Beginning on Richmond Street in 1883, Goel Tzedec (Righteous Redeemer) was a leading congregation in the city of Toronto. In 1925 Goel Tzedec officially enrolled in the Conservative Synagogue movement. The congregation introduced family pews, adopted a revised Siddur (prayer book) and added English prayers to the service. Goel Tzedec became the first synagogue in Canada to conduct Bat Mitzvahs.

Beth Hamidrash Hagadol, known to most as the McCaul Street Synagogue, began four years after Goel Tzedec, above a blacksmith’s shop on Richmond Street. It’s official name, upon moving into the former McCaul Street Methodist Church, became Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Chevra T’hilim (The Great House of Prayer of the Congregation of Psalms).

Together, the two congregations amalgamated to become Beth Tzedec Congregation (House of Righteousness) with a mission “to build an affirmative Judaism, to bring the miracle of the Bible into our daily lives, to plant love of our tradition in our hearts, to inspire respect for religious life in our community and promote a religious fellowship among all its citizens.”

To find out more about Beth Tzedec, please ask for a copy of the book The History of Beth Tzedec, available for free. You can also visit our Wikipedia page.