Advocacy @ HBT: The week of October 1, 2025

Advocacy @ HBT: We’re going to City Hall 

Training with CIJA and meetings with City Councillors 

As Rabbi Splansky announced in her Rosh Hashanah sermon, our Advocacy Committee has been hard at work arranging meetings with City Councillors to discuss ways that they can further combat antisemitism in Toronto and make Toronto Jews feel safe again, as we live our lives as long-standing, contributing and integral members of the broader Toronto community. These issues are at the core of the concerns that our Advocacy Committee regularly hears from our own Holy Blossom Temple members and reflect the critical need for allyship with friends and neighbours who share our values.  As stressed by Rabbi Splansky, we simply cannot give up on Canada. 

This act of raising our communal voice will also help, in part, to mark our congregational remembrance of October 7th. 

To be eligible to participate in these upcoming meetings with City Councillors — the first of which will be held on Thursday, October 16 — it is mandatory to attend a one-hour training session led by our friends at CIJA on Friday, October 10, at 8:00 a.m., either in person at Holy Blossom or virtually.  

If this initiative resonates with you, please indicate your intention to attend the CIJA training session by RSVP’ing HERE, on or before noon on Wednesday, October 8.  

To receive the Zoom link to attend our training virtually, please email Rabbinic Assistant Joe Freedberg at [email protected]. 

Everyone is welcome to attend this training with CIJA. Please be aware that meetings with City Councillors will be limited to a small number of volunteers.  

If you cannot attend on Friday, October 10, we hope to offer further training sessions in the coming weeks. 

G’mar Chatimah Tovah. May you be sealed in the book of life.  

Learn more about Advocacy@HBT here.