A 200-year-old Torah that was once used by synagogues in Saskatchewan and Quebec finds a final resting place—at a museum in Winnipeg
A sefer Torah believed to have been written in Central Europe 230 years ago has been given a final resting place in a Winnipeg museum after its most recent users in the Montreal area gratefully returned the scroll to the Prairies after three decades. The Torah had been given to the now defunct South Shore […]
Gladstone: The story of the end of a world
The moment I stepped out of the car, I realized that this was most likely the first time a member of my family had set foot in our ancestral town in more than 130 years. I was in Konin, in the Lodz district of Poland, the town where my paternal ancestors had lived for generations […]
Canada’s Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli is one of the few women who has written a Torah
Lavery-Yisraeli is one of only a handful of women around the world who work as a soferet, the scribes who painstakingly produce the ritual documents of Jewish life.
Survivor commissions Torah in memory of his lost loved ones
Solomon Reichert was a young boy when he attended a siyum (a completion celebration) at his grandmother’s home. It took place during the mid-1930s in a small Polish town near Lodz. Fast forward 80-plus years to June 25, when Reichert, now a great-grandfather, attended another siyum.
Small Nova Scotia community looks to sell old Torahs
Congregation Sons of Israel in Glace Bay, N.S., closed its doors in 2010, after more than a century of operations. Now, the few remaining Jews in the community are thinking of selling the synagogue’s remaining Torah scrolls.
Toronto Reform synagogue celebrates 60 years
Temple Emanu-El in Toronto celebrated its 60th anniversary on May 4, with a family Shabbat service, communal dinner and a talk from Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism.
Your learning partner becomes the soulmate of your mind
A havruta is a soulmate of the mind. He or she is a person who studies Torah with a partner on a regular basis, sometimes for many years.
My mother, the ‘wandering Jew’
Kay replies to the reaction of many readers after his mother came out with a piece about transgenderism in Judaism.
Progressive Jews should respect the opinions of others
The Feb. 8 issue of The CJN featured an irate letter to the editor signed by 26 readers, including several rabbis, who were incensed by my Kay’s last column.
Kristallnacht Torah comes to Toronto
The Torah scroll, which was rescued during Kristallnacht and recently refurbished, made an appearance at Chabad of Midtown’s Shabbat service.
