First Narayever Congregation is a traditional-egalitarian

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

located at 187 Brunswick Avenue, in the

Harbord Village Harbord Village is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It lies just to the west of the University of Toronto, with its most commonly accepted borders being Bloor Street on the north, Spadina Avenue on the east, College Street to the sout ...

neighbourhood of

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada. It is the largest

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

congregation in downtown Toronto. It was founded by the Jewish immigrants from Narayiv, western

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, hence the Yiddish name "Narayever". Founded by 1914 as an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

synagogue by Galician immigrants to Toronto, it was a ''

landsmanshaft A landsmanshaft ( yi, לאַנדסמאַנשאַפט, also landsmanschaft; plural: landsmanshaftn) is a mutual aid society, benefit society, or hometown society of Jewish immigrants from the same European town or region. History The Landsmanshaf ...

'', an association whose members had immigrated from the same town, in this case the town of Naraiev. The congregation originally met in a rented building at the corner of Huron and Dundas. In 1943, the congregation acquired and moved to its current building on Brunswick which had previously been Bethel Church and originally a

Foresters A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...

' Lodge.History
, First Narayever Congregation website. Accessed July 17, 2011. In the decades following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, many of the congregants followed the rest of the Jewish community as it moved up Bathurst Street north of St. Clair Avenue, but some continued to travel downtown to attend the synagogue. Other Jews who had remained in the neighbourhood began attending after their own synagogues moved north. Younger professionals and more liberal members joined the congregation in the 1970s and 1980s and, after the older generation retired from the synagogue's board in 1983, an alternative egalitarian service was introduced downstairs while the Orthodox service continued in the main sanctuary. As attendance for the Orthodox service dwindled to the point that it was unable to attract a ''

minyan In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( he, מניין \ מִנְיָן ''mīnyān'' , lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Jud ...

'', the egalitarian service moved upstairs and the synagogue began attracting more new members and went in a new direction, and is today unaffiliated with any larger

Jewish religious movement Jewish religious movements, sometimes called " denominations", include different groups within Judaism which have developed among Jews from ancient times. Today, the most prominent divisions are between traditionalist Orthodox movements (includin ...

. Narayever today follows traditional ''

halakha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

'' except in making no distinction on the basis of gender
The Lev Shalem siddur
forms the basis of the liturgy. In 2009, the congregation voted to endorse the celebration of

same-sex marriages Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

. Ed Elkin has been the congregation's

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

since 2000.Rabbi Ed Elkin
, First Narayever Congregation website. Accessed July 17, 2011.

References

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External links

First Narayever Congregation of Toronto
from the Ontario Jewish Archives 1914 establishments in Ontario Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Toronto Ashkenazi synagogues Jewish Galician (Eastern Europe) history Jewish organizations established in 1914 LGBT synagogues in Canada Religious buildings and structures in Toronto Synagogues completed in 1943 Synagogues in Toronto Ukrainian-Canadian culture in Ontario Ukrainian-Jewish diaspora Unaffiliated synagogues Yiddish culture in Canada LGBT and Judaism