My grandparents, Max and Ethel Rosenberg ^z”l, owned a company called Sable Bay Fur. My older cousins got to work in "the shop" when they were teenagers. I have fond memories of going down to “the shop” and sorting buttons. I can still remember what the factory behind the show room looked like. There were fur pelts everywhere. As a little girl, I was confused how the minks we would see playing on the rocks at the cottage could turn into a coat. The minks were so small-how could they become a big coat?

Sable Bay Fur was located on the third floor of the Balfour Building, at the northeast corner of Spadina and Adelaide in downtown Toronto.  It was designed by Benjamin Brown and was one of his most important commissions. The building was built twelve stories high in 1930. According to the Ontario Jewish Archives: It is considered one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in Toronto. Initially, many Jewish garment businesses were located in the building. It currently houses offices for several graphic design and advertising firms, shops and a post office. The Balfour Building was declared a heritage building by order of City Council in July of 1989.

I have driven past the intersection many times. And, without fail, every time I drive past,  I get annoyed that there is a Tim Horton’s at the ground level. Tim Horton’s? Really? In my humble opinion, it does not belong there. I don’t think I have actually ventured inside the building in more than 40 years.

On Tuesday, I had a couple hours to spare between two downtown appointments, so I made it my business to walk to the Balfour Building. Working at a large synagogue,  I am used to various levels of security when entering a building, but there was none, so I walked on in. The floors and the walls felt eerily familiar. I felt like I was going backwards in a time warp. As soon as I got in the elevator, that feeling evaporated. I remember the elevators being green, and very small. These elevators were spacious and had mirrors on three walls.

While I did not know what to expect, when I exited onto the third floor, I was aghast. There was a large empty office. Empty white cubicles. I coulds see through the class walls an empty board room with chairs around it. Because of the time of day, the light was pouring in, making the room seem ethereal. Everything was white and glowing. This was not my grandparents’ shop.

I learned from a young woman working in a different office across the hall that an accounting firm had left about three weeks prior, and she was not sure who was coming in next.

And so, I left, slightly disappointed and unsure if I did the right thing by “going back in time.”

This week we read the two final parshiyot of sefer Bemidbar, Matot and Masei. In the second parashah we read about journeying. Short verse after short verse, we learn that the Israelites moved from one place onward to the next. They don’t look back. They keep pushing on forward.Maybe that is what we are supposed to do?

The past has a certain draw, and the future a very different kind of velocity pulling us forward. The future will be full of self-driving cars, 3D printed food, A.I. and robots that deliver your food to your front door. That is exciting…maybe.