April 2026
Jazmin Rymberg

There are people in every city who quietly decide that memory matters. In Hamilton, Wendy Schneider has spent more than three decades acting on that belief. This year, she is being recognized with the Order of Hamilton for her contributions to Jewish life in Hamilton.

Since 1993, Schneider has been the editor of the Hamilton Jewish News, documenting the community’s stories, history, and voices. Issue after issue, she has highlighted community members, captured leadership transitions, and shared the human stories that define communal life. Over time, those pages have become an archive. Future generations will understand who we were because Schneider made sure it was documented.

When asked about the honour, Schneider described her role as editor of the Hamilton Jewish News as an extraordinary privilege. “It has given me the chance to mirror the vibrancy, richness, and diversity of this community back to itself,” she said, “and it has truly been a labour of love.”

Editing a community newspaper requires more than technical skill. It demands an instinct for what deserves to be preserved. Schneider has long understood that small stories often carry lasting weight: a profile of a volunteer, a synagogue anniversary, a student award. Individually, these may seem modest. Together, they create a portrait of a community whose influence extends far beyond its size.

Her work extends beyond the printed page. In the mid-2000s Schneider collaborated with now retired McMaster University Professor Bill Shaffir, on the Jewish Hamilton Project, a landmark oral history initiative that captured the voices and lived experiences of long-time community members, preserving personal stories that might otherwise have been lost and creating a lasting archive of Hamilton’s Jewish life for future generations.

That same commitment to safeguarding local history led her to spearhead the creation of the Rose and Phil Rosenshein Museum at Beth Jacob Synagogue. Collaborating with local curators, she helped design exhibitions that brought the synagogue’s history to life, highlighting its notable members and exploring themes central to Hamilton’s Jewish community. As part of the project, Schneider tracked down an historic stained-glass window commissioned by her great-grandfather for the synagogue’s original Hunter Street building and arranged for it to become the museum’s centrepiece.

Schneider’s longstanding engagement with Jewish and Israeli culture have found another outlet in recent years, in her role as coordinator of the Hamilton Jewish Film Festival. Over the last eight years, she has helped build the festival into a respected cultural event that has created space for Jewish stories within Hamilton’s broader cultural landscape.

Gustavo Rymberg, CEO of the Hamilton Jewish Federation, summed up her impact succinctly: “Wendy does this work from her heart. No one assigned her the responsibility of preserving Hamilton’s Jewish history. She chose it. Out of genuine care and curiosity, she made it her mission to protect and document our story.”

In my four years as the Federation’s director of communications, marketing, and public relations, I have had the privilege of collaborating with Schneider on articles for the Hamilton Jewish News. What stands out most is the seriousness with which she approaches each submission. She understands that when someone shares a story, they are placing trust in the record. Working with her has deepened my appreciation for how rare and meaningful this work is. Contributing to the paper means participating in the preservation of a community’s identity, and Schneider has shown me how powerful that responsibility can be.

Schneider’s leadership continues the Goldblatt family’s longstanding commitment to Hamilton’s Jewish institutions, but her impact is distinctly her own. Through consistency and conviction, she has strengthened the city’s cultural memory and ensured that Jewish life in Hamilton remains visible and accessible to future generations. 

The Order of Hamilton is one of the city’s highest civic honours, recognizing people whose volunteer service has made a real and lasting difference. 

 In honouring Wendy Schneider, the City of Hamilton is recognizing decades of quiet, steady work that has shaped how a community understands itself. It is a recognition of time given, care shown, and history protected; work that often happens behind the scenes, but leaves a lasting impact.