About Court Topaz

In 1935 a small group of young men, known as the Mercury Club, decided in order to protect themselves and their future to become members of The Independent Order of Foresters, one of the largest fraternal insurance orders in the world. They applied for and were granted a charter as COURT TOPAZ No. 670, under the watchful eye of Phil Donkner.

The first few years were years of hard work and growth as more members joined the organization. These people believed in the fraternal nature of the IOF and threw themselves into charitable works.

In 1939, the court organized a monster Synagogue Parade in conjunction with Court Ahavas Achem and Court Progress as well as members of non Jewish courts of The Independent Order of Foresters. The parade had two bands and stretched more than four blocks and overflowed the synagogue. Many had to stand outside until the conclusion of the special service, which was conducted by Rabbi Sachs and assisted by Cantor Borenstein and George A. Mitchell.

With the advent of World War II Court Topaz together with Court Ahavas Achem and Court Progress organized the P.A. T. War Service Council (Progress-Ahavas Achem-Topaz) and raised money to send food parcels, cigarettes, socks etc. to our members in the services in Canada and overseas. Tremendous sums of money were raised through variety shows and other entertainment, for The Canadian Air To Russia Fund, The Red Cross, British War Victims Fund and other war charities.

During this time, Brother Dave Cohen convinced the court of the need to purchase a cemetery, and a committee was formed. On April 13, 1942 the committee purchased a piece of land on Bathurst Street - far out in the country - north of Wilson Avenue - for the sum of five hundred dollars. Brothers Ben Shulman, Irwin Kliger, Irwin Kates and Harry Witkin signed a note, and the transaction was finalized. The court held three social evenings and fund raising functions, and within two years had paid for the cemetery.

As the war came to an end, the service members began to return home and resume their court activities. Court Topaz was very fortunate that all members returned safely from overseas duty.

The post war boom was on, and Court Topaz began a period of growth. From its first meeting place at College and Spadina, above Tip Top Tailors, Court Topaz grew and had to move its meetings to the Orange Hall on College and Euclid, Little Jack's Restaurant in the Lawrence Plaza, The Conroy Hotel on Dufferin Street, The BBYO House, and finally the Borochov Centre.

The court activities were many and varied. There was the annual picnic and the yearly banquet. Many dances were held - some to raise money for the Court's charitable activities, and some for purely social reasons. Members and guests were welcomed at many venues including the Prince George Hotel, Club Harmony, The Murray House, The New Murray House, The Royal York Hotel, The Westbury Hotel, Barclay Hotel, Maloney's Art Gallery, Glen Shields Golf Club and The Seaway Inn.

In 1967 Court Topaz purchased a $5,000.00 Israel Bond with the proceeds from a dance, a raffle and a donation from the body. This bond was presented a few years later to the administrator of the Soldiers Hospital in Israel by a group of members of the court.

There were many sporting activities for members who wished to participate. Roller skating, baseball, golf, fishing and the most popular, bowling. In 1946 Court Topaz placed first in the annual Jewish Major Bowling Competition, a feat they repeated in 1948 and then again in 1951.

Cultural and educational aspects were also presented. Over the years Court Topaz has hosted many wonderful speakers. At our breakfast meetings we have presented the Honourable David Croll, the then controller Allan Lamport (trying to bring Sunday sports to Toronto), the Honourable Robert Kaplan, and have been enlightened on topics from Boy's Town in Israel, to retirement plans, from computers in the home (1975) to drugs and the proper way to take them.

For a small court, the members managed to do big things. They furnished three rooms at Branson Hospital, purchased wheel chairs for Baycrest Hospital, furnished a room at Baycrest Hospital in memory of Phil Donkner, outfitted a craft room at Dellcrest, purchased sports equipment for Dellcrest Children's Centre, given a cash donation to Variety Village, supplied two group homes of the Reena Foundation with furniture and other equipment and much more. In many cases this was done with the assistance of the High Court.

The court purchased two eye scanning machines to test children for Lazy Eye. One was a mobile scanning machine donated to Dr. Shenken. The second machine was donated to the National Council of Jewish Women.

For many years the High Court ran a Monte Carlo night to raise money for its various projects. This was discontinued and after a three year hiatus, Court Topaz under the leadership of Mel Lerman and volunteers of Court Topaz and other courts the Monte Carlo was successfully re-instated.

After many years the Courts Topaz and Ahavas Achem realized that their memberships were declining and following a number of meetings, decided to merge into one court. Prior to that happening the members of Court Topaz chose to separate the cemetery from the court so as to protect the rights of the membership. This was completed in 1993 through the efforts of Mel Lerman, Mickey Katz and David Marks. When this was done, it was established that the social and charitable nature of Court Topaz would stay with the court and not become part of the cemetery.

Since then, Topaz Cemetery Association has continued to serve its membership by providing interment rights to its members and their spouses and their underage children. Topaz Cemetery Association is a non-profit organization that does not sell plots but rather accepts new members who pay an initiation fee based upon their age. All members annually pay their share of the costs that are used to maintain the cemetery and to build funds needed for the perpetual maintenance of the cemetery.