- Ottawa Jewish Archives
- Ottawa Jewish Historical Society fonds
- The history of Temple Israel in Ottawa - Reform Judaism
The history of Temple Israel in Ottawa - Reform Judaism
Description only — contact the archiveO0045
- Held by
- Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
- Dates
- June 21, 1998 (indexed as 1998)
- Level
- item
- Scope & content
- Subject: Reform Movement in Ottawa Interviewer: N/A Date: June 21 1998 Interview Location: Ottawa, ON Length of Time: 33:55 -Bill Danson is detailing the history of the reform movement in Ottawa. -Bill begins with the origins of the movement itself, The movement began in Germany in the early 19th century. The first reform temple was opened in Hamburg in 1812. Issac Wise began the movement in the United States in 1873. In 1883 the first four Rabbis were ordained. -The first reform church in Canada was Anshe Sholom in Hamilton. Followed closely by Holy Blossom in Toronto. -The Canadian Council of Liberal Congregations was founded in 1956. This is the governing body of the reform movement and when founded oversaw 25 congregations. -Bill moved from Toronto to Ottawa in 1962. -In 1964 The Canadian Council of Liberal Congregations held their first meeting in Ottawa to promote the formation of a reform congregation in Ottawa. The council selected 5 couples from other cities to move to Ottawa and begin this process. -In 1966 Bill was having lunch with a friend and expressed his desire to form a congregation here, he was then put in touch with Ernie Potechin. Ernie was someone at B’nai Brith Lodge who was also pushing for this movement. The two of them contacted people interested and the first meeting was held at Ernie’s house. -From this meeting they formed the Jewish Reform Congregation of Ottawa. They informed the Canadian Council of Liberal Congregations and received support from many congregations in other cities. -Bill also touches on the opposition they received from some people. He speaks of one couple who left the organization out of fear that the RCMP would come after them. -On December 2, 1966 the first religious service was held at W.E. Gowling Public School. And the congregation consisted of 29 families. -In the spring of 1967 the name Temple Israel was chosen and the congregation began to organize a religious school. They brought in Arthur Benjamin and he worked hard to open the school in September of 1967. -The congregation at this time was using multiple locations to host services. -In 1971 they purchased the James Street Synagogue. Unfortunately in October of 1972 the building was badly damaged in a fire. -Bill talks about how after the fire they felt the overwhelming support of congregations in both Canada and the United States. -Temple Israel began looking for a new location and decided to build a temple on Prince of Wales Drive. Construction began in 1975. -Bill concludes by saying how the congregation has grown and thanking those who supported it in the beginning, he then opens the talk up for a question period. END OF TAPE
- Location
- James St · street · confidence 50% · street · found as “James Street”
- Wales Ave · street · confidence 50% · street · found as “Wales Drive”
Where
More details
- Extent
- CD (transferred from cassette by Baseline Nov 2010)
- Genre / form
- sound recording
- Format
- Audio
- Harvested
- 2026-10-17T20:12:50Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn