October 3 – 12, 2016
Makom is delighted to offer WARM, SPIRITUAL, and PARTICIPATORY High Holiday services fusing TRADITION & CREATIVITY, MUSICALITY & REFLECTION.
For our fifth year, we’ll be gathering in beautiful Hart House for Rosh Hashanah on October 3 and 4 and for Yom Kippur on October 11 and 12.
Services will be led by Rabbi Aaron and our returning guest prayer leader Steven Goldstein. Steven’s husband, Rabbi Steve Greenberg, will also inspire us with his thoughtful teaching.
Click here to purchase tickets!
High Holiday Schedule for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur 5777
NEW! FAMILY SERVICES
This year, we’re excited to offer FAMILY SERVICES on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur day. Led by Rabbi Julia Appel, Makom’s Director of Education and Family Programming, Family Services will include prayers, songs, and stories to meaningfully engage adults and children together. Family Services are egalitarian with mixed seating, 11-12pm both days.
KIDS’ PROGRAMS
We’ll also be offering children’s programming on both days of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur, 10am-11am. Our educators will lead engaging, thoughtful, and fun activities, divided into older and younger age groups, to explore the meaning of the holidays. Parents are welcome, but not required, to attend children’s programming with their kids.
CHILDCARE
Full childcare will be provided throughout adult services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Younger and older children will play in separate rooms under our babysitters’ supervision.
TICKETS
High Holiday tickets are fully tax deductible and you’ll receive a tax receipt for their full value.Ticket sales help cover the costs of putting on High Holiday services. That said, we don’t want anyone to be unable to attend services due to financial constraints. If the cost of tickets is financially prohibitive, please contact Rabbi Aaron in confidence.
DONATIONS
You can also pledge an additional tax-deductible contribution when you purchase tickets. (It won’t be included in your ticket transaction; we’ll contact you shortly about it.)
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We need volunteers for logistical and ritual roles. Please contact Jo Frisch if you can help out!
Makom’s adult services need a minyan to start, so we encourage you to come on time. Both women and men lead services and read Torah and there is a low partition between women’s and men’s seating; children are welcome on both sides.
Aaron Vincent Elkaim, Mimouna in Casablanca, 2010
We’re very excited to announce that the second installation in the window gallery at Makom is now on view featuring the striking photographs of Aaron Vincent Elkaim. The images track Elkaim’s travels in Morocco, the birthplace of his father, to Jewish sites in various stages of use and abandon. The portfolio reveals the complex layers of the relationships between the Jews of Morocco and their Muslim neighbours, who in many cases continue to be the guardians of Jewish cemeteries, synagogues and the shrines to Tzaddikim long after the vast majority of Jews have left.
A Co-Existence was made possible with support from Makom and the Betzalel Culture Fund.
A Co-Existence is on view 24/7 in the window gallery at 402 College Street.
The window installation is accompanied by an additional eleven photographs hanging inside Makom’s space. The exhibition inside Makom can be seen during Friday night services and special events.
There will be dedicated evening visitor hours on July 6 from 5 to 8 pm. (Please not the evening gallery hours for July 28 have been cancelled)
On August 9 at 7 PM we’re hosting A Taste of Jewish Morocco with presentations from the photographer, Noam Sienna, and Simon Keslassy. For more information and to RSVP, please click here.
For more information on the exhibition and on purchasing art on display, please contact curator Evelyn Tauben, info@evelyntauben.com
Aaron Vincent Elkaim (b.1981) is a Canadian documentary photographer and founding member of the Boreal Collective. Currently based in Toronto, Aaron approaches his work with a focus on colonial narratives where traditional culture and environmental degradation collide.
Since 2011, Aaron has committed himself to exploring narratives where people still connected to the natural world are being impacted by industrial development. While highlighting important human and environmental rights issues, he addresses the need to protect the natural world by revealing our profound connection it.
Aaron’s work has been recognized by a number of institutions including Burn Photography, 2014 Oskar Barnak Award, The Society of Publications Designers, the Daylight Photo Award, American Photography, the Magenta Foundation, Photolucidia, PDN, the Lucie Awards, and Visura among others. His clients include The New Yorker, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, HUCK, Macleans, The Canadian Press and The Globe and Mail. He is the recipient of the 2016 Alexia Foundation $20,000 Professional Grant towards his ongoing documentation of the impact of development and the construction of dams on the indigenous populations that lives along the Amazon river in Brazil.
CARPET STORE
Marrakech, Morocco, 2010
The prominent columns of the central bimah can still be seen in this synagogue turned carpet shop owned by Said Labar from Fez. The store is located in the Mellah (Jewish quarter) of Marrakech.
TOMB OF RABBI PINTO
Essaouira, Morocco, 2010
A group of pilgrims from New York and Israel gather at the tomb of Rabbi Haim Pinto. They are lead in prayer by the Rabbi’s grandson Rabbi Yousseph Pinto from Israel who organized the tour of Jewish sites.
KING MOHAMMED V
Fez, Morocco, 2010
A portrait of Mohammed V – king of Morocco from 1957 to 1961 – hangs in a blacksmith’s workshop next to the Jewish cemetery. Many Moroccan Jews revere the King until today for his role in protecting them during WWII from the French Vichy government and the Nazis. When he was demanded to turn over a list of the Jews living in Morocco, he famously replied: “There are no Jews in Morocco. There are only Moroccan subjects.”
ZUBEIDA
Irill Noro, Morocco, 2010
The 28-year old Zubeida opens the door to the synagogue in the small southern village of Irill Noro. She has been its caretaker since the synagogue’s restoration in 2002, spearheaded by several leaders of the Moroccan Jewish community in Casablanca.
LEBOVIC GIRLS’ SCHOOL
Casablanca, Morocco, 2010
Students at a Sunday class at the Lebovic Girls’ School, which once had over 1,000 students attending. The enrollment in 2010 was 30 students.
We have several job openings available. We’re looking for a Curriculum Designer, Hebrew teachers, Jewish life teachers, teaching assistants, and additional specialties for the 2016-17 school year.
Makom Afterschool is an innovative, pluralistic, Hebrew-immersion Jewish after-school program for children in junior kindergarten through Grade 4 (and growing) in downtown Toronto. Makom Afterschool enables children to attend their local neighbourhood school while gaining high-quality Jewish and Hebrew education and a warm Jewish peer community. We have three sites, at three different downtown public schools. Students attend between 2 and 5 days a week, with approximately 1.25-1.5 hours of class learning time per day (in addition to recess and snack). We have multi-age classrooms, with each classroom having 2 or 3 grades in it. Learn more about Makom Afterschool »
We are looking for an experienced, creative curriculum designer trained in experiential/informal education methodologies to design a multi-year, spiraling Hebrew and Jewish learning curriculum for our school. This project will take our school to the next level, help hone a “Makom approach” to Jewish education, and delineate a radically different approach to Jewish supplemental education than other programs in Toronto.
The project is to be completed by August 2017, with various deliverables throughout the project timeline.
The final deliverable will include:
Deadline for application: Rolling.
View the full job posting, qualifications and application instructions »
Makom Afterschool is an innovative, pluralistic, Hebrew-immersion Jewish after-school program for children in JK through Grade 4 (and growing!). Founded by parents in 2011, Makom Afterschool enables children to attend their local neighbourhood school while gaining high-quality Jewish and Hebrew education and a warm Jewish peer community. We have three sites, at public schools in Kensington Market (College and Spadina), Seaton Village (Bathurst and Bloor), and Hillcrest Village (St. Clair and Christie). Learn more about Makom Afterschool »
We are looking for experienced, creative, and energetic teachers for Makom Afterschool for the 2016-2017 school year.
Job Openings:
Deadline for application: Rolling.
View the full job posting, qualifications and application instructions »
Unpacking symbols of the Passover seder in celebration of Makom’s move into our own place
Created by Joanne Frisch and Evelyn Tauben
On view now in the Makom window (402 College St.)
Edible items on the seder plate act as tactile cues for telling the story of the Exodus during the seder. These foods embody themes of oppression, freedom, the vitality of life and the spring season. Continuing the tradition begun by Rochelle Rubinstein of displaying art in her Mon Ton Window Gallery, two Makom members created our inaugural storefront window presentation. As we move into our new space, we move towards a holiday with a massive move at its core. Architect / artist Joanne Frisch and curator / artist Evelyn Tauben teamed up to design an installation exploring six new questions for you to chew on, each related to the seder plate foods. Come by Makom today to see the exhibition before it moves on.
Traditional Jewish law (see Exodus 12:19) forbids owning any hametz (leavened foods) during Passover. While it’s ideal to consume or donate (e.g., to a non-Jewish soup kitchen) all hametz prior to the morning before Passover starts, rabbinic tradition allows for the sale of hametz to a non-Jew, even while it remains on your premises.
If you would like to sell your hametz through Makom, please complete and sign the linked form (in either doc or pdf format), scan it, and email it to aaron@makomTO.org by 9:00am on Thursday, April 21.
Or you may mail the completed and signed form to: Makom, 402 College St., Toronto, ON M5T 1S8. Mailed forms must reach Makom by Wednesday, April 20.
There is no fee for this service. Donations to Makom are appreciated (minimum suggested donation of $18). You may donate online or mail a cheque along with your form.
Hag kasher ve-sameiah – wishing you a happy and kosher Passover!
Sunday, April 17, 2016
12-2pm
@ Dufferin Grove Park – Bloor & Dufferin (south side of rink house near north end of park)
Rain or shine (we have tents)
Suggested donation: $5/person or $10/family to cover expenses.
RSVPs appreciated
Join us at Dufferin Grove Park to bake matzah* in a wood-burning, outdoor oven. See if you can mix, knead, roll, and bake in 18 minutes or less. Everyone is welcome, adults and kids! Materials and instructions provided.
We’ll also gather for children’s stories from PJ Library about Passover and a parent discussion of ways to create engaging and fun seders with children this year.
*Matzah won’t be kosher for Passover, but it’s still fun and a great, hands-on and tasty way to prepare ourselves for Pesah!
Presented in partnership with Plug into PJ – PJ Library:Free Jewish Bedtime Stories and Songs.
Wednesday, March 23
@ KIEVER SYNAGOGUE
25 Bellevue Ave
Bring $ for Tzedakah + Makom
Celebrate Purim with a full evening’s line up for kids and adults! Bring cash to donate for the mitzvah of matanot le-evyonim – Purim Gifts for the Poor – and also to help Makom cover the evening’s costs ($10 suggested contribution for each).
5:45 – Doors Open & Light Dinner
$9/adult, $5/child – Dinner REGISTRATION REQUIRED by Tuesday, March 22
Join Makom for a light family dinner before our Makom Families Purim Puppet Show. Enjoy kid-friendly cheese pizza and falafel with salads, plus hamantaschen, of course! Takes the pressure off making dinner for your family before coming to celebrate! Register and submit payment here.
6:15-7:00 – Purim Puppet Show
Puppeteer and children’s educator Hugh Phillips presents The Story of Queen Esther! Bring your groggers and boo the evil Haman in this puppet adaptation of the Purim story. $10/family requested contribution – register and submit payment here.
7:15 – Doors Open
7:30-8:00 – Purim Games + Trivia
8:00 – Doors Open
8:15-9:15 – Megillah Reading
9:15-11:00 – Games Night
$10/person requested contribution –pre-register and submit payment here.
Hear the scroll of Esther chanted by members of the Makom and Kiever communities. Both women and men will read megillah; mixed seating.
Hamantaschen, B.Y.O.B. + schmoozing
Bring board + card games to play
Bring cash to donate for the mitzvah of matanot le-evyonim – Purim Gifts for the Poor $10 suggested min. contribution. Sorry, we can’t accept donations for matanot le-evyonim online.
Volunteers Needed! Email Rabbi Aaron to help with the festivities.
Apple-picking time is here again.
Please bring a picnic lunch and a blanket — and BYOB (bags). The day begins at 11:30 at Avalon Orchards, located at 3150 5 Line in Innisfil just south of Barrie. Directions on Avalon Orchards’ website here. Google map directions here.
11:30 Meet outside at Avalon Orchards
11:45 Kids: Storytime and Rosh Hashanah crafts with Jen;
Adults: Making Rosh Hashanah meaningful, with Rabbi Aaron
12:15 Picnic lunch together
12:45 Apple picking
Please bring strong grocery bags to hold all your apples! Avalon supplies wagons to help you get your haul to your vehicle.
Whoa that’s a lotta apples, kid.
If you have space in your vehicle and are able to give others a ride, please let Jen Turack know — and thank you!
Add this event to your family calendar now. Friends are of course welcome.
photo: Matt Raoul
5:00 Adults hang out & kids play in Vermont Square Park (Palmerston, south of Dupont)
5:30 Get ready for High Holidays: Adult learning with Rabbi Aaron Levy
PJ Library storytime and activities for school-age kids with Jen Turack, Makom’s Director of Education and Family Programming
A taste of Shabbat Family Party for preschoolers & their grown-ups, with Kohenet Annie Matan of MNjcc
6:15 Picnic: Bring your dinner and a blanket – Makom will provide watermelon. Feel free to bring kids’ bathing suits for the wading pool.
All are welcome. Hope you can join us!