Programs - Makom

Sep 28: Havdalah, Seliẖot, Days of Awe Singalong & Dessert

Let’s conclude Shabbat together with a musical havdalah, and then socialize over dessert. We’ll kick off the High Holiday season with a singalong to learn stirring holiday melodies, followed by the powerful prayers of Selihot.

  • 9:00 PM: Doors open
  • 9:15 (sharp): Musical Havdalah
  • 9:30 PM: Dessert & socializing
  • 10:00 PM: High Holiday Tunes Singalong
  • 10:30 PM: Seliẖot Service
  • Midnight: Lilah Tov ~ Goodnight!

Seliẖot are special penitential prayers recited on the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. They’re also a great opportunity to learn some of the prayers and melodies we’ll use on those Days of Awe.

This event is free! Donations are greatly appreciated.

Accessibility

Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the downstairs washroom and playroom are not. There are wheelchair accessible washrooms one block away at the coffee shop on the corner of Bathurst and College. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.

Become a Makom Member first and save 10%.

Sep 13: Friday Night Services + Shabbat Dinner

Orange Hebrew letters on a white background spelling the words Shabbat Shalom. The letters look like a worn block print, and faint purple outlines and scribbles are visible beneath the orange letters.

Wind down from the week with us! Everyone can participate in welcoming Shabbat with soulful, song-filled services. Afterwards we’ll enjoy a delicious kosher vegan Shabbat dinner, and each other’s warm company.

Friday September 13
7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
@Makom (map)
Please register for dinner by Thursday, September 12. There’s no need to register if you’re coming just for services. [Note: Dinner reservations are sold out!]

Shabbat dinner is generously sponsored by Harry Koster and Murray Newman in honour of the 18th yahrtzeit of Harry’s late mother and Tamar Goldberg’s great aunt, Shoshana bat Hinda u-Tzvi, yehi zikhrah barukh – may her memory be a blessing.

Services

Please try to come on time for services at 7:00. Those who wish may light candles upon arrival until 7:30.

Makom is a diverse and inclusive community that welcomes participants with many different approaches to Judaism, from secular to traditionally observant. Our services blend traditional and progressive practices, so our community can join together without regard to denominational labels. 

We offer men’s, women’s, and mixed (all-genders) seating sections. All genders may lead parts of services. We need an egalitarian minyan of 10 Jews and a non-overlapping traditional minyan of 10 men to start the maariv service, so we encourage you to come on time.

Accessibility Information

Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. There are wheelchair accessible washrooms one block away. at the coffee shop on the corner of Bathurst and College. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.

Become a Makom Member first and save 10%.

Aug 17: Shabbat Morning Services + Lunch

Saturday August 17
9:30am – 2:30pm
@Makom (map)
Register for lunch by Thursday, Aug 15

Join us for soulful and song-filled Shabbat morning services, followed by delicious Shabbat lunch!

Supervised childcare will be provided in Makom’s playroom during services.

Lunch registration required; services don’t require registration.

We have various price options so that finances aren’t an impediment to anyone’s participation.

Become a Makom Member first and save 10%.

Please try to come on time so we can start services strong with a double minyan,* especially for anyone saying kaddish.

Aug 12: Tishah be-Av Evening Services and Eikhah Reading

Monday August 12
8:30 – 10:00pm
@Makom (map)
Bring Food or $$ to Donate + Flashlight
No registration required

Please join us for a powerful, contemplative evening marking historical Jewish loss and ongoing brokenness in the world as we usher in Tishah be-Av, the ninth day of the lunar month of Av. This date marks the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem and other tragedies in Jewish history. It is traditionally observed with fasting, refraining from wearing leather, and other mourning customs. (For more background, see here.)

We’ll pray the brief evening service and listen to the Biblical book of Eikhah/Lamentations, hauntingly chanted by community members. We’ll also sing somber songs; read kinnot (elegies) for ancient calamities, the Holocaust, and October 7; and chant niggunim (wordless melodies). 

As signs of mourning, it’s customary to sit on the floor of the synagogue with the lights dimmed, so please bring a flashlight

Please BRING FOOD or CASH for our neighbours at Fort York Food Bank, in keeping with the spirit of Isaiah 58:6-7, “This is the fast I desire… It is to share your bread with the hungry.” Fresh produce, grains, and canned or boxed foods are all welcome, as are cash donations.

Doors open at 8:30pm; services begin promptly at 8:45.

FYI, the fast begins Monday at sunset,8:24pm, and ends Tuesday at nightfall, 9:11pm.

Aug 7-28: Zman Nakat Jewish Mindfulness Course

Ari Kaplan is teaching a four-class Jewish mindfulness course in August called Zman Nakat, based on their book Toronto Method Mindfulness Handbook: Six Lessons in Embodied and Compassionate Meditation. This will be held on Wednesday evenings from 7:30-8:30pm ET (Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28) at neySHEV (“we SIT”) –online Jewish meditation community.

During each one-hour live online class, you will learn Judaic mnemonics for mindful presence and self-compassion using familiar prompts from the Jewish tradition, and sit in guided and silent meditation.

Enrolment is limited. To express interest and/or sign up, please send an email to info@kaplanlaw.ca. Suggested cost for the course is $100 (+HST) (sliding scale) and payment can also be made by subscribing to neySHEV, as you are able.

July 20: Shabbat Morning Services + Lunch

Join us for soulful and song-filled Shabbat morning services, followed by Shabbat lunch!

Supervised childcare will be provided in Makom’s playroom during services.

Lunch registration required by Thursday, July 18 at 10AM! Register here

We have various price options so that finances aren’t an impediment to anyone’s participation.

Become a Makom Member first and save 10%.

Services don’t require registration.

Please try to come on time so we can start services strong with a double minyan,* especially for anyone saying kaddish.

*As a diverse and inclusive Jewish community, Makom has mens’, womens’, and all-genders’ seating sections. Female, male, and gender non-binary Jews can lead parts of services, read and be called up to the Torah, and count in our double minyanim of both 10 Jewish men and 10 Jews regardless of gender. Makom services follow the traditional Ashkenazi liturgy (prayer text).

Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. There are wheelchair accessible washrooms one block away at the coffee shop at the corner of Bathurst and College. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.

July 5: Friday Night Services + Shabbat Dinner

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 kosher vegan Shabbat dinner and each other’s warm company.

Become a Makom Member first and save 10%.

Dinner registration required by Thursday, July 4.

No need to register if you’re coming just for services and not staying for dinner.

Please try to come on time for services at 7:00.

Those who wish may light candles upon arrival until 7:30.

Services

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. We offer men’s, women’s, and mixed (all-genders) seating sections. Women, men, and non-binary folks may lead parts of services.  We need an egalitarian minyan of 10 Jews and a non-overlapping traditional minyan of 10 men to start the maariv service, so we encourage you to come on time.

Accessibility Information

Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. There are wheelchair accessible washrooms one block away at the coffee shop at the corner of Bathurst and College. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.

June 17: End of the Year Picnic!

It’s the end of the year, time to say lehitra’ot – goodbye, until we see you in September.

Please join the Makom Afterschool and Makom ATID families, teachers, and staff to celebrate all our students’ successes!

We’ll also give special acknowledgement to our dedicated teachers and our newest Makom Afterschool and Makom ATID graduates.

Register by clicking here.

B.Y.O. Water Bottle

Questions? Email Sarah Eligberg, Interim Director of Youth Education (familyed@makomTO.org).

Presented by Makom Afterschool & Makom Atid

June 15: Family Shabbat Morning Services + Lunch

Got kids? Join us and other families for upbeat, abridged Shabbat morning family services, followed by Shabbat lunch!

Services are geared for kids in grades 1-5, but all families with kids are welcome.

Services are egalitarian with mixed seating, and will include prayers, songs, a Torah story, and discussion to meaningfully engage adults and children together.

Services will be led by Rabbi Aaron.

At lunch, we’ll enjoy a  home-cooked, delicious vegan & kosher meal together.

Lunch registration required! We have various price options so that finances aren’t an impediment to anyone’s participation. Click here to register. Deadline: Thursday, June 13 at 12 noon.

Become a Makom Member first to save 10%.

Makom welcomes participants of all abilities. Makom’s main space is wheelchair accessible; unfortunately, the washroom and playroom are not. There are wheelchair accessible washrooms one block away at the coffee shop at the corner of Bathurst and College. If you have an accessibility need or require any accommodations, please reach out to us.

June 11: Tikkun Leil Shavuot – All Night Jewish Learning Festival

The downtown Jewish community’s renowned Tikkun Leil Shavuot is back for our 16th year! The Tikkun Leil Shavuot is an incredibly generous outpouring of love, ruach (spirit), and wisdom from many, many teachers in our community.

There’s something for everyone at this year’s celebration – a night of community, study, snacking and more. Limited hybrid options will be available; cheesecake is only available in person! Free and open to all. Registration required.

A holiday celebration co-created by Makom along with downtown Jewish Toronto: Annex Shul, Beach Hebrew Institute, Beth Tzedec Congregation, City Shul, Congregation Shir Libeynu, Danforth Jewish Circle, Darchei Noam Congregation, First Narayever Congregation, Hashomer Hatzair / Camp Shomria, Hillel Ontario, Holy Blossom Temple, Jewish Family & Child, Kiever Shul, Limmud Toronto, No Silence on Race, Oraynu Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, Paul Penna Downtown Jewish Day School, & UJA Federation’s Committee for Yiddish.

This event is supported by the Kolel Legacy Fund at the Jewish Foundation.

Check back soon for the full night’s schedule of classes, panels, workshops!

Registration required prior to 5:30pm on June 11th to attend 

Click here to Register.