Historic Stained-glass Windows Preserved as Toronto Congregation Readies to Bid Shalom to Old Synagogue

TORONTO – On St. Clair Avenue West, between Winona Drive and Atlas Avenue, demolition workers are getting ready to tear down a decrepit building.

Many in the area think it’s about time.

“It’s our white elephant,” was the description from a neighbouring business owner.

“What an eyesore,” muttered one man recently as he quickly walked past.

It’s hard to disagree. The yellow bricks are dull and faded. Weeds grow out of the old structure’s concrete front steps and most of the windows are cracked and broken.

Still, a few blue stars shine in the borders of what is left of the old stained-glass windows. They are the last hints of the building’s origins.

“I remember when I took my mother to show her in the late ‘40s, she said ‘You’re taking me up to the farmland!’” recalls Al G. Brown, a longtime member and former president of what was then Toronto’s largest Orthodox congregation, Shaarei Shomayim. He was taking her to visit the congregation’s first synagogue.

“The area at that time was just turning, as far as the Jewish people were concerned, because they were first living down around the Queen, Dundas, and Harbord area, up to Bloor. Shaarei Shomayim really pioneered by going up to St. Clair.”

Designed by popular Jewish architects of the day, Kaplan and Sprachman, the large auditorium of the synagogue was built without supporting posts to allow an unobstructed view from any seat. The Holy Ark was built from black Italian marble.

The most outstanding features were the stained-glass windows. They depicted different aspects of Jewish life and history. One of the windows, designed by the congregation’s own Rabbi Judah Washer, was directly inspired by the proclamation of the State of Israel, and it was believed to be the first of its kind in the world.

That particular window includes images of modern Jews cultivating the soil of Israel, the Wailing Wall and a Hebrew inscription that reads “And let our eyes behold thy return in mercy to Zion.”

“The stained-glass windows were beautiful,” Mr. Brown says. “There were 12 of them and when the sun was shining it really was something in the shule. They gave the auditorium some real life.”

t was in March of 1931 that a handful of members of Toronto’s The Brothers of Jacob congregation parted ways to form what would become Shaarei Shomayim, the Hillcrest congregation. They would meet at the rented Talmud Torah, a place of study, at 563 Christie Street, a house just north of St. Clair.

As the congregation grew, a permanent residence became a necessity. The congregation tried to buy the Christie Street location it was using, but when a building permit was denied by the city, the purchase was dropped.

By 1934, the Hillcrest congregation had changed its name to Shaarei Shomayim and $5,525 had been paid for land at 840 St. Clair West.

Construction began immediately and the first High Holiday service was held in 1936 in the basement of the incomplete building.

Still, even with funds in place to finish the synagogue, a wartime ban on “essential war materials” stalled the effort.

By 1944, a social hall had been erected and was used for services by the growing congregation. But it would take another four years before the 50,000 square foot synagogue would officially open, with the premier of Ontario and mayor in attendance.

“New Synagogue, Dream of Years, Cost $500,000,” read a headline on the Globe and Mail article about the opening in October of 1948. The article was complete with a photo of Rabbi Washer and the congregation’s president at the time, David Cainer, at the Holy Ark. Behind the two men, clearly displayed, is the “State of Israel” window.

By the time of the official opening, the congregation had attracted a unique group of Toronto’s Jewish families.

“The early membership was a real cross-section of people,” Mr. Brown says. “At least 50% were not necessarily Orthodox, but wanted to belong to an Orthodox shule.”

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After the long struggle to build the synagogue, the congregation would stay only another 18 years. By 1966, the Jewish community had largely moved even further north.

“By that time the area already was changing and the Jewish people were moving further north, some of them going right up to Thornhill,” Mr. Brown says.

Recognizing the shift, the shule decided to relocate. A parcel of land was purchased on Glencairn Ave. near Bathurst and Eglinton and the St. Clair building was sold to Hungarian House, an organization serving Toronto’s Hungarian community.

Late last year, the building was bought by Toronto-based developer Urbancorp for $5.5-million.