Call it the little shul that could. For 100 years, Congregation Beth Jacob in Kitchener, Ont., has stood the test of time, uniting the small but active Jewish community there and keeping traditions alive while other small-town congregations have come and gone.

Standing in front of Beth Jacob’s bimah are, from left, Larry Matlow, the shul’s co-president; LindaMatlow, executive member representing women; Howie Budd, past president,  and Bernard Papernick, also a past president.  [AndyLevy-Ajzenkopf photo]

On Oct. 26, the Orthodox congregation at 161 Stirling Ave. will celebrate its centennial with a gala evening featuring addresses by local politicians and University of Waterloo president David Johnston.

Invitations have been extended to both current and ex-members, and organizers estimate the event will be a sellout, with 250 people attending.

Howie Budd, a past-president of the shul, told The CJN that there are currently some 130 local Jewish families plus “30 out-of-towners” who frequent the BethJacob.

“This synagogue is the focal point for Jewish life between Windsor, Ont., and Toronto,”Budd said. “We’re the last bastion for the small-town Jewish community.”

Among other things, the shul boasts a full-time Talmud Torah, an adult education program and the ability to provide “a real sense of community,” he said.

Though membership is not what it used to be – the current building on Stirling Street was constructed in the 1960s to accommodate more than 500 congregants – the influx of businesses to the region – most notably Blackberry maker Research In Motion – and the University of Waterloo have helped lure more young people and families to Kitchener-Waterloo.

That bodes well for a resurgence of interest in the shul, said co-president Larry Matlow.

“Our challenge now is to find the unaffiliated [Jews] and show them we have something to offer,” he said. “A lot of Israelis are moving to the area, too.”

According to BethJacob historical documents, the city’s original Jewish community was tiny, and the congregation first convened in a local home circa 1900.

But by 1908, the community had built a “stately”synagogue made of “beautiful carved wood and stained glass windows,” which was used for decades before it was eventually abandoned for the current, more utilitarian building in 1961.

Over the years, BethJacob’s congregation has had a hand in many historical initiatives in the community, including sponsoring Holocaust survivors to come to the area – many of whom helped contribute to the town’s rich, Jewish mercantile district of the downtown core in the 1950s – as well as sponsoring the arrival of Vietnamese boat people in the 1970s and of Russian Jews in the 1980s.

The congregation has also made significant contributions to the political and academic life of the region.

Congregants Harold Paikin and Morley Rosenberg served as mayors of Waterloo and Kitchener, respectively – Paikin in the late 1950s andRosenberg in the early 1980s.

In 2001, BethJacob members were “instrumental in establishing a chair of Jewish studies” at the University of Waterloo, according to the shul’s literature.

The 100th anniversary will be a celebration of the community’s longstanding involvement in Kitchener-Waterloo and a reaffirmation of BethJacob’s place as a “warm and inviting congregation,”  Budd said.

“We have an obligation to keep this going for another 100 years,” Budd said.

BethJacob’s well-respected, full-time spiritual leader, Rabbi Yosil Rosenzweig, who hails from Windsor, Ont., is as unique as his shul.

Prior to his current pulpit, Rabbi Rosenzweig served as a chaplain in three New York state prisons. He’s also a notable musician – he won awards for his compositions in the 1977 and 1980 Israeli Chassidic SongFestivals – and  was the owner of Yosil’s Deli and Restaurant, an American-style deli in Israel.

“In Kitchener, the congregation is the Jewish lifeline of the community.We don’t have the street culture of a Bathurst Street,” he said.

Rabbi Rosenzweig said the next challenge facing the small Kitchener-Waterloo Jewish community is in rallying all the “disenfranchised” Jewish families in the area and getting them to unite as a group.

“There are probably 200 families here who still belong to their home synagogues, either in Toronto or elsewhere,” Rabbi Rosenzweig said. “The first 100 years started off with Jews who were like-minded. The future of our Jewish community depends on a unity program.  It’s time we come together and unite the community’s various factions.”

For more information, visit www.bethjacobkw.ca.