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Hannah Srour

Hannah Srour is the archivist at Montreal’s Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, an assistant archivist at the Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives, and a book columnist for the Canadian Jewish News.

A Tale of Two Cohens: Purim in Montreal

A Tale of Two Cohens: Purim in Montreal

Hannah Srour

Lyon Cohen wrote and starred in Congregation Shaar HaShomayim's first Purim spiel in 1885--and then led the Montreal Jewish community for half-century. His grandson Leonard didn’t exactly follow his lead, but he does have a big grin in the cast photo of the 1947 Purim Spiel.