Office Hours:

Tuesday: 11:00-12:00
Wednesday: 11:00-12:00

Work in Progress

Narrators and Readers of the Canadian Jewish Past: A Study of Ethnic Identities and Historical Memory

New approaches to the study of the “liberation” of survivors of the Holocaust.

Primary Sources for the Study of Canadian Jewish History (with Pierre Anctil)

Research Interests

• Modern Jewish history
• Canada
• Ethnicity, historiography and historical memory
• Antisemitism
• Responses to the Holocaust
• Public History

Books

R. Menkis; H. Troper. More than Just Games: Canada and the 1936 Olympics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.

D. Arbel; P.C. Burns; J.R.C. Cousland; R. Menkis; D. Neufeld. Not Sparing the Child: Human Sacrifice in the Ancient World and Beyond. Studies in Honor of Professor Paul G. Mosca. : Bloomsbury, 2015.

R. Menkis; N. Ravvin. The Canadian Jewish Studies Reader. Calgary: Red Deer Press, 2004.

Articles/ Book Chapters

R. Menkis, “‘There were cries of joy, some of sorrow’: Canadian Jewish soldiers and early encounters with survivors”, Canadian Jewish Studies, vol. 27, pp. 125-138, 2019.

R. Menkis, “Two Travellers and Two Canadian Jewish Wests”, American Jewish History, vol. 101, no. 1, pp. 109-132, 2018.

R. Menkis, “Identities, Communities, and the Infrastructures of History: Creating Canadian Jewish Archives in the 1930s and 1970s”, in History, Memory and Jewish Identity, ed. by Ira Robinson, Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2015, pp. 233-256.

R. Menkis, “Conservative Judaism and its challengers from the left (Reconstructionism and Renewal) and the right”, in Canada’s Jews in Time, Space and Spirit. Ed. Ira Robinson., Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2013, pp. 308-341.

R. Menkis and Troper, H., “Racial Laws vs. Olympic Aspirations in the Anglo-Canadian Press of Fall 1935”, in Nazi Germany, Canadian Responses: Confronting Antisemitism in the Shadow of War, R. L. Klein Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012, pp. 46-77.

R. Menkis, “Jewish Communal Identity at the Crossroads: Early Jewish Responses to Canadian Multiculturalism, 1963-1965”, Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, vol. 40, pp. 283-292, 2011.

R. Menkis, “‘The voice of the minister heard in words of exhortation and instruction’: Abraham de Sola and the Jewish sermon in Victorian Montreal, and beyond”, Jewish History, vol. 23, pp. 117-147, 2009.

R. Menkis and Robinson, I., “Sermon and society in the Canadian Jewish experience”, Jewish History, vol. 23, pp. 101-105, 2009.

R. Menkis and Troper, H., “Jews and Canadian Sports, 1900-1950: A Review of the Literature”, The Scribe, vol. 29, pp. 45-58, 2009.

R. Menkis, “‘But you can’t see the Fear that People Lived Through’: Canadian Jewish Chaplains and Canadian Encounters with Dutch Survivors”, American Jewish Archives Journal, vol. 60, no. 1-2, pp. 24-50, 2008.

R. Menkis and Troper, H., “From College St. to Culig St. and back: The Jewish Experience on a Toronto Street”, in College Street: Toronto’s Renaissance Strip, D. de Klerck and Paida, C. Toronto: Mansfield Press, 2006, pp. 62 – 77.

R. Menkis, “Abraham de Sola, a Jewish Publisher in Victorian Montreal”, 2005, pp. 372-374.

R. Menkis, “Both Peripheral and Central: Towards a History of Reform Judaism in Canada”, CCAR Journal: A Reform Jewish Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 24-36, 2004.

R. Menkis, “‘In this great, happy and enlightened Colony:’ Abraham de Sola on Jews, Judaism and Emancipation in Victorian Montreal”, in L’antisémitisme éclairé: Inclusion et exclusion depuis l’époque des Lumières jusqu’à l’affaire Dreyfus. Inclusion and Exclusion: Perceptions of Jews from the Enlightenment to the Dreyfus Affair, I. Y. Zinguer and Bloom, S. W. E.J. Brill, 2003, pp. 313-331.

R. Menkis, “Negotiating Ethnicity, Regionalism and Historiography: Arthur A. Chiel and The Jews in Manitoba: A Social History”, Canadian Jewish Studies/Etudes juives canadiennes, vol. 10, pp. 1-31, 2002.

R. Menkis, “Antisemitism in the Evolving Nation: From New France to 1950”, in Immigration to Integration : A Canadian Jewish Yearbook for the Millennium, R. Klein and Diamond, F. Toronto: Bnai Brith in partnership with Canadian Millennium Partnership Program, 2001, pp. 31 – 51.

R. Menkis, “A Threefold Transformation: Jewish Studies, Canadian Universities and the Canadian Jewish Community”, in A Guide to the Study of Jewish Civilization in Canadian Universities, M. Brown Jerusalem and Toronto: International Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization and the Centre for Jewish Studies at York University, 1998, pp. 43-69.

R. Menkis, “A Missionary Sermon to the Jews in mid-nineteenth century Montreal: Text and Contexts”, in The Frank Talmage Memorial Volume, vol. 1 and 2, B. Walfish Oxford: Haifa University and University Press of New England, 1993, pp. 333 – 349.

R. Menkis and Ungerleider, C. S., “Family and ethnicity”, Canadian Ethnic Studies, vol. 25, p. 5, 1993.

R. Menkis, “Antisemitism and anti-Judaism in pre-Confederation Canada”, in Antisemitism in Canada: History and Interpretation, A. T. Davies Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier U. Press, 1992, pp. 11-38.

R. Menkis, “Historiography, Myth and Group Relations: Jewish and Non-Jewish Quebecois on Jews and New France”, Canadian Ethnic Studies/Etudes Ethniques au Canada, vol. 23, pp. 24-38, 1991.

R. Menkis, “Patriarchs and Patricians: The Gradis Family of Eighteenth Century Bordeaux”, in From East and West: Profiles of Jews in a Changing Europe, 1750-1870, F. Malino and Sorkin, D. Oxford: Blackwell, 1990, pp. 11-45.

Edited Work

M. Brown, Menkis, R., Schlesinger, B., and Schonfeld, S., “Jews and Judaism in Canada: A Bibliography of Published Works since 1965, Special Issue of Canadian Jewish Studies”, Canadian Jewish Studies, vol. 7-8. Association for Canadian Jewish Studies, Montreal, 2000.

R. Menkis and Draper, P., “New Perspectives on Canada, the Holocaust and Survivors, Special issue of Canadian Jewish Studies”, Canadian Jewish Studies, vol. 4-5. Association for Canadian Jewish Studies, Montreal, 1997.

Reference Entries

R. Menkis, “Miriam Dworkin Waddington”, Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 2009.

R. Menkis, “Abramowitz, Herman”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 1. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 325, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Becker, Lavy M.”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 3. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 246, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Belzberg, Samuel”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 3. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 309, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Cass, Samuel”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 4. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 507, 2007.

R. Menkis and Kayfetz, B., “De Sola”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 5. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 603, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Diamond, Jack”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 5. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 633, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Feinberg, Abraham L.”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 6. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 737, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Felder, Gedalya”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 6. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 745 – 746, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Gordon, Nathan”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 7. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 773-774, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Graubart, Y.L.”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 8. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 39, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Horowitz (Canadian Family)”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 9. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 531, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Jacobs, Solomon”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 11. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 51-52, 2007.

R. Menkis and al., et, “Journalism”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 11. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 466-470, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Kahanovitch, Israel”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 11. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 716-717, 2007.

R. Menkis and Troper, H., “Ontario”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 15. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 434-436, 2007.

R. Menkis and al., et, “Politics”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 16. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 338-354, 2007.

R. Menkis and al., et, “Press”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 16. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 486-505, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Press”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 16. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 509, 2007.

R. Menkis and Margolis, R., “Sack, B.G.”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 17. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 637-638, 2007.

R. Menkis and Kayfetz, B., “Saskatchewan”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 18. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 64-65, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Slonim, Reuben”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 18. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 677-678, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Stern, Harry Joshua”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 19. Macmillan Reference USA, p. 209, 2007.

R. Menkis, “Trepman, Paul”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 20. Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 132-133, 2007.

Conference Presentations

R. Menkis, “ Antifascism and the Canadian Jewish Left. Presented at the Association for Jewish Studies”, in Association for Jewish Studies, Chicago, Illinois, 2012.

R. Menkis, “Conflicted Selves: Sammy Luftspring, Irving “Toots” Meretsky and the 1936 Olympics”, in Association for Canadian Jewish Studies , Waterloo, Ontario, 2012.

Additional

R. Menkis and Tessler, R., “Canada Responds to the Holocaust, 1944-1945”. 2016.

R. Menkis and Troper, H., “More than Just Games: Canada and the 1936 Olympics”. 2009.

R. Menkis and Tessler, R., “Canada Responds to the Holocaust, 1944-1945”, 2005. .

2018 Louis Rosenberg Distinguished Service Award, Awarded by Association for Canadian Jewish Studies

2018. Switzer-Cooperstock Award for Best Essay on an aspect of the Western Canadian Jewish Experience, Awarded by Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada.

I am currently supervising students working in the areas of Canadian Jewish history and Holocaust Studies.