TORONTO — Two Toronto congregations are celebrating anniversaries on April 28.
Beth Torah Congregation is throwing a 1960s Mad Men-themed gala with gambling, cocktails and live music at the Park Hyatt hotel for its 50th on Sunday night.
The same evening, the Lodzer Synagogue will host a black tie-optional dinner for its 60th anniversary, with Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B’nai Brith Canada, as MC, and featuring the Juno-nominated group Jaffa Road.
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Beth Torah, an unaffiliated Conservative congregation near Dufferin Street and Lawrence Avenue West, was established in 1963 and broke ground in 1964.
Despite its location and longtime low profile, Beth Torah began to thrive under the leadership of Rabbi Yossi Sapirman, who became its youngest rabbi in August 1998. Four years ago, the shul completed an $8-million renovation and expansion.
The rabbi, who turns 45 the day of the gala, said that being “off the beaten track [geographically] is probably a metaphor for what I think shuls need to start considering – that maybe the mainstream is also the place most people leave from.
“Don’t be afraid to try something new,” he said.
Probably the biggest challenge for the synagogue arose when it was struggling in the early 1990s, Rabbi Sapirman said. “If not for the generosity of a few, the shul would have gone under.”
Among recent innovations at the shul, small children are on the bimah during the Torah service, the rabbi and cantor greet every attendee during the Torah procession, and there is a sit-down lunch every Shabbat.
Founding member Mark Goldenberg said his biggest pleasure 50 years later is to see his children and grandchildren enjoying services at the shul.
Goldenberg credits Rabbi Sapirman for his efforts, particularly in making young children part of the service. “We weren’t on the map as a shul [before]… Nobody knew Beth Torah.”
Beth Torah’s earliest services were held in the basement of a private home, and then in an unheated portable purchased from the Catholic Diocese of Mississauga, according to anniversary committee chair Ellen Scheinberg.
Goldenberg remembers that the 10 founding couples – young newlyweds who lived in the area – each signed a guarantee for $1,000 to the bank, “which we needed for a down payment for the land.”
Rabbi Benjamin Hauer, an Orthodox rabbi, was the shul’s first spiritual leader, before he moved to Montreal.
Scheinberg said the shul, which has more than 500 member families and almost 200 students at its Hebrew school, is now “very vibrant. It’s growing.”
Upcoming initiatives include Shalom Hartman Institute-related adult education, and a plan to create innovative programming for teens and young adults through a newly created fund from an anonymous donor.
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The Lodzer traces its history to 1953, when it was founded as a mutual benefit society for families from Lodz, Poland. It became a synagogue only in 1981.
Rabbi Moshe Meirovich, who serves as the shul’s rabbi and cantor, said the 200-family congregation, which is unaffiliated Conservative and now egalitarian, was “built on tremendous hope.”
It has grown “from a place of social interaction to a place of Jewish worship, study and adult education,” he said.
In recent years, more young families have joined, and a separate family service is held on the High Holidays, as well as a monthly family service. Also, on Shabbat, the rabbi is joined on the bimah by young children “to help conduct the Musaf service,” he said.
The Lodzer’s treasurer Morry Nosak said the congregation was like an extended family for him when he was growing up in the 1960s. As a child of survivors, he had no grandparents, aunts or uncles. His late father, Rafuel Nosak, was a shul founder who served as longtime gabbai.
Nosak describes the shul as “heimish and family-oriented… Even today that kind of feeling is still there.”
The founders – landsmen from Lodz – supported each other financially, emotionally and spiritually, said Nosak, who is co-chairing the gala with his wife. Melanie Steiner.
As well, he added, even though the founders had their own financial needs, the focus of the society became supporting the State of Israel and raising funds for Israeli causes like Magen David Adom.
Now, Nosak said, the second generation “is trying to maintain the heritage from the past, and, at the same time, go forward.”
Other recent changes include the rabbi “teaching and engaging the congregation” most Shabbat mornings, in lieu of a formal sermon. As a result, this year the shul instituted a study session after services, over kiddush lunch.
Other anniversary-related events include a Torah dedication by the family of founding members Izak and Regina Kozlowski the day of the gala, and a May 21 concert that will be part of Jewish music week. It will feature an eclectic musical program with Rabbi Meirovitch, Cantor David Edwards, the shul’s previous cantor, and Cantor Kim Conrad.
