Built in 1911 by the architectural firm Ellis and Connery, Knesseth Israel synagogue is situated on the corner of Maria and Shipman Streets in “The Junction” of west Toronto. The building is quietly tucked in amongst the encumbering railway lines to the north and the lively business community on Dundas Street West to the south. Harmonizing with this inconspicuous location is the Synagogue’s architecturally simple exterior.

Congregation Knesseth Israel is a modest building with a red brick facade, featuring minimal exterior ornamentation or grand architectural details. The chief exterior features are the windows and the main entrance. The circular windows on the north, west and south walls are divided into eighteen segments, symbolizing the numerical value for the Hebrew word for life: “chai”. The main entrance, located on the west side of the building, consists of a double-sided staircase leading up to two large wooden doors.

However, this simple exterior masks a traditionally elegant and decorative Eastern European interior. The building is two stories high, so the sanctuary is separated into two distinct levels. The women’s gallery on the top floor is a three-sided upper-level balcony, which provides the women of the congregation with ideal seating to observe the services being conducted below. The lower level of the sanctuary similarly has three sides of seating facing the center and is used to accommodate the men. The ark, or aron kodesh, depicting the Ten Commandments and housing the Torah scrolls, is situated against the eastern wall, so that, in accordance with religious law, the congregation always faces towards Jerusalem. In the center of the sanctuary stands the bimah, an elevated platform with four illuminated corners, from where the prayer services are conducted. Both the ark and the bimah are skillfully crafted in oak and were likely made by Heintzman cabinet-makers, many of whom were early members of the Synagogue.

The oak benches were designed to accommodate siddurim and tallisot by incorporating lockable drawers underneath the seats. This feature enabled the congregants to store their prayer books at the shul, as the Torah prohibits the transfer of objects from a private location to a public one on the Sabbath. Each bench is carved with a Magen David.

The artistically and delicately painted religious murals adorning the walls, the upper gallery, and the ceiling of the sanctuary complement the skillfully crafted ark, bimah and benches. The painting of the sanctuary did not take place until the end of the First World War, after the congregation had raised enough money to commission a painter. Until that time, the walls stood bare, gradually discolouring from the dust and smoke of passing trains on the nearby rail lines to the north. During the early 1920s, European painters were contracted to paint the murals in the Synagogue. Unfortunately, during this project, the oily rags used by the artists caught fire, causing extensive damage to the interior of the Synagogue. Distraught over the loss of the preliminary artwork, the artists refused to finish the painting. Hence, it is possible that someone else finished the work.

The walls of the lower sanctuary and the women’s gallery are painted to resemble marble and the curved ceiling is a pale blue featuring soft white clouds and stars. The twelve zodiac signs of the Hebrew calendar adorn the ceiling above the women’s gallery. Those signs representing the human form were altered in compliance with religious law, which prohibits human images within the Synagogue.

Perhaps the most impressive decoration in the sanctuary is the striking mural above the ark on the eastern wall. Large sweeping red drapes are painted above the ark, as if suspended from the ceiling and partially drawn open by gold braided ropes. The artwork revealed behind the drapes on the upper half of the wall represents a verse from “Pirkei Avot” (“Ethics of the Fathers”): “Be as bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer and strong as a lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven.1” Musical instruments, such as a trumpet, violin, and harp, are skillfully stenciled on the lower half of the wall.

The basement was once a smaller sanctuary, originally used for daily services and functions. It is now a modest school room, or cheder, used for Sunday Hebrew school. The mikvah, although still on site, is no longer in use. On the grounds outside the Synagogue during Sukkot stands a sukkah, which is decorated and used for the celebration of the holiday.

Understandably, the years of railway pollution had left its mark on the Synagogue, and by the early 1990s, Knesseth Israel was restored to its former elegance. Toronto philanthropist Joey Tanenbaum generously funded the restoration in honour of his grandparents Abraham and Chippa Sura Tanenbaum, early members of the Synagogue. Today, Knesseth Israel stands as a testament to the Jewish history of the Junction. The Synagogue still occupies the same building, and in 1984 the shul was designated an historic site under the Ontario Heritage Act.

1. http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/Eng/Heritage/plaques/2001/oct01.shtml

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