The Beth Israel Synagogue in Halifax is ready to celebrate.
From Oct. 23 to 25, the membership will commemorate 125 years of Jewish life in Halifax during a gala Friday night Shabbat dinner, a Saturday kiddush to honor four outstanding volunteers and a cantorial concert Sunday evening, bringing together three men for whom Halifax has great meaning.
It was 125 years ago, in 1890, when the Beth Israel’s founding body, the Baron de Hirsch Hebrew Benevolent Society, was formed by a small number of Jews in the Nova Scotia capital. By 1894, it had its own synagogue, a revamped church, which stood until it was levelled by the Halifax Explosion in 1917.
Three years later, a new synagogue was built that lasted until 1957, when growing numbers determined a larger, more modern building was needed. The south-end Halifax shul, whose building is now 58 years old, remains active today.
Membership through the first half of the 20th century mushroomed from 118 in 1901 to 1,089 (more than 225 member families) in 1961. Today, there are less than 100 member families, but the Orthodox shul continues to be the only one east of Montreal with daily minyans and active programs.
President Steven Zatzman, a Halifax lawyer, says that “our community has changed over time, and dramatic changes are continuing to challenge our congregation yet our legacy to future generations is the enrichment the whole Halifax Jewish community receives from the services and facilities we provide.”
Chief gabbai Irwin Mendleson, one of those being honoured at the Shabbat kiddush, struggles to assemble 10 men for daily morning minyan. He says, however, “I’ve seen the importance of keeping our traditions going. I see how members, and the many visitors who come to our doors, need a minyan to say Kaddish and how rewarding it is for us to be there for them.”
When he’s forced to miss a daily service, the still-practising optometrist says, “I feel guilty if I’m not there, as though I’m letting someone down.”
He laughs. “Thank goodness some of the wives kick their husbands before 7:30 in the morning for services.”
The Three Cantors Concert will bring together three men with Halifax roots.
Mo Glazman, Halifax-raised and educated, is now senior cantor at New York’s Central Synagogue. Tibor Kovari, chazzan and music director at Toronto’s Beth Tikvah Synagogue, had his first cantorial and teaching experience in Canada at the Beth Israel in Halifax.
Ede Berkovits, a Montrealer, did post-graduate music work at Dalhousie University in Halifax and part-time cantorial duties at Beth Israel. He met and married his wife in Halifax and recently returned to be cantor on holidays and special occasions.
Despite dwindling membership, common to many shuls across Canada and particularly in smaller communities, Zatzman declares, “Our responsibility is to strive for openness and inclusivity, recognition and acceptance of differences in the needs, desires and diversity within our Jewish community so we may strengthen the Baron de Hirsch Hebrew Benevolent Society as it enters the future with renewed vigour.”