Click here! to see a list of our incredible offerings for the Fall/Winter! For more information and to register for our services and programs, please visit our calendar here.
CIJA has directed a new petition at the PMO’s office regarding the upcoming recognition of Palestinian statehood by Canada at the United Nations.
Quoting both the Chancellor of Germany, who feels that the conditions for statehood have not been met, and Hamas, who see the recognition of Palestinian statehood as the ‘fruits of October 7th,” CIJA asks that Prime Minister Carney reevaluate his expressed decision to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN next week.
As CIJA notes, when Hamas and Samidoun are celebrating the actions of the Canadian government and calling upon their followers to ‘intensify popular action’ and ‘take to the streets,’ our government should pause and reevaluate its decisions.
You can read and sign the petition here.
Learn more about Advocacy@HBT here.
Advocacy @ HBT: Supporting Indigo this weekend, and the Davis Cup bows to extremist pressure.
Last weekend, protestors and vandals once again targeted Indigo/Chapters because of its ties to the Jewish community and because of founder Heather Reisman’s ongoing support for lone soldiers. These protests continued a nearly 2-year series of hateful incidents intended to intimidate and harass customers at a Jewish-owned business.
We encourage you, if you are looking for a good book to enrich this sacred time of year, to consider making a “Buycott” purchase from Indigo as a sign of continued support. Rabbi Kaye recommends “This is Real and You are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation” by Rabbi Alan Lew. Advocacy Committee Chair Michael Davis encourages you to consider purchasing “As a Jew: Reclaiming our Story from those who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us” by Sarah Hurwitz. There are many other options available at Indigo/Chapters including “On Being Jewish Now”, a Heather’s Pick which had its Canadian book launch here at Holy Blossom earlier in the year.
Additionally, you may have heard that the Davis Cup, an international tennis tournament partially hosted in Halifax this year, will now be closed to the public. Tennis Canada has quoted escalating safety concerns for fans, staff, and athletes – prompted by the visit from the Israel team- as the reason for this closure. Canadians shouldn’t allow threats of violence and an ‘increased cost’ for safety to become normalized. You can read more and sign CIJA’s petition here, urging our government to take a stand against the normalization and ‘mainstreaming’ of threats and intimidation.
Learn more about Advocacy@HBT here.
Wednesdays, monthly, 11:00 am
Discover new stories and engage in lively conversations with the HBTogether Book Club! Meeting monthly on Wednesdays at 11:00 am, we will gather in the Max Enkin Library at Holy Blossom Temple (a Zoom option is available) to explore a wide range of Jewish books, from historical fiction and contemporary novels to powerful memoirs.
This year’s list includes titles such as The Night Sparrow, Dry Your Tears to Protect Your Aim, and Fugitive Pieces. Whether you’ve read the book or are simply curious to listen in, newcomers are always welcome.
Here’s the HBTogether Book Club list for 2025/2026, all available in a variety of formats at the public library:
November 6, The Night Sparrow: A young Jewish girl joins an elite Russian sniper unit aiming to assassinate Adolph Hitler.
December 3, Dry Your Tears to Protect Your Aim: The author of this award-winning anti-war novella is an alumnus of Holy Blossom, who will be joining our discussion from Montreal on zoom.
January 7, In the Family: In 1965 suburban America, every week a group of Jewish housewives play canasta and share their lives.
February 4, All Night Pharmacy: Two sisters struggle with sobriety and addiction in the dark underside of Los Angeles.
March 4, Birds that Stay: A police detective and a college professor confront the spectre of Naziism in the idyllic Laurentians.
May 6, We Would Never: Hailey Gelman is under suspicion for the murder of her estranged husband Jonah and her only hope is to unravel the tangled web of their families’ truth.
June 3, Fugitive Pieces: We celebrate the 25th anniversary of Anne Michaels’ award-winning debut novel.
For further information please contact Caroline Ingvaldsen at [email protected]
By Fern Lebo
On his 16th birthday, Jan Blumenstein was forced onto a cattle car bound for Auschwitz. At 96, he finally broke his silence.
The day after October 7, I found Jan transfixed by the news, unable to turn away. When I asked what he was seeing, he said quietly: “I’m reliving my childhood.” In that moment, I knew his story could no longer remain untold.
As Jan’s friend and writing voice, I spent the next 18 months listening, coaxing, and weaving together his chilling, often fragmented memories into a coherent narrative. For decades, he hid his tattoo. For decades, he avoided speaking of the camps. But the rise of antisemitism convinced him that silence was no longer possible.
Jan’s testimony is both a reminder and a warning: the dangers of unchecked hatred are real, and memory is our strongest defence. He is The Boy in the Back—the teenager who survived Auschwitz and Mauthausen by mastering the art of disappearing.
Many at Holy Blossom knew Jan as more than a survivor. He was part of our community, a brilliant scientist, and later a beloved family physician who cared for generations with compassion and wisdom. His resilience carried him from the depths of the camps to a life of service, discovery, and healing.
The Holocaust is fading from living memory, yet its lessons are more urgent than ever. Jan’s voice insists that we remember.
I am honoured to share his story. The Boy in the Back will be released September 19 and is available now for pre-order: https://mybook.to/P4twX6
Next Shabbat will mark the one-year anniversary of the time that, less than 50 yards from Holy Blossom, I was nearly eaten by coyotes.
Well… maybe that’s not quite true. But it certainly felt that way at the time.
It was Selichot. Our guest scholar in residence, the esteemed Rabbi Shai Held, had just finished a remarkable teaching on “Judaism is About Love.” We still had half an hour, maybe a bit more, until the gorgeous tefilla in the sanctuary would cap off our evening. I remember my anticipation about how meaningful it would feel, especially last year, to change the Torah mantels to white.
Rabbi Held was dancing at two weddings that night, and I had the pleasure of accompanying him down Peveril Hill to Beth Tzedec. After dropping him off, and wishing him a Shanah Tovah, I turned around and started to make my way back to Holy Blossom. Halfway up the block I stopped in my tracks, taken aback as I noticed a large odd-looking dog stepping out from the shadows and onto the street. Where was its owner?
Then I heard a noise behind me. Turning around, coming out from the yard behind me, only a few feet away, were two more creatures of the same breed, smaller. Realization dawned. These were not dogs.
Despite being less than block from shul, in the middle of Toronto, I was surrounded by coyotes.
I remember the most surreal thought entered my mind, “The books of life and death are open… is this really what God wrote for me? Who by Coyotes?”
Nothing happened. I remembered what I was taught at Jewish summer camp in the Rocky Mountains about wild animals, to make myself look big, call out with loud noises, and clap a lot. The family of coyotes immediately ran off.
As for me, I walked into the building, put on my tallit, and prayed my vidui with an extra note of fervent gratitude. I would yet see Rosh Hashanah.
This year I have no doubts that my own Selichot experience is going to be far less exciting… but our communal Selichot is going to be just as important, beautiful, and resonant. Our teacher and friend, Rabbi Prof. Michael Marmur, is returning to us from Jerusalem to teach about his esteemed and important new book “Living the Letters: An Alphabet of Emerging Jewish Thought.” Those of us who have studied with Rabbi Marmur know that, like his father, he is a masterful teacher. His beautiful lessons will bring incredible honor and merit to our community and to the memory of Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro z’l.
Selichot 5785 – Holy Blossom Temple
Joining us for Selichot this year, on Saturday September 13th, is the perfect way to enhance your High Holiday experience. Come and learn good Torah, enjoy a sweet nosh, hear stunning music, and set the tone of your heart for a meaningful and reflective New Year.
And I can promise you, that at least inside the walls of Holy Blossom Temple, there will be no coyotes.
This summer, Toronto, like the city of Vaughan before it, passed a bylaw which created ‘safe access zones’ (sometimes referred to as ‘bubble zones’), in part to stem some of the antisemitic protests seen in our city. These safe access zones create legal repercussions when protestors approach within 50-100 meters of a designated location. Vulnerable institutions include places of worship, and Holy Blossom is one of the locations which is now covered by this bylaw.
The enactment of this new bylaw was not without its critics and controversy. Comments included a silencing of freedom of expression and the potential for this sort of bylaw to create precedents which would limit legitimate public discourse.
You can register for this event, hosted by CJPAC, here. Tickets are $18 and include an opportunity to gather before the debate to meet and engage other members of the advocacy community.
The event begins at 4:00 pm at a location to be disclosed upon registration.
Learn more about Advocacy@HBT here.
1950 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M5P 3K9
(416) 789-3291
[email protected]
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Cell: 416-565-7561
Founded in 1856, Holy Blossom Temple is Toronto’s first synagogue with a rich history of tradition and modernity in our religious and spiritual expression.