About the Journal
"We will document with impartiality the triumphs and failures of Canadian Jewry, its struggles and its achievements, those events which generate pride and those which some would perhaps like to see forgotten, but which the historian is in duty bound to record."
—Stephen A. Speisman, Editor, Canadian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 1985
The Canadian Jewish Historical Society Journal was the official publication of the Canadian Jewish Historical Society / Société d'histoire juive canadienne, the first national organization devoted to the study of the Canadian Jewish experience. Founded in 1977, one year after the Society, CJHSJ was the journal of record in Canadian Jewish history until it ceased publication in 1988. (The journal did not publish in 1986 or 1987.)
Over its eleven-year run, the journal published eighty-five items, including research articles, book reviews, and Society affairs, across nineteen issues. Many of the day’s leading scholars of Canadian Jewish life, both academic and professional, appeared in its pages. These include David Rome, Saul Hayes, Ben Kayfetz, Arthur Chiel, Abraham Arnold, Paula Draper, Evelyn Miller, and Adam Fuerstenberg.
In 1993, the Society launched a new annual scholarly journal, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juives canadiennes, before changing its name to the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies / Association d’études juives canadiennes in 1996 to reflect a widening in the field beyond the discipline of history. The ACJS / Aéjc continues to publish CJS / Éjc on a biannual basis. All articles of that journal are freely available to read online.
Digitization of the Canadian Jewish Historical Society Journal was undertaken by the ACJS / Aéjc in 2025-2026, with the help of Janice Rosen of the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives, Donna Bernardo-Ceriz of the Ontario Jewish Archives, and Ira Robinson, professor emeritus of Jewish studies at Concordia University. Matthew McKeown provided research assistance. The ACJS / Aéjc also thanks Tomasz Mrozewski, digital publishing librarian at York University Libraries, for his vital technical support.
