In Parashat Vayishlach, we read the story of Jacob wrestling with an unfamiliar being, most often understood as an angel of God. After this tussle, Jacob is renamed Yisrael (Israel), meaning “one who struggles with God.” A name change in the Torah often implies a change in character. Here, Jacob (Yaakov) is no longer simply the ‘deceiver’—one who would trick his own brother out of his...

Upon waking from his dream, Jacob delights:  אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יְהֹוָ֔ה בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי׃ Surely God is present in this place, and I did not know! In his book titled “God Was in This Place and I, I Did Not Know,” Rabbi Lawrence Kushner points out that earlier on in Jacob’s...

In each generation of our ancestors in the Book of Genesis, we see a favoured child and a rejected child. Isaac is favoured over Ishmael. Jacob is favoured – by his mother – over Esau. If it wasn’t enough for the less-favoured sibling to have that lived existence, our ancient rabbis created ancestral links between the rejected child and nations that have historically antagonized the...

In this week’s parashah, we learn about the death of Sarah, her burial, and Avraham’s servant discovering Rivka as a wife for Yitzhak. The servant brings Rivka to meet Yitzhak and they find him meditating in the field. He is not in action but in meditation. Genesis 24:63 וַיֵּצֵ֥א יִצְחָ֛ק לָשׂ֥וּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶ֖ה לִפְנ֣וֹת עָ֑רֶב And...

Beth Tzedec is a Fragrance Free facility. Not everyone understands what this is all about. We are fortunate to have Dot Whitehouse sharing her experience on this subject matter. She spoke with Communications Manager Michael Goodbaum about the importance of maintaining a Fragrance Free Facility and to clarify some key points. For part one of this interview, CLICK HEREWhat are some products that...

Beth Tzedec is a Fragrance Free facility. Not everyone understands what this is all about. We are fortunate to have Dot Whitehouse sharing her experience on this subject matter. She spoke with Communications Manager Michael Goodbaum about the importance of maintaining a Fragrance Free Facility and to clarify some key points. For part two of this interview, CLICK HEREWhat is the difference...

One of our best-known biblical stories from this week’s Parashah is the one that begins the reading. In the heat of the day, Abraham is sitting outside his tent having recently been circumcised. God appears to Abraham during this time of indisposition to distract Abraham from the pain of recovery and in doing so, demonstrates the first example of the mitzvah of bikkur cholim, visiting the...

Dear friends,  In this week’s parasha, God says to Abram (not yet Abraham), lekh lekha, go for yourself from your native land and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. God continues and says: I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And then we read that Abram goes....

OOTC Volunteer Registration is Now OpenThe 24th season of the Beth Sholom/Beth Tzedec Out of the Cold Shelter will operate on Monday nights from January 13 through March 31, 2025. We provide a hot meal, clothing, entertainment, an art program and BINGO for 150 of Toronto’s homeless and needy people in our community. We also offer a bagged lunch and a one time ttc pass each...

I think of the month of Tishrei, the first month of the Jewish year as being in a tayva - ark, or a container of sorts. We spend lots of time in synagogue, starting the ark, engaged in self-focus, and assessing how we live our lives and what needs to change. Of course, we do this as part of a community, standing alongside those who share our destiny as part of the Jewish...

Tomorrow, on Yom Kippur, we will knock on our hearts and admit to ourselves: chamasnu! We have engaged in evil this past year. We have hated. We have acted violently. We have caused harm. What purpose would this admonition of regret, this recognition of harm, serve if not to encourage and move us to take action, to do better? To act with love, with compassion? Every day...

This Shabbat we are pleased to welcome Rabbi Shai Held, one of the founders of Yeshivat Hadar, a traditional egalitarian yeshiva in New York. Rabbi Held has a new book out titled Judaism is About Love. In it he deftly argues that we Jews need to reclaim Judaism’s essential commitment to love. Yes, we are committed to Halakhah, to Jewish Law, but Jewish Law does not negate nor...

Beth Tzedec Congregation is proud to participate in the Simchat Torah Project, a global initiative that unites the Jewish world and honours and remembers all of those we lost on October 7, and the soldiers who lost their lives fighting for Israel. In early September, Rabbi Fryer Bodzin flew to Israel to bring home a Torah mantle, one that is nearly identical to over 1000 Torah mantles that...

וְשָׂמַחְתָּ֣ בְכׇל־הַטּ֗וֹב אֲשֶׁ֧ר נָֽתַן־לְךָ֛ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ וּלְבֵיתֶ֑ךָ אַתָּה֙ וְהַלֵּוִ֔י וְהַגֵּ֖ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר בְּקִרְבֶּֽךָ׃ And you shall enjoy and rejoice in, together with the [family of the] Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that...

David Matlow’s assembly of Herzl memorabilia and artifacts exhibited at Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker CenterDavid Matlow, Beth Tzedec member and curator of the world's largest collection of Theodor Herzl memorabilia, says that the notion of displaying his collection first occurred at Beth Tzedec. “It was my mother’s idea,” Matlow recalls. “She suggested that I do an exhibit at...