One year later: Beth Tzedec, and other synagogues, are examining if ending membership dues for people under 40 makes a difference
Toronto’s midtown Beth Tzedec Congregation recently sent emails to the inaugural group of those under age 40 who received free memberships in the summer of 2022, asking if they wanted to remain free members for another year. And while leadership of the largest Conservative synagogue in Canada is taking an optimistic view of the early […]
Toronto’s Beth Tzedec Congregation is offering free membership to those under 40
One of the largest Conservative synagogues in the world, which currently has over 4,000 members, recently announced it is offering free membership to Torontonians under 40 years of age. Beth Tzedec Congregation’s initiative, which is called the Generations Membership, comes with a renewed commitment to outreach and engagement for members in that age group. Rabbi […]
Why Reform Judaism in Canada is so traditional: an answer
The Reform Rabbis of Canada, the Canadian Council for Reform Judaism and the Reform Rabbis of Greater Toronto offer a counter argument to a recent op-ed in The Forward.
Marmur: Reform and Conservative Judaism under attack
“Reform and Conservative Jews may never be in the majority in Israel and hopefully will not debase themselves by forming political parties, but they represent a 200-year-old manifestation of the faith that will hopefully continue to grow and flourish, as proof that Israel is there for all Jews.”
Is dressing modestly becoming mainstream?
Orthodox women’s modest dress code, known as tzeniut – covering the elbows, knees, and collarbones – may seem far from mainstream norms, but could it be the contrary? Is modesty becoming mainstream?
Moscowitz: The antidote to liberal Judaism’s stagnation
The days of prayer as central to the liberal Jewish milieu are long over. But, as counterintuitive as it may sound, knowledge of Hebrew, attachment to Israel and a deepened sense of peoplehood are not necessarily beyond our reach. Significant aliyah from within the liberal Jewish community has the potential to liberalize Israel and revitalize a waning (though still crucial) Diaspora. It’s an antidote awaiting its application.
The problem with ‘renegade rabbis’ and intermarriage
The Conservative movement’s stance against sanctioning interfaith marriages has recently been challenged by a number of its affiliated rabbis.
Would Canada benefit from a chief rabbinate?
For most of the people approached for their opinion, (rabbis included) the concept of a chief rabbi was not even on their radar
Shaar Shalom seeds other Toronto shuls with Jewish items
It’s not exactly a liquidation sale, but all items had to go as Shaar Shalom Synagogue wound up operations after 44 years as a Conservative synagogue in Thornhill, just north of Toronto. Shuls across the GTA and southern Ontario received Torahs, chumashim, siddurim, rimonim, Torah breastplates and other items, said Barry Barnes, president of Shaar […]
City to tear down former shul building in Saint John
As the city of Saint John, N.B., prepares to tear down the former Shaarei Zedek Synagogue, longtime congregation board member and president Norman Hamburg reflects on the fond memories of what he now calls “a shell”. The synagogue was sold to the city for $500,000 in 2008 as part of a downtown renewal project, after […]
