// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy did Holy Blossom Temple go to the party? It was a blooming good time.
| Holy Blossom Temple | |
|---|---|
 Holy Blossom Temple in 2009 | |
  Location in Toronto | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Reform Judaism |
| Synagogue | |
| Ownership | Toronto Hebrew Congregation |
| Leadership |
|
| Status | Active |
| Location | |
| Location | 1950 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5P 3K9 |
| Country | Canada |
| Coordinates | 43°41′54″N 79°25′31″W / 43.69833°N 79.42528°W |
| Architecture | |
| Architects |
|
| Type | Synagogue |
| Style | Late Romanesque Revival |
| Established | 1856 (as a congregation) |
| Completed |
|
| Website | |
| holyblossom | |
The Holy Blossom Temple is a Reform synagogue located at 1950 Bathurst Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest Jewish congregation in Toronto. Founded in 1856, it has more than 7,000 members. W. Gunther Plaut, who died on 8 February 2012 at the age of 99, was a long time Senior Rabbi there.[citation needed]
History
[edit]Holy Blossom Temple was the merger of two congregations. The Toronto Hebrew Congregation was formed in 1849 by members from Germany (including Bavaria and Alsace), Bohemia, Great Britain, the United States, Russia, Galicia, and Lithuania. The Congregation conducted services in members' homes and founded the Pape Avenue Cemetery, Toronto's first Jewish cemetery. The congregation was known as the Daytshishe Shul because of its modern services. In 1856, Lewis Samuel, a Jewish immigrant from York, England arrived in Toronto along with 17 Jewish families from England and Europe and helped them organize the Sons of Israel Congregation.[1] The Ontario Heritage Foundation lists Holy Blossom as the first Jewish congregation in Canada, west of the Ontario/Quebec border.[2].
Barnett A. Elzas was rabbi at Holy Blossom from 1890 to 1893.[3]
Bond Street synagogue
[edit]
In the 1930s the congregation bought land and built a synagogue on what was then the outer edge of the city.[2]
The former synagogue on Bond Street was sold to the city's Greek Orthodox parish.[4]
Bathurst Street synagogue
[edit]Holy Blossom Temple was designed in the Romanesque Revival style in synagogue architecture by architects Chapman and Oxley with Maurice Dalvin Klein.[5] Construction began in 1937 and was completed the next year. Holy Blossom Temple was dedicated on May 20, 1938. The structure's reinforced concrete frame permitted an interior uninterrupted by structural columns. Using concrete and other modern building materials, the building features a campus-like planning of the institution and includes a parking lot. Holy Blossom Temple is a rare example of a building built with a concrete facade before World War II.[6]
Joan Friedman became the first woman to serve as a rabbi in Canada in 1980, when she was appointed as an Assistant Rabbi at Holy Blossom Temple.[7] Her appointment was followed shortly after by that of Elyse Goldstein as Assistant Rabbi from 1983 to 1986.[8]
See also
[edit]
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References
[edit]- ↑ "Archived copy". Ontario Heritage Trust First Jewish Congregation in Canada West. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - 1 2 "Holy Blossom Temple Heritage Impact Statement" (PDF). City of Toronto. pp. 6–9. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 16, 2012.
- ↑ Adler, Cyrus; Vizetelly, Frank H. "ELZAS, BARNETT ABRAHAM". The Jewish Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
- ↑ "Saint George's Greek Orthodox Church - Community". Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
- ↑ "Holy Blossom Temple". Dictionary of Architects in Canada. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
- ↑ McClelland, Michael; Stewart, Graeme (2007). Concrete Toronto: A Guidebook to Concrete Architecture from the Fifties to the Seventies. Coach House Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-1552451939. Retrieved November 2, 2012 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Holy Blossom Temple's Senior Rabbi Yael Splansky". Women of Influence. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
- ↑ Malul, Chen (November 8, 2012). "Women of the Wall, breaking down walls - Haaretz - Israel News". Haaretz.com. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
External links
[edit]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1856 establishments in Canada
- 19th-century synagogues in Canada
- 20th-century synagogues in Canada
- American-Jewish diaspora
- Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Toronto
- British-Jewish diaspora
- Neo-Byzantine synagogues
- Chapman and Oxley buildings
- Czech-Jewish diaspora
- French-Jewish diaspora
- German-Jewish diaspora
- Jewish organizations established in 1856
- Polish-Jewish culture in Canada
- Reform synagogues in Canada
- Romanesque Revival synagogues
- Ukrainian-Jewish culture in Canada
- Synagogues completed in 1897
- Synagogues completed in 1938
- Synagogue buildings with domes in North America
- Synagogues in Toronto
- Romanesque Revival architecture in Canada
- Neo-Byzantine architecture in Canada
- Domes in Canada