Temple Israel (Ottawa)

Temple Israel is situated at 1301 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 1N2.[1] The congregation identifies itself as Ottawa's only Reform Jewish synagogue and an active member of the Union for Reform Judaism, connecting it to the broader Reform movement in North America, Israel, and around the world.[3] Its stated institutional commitments include Kehilah (community), K'lal Yisrael (the unity of the Jewish people), and Tikun Olam (repairing the world).[3]

The synagogue describes its membership as a diverse group encompassing young families, seniors, singles, LGBTQ people, and interfaith families.[5] Worship services are characterized as inclusive and welcoming, and the congregation offers them both in person and virtually, typically via Facebook Live.[5] A 2005 congregation notice stated that membership fees were geared to income, first-year members could choose what to pay, and members under 30 could join free for their first year.[6] The congregation is also listed among Ottawa Jewish organizations offering afternoon Jewish education programs.[7]

Temple Israel held its first religious service and Oneg Shabbat on December 2, 1966, at the auditorium of W.E. Gowling Public School, when the congregation numbered 17 member families.[1] That inaugural service was conducted by Rabbi Michael Stroh of Toronto's Holy Blossom Temple.[2] On March 12, 1967, the congregation's constitution was ratified, the name Temple Israel was formally chosen, and membership had already grown to 29 families.[1] During 1967 the congregation also launched its religious school, formed a choir, and held its first consecration service.[1]

The congregation moved into the James Street Synagogue in September 1971, its first home after years of meeting in borrowed spaces.[1] Less than a year after that move, a destructive fire struck the building.[7] The congregation then began constructing a permanent home at 1301 Prince of Wales Drive. Its groundbreaking ceremony took place on April 27, 1975, and construction of the bimah and Ner Tamid was completed in 1980.[1] By 1974 membership had reached 80 families, climbing to 300 families by 1988 and surpassing 385 families in later years.[1]

The congregation celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1991 and its 40th anniversary in 2006.[1] The 40th-anniversary program featured four lectures by University of Toronto professor Harold Troper examining issues that Canadian Jewry faced during Temple Israel's four decades, as well as lectures by Professor Rachael Turkienicz on women's spirituality, Jewish pluralism, and the women of Hanukkah.[4] A 1982 advertisement described Temple Israel as an "active, growing congregation of 250 families" with a religious school running from nursery through Grade 10, and a range of social, educational, and humanitarian activities.[8]

Rabbi Daniel Mikelberg serves as Temple Israel's senior rabbi and spiritual leader.[9] Before coming to Ottawa, he served at Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto and Temple Sholom of Vancouver; he is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis board and chairs the Reform Rabbis of Canada.[9]

Rabbi Steven Garten became rabbi emeritus in June 2014 after 19 years as senior rabbi and continues to lead regular Torah and Talmud study at the congregation.[9] Garten was ordained at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1975, previously served as a congregational rabbi in Los Angeles and at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, and also served as director and rabbi-in-residence at the Leo Baeck Hebrew Day School.[10] His appointment at Temple Israel followed extensive community discussions and a comprehensive congregational search; the congregation organized informal "Garten Parties" to encourage member participation and discussion of priorities.[10] David Malecki serves as part-time cantor.[9]

The Temple Israel Religious School serves students from junior and senior kindergarten (Gan) through Grade 10.[11] The elementary program covers Jewish holidays, community, Jewish and Israel culture, prayer, and Hebrew, and incorporates field trips, outdoor education, and hands-on learning.[11] The high-school program includes life-cycle mitzvah preparation, social-justice projects, guest speakers, class trips, music, and confirmation preparation.[11] Special-needs students are also included in the school community.[6]

Adult-education offerings include a Thursday-morning minyan, Saturday-morning Torah study, a Wednesday Talmud class led by Rabbi Garten, and a Books and Bagels program.[12] A committed core of students and community members had been studying Talmud together for more than 20 years when this program description was published.[12]

Temple Israel holds Czech Holocaust Torah Scroll No. 355 on loan from the Memorial Scrolls Trust of Westminster Synagogue in England.[13] The scroll originated in Dvůr Králové in Bohemia around 1850; the local synagogue was abandoned in 1949 and demolished in 1966.[13] The congregation dances with the scroll on Simchat Torah, chants from it during holidays, reads from it at Holocaust-related occasions, and teaches B'nai Mitzvah students about its history.[13]

This is Temple Israel's second Holocaust Torah scroll. The first loan, Scroll No. 132 from the České Budějovice district of Bohemia — written in 1870 and arranged in 1968 by Rabbi Powell — was destroyed in the fire that consumed the James Street Synagogue in 1972.[13] A portion of that scroll was saved, framed, and is now displayed in the Prince of Wales Drive synagogue.[13] Rabbi Gerber subsequently arranged the replacement loan of Scroll No. 355.[13]

Temple Israel has hosted major regional youth programming through the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY). On one occasion, more than 200 teenagers from the Great Lakes region, representing 20 Reform temples, participated in a Mitzvah Corps Fall Kallah held over a November weekend — described as the first NFTY-NEL event in Ottawa since 2000 and the largest in recent memory.[14]

The congregation has also engaged in international youth exchange through a program called P2K, in which nine Israeli teenagers from northern Israel visited Ottawa for a week and were paired with Temple Israel youth.[4] The program included shared activities, Chanukah candle lighting, a family festival, and a teen dance.[4] The synagogue's Havorim social committee has organized art showcases featuring works by congregation members across a wide range of media, including watercolors, photography, sculpture, and Judaica needlepoint, open free to the public.[6]

Temple Israel is listed among the Canadian network members of the Anti-Defamation League's Kulanu: Synagogues in Action Against Antisemitism program.[15]

Temple Israel formed a Truth and Reconciliation Task Force in response to Call to Action No. 49 of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.[16] The task force examines Indigenous issues through a Jewish lens, with a particular focus on the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation in the Ottawa area, and seeks to build meaningful, lifelong relationships with Indigenous peoples.[16] In 2022 the task force commissioned an artwork titled The Land Is Our Teacher, co-created by Temple member Michael Parkin and Simon Brascoupé of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation; the work hangs prominently in the synagogue and is presented as a representation of shared Jewish and Indigenous cultures, values, and teachings.[16]

In 2021 the congregation also established an Anti-Racism Task Force, initially concentrating on anti-Black racism and on strengthening inclusion for Jews of Colour.[16]

Temple Israel Congregation has an affiliated burial section at Jewish Memorial Gardens Ottawa, located at the Osgoode Cemetery in Greely, Ontario.[17] The JewishGen cemetery inventory records 155 burials in this section; the data were placed online on July 10, 2011.[17]