DN: The Early Years - Reflections from Ron & Debbie Cowitz
09/08/2016 11:29:58 AM
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Memories of a Beginning
We remember one evening in the early ‘60s when Harvey Freeman called us and asked if we knew anything about Reconstructionism. Of course we answered in the negative He said that it was a fourth movement in Judaism in America and that a group of people were meeting to discuss it and would we like to attend. We agreed and attended with the Freemans at the Chernick’s house (Aviva Chernick’s grandparents). We attended several meetings and became very interested in the Movement.
Several of us decided to form a Study Group and it became our Reconstructionist Chavurah and we all asked our friends to join with us. The Chavurah continued for some time with monthly meetings. We attended the Reconstructionist convention in Montreal in 1967 and became more inspired after meeting Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan and other “big machers” in the Movement. We remember Rabbi Manny Goldsmith coming to Toronto and talking to our Chavurah about the Movement.
We remember that sometime later Rabbi Lavy Becker put an ad in a Toronto paper and called a meeting at the Park Plaza Hotel for interested people. We believe that the Mendelsohns were at that meeting when Rabbi Becker strongly suggested that the attendees start with Yom Tov services that fall. We joined with them and others and had services at the Bathurst JCC with a Torah donated by Rabbi Becker and Dorshei Emet Congregation of Montreal.
We remember that the Torah rested in the basement of the Cowitz residence wrapped in a flannel sheet and was carefully carried to our various places of worship (e.g. the basement of Town House Restaurant on Eglinton Avenue, the Diet Workshop premises in an office building at Bathurst and Wilson, the Zionist building on Marlee Avenue, York Mills Collegiate where we held Yom Tov services, a Greek Orthodox Church on Bayview Avenue, also for Yom Tov Services, Congregation Habonim, the Bathurst JCC, the “pit” and the main hall at the B’nai B’rith, and finally at our downstairs premises at 15 Hove St.) We remember that at the beginning there was never a dream about having our own building or a children’s school.
We remember a meeting with Rabbi Ira Eisenstein at our house and the various rabbis from RRC who attended at the Cowitz hotel (Rabbi Allan Lehman, Rabbis Joel and Rebecca Alpert, Rabbi Ron Aigen, and Rabbi David Teutsch who visited with us) We also remember Rabbi Joy Levitt who was our first student rabbi who came to us on a regular monthly basis.
We remember the shul (now named Darchei Noam – the name suggested by Eric Mendelsohn, we believe) decided to incorporate and I (Ron) completed the legal work and obtained our Charter which is now in our archives.
We remember especially October 4th, 1975 when our daughter Risa became the first Bat Mitzvah in the shul (Parsha Bereshit), and our late friend Rabbi Sol Tannenzapf conducted the services that Shabbat at the JCC. We also remember we mimeographed the first Supplementary Readings for the shul which included the Parsha because there were too few chumashim available.
We remember all the Rabbonim who helped us along the way and especially Rabbi Richard Hirsch, who still visits with us every Yom Tov, with his “list of 10” to keep us focused on our changing world.
We remember settling in at 15 Hove Street and the move to our present quarters on Sheppard Avenue.
The rest is history.
Photo from the files of Ron and Debbie Cowitz
Thu, 28 March 2024
18 Adar II 5784
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