Past Events

SHABBAT-HANUKKAH Services + Dinner

Friday, Dec 15
6pm – Doors Open; 6:15 – Services Start
@ Makom  402 College St

Registration Required by Tuesday night, Dec 12
$10 for Dinner (only $5 for Makom Members)

Celebrate Shabbat with spirit! Wind down from the week and welcome Shabbat with soulful, song-filled services, in which everyone can participate.

After services, we’ll enjoy a delicious, catered vegan Shabbat dinner together. Very limited space; register now.

Makom is a proud participant in the Synagogue Vegan Challenge, in which the Shamayim V’Aretz Institute for Animal Welfare and VegFund are subsidizing our all-vegan food for 5778.

CHANTING Seudah Shelishit + HAVDALAH

Saturday, Dec 9
3:30-5:30pm

@ Makom  402 College St
Kindly RSVP by Thurs, Dec 7

Chanting is a way of tuning the soul. Guided by Alon Nashman, we’ll sit in song and silence to open our portals to the divine as we prolong the beauty of Shabbat in sacred community.

In keeping with Izhbitz hasidic custom, our seudah shelishit – third meal of Shabbat – will focus on feeding our souls rather than our bodies as the sun sets and the room darkens, before concluding with havdalah.

Alon Nashman is an actor and creator of theatre. His work has toured across Canada and internationally and includes Charlotte: A Tri-Coloured Play with Music, which premiered at Luminato Festival; Hirsch, which premiered at the Stratford Festival; and Kafka and Son, which recently returned from a sold-out run in Edinburgh and an acclaimed run in New York. Alon is also a student of Rabbi Shefa Gold and Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, who have guided him in the ways of Jewish chant.

SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS from HANUKKAH

Wednesday, Dec 6
8-9:30pm
@ Makom 
 402 College St
PWYC; $15 suggested contribution,
$10 suggested for Makom Members
Register Now

What can Hanukkah teach us about about life and God’s role(s) in the world? Come learn and discuss with Rabbi Aaron how wisdom from Hanukkah can apply year-round.

Light vegan, kosher snacks will be served.
All are welcome!

Friday Night SERVICES and Special Kiddush

MAKOM IS TURNING 9! COME CELEBRATE WITH US!

Friday, Jan 12
6pm 
– Doors Open; 6:15 – Services Start
@ Makom  402 College St

Celebrate Shabbat with spirit! Wind down from the week and welcome Shabbat with soulful, song-filled services, in which everyone can participate.

Help us celebrate by sponsoring our special kiddush. Contact Rabbi Aaron to chip in $18, $99, or $999 (or any other amount).

Makom is a diverse and inclusive community that welcomes participants who espouse many different approaches to Judaism, from secular to traditionally observant. In order to join together as one community without regard to denominational labels, our services blend traditional and progressive practices. Both women and men lead different parts of services. We offer men’s, women’s, and mixed-seating sections. We need an egalitarian minyan of 10 Jews in the room + a non-overlapping traditional minyan of 10 men in the men’s section to start the maariv service, so we encourage you to come on time.

FENTSTER presents – Bernice Eisenstein | Nothing and All

November 24, 2017 – February 22, 2018
Opening Reception | Dec. 5 | 7 – 9pm | FREE

@ Makom  402 College St

Noted author of I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors and international-exhibiting artist Bernice Eisenstein opens the pages of her meditation on language, books and memory in a new site-specific installation. A long table is laid with an assortment of open books, each intricately manipulated and embellished by the artist who folds, paints, scribes and reinvents the pages of works by the likes of Albert Camus, Stefan Zweig and Robert Walser. Their poetic, philosophical writings are transformed into musings on “nothing and all,” a phrase drawn from a poem by Mark Strand. A large painted group portrait hangs in the window, based on a wedding photograph of the artist’s family taken on the cusp of the Second World War. Lost and unknown ancestors are audience to both this eclectic library and passersby on College Street. The painting and the exhibition as a whole become a palimpsest – an entirely new, pulsating creation revealing traces of what came before.

HAVDALLAH in Pajamas 

Saturday Dec. 2 2017
5:30-7pm

@ Makom  402 College St

RSVP: admin@makomto.org

Join us for our first annual Havdallah in Pajamas! We will end Shabbat with an musical havdallah, followed by crafts & games, coco & cookies. Bring a flashlight, pillow, blanket, stuffed animal, and of course, come in your favourite PJs!

Fun for kids up through grade 4 and their parent/caregiver

Hope to see you there!

FAMILY SHABBAT Services

Saturday, Nov 11
10 – 11am
@ Makom
 – 402 College St
Free

Join Us for A Family-Friendly Shabbat Morning Service!

For families of children in grades 1-4, Rabbi Emma will lead a participatory and engaging service with songs and stories. The weekly Torah portion will also be explored through a creative activity.

Spend Shabbat morning with your family while also getting to know other families in the Makom community!

SHABBAT MORNING Services

Saturday, Oct 28
9am-12pm

@ Makom  402 College St

Join us for Makom’s first-ever soulful and song-filled Shabbat morning services in our storefront!

Volunteers Needed! We need Torah & haftarah readers and service leaders. Contact Rabbi Aaron ASAP to pitch in.

Makom is a diverse and inclusive community that welcomes participants who espouse many different approaches to Judaism, from secular to traditionally observant. In order to join together as one community without regard to denominational labels, our services blend traditional and progressive practices. Both women and men lead different parts of services, read Torah & haftarah, and receive aliyot. We offer men’s, women’s, and mixed-seating sections. We need an egalitarian minyan of 10 Jews in the room + a non-overlapping traditional minyan of 10 men in the men’s section to start the maariv service, so we encourage you to come on time.

Should We Eat Animals? VEGANISM + JUDAISM Text Study + Discussion

Next Wednesday, Oct 25
8-9:30pm

@ Makom  402 College St
RSVP to admin@makomTO.org

We’ll explore diverse Jewish sources, from the Torah to modernity, on the ethics, halakhah (Jewish law), and kabbalah (mysticism) of eating animals, together with Rabbi Aaron.

Carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores are all welcome!  Please RSVP.

TORAH STUDY by the LAKE

8 Tuesdays, Oct 17-Dec 5
10am-12pm
65 Harbour Square 
(Queen’s Quay W & York St)
$200 for the series

In this lively and fast-paced Torah-study class, we’ll explore chapters 9 through 16 of Devarim (Deuteronomy, the 5th book of the Torah), with an eye to completing Devarim, and thus the whole Torah, by the end of May!

Guided by |Rabbi Aaron, our weekly learning will examine the Torah from a wide variety of ancient, medieval, and modern approaches: traditional and academic commentaries, literary and historical insights, and our own understandings and interpretations.

No prior Jewish learning experience or Hebrew necessary. Email Rabbi Aaron with any questions or to sign up.