Ledger Recording Births, Circumcisions and Marriages – Montreal (Canada), 1918 – Signatures of Chief Rabbi Simon ...

Ledger Recording Births, Circumcisions and Marriages – Montreal (Canada), 1918 – Signatures of Chief Rabbi Simon Glazer and Members of the Community
Handwritten ledger, recording births, circumcisions and marriages in the Jewish community of Montreal, Canada. 1918. English and French, with some Yiddish (signatures of Jews who couldn't sign in English – in such cases it is noted at the end of the entry that so-and-so signed in Yiddish).
The ledger includes 36 long entries (in English), each on its own page, recording births during the years 1900-1908 and marriages during 1918 of members in the United Orthodox Congregations of Montreal. Each entry is signed by the couple (in the marriage records) or the parent (in the birth records), by witnesses and by the chief rabbi of the United Orthodox Congregations of Montreal, R. Simon Glazer. The entries recording births of boys include details related to circumcision, such as the name of the mohel and the name of the rabbi who performed the naming ceremony.
On the first page, a printed form (in French), filled-in by hand (in English and French), stating the purpose of the ledger and that it was presented by "Rev. Simon Glazer, Chief Rabbi of the United Congregations".
R. Simon Glazer (1878-1938), a prominent Orthodox rabbi in the United States and Canada in the first half of the 20th century. He was born in Erzvilik (Eržvilkas), Lithuania, studied in a number of Lithuanian yeshivot and was rabbinically ordained by R. Alexander Moshe Lapidot. In order to avoid conscription to the army, he escaped to Eretz Israel, and shortly thereafter (in ca. 1897) moved to the United States. R. Glazer served as rabbi in many congregations in the United States and Canada, including the United Orthodox Congregations of Montreal (1907-1918). He was one of the founders and heads of the Assembly of Hebrew Orthodox Rabbis of America and of the Council of Orthodox Rabbis, and was instrumental in lobbying for the Balfour Declaration, leading to its endorsement by the United States Congress in 1922.
[100] leaves (37 written pages, the rest remain blank). Approx. 35 cm. Overall good condition. Stains. Several loose leaves. Original binding, damaged.