Adath Israel Congregation (Toronto)

Adath Israel Congregation is a Conservative synagogue located at 37 Southbourne Avenue in Toronto, Canada.

It was founded around 1903 by Jewish immigrants from Romania as the First Roumanian Hebrew Congregation Adath Israel (the name was shortened in the 1950s). As of 2006 there are three rabbis at the Adath Israel Congregation, Rabbi Steven Saltzman, Rabbi David Seed, and rabbi emeritus Rabbi Erwin Schild. The synagogue has approximately 2100 families and provides many daily programs for all ages, including a daily minyan. Alex Stein from Sydney Australia, serves as senior cantor.

As a traditionalist Conservative Congregation, Adath Israel prohibits intermarried families, including the Jewish member, from membership.^[1] This policy has been called "an anomaly in the Conservative movement".^[2] Adath Israel, unlike most United States Conservative Synagogues but like the majority of Conservative synagogues in the Toronto area, has not adopted egalitarianism.

Rabbi Steven Saltzman of Adath Israel Congregation is reported to have proposed the establishment of a Canadian “sovereignty association” within the Conservative movement that would support synagogues following traditionalist polices. Rabbi Saltzman’s suggestion came on the heels of the Conservative biennial convention in Boston, where Rabbi Menachem Creditor of Sharon, Mass., challenged the philosophy of halakhic pluralism - an approach affirmed by movement leaders - when he argued against continuing to permit non-egalitarian synagogues from being a part of the Conservative movement.^[3]

In 2008 the congregation seceded from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and affiliated with the Canadian Council of Conservative Synagogues.

External links

• Official website

References

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Coordinates: 43°44′17″N 79°25′52″W / 43.738°N 79.4311°W / 43.738; -79.4311