On Canada Day weekend, two synagogues in Toronto were attacked in a series of window smashes

When members of Toronto’s Pride of Israel synagogue showed up for Sunday prayers on the morning of June 30, in the middle of the Canada Day long weekend, they were shocked to discover several broken windows, holes in the stained glass windows, and stones scattered on the bimah.

The congregation stood there for a moment, confused and disappointed. But that did not stop them from holding their service at 9 a.m.

“We’re going to keep going,” Carl Zeliger, vice president of the congregation, told the CJN by phone as he heard the sound of shattering glass beneath his feet. “Our service went on today. All (the vandal) accomplished was maybe a five-minute delay in the start of our service. We’re going to keep going. That’s not going to help them.”

The building’s caretaker, located near the intersection of Steeles Ave. and Bathurst St., didn’t notice the damage until he arrived at 8 a.m. Police were called at 8:30 a.m. A team of forensic officers collected evidence for several hours before giving the municipality the green light to begin cleanup.

The attack is believed to have occurred earlier in the morning. A resident told Zeliger that they were awakened by a loud bang just before 3 a.m. According to Zeliger, the neighbor looked out the window and saw a helmeted motorcyclist speeding away. The neighbor then called police at 3:02 a.m., according to a Toronto Police Service press release.

Police added that they believe the same suspect attacked the Kehillat Shaarei Torah synagogue at 3:30 a.m., throwing another rock at a window. This was the third such attack on the building at the corner of Bayview Ave. and Fifeshire Rd. since mid-April, in addition to the incident involving a dead raccoon left in the synagogue’s parking lot.

Michael Gilmore, executive director of Kehillat Shaarei Torah, confirmed to The CJN that video cameras recorded the motorcyclist stopping in front of their synagogue, taking two small items from his pockets and throwing them at their windows.

However, since the synagogue’s windows had not yet been repaired after the previous attack, the latest suspect simply threw the objects at the polycarbonate covers that protected the already shattered glass.

“These three separate attacks have summed up the very real and present dangers that the Jewish community across Canada faces on a daily basis,” Gilmore told The CJN. “Fortunately, like Jewish generations before us, we stand together as a community, stronger, more united and with a greater sense of purpose than ever before.”

In its press release, Toronto police confirmed that they are treating the investigation as a “suspected hate crime” and will increase police presence in both areas.

The damage to the Pride of Israel building, Zeliger says, “is pretty significant.” The attacker threw two large, heavy rocks through the windows above the main entrance. They also threw a few smaller rocks that pierced (but did not shatter) the stained glass windows leading to the sanctuary. Those rocks landed on the bimah.

In addition, the attacker apparently tried to break a glass door with another stone, but the door held.

By Sunday afternoon, community members had already contacted professionals to repair the glass and immediately contacted their insurance company to have their safety records reviewed.

The origins of the Pride of Israel Synagogue date back to 1905, when the Pride of Israel Sick Benefit Society was founded in a house on Chestnut Street in downtown Toronto. The grassroots organization sent doctors and money to congregants who were sick or in need. The congregation, which describes itself as “traditionally conservative” yet independent of any Jewish denomination, eventually moved to its current building in North York in 1969.

Zeliger believes his name was partly responsible for making the terrorist group a target in the long period after October 7.

“If you consider this to be anything other than anti-Semitism, then I think you have not recognized the reality of today,” he says. “My parents were Holocaust survivors. That hurts. I love my parents, but I’m glad they don’t have to experience this anymore.”

With this incident, Pride of Israel is the latest in a wave of anti-Semitic attacks that has swept across Canada. Jewish buildings in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and many other cities are repeatedly set on fire, shot at and vandalized.

What impressed Zeliger most was the fact that this happened on the eve of July 1.

“We Canadians should be happy about who we are and where we are. But that includes people of all races, colours, religions, etc. That this happened on a Canada Day weekend is truly an insult to everyone. It basically means that our values ​​mean nothing. I would really like the silent majority to come to terms with that. We have to do better. We can make Canada a better country.”