in Calgary, rooming together at first in a small house at 1309 2nd Street S.E. The other two brothers, Harry and my grandfather, arrived soon after. My grandfather had worked in a steel mill in Sydney, Nova Scotia when he first arrived, then sold newspapers, snacks, and soft drinks to passengers on the old National Transcontinental Railway that ran from Quebec City to Winnipeg. In the brief time that the four brothers were together in Calgary, they lived within four blocks of each other not far from where the Delta Bow Valley Hotel now stands. My gandfather left Calgary just before the start of World War I and married my grandmother Dora Vachtman in Montreal. My dad, Joseph Myer, and his two brothers and one sister were all born there. John and Herman Bercuson also left Calgary and Jack and his sons carried the Bercuson name here until I arrived in 1970.

      This magnificent book, Land of Promise: The Jewish Experience in Southern Alberta tells part of the story of my relatives. Bit it does much more than that. It proves beyond doubt that our Jewish community played an important role in the cultrual, commercial, artistic, and educational life of this part of Alberta almost from the very start. It provides graphic evidence for us and, more imporantly, for our children and grandchildren that although we are a small community, we come from deep roots, richly nourished by our ancient culture and traditions, but set down in this very new land. Out little community had all the institutions that other, larger, Jewish communities enjoyed in cities like Montreal and

even New York. Shuls, a burial society, free loan associations, schools, sports groups, youth organizations. Our young men went off to fight in Canada's wars; some of those young men never returned.

      It is important for all peoples to preserve their heritage and study their history because history is the collective memory that tells us who we are and why we are here. It is especially important for us Jews because we are, by God's commandment, a historical people whose identity is rooted in the constant rhythm of reliving our ancient past. "And you shall tell your sons" we are commanded, of the exodus from slavery in Egypt and the other events which marked the evolution of a wandering group of desert herders into the Jewish people of today. In this book, and in the other work that it does, the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta is carrying on the traditions of our people and fulfillinf the age-old commandment.

      That is important for us as a people, and it is also important for us as members of this community. When I and my cousins went out to seek our family's past, we had many obstacles to overcome. Our parents and grandparents were too busy carving a life for themselves out of this pioneer country to put it down as it happend; now, with this book and with the interviews and collections of papers, letters and other documents that the Society is preserving, we can start to piece the early life of that community together.