Back to the 'Hood

JEWISH WORLD Back to the ’Hood Young Jews are returning to and revitalizing Jewish life in Toronto’s inner city neighborhoods A THRIVING JEWISH COMMUNITY: Rosh Hashana greeting card from the Sherman Family, c. 1924 ONTARIO JEWISH ARCHIVES Renee Ghert-Zand Toronto S SHE STROLLS ALONG that were open farmland until recently, thou- slum filled with Jews and immigrants from College Street, at the north- sands of young Jews, most in their 20s and other countries, especially Ireland and Italy. ern edge of Kensington 30s, have been purposefully returning to and Those Jews who could moved westward to Market in downtown revitalizing Jewish life in the adjacent inner the streets surrounding Kensington Market. Toronto, Sarah Brodbar- city neighborhoods, long-abandoned by their The Annex, located several blocks to the ANemzer sometimes imagines that she is parents and grandparents, of Kensington north of Kensington Market and bordering the walking back in time. Focusing on the past Market and The Annex. University of Toronto campus, was also home is strange for the 27-year-old Jewish com- Arriving in Toronto initially from England to many Jewish families. Most of the immi- munity professional, but the way she sees it, and Germany and then, by the late 19th cen- grants lived in small row houses, or in larger she wouldn’t be where she is, professional- tury, primarily from Eastern Europe to escape Victorian and Edwardian-era brick houses ly, personally and even geographically, if poverty and persecution, Jews settled in the converted into multi-family dwellings. she were not walking in the shoes of others, area known as the The Ward. A small square Today, Kensington Market has a youthful, who did the very same thing in the very area, Kensington Market was soon popularly bohemian, multicultural cachet, with an open- same place about a century ago. known as “the Jewish Market,” and by the air market along with cafés and funky second- At a time when the Toronto Jewish com- 1930s was home to as many as 50,000 Jews. hand clothing boutiques and bookshops that munity is generally expanding ever north- But even by the first decade of the 20th cen- draw crowds of local visitors and tourists, ward along Bathurst Street into new suburbs tury, The Ward had become an overcrowded especially on weekends. The Annex is now a 26 THE JERUSALEM REPORT OCTOBER 10, 2011 gentrified, residential neighborhood mainly live within eight kilometers of the Bathurst minyan, a reference to the happening for the upper-middle class, who can afford the Street corridor, which also houses some 200 Carlebach-style synagogue in Montreal fre- expensive downtown real estate prices Jewish schools, shops, synagogues and com- quented by McGill University students. The grittier, cacophonous, pedestrian munity centers. According to a recent Toronto Meloff recalls that the message went viral and bicycling-oriented downtown lifestyle is UIA-Federation study, 21,000 Jews now live and almost immediately they received hun- not for everyone. Nor was it self-evident that in and around the old Jewish neighborhoods – dreds of enthusiastic replies from contempo- downtown would be a source for a 41 percent increase since 1991. raries who recognized the reference and Jewish revival. The YMHA (reorganized in 1994 as the understood what they wanted to create. “Kensington Market was an exotic desti- Miles Nadal Jewish Community Center) has Meloff tells The Report he was not surprised nation and a historical site to visit with your also stayed in place and has now been joined to find that these young, cosmopolitan pro- day school or Hebrew school class,” recalls by the thriving Paul Penna Downtown Jewish fessionals were disillusioned, as he and Brodbar-Nemzer. And Stephen Reich, 45, an Day School (PPDJDS), a congregational Belzberg were, with what he refers to as “the earring-sporting legal strategy consultant and school, day-care programs and a plethora of alienating ‘big-box’ Reform and actor, says that when he told older Jews he community activities. Locals are patronizing Conservative synagogue experiences of our was moving to downtown Toronto, friends hip new Jewish-owned establishments such as uptown and suburban told him that they were surprised he was Caplansky’s Deli, Israeli-style upbringings.” He thinks “was moving back to the slums.” Aroma espresso bar, and Free that downtown Jews are But downtown definitely does suit a grow- Times Café, as well as original attracted to The Annex ing group of young Jews who do want to holdovers like the famous Shul because they “are embrace Jewish pluralism, creativity and Harbord Bakery, known city- searching for what they diversity, while also living in close proximity wide for its incredible challa consider to be greater to Toronto’s cultural and civic centers. “This bread. inclusiveness and isn’t the shtetl. This is not where you live if Although a few of Toronto’s Jewish authenticity.” you want an all-encompassing Jewish life,” Jewish congregations, including Belzberg and says Reich, who relocated to The Annex from the First Narayever, Anshei Meloff claim they Winnipeg 20 years ago. “But now there is an Minsk and the Kiever, are still at were the first, back in option in Canada if you want hip, urbane, their original sites, most moved ONTARIO JEWISH ARCHIVES 2006, to tap into the Jewish community.” northward and into new build- evident growing Indeed, downtown Toronto has become a ings along the Bathurst Street desire for downtown magnet for young, educated, creative Jews corridor following World War II. Jews to plug into a who yearn for connection with Jewish com- Downtown Toronto Jews seeking community where munity – but on their own terms. a prayer experience have their they could both feel Uninterested in the preponderantly tradition- choice of these historic syna- and make a direct al, conservative Toronto Jewish community gogues or a number of local A RICH JEWISH LIFE: Toronto’s impact. With sup- (Canada’s largest), they have returned to its prayer services that span the Jewish neighborhoods were filled port from the UJA cradle to enact a rebirth of sorts. It is on the observance and egalitarian spec- with synagogues, schools, Federation and the old streets and through the historic buildings trums. businesses, and culture, such as Hillel of Greater and institutions that these young liberal and The Annex Shul and Makom this issue of The Canadian Toronto, they began progressive Jews are connecting with their are two of these new communities Jewish Review, from 1923 holding semi-regu- roots. Unwilling to simply transport uptown that are gaining attention not only lar Friday night ser- Judaism downtown, they are reinvigorating, among the downtown crowd. vices at the University of Toronto. and even reinventing, the 25 synagogues and The motto of The Annex Shul is, “Come as cultural and community centers in the area. HE ANNEX SHUL WAS FOUND- you are, make it your own.” This, says Meloff, ed four and half years ago by friends is in response to what he and Belzberg identi- ITH ITS POPULATION OF TBram Belzberg, 30, and Richard fied as the “untapped demand” for Jewish par- approximately 2.5 million, Meloff, 33, who were looking to replicate ticipation. “People want ownership, a stake, to WToronto, located on the northern what they viewed as the vibrant, intimate and make an impact now. Our generation does not shore of Lake Ontario, is Canada’s largest participatory Jewish life they experienced as want to wait 30 years to be invited onto the city. Toronto is popularly considered to be students and young professionals in cities board,” Meloff says emphatically. They have one of North America’s safest and is home like Montreal and New York. developed a flat organizational structure, in to over 100 ethnic groups. Reuniting in Toronto, Belzberg and which any community member could suggest The Jewish population of the Greater Meloff decided to see if they could recreate an idea for an activity and receive resources Toronto Area is close to 200,000, according to that experience for themselves and their and guidance from a leadership team. Dr. Harold Troper, professor of education at friends. Typically, they gathered the first In early 2011, The Annex Shul celebrated the University of Toronto and an expert on members of their community together its “Milestone Weekend.” Scott McGrath, 37, Canadian Jewish history. Troper also tells The through an e-mail, in which they wrote that the current head of the leadership team tells Report that some 70 percent of Toronto’s Jews they wanted to start a “Ghetto Shul-type” The Report that the recent initial membership THE JERUSALEM REPORT OCTOBER 10, 2011 27 JEWISH WORLD nodding hello from his seat in the front row, as worshipers trickle in, and drumming vigor- ously, his eyes closed, on the low bookshelf that serves as a mechitza. Levy, an American transplant, says he started Makom in early 2009 “because my own family’s Jewish life wasn’t as robust as REVITALIZING AND we wanted it to be. There were no Jewish REINVENTING: The communal options that resonated for us.” He Annex Shul founders had originally helped set up The Annex Shul, Bram Belzberg (left) and Richard Meloof (right) and as an Orthodox rabbi (ordained by the with spiritual leader left-wing Orthodox Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Yakov Fruchter in Manhattan), he prays daily at the Kiever synagogue, one of the several original syna- COHEN PHOTOGRAPHY drive surpassed its goal by 25 percent, bring- ing in 80 new members at the affordable rates ‘Now there’s an option in Canada, if you want hip, of $250 for an individual and $450 for a family.

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