Ever since the Mondays @The Temple program stopped meeting in the wake of the pandemic, we’ve missed you and are eager to reconnect. Over the last two years, we have been reimagining how we can engage the seniors in our community and there is a lot to look forward to a new name, a new space, fresh programming, new vision, and we are pleased to announce a new chair of the program.
We are pleased to announce that Barbara Glaser has been appointed the volunteer Chair of our new Dorot program. Barbara Glaser is a congregant of Holy Blossom Temple and has served on various committees and in many volunteer and leadership roles within and outside the temple. She is a leader in the Arts and Cultural sphere professionally as well. She leads the HBTogether Art and Culture Chaverah, where there have been exciting behind-the-scenes tours and outings. Under her leadership, congregants have connected and formed friendships within the community through outreach and virtual programming.
Barbara, being a loving former caregiver herself of many years to her dear mother z”l, understands the role of being a caregiver to her family. She is a compassionate leader and understands what caregivers and their loved ones, over various generations, experience on their respective journeys. The strong bond between families, parents, and children. She has reverence for the elderly population, is a huge advocate, and loves to learn from inter-generational stories. She is eager to learn and give back. Barbara has a hands-on approach, is a warm compassionate leader, has many ideas, and is comfortable interacting on an individual or wider stage. She has a team approach and is looking forward to meeting with all the volunteers, new and existing, and to start the outreach and programming of “Dorot”!
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A Message from Barbara:
We all know the saying “it takes a village,” it’s true. How fortunate are we to have our Holy Blossom Community and lay leaders in these times especially! For this and many reasons, it feels as though it’s in my Neshama that I’m honoured to take on the leadership role of Chair of the formerly called Monday Morning Senior Program and give back with a lovely team of volunteers. We will be keeping many facets of the program and introducing new exciting ventures and ideas as well! We will have fun, a variety in programming, music, get-togethers in person when safe to do so, forming new bonds, continuing and preserving connections that have a rich history.
Our first priority is to connect and check-in with you. Connecting you with members of our community, your cohorts, and trying to help relieve the burden of any isolation during the pandemic. Rabbi Goodman and I are here to partner with you, to listen and help in our sacred community along with your intergenerational families.
We revere our elders and the wisdom you all carry and impart. Respecting and devoted to our Holy Blossom community, understanding the importance and strength. Especially our elders connecting in times of crisis, covid pandemic and good peaceful times as well.
I carry a passion and care for the ageing population which is evident combined with creative leadership skills, experience and with elders, together in blessed memory of my dear mother z”l as well as loving ancestors. To continue to give back to the community transcending and connecting over generations with strong leadership and a team to work towards our goals. Rabbi Goodman, the team of volunteers, and I warmly look forward to hearing and connecting with you!
Barbara Glaser
Interested in joining us on this journey? We are happy to expand our team of volunteers! If you would like to hear more, please contact Rabbi Goodman ([email protected]) and Barbara Glaser ([email protected])
We apologize for the technical difficulties experienced on Shabbat Shira, January 14 & 15 and thank you for your patience. Please find the recordings of the full service on Saturday, January 15, 2022, as well as the Sermons from this very special Shabbat Shira.
Kabbalat Shabbat Drash by Cantor David Rosen
Shabbat Morning Sermon in Song
Announcing Rabbi Samuel Kaye
We are delighted, on behalf of the Rabbinic Search Committee, to share the exciting news that we have made a remarkable match for Holy Blossom’s next Associate Rabbi and are thrilled to introduce you to Rabbi Samuel Kaye. Rabbi Kaye and his family are excited to be joining the Holy Blossom community, beginning this coming July.
Rabbi Kaye is joining us from The Temple in Atlanta, GA where he has been part of the clergy team since his ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 2018. During his time in Atlanta, Rabbi Kaye’s work was multifaceted, focusing most deeply on a myriad of social justice initiatives, dynamic teaching, and deep engagement with his congregational community from its very youngest to the very wisest members. What stands out most about Rabbi Kaye is his keen intellect, his ability to foster deep and meaningful relationships, his skills in making Judaism accessible, and his eagerness to value the traditions that make Holy Blossom so unique while also exhibiting an excitement about bringing new creative ideas to our community.
Rabbi Kaye is no stranger to Holy Blossom. Prior to his ordination, Rabbi Kaye spent a summer with us as a Rabbinic Intern. During that time, he led worship services, engaged learners in deep study, and gained an understanding and appreciation for the uniqueness of our Temple community and that of Reform Jewry in Canada. Those of you who had the opportunity to engage with Rabbi Kaye will recollect the many contributions he made to Temple life in just a short period of time.
Rabbi Kaye will be joined by his beautiful family – his wife, Taylor Baruchel, is finishing her own Rabbinic studies and will be ordained at HUC-JIR next year, and their 18-month-old daughter, Selah, who is excited to meet new Holy Blossom playmates! Taylor was born and raised in Montreal. Most of Taylor’s closest family now resides in Toronto, so Rabbi Kaye, Taylor and Selah are not just joining our community, but are also ‘coming home’ to their own family.
We have no doubt that both Rabbi Kaye and Taylor will make an incredible impact at Holy Blossom. Their many talents, interests, and most especially their warmth will be far-reaching.
We wish to thank our extraordinary Rabbinic Search Committee for their partnership in this process. Each member of the committee brought their own unique skills to our work, always keeping in mind the needs of our greater Temple community. Thank you to Maddie Axelrod, David Malinowicz, Jeffrey Myers, Nancy Lerner, Lisa Taylor, and Rabbi Splansky (ex-officio).
There will be many opportunities over the next few months to connect with and get to know Rabbi Kaye. Watch out for more details! Until then, please join us in welcoming Rabbi Kaye, Taylor, and Selah to the Holy Blossom family.
Warmly,
Karen Kollins and Jeff Denaburg
Chairs, Rabbinic Search Committee
From Rabbi Splansky
A few years ago, I got a call from Hebrew Union College informing me that there was an applicant for our summer rabbinic internship. “But we don’t have a summer rabbinic internship,” I said. “I know,” said the professor on the other end of the line, “but you have an applicant.”
That tells you everything you need to know about Rabbi Samuel Kaye. Even as a rabbinical student he had ambition, foresight, boundless curiosity, and a desire to grow. Those qualities have now been matched with four years of experience in one of the leading congregations of the Reform Movement and the mentorship of my friend and classmate, Rabbi Peter Berg. You will soon see for yourself the winning combination of Rabbi Kaye’s confidence and humility, seriousness, and good humour.
I am grateful for the excellent Rabbinic Search Committee, which brought a range of Holy Blossom experiences as well as professional experiences to the deliberations. The committee’s tremendous co-chairs, Jeff Denaburg and Karen Kollins met with me each week since Simchat Torah. With good guidance from the Central Conference of American Rabbis and support from the Pulpit Committee, they navigated this search process with good planning and good insight up until this moment of success and celebration.
As we prepare for Shabbat Shirah, when we chant the Song of the Sea, we sing another joyful song in anticipation of the good things to come, just on the horizon. I invite you to please use the comment section below to join me in sending warm greetings to Rabbi Kaye and his family.
From Rabbi Sam Kaye
Good people of Holy Blossom Temple,
I cannot express how overjoyed, honoured, and excited I am to be welcomed, once again, into this amazing community. My wife Taylor, our daughter Selah, and I are eagerly looking forward to making the journey north this summer to begin our lives in Toronto. We can’t wait to join you for beautiful tefilla, exciting and engaging learning, and transformative acts of tikkun olam. Of course, what we are looking forward to the most is the small and simple blessing of being face to face, soul to soul. Whether that be in our stunning synagogue, strolling through the beautiful green spaces of Toronto, or over a good cup of coffee; we can’t wait to meet you!
In so many ways this feels like coming home, and that is a nearly impossible thing to capture with words alone. Fortunately, our Jewish tradition is filled with guidance on how to express our feelings and hopes, even when language seems insufficient. Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam ha’tov v’hameitiv! Blessed are you Adonai our God, who is good and who does good for us!
With a heart full of gratitude and excitement, I will see you soon!
During a recent ZOOM gathering with friends, we found ourselves hard-pressed to engage in any other topic than how COVID 19 has impacted our lives. Try as we might, our digression into movies, television, politics, and family life always seemed to circle back to the pandemic: vaccines, masks, testing, quarantines, and lockdowns. There was no escaping the subject.
That the pandemic has changed our lives is an understatement of vast proportions. When was the last time we shook hands, engaged freely in hugs, and both offered and received pats on the back? When was the last time we enjoyed restaurants, cinemas, live theatre, dance, and music, or visited a museum or art gallery? When was the last we shopped without first having to stand outdoors in line? When was the last time we undertook to travel, either internationally or within Canada? And when was the last time we left our homes without protective face masks?
All of the foregoing being understood, Holy Blossom invites you to share your pandemic story. By way of our weekly online bulletins, we offer a portal through which you may recount one or more of the ways that COVID has affected and changed your life. Your story need be no longer than a paragraph or two and may be edited for content and brevity. We hope you will view this as an opportunity for both expressing to and learning from others in our congregational community how this difficult transformation has affected our view of the world and one another – health-wise and otherwise. It’s also a wonderful way for us to stay connected and in support of one another. And perhaps, we will come to appreciate – if we have not done so already – how there are aspects of daily living none of us will ever take for granted again.
Please send your pandemic story to us by emailing [email protected].
1950 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M5P 3K9
(416) 789-3291
[email protected]
Emergency Funeral Contact
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.