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Community – Westmount Shul & Learning Centre
Caring – Westmount Shul & Learning Centre
Warm and Welcoming – Westmount Shul & Learning Centre
High Holidays, Shabbat, Life Cycle Celebrations – Westmount Shul & Learning Centre
Westmount Shul & Learning Centre – That's us.
 Hi!
My name is Rabbi Yossi Michalowicz, and I would like to personally invite
you to join our Shul and community. Join in the fun, the warmth and
power. The Westmount Shul was founded by a handful of young families over
twelve years ago. Today there are over a hundred and fifty active member families
and more than a twelve hundred people who join us for High Holidays. We meet
in rented facilities in Westmount Collegiate High School every Shabbat
and on Holidays. We also have a weekday location on Centre St., west
of Bathurst. We hope to be moving into our new facility in the fall of this year.
As the Rabbi of the Westmount Shul and Learning Centre I invite you to join us on our journey of growth. We need
people like you, willing to think, willing to grow, willing to help.
People who want to feel inspired and help inspire others. People who
want to feel “nachas” from themselves, their families, and
community.
The Westmount Shul and Learning Centre is a welcoming
place where Jews of all ages and affiliations join with a sense of purpose
and vision. Two words sum up our primary goal – Tikun Olam, or
said in English – Making the world a better place.
Whether it be your inner world or the greater world in which we live,
we are all about caring and making positive differences in your unique
and individual way. At Westmount everyone counts and we encourage everyone's
participation and input. Our programs, classes and prayer service reflect
the diverse needs and potentials of our members. Classes in kabbalah
to cooking, parenting to parsha, camping trips, wine making, and missions
to Israel. Reaching out to the needs of the greater community through
our learning centre's Kids “We Care” and Westmount Women “We Can Make a
Difference”.
This congregation is different because it tailors the Shabbat and Holiday
services to meet everyone's spiritual needs. There is singing, there
is dancing, there is learning on multiple levels and choices of educational
and traditional prayer services to fit almost everyon's level of knowledge
and observance.
What about the children? Most people find it a challenge to drag the
kids out on a Saturday morning. But not at Westmount. There is a host
of educational and entertaining programs on Shabbat for every age level
from pre-school through teen-agers. There is a Youth Minyan for kids only, followed by a hot, delicious Kiddush. Most importantly, our youth directors
care deeply about each and every each child.
They know all their names and go out of thier way to make new children
feel welcome. The children wake up eagerly to bring their parents to
Shul.
And when the morning is over, we cap it off with an amazing kiddush,
serving piping hot cholent! Kiddush time is real socializing time, where
new and old friends get together. People have such a good time - most
congregants not leaving until after 1:00 pm.
However, a Shul must mean much more. There must be a sense of community
that extends beyond the Shabbat morning experience. We are a congregation
that prays hard, learns hard, and parties hard! When it comes time for
recreational activities, we enjoy being with our friends from Shul.
We go out to the country often and enjoy G-d's world in the way he intended,
without resorting to cheap commercial thrills.
A typical Sunday outdoor event will host over 200 people as many young
families get together over a pot- luck dinner singing campfire songs.
Our Purim Parties are legendary.
Our community also does things that no other Shul would ever dream of.
Just recently we bottled our first Vintage of Wine [called “Givat
Ma'arav”, which means “Westmount”] that was lovingly pressed
by our children during a Fall Colours Festival. Every congregant will
be able to make Kiddush this Passover over a wine that we as a community
produced.
And G-d forbid, in times of tragedy and sorrow, we mourn together as
a community. No one sits Shiva without the congregation being there
for them in every sense. Only during times like this does one realize
how valuable a community of friends is, when you need not worry if there
will be a minyan for services, meals provided, and much needed tender
loving words of condolence.
In short, a Shul should be a community where everyone grows according
to his and her level, and at a pace with which they are comfortable.
A Shul should be a place where the broader community is reached out
to and made to feel comfortable whenever they visit. A Shul should be
a place where the congregants honour their Rabbi and where the Rabbi
honours his congregants. A Shul should be a place that you excitedly
run to and reluctantly leave. And even when you leave, you never feel
away from it. The Westmount Shul is that and much, much more. Come visit
us and be part of the excitement!
Please contact me directly at 905.482.9488 or send an email to rabbi@westmountshul.com.
I am greatly looking forward to meeting you.
Rabbi Yossi Michalowicz
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