall of 2017. Furthermore, in November of 1938 Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King also released a memorandum stating that Jews were unwelcome in Canada; a public statement overtly admitting antisemitism within the Liberal Party’s administration.

The Jewish population already living in Canada was understandably appalled, as their brothers and sisters in faith were facing persecution in occupied European countries and their own were refusing the unheard pleas of those seeking refuge among their safe counterparts. Although they were safe from Hitler’s regime in Canada, Jewish-Canadians still faced war-related troubles before, throughout, and after the war. However, after the Second World War and the horrors of the Holocaust were publicized, there was a greater acceptance of Judaism in Canada. For example, in the north of Winnipeg, only after Second World War did the Winnipeg Hebrew Free School rise to prominence in the community. Also known as the Talmud Torah, the Winnipeg Hebrew Free School Parent-Teacher Association released a cookbook with recipes from dozens of community contributors. The purpose, as stated by Rabbi Irwin E. Witty was “to preserve the Jewish ‘taam’,” in the household, ‘taam’ being the Hebrew word for flavour.

During the time the Talmud Torah P.T.A. Cookbook was created and sold, circa the 1950s, women were expected to leave the workforce and return to the home to be a housewife again, similar to the situation which occurred after the First World War. When reading the introduction by Rabbi Witty, it becomes clear that by publishing Jewish recipes in the cookbook the Talmud Torah P.T.A. was trying to maintain tradition, both in flavour and in the home and family circles; with Rabbi Witty going so far as mentioning that a common feature of Jewish women is their “Yiddish balebosteh,” roughly translating to mean “mistress of the house.” Jewish housewives were among the most notable populations involved in activism at the time, with many vying for equality as early as the 1930s, with organized groups engaging in strikes in New York suburbs as well as individuals using both passive and aggressive methods to get their point across.

Conversely, as the years passed and the list of women’s rights grew longer, women increasingly began to join the workforce willingly. Many Jewish-Canadians grew upset with the new resistance to the dogma in the home, which had traditionally been a bread-winning patriarch with a stay-at-home wife and children. Judaism is an ancient religion which survived persecutions, slavery, and genocide through the conservation of their traditions and culture through the millennia. The disruption of traditional Jewish customs was viewed as yet another great religious threat to those practicing Judaism. If there was not a woman in the home to care for both it and the family, it would seem hazardous to the synagogue, as a balebosteh had been a constant feature in the Jewish homestead for centuries. Therefore, it can be stated that the fear of loss of tradition and religion was a driving force which fuelled the publication of the Talmud Torah P.T.A. Cookbook. After centuries of discrimination and subjection to violence, slavery, and death it is only logical that all efforts were exerted by the Talmud Torah Parent-Teacher Association to persevere despite their oppression, reflecting the prevalent antisemitism in Canada and the persistence of those individuals determined to save their religion from deterioration.