Earliest Canadian-made chanukiyah discovered MONTREAL — What is
believed to be the earliest known Canadian-made ceremonial
chanukiyah has been identified by Eiran Harris, archivist
emeritus of Montreal’s Jewish Public Library Archives. It was
discovered in the collection of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim,
Canada’s oldest existing Ashkenazi congregation, founded in
1858. The chanukiyah is now prominently displayed in the
synagogue’s Edward Bronfman Museum. In 1904, during his
presidency of the congregation, Lyon Cohen donated the brass
chanukiyah to the synagogue on the occasion of his son’s bar
mitzvah. The 40-by-32-centimetre candelabra was cast at the W.R.
Cuthbert Brass Foundry, which was owned by the Cohen family. In
his youth, prior to achieving international renown as a poet and
singer, Lyon Cohen’s grandson, Leonard, worked at the foundry,
Harris said. On the base is engraved the following, “Presented
to Shaar Hashomayim Congregation by Lyon Cohen, President, on
the occasion of the Bar Mitzvah of his el