High holidays in Montreal?

August 28, 2010 9:15 AM

JewishMontrealFilter: Help a liberal but Jewish adopted Montrealer find a minyan, specifically for the high holidays but hopefully for after as well.

I'm looking for somewhere to go to services for the high holidays in Montreal. I know about Ghetto Shul, and while I'm willing to deal with an orthodox service, the mechitza really puts me off. (And anyway, a female Muslim friend wants to know what Yom Kippur is all about this year.)

Ideally, I'd be able to find one of the nondenominational, egalitarian minyanim like they have in New York. I've been going to Kolot Rabbim at McGill, but I'm beginning to feel too old to go back to McGill every year. I'm based in the Plateau, but willing to use transportation/energy to go elsewhere in the city (within reason).

So, to recap: does anyone have an idea where in Montreal I could go to observe the high holidays in a relatively liberal way?

posted by cinoyter to Religion & Philosophy (3 answers total)

Best answer: Yay Kolot Rabbim! (Which tends to get a decent number of non-students for HH services, at least, if they're running them this year).

Do you know about Dorshei Emet? It's reconstructionist, but, Montreal style, it's a more traditional service than many reconstructionist synagogues run. They have their own siddurim and machzors, that I believe KR has used in the past if they're not still using. If you travel on the chagim, it's a really nice option (not super convenient even with transit, but still nice).

Shaar HaShomayim is traditional and separate seating, and I'm not crazy about their style of services (old school, choir, formal, etc), but it's definitely an experience. They don't have a traditional mechitza - men are in the middle and women are along either side, elevated. They tend to get their rabbis from Chovevei, at least lately, and though they specifically don't affiliate, modern orthodox is not a bad general description.

Of course there's the reform synagogue too, on Sherbrooke, I don't know anything about their high holiday services though.

I don't know about any independent minyanim. There used to a be a chavurah that might be still around. I never went, my impression is that it's very very liberal and it's part of the original havurah movement, not the new independent minyan scene. I don't know any more about them but I'm sure they could be found.
posted by Salamandrous at 12:05 PM on August 28, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for your help! You've given me a few solid leads.
posted by cinoyter at 8:41 PM on August 29, 2010

I'm a temporary Montrealer stranded here for Rosh Hashanah, and the people at Shaare Zion couldn't have been more welcoming. I can't give you a first-hand review yet, but they're described as egalitarian Conservative which is promising (specifically, women and men are equal on the bimah; it looks like women wear talleisim too). If you're a student, you can attend the high holidays for free. It'd be a bit further for you, but it's quite close to both Snowdon and Villa Maria metro stations.

If you are/were a McGill student, you could also contact Hillel to ask for recommendations. They were really good at matching me with my requested type of shul.
posted by Anali at 3:05 PM on September 5, 2010