The Young Israel of Chomedey congregation has sold its synagogue as the result of a decline in membership that began decades ago.
The congregation was founded in 1959 when the area, now part of Laval, was a rapidly growing suburb that attracted young families buying their first homes.
Chairman of the board George Finkelstein said the sale of the building on Elizabeth Boulevard to the Ardène Foundation, a charitable organization, was finalized on June 15. It is his understanding that the building will be donated to the local Armenian community for religious and educational purposes.
The Orthodox congregation will remain as a tenant until Nov. 8.
Finkelstein said that “an overwhelming majority” of members voted in favour of the sale, at a general assembly on May 15, but did so with heavy hearts.
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Finkelstein, a member since 1967, said the synagogue has been “a second home” to congregants. He described the purchase by the Ardène Foundation as a “godsend.” Although commercial developers were interested, a legal clause restricts the property’s use to religious purposes in perpetuity.
In the past few years, he tried to negotiate without success some kind of amalgamation with the four other Jewish congregations in Chomedey.
Finkelstein said the Young Israel is in talks with Congregation Jacob Josef Chevra Mishnais and Congregation Shaar Shalom about sharing facilities. The Young Israel already has a relationship with the former, which stopped having services about 1-1/2 years ago. Its few remaining members attended High Holiday services at the Young Israel last year.
However, its building may be too small for combined usage, and it is 1.6 kilometres away from Young Israel, a considerable walk for those who are shomer Shabbos and of an average age of 75, he said. The Shaar Shalom is larger and closer, at 1.1 kilometres, but is Conservative, Finkelstein said.
A third option, perhaps for the longer term, is acquiring space, such as renting a storefront or buying a defunct church, he said.
The Jewish population of Chomedey has been dwindling for decades, as people moved to the Island of Montreal or out of the province, or passed away, although the Sephardi community continues to thrive.
At its peak, Young Israel had over 800 families, Finkelstein said. Today, it is well under 200, and maintaining the large synagogue had become more than they could financially bear. The two-storey synagogue has 1,800 square feet on each floor, and 95,000 square feet of land.
Many members don’t even live in Chomedey anymore, and have only maintained membership for cemetery privileges and to attend at High Holidays. He said it had become a problem to even get together a minyan in the morning.
The Young Israel does have a spiritual leader, Rabbi Avrum Banon.
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The congregation suffered a devastating setback in 2010 when, in an apparent act of vandalism, the synagogue’s garden hose was turned on into the external pipe leading to the heating oil tank, forcing 2,300 litres of fuel out into the back of the building. The cleanup ran into the high tens of thousands, only a fraction of which was covered by insurance.
The synagogue was built in stages, starting in the early 1960s. It held its early services, led by Rabbi Solomon Spiro, in a bungalow. The Young Israel was initially called the Jewish Congregation of St. Martin, a small town within what became Chomedey.
The congregation soon after joined Young Israel, an association of Orthodox synagogues in North America, which included a then-prominent Montreal affiliate.
In the 1960s and ’70s, the Young Israel was a bustling community centre, with daily services, social activities, a nursery, a kindergarten and endless simchahs.
As it became too large for the congregation to manage, United Talmud Torahs took over the preschool, and for a few years, the elementary school was located in the Young Israel basement, before it opened its own building.