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Toronto Chabad House Purchases Church

Canadian Jewish News

Left: The church purchased by Chabad on the Avenue. Right: Rabbi Menachem and Chana Shayna Gansburg.

Toronto’s Chabad on the Avenue, which operates the Family Shul, has purchased the First Hungarian Baptist Church on Falkirk Avenue and will take possession late next month.

The property, in a largely Jewish residential neighbourhood, includes an unoccupied grass field adjacent to the building and a paved parking area. Rabbi Menachem Gansburg, spiritual leader of the Family Shul, would not disclose the purchase price, saying only that it was “in the millions.”

Chabad has already solicited the majority of that sum from supporters but will hold a fundraiser on Nov. 25, two days after the deal closes, to raise the remainder. Hollywood entertainer Paula Abdul, accompanied by her rabbi from Chabad of Bel Air, will headline the function. She will discuss her spiritual journey and Jewish roots at an event at the Eglinton Grand, Rabbi Gansburg said.

Abdul’s Jewish mother is part of the Rykiss family of Winnipeg.

Rabbi Gansburg said the new facility, which likely won’t be ready for services until 2013, had been on his radar for several years. In fact, with the rapid growth of the Family Shul, it became clear that to continue to thrive the shul would need a permanent building for its religious services and community outreach.

Rabbi Gansburg said over the years the Shul had placed offers on various properties in the neighbourhood, but had repeatedly been outbid by developers and builders.

On his own initiative, Rabbi Gansburg contacted members of the First Hungarian Baptist Church and made it clear the Family Shul was interested in purchasing the property. The Church is in the middle of Chabad on the Avenue’s catchment area, an area known as Ledbury Park.

“The church was not looking to sell. They had had offers from builders,” Rabbi Gansburg said. Despite being rebuffed, Rabbi Gansburg’s maintained good relations with church officials. He befriended members of their board and “I never took ‘no’ for an answer. I kept up with them, asking what’s new in their world.”

He learned the congregation was having trouble finding the money to maintain and upgrade the building. In addition, most of the members did not live in the neighbourhood.

“After three and a half years, I called them on a random day, when I had lost an offer on a property to developers. They were having a meeting on the future of the congregation and they were now interested.”

Working without real estate agents, they closed the “handshake” deal on erev Yom Kippur. “No doubt we had some guidance from above,” Rabbi Gansburg said.

He announced the acquisition on Kol Nidre night. Coupled with news of the Paula Abdul fundraiser, “there is a lot of buzz in the neighbourhood,” he said.

He’s been busy fielding calls from people in interested in joining the shul. With room for an estimated 180-200 people, it’s a good size for people who don’t want to get lost in a larger synagogue, he said. Shabbat services at the Ledbury Park Elementary and Middle School typically attract 60-70 people, while 400 attended High Holiday services at the Beth Jacob High School.

The Family Shul attracts a unique congregation, demographically speaking. Rabbi Gansburg estimates that more than 50 per cent of the Jews in the neighbourhood are unaffiliated and many live in mixed marriage households.

“Chabad felt there was room for Chabad-style programs” that bring traditional Jewish worship and education, but in a way that suits the neighourhood, he said.

In addition to religious services, Chabad offers weekly education programs for more than 150 children.

Religious services are conducted largely in English and with plenty of commentary so that people understand the prayers. “It’s tailor-made for the people who come to the shul… Our motto is, ‘We’re not Orthodox, Reform or Conservative. We’re simply Jewish,” Rabbi Gansburg said.

Over time, “it became a community in itself and it brought out families that never would send their kids to day schools.”

As for the future of the new building, Rabbi Gansburg expects to offer a pre-school beginning in September 2013 for up to 50 children. “We already have 25 applicants.”

Eventually, Rabbi Gansburg predicts, it will be necessary to expand the building.

Of more immediate concern is getting it ready to serve as a Jewish house of worship. That means removing all existing Christian symbols, not the least of which are the front doors, decorated with a stylized cross.

“Those doors gotta change,” he said.

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18 Comments

  • Is that permitted al pi torah ?

    I was under the impression that one is never allowed to make a shul out of what used to be a church.

  • headline suggestion

    instead of “Chabad House Purchases Church”
    “Chabad House Purchases former Church property”
    “Chabad House Purchases building formerly used as a church”
    “Toronto Shluchim in the process of transforming a former church-facility to a new chabad center”
    “Chabad House Purchases a building formerly used as a christian house of worship”
    …..
    gut vuch ;)

  • Shocked

    Thanks for bringing us the tzeilem to your Anash readership, reminds me of the Rebbe’s Sicha against tv- bringing the galach into your house. Not to mention the fundraiser which is poshut nauseating. Many “Chabad Houses” have jumped on the bandwagon. Where is the Shluchim Office and why is there no Vaad Rabbonim keeping check on these activites?

  • Ronald

    There is no problem with revamping the sitra achra sparks that were in there to KEDUSHA. Al Pi Halacha it is totally allowed. Chabad is at the forefront of going in the “mud” and “shlepping out the diamonds”. Yasher Kochacha to Rabbi Menachem Gansburg and helpers… May the whole Ledbury community and beyond enjoy this shul… May his father Yossi Gansburg enjoy the fruits of his labour with his son.

  • CH-er

    To #’s 1, 2, 4 & 5

    many years ago (if I am not mistaken, in the early 80’s) there was a chabad house, that asked the Rebbe’s opinion on perchasing a house of Avodah Zara, to be transformed into a house of kedusha….

    the answer from the Rebbe was….. and I DO NOT quote…..
    Perchase the building, inspect throughly in its intierety for any A”Z, with the confirmation From a Rov…. you may….. Ye’haphcha Chashocha Lin’horah….

    May Rabbi Gansburg have much success, in the proper tranformation begashmiyus and beruchniyos… hatzlacha raba

  • CH-er

    To # 5

    please reread the article, and see what you wrote,

    there is obviously a major difference between bringing in a TV a galach in your home, indulging in tumah itself, and converting tumah to kedusha,

    foolishness indeed your comment. please guys …stop with amchlokes, stop with the political drama, a man ahs done wonders, aplaud him for it, Rabbi Gansburg, nothing wrong ,, may you be stronger from all negetive, as you waited 2.5 years, for the building, so to know,, with time all heipech dekedusha with fall on the sides, allowing us to shine bright, in the ways of kedusha

  • Milhouse

    #1, Yes, it is perfectly kosher. Your impression was wrong. Now you know better.

  • DAN Greenspan

    Menachem Gansburg has grown in leaps and bounds in his area. He is a charismatic leader, yet he is of humble stature. The name Gansburg in Toronto evokes leadership in Chabad, spiritually and may I add in gashmiyut; they are a giving family totally. Getting a Chabad House to replace a church is a Bashert Gift from Hashem that Menachem deserves totally. I wish also that the other brother Levy will also one day have a building to himself. These rabbis are the future of Toronto’s lubavitchers.

  • Where is the money going to???

    From reading the article I understand that here is is looking to relocate. It can sell its property at a handsome profit and with the sale to CHabad, it can open a larger facility in a better location.

    When you purchase this church, Chabad is “supporting” the church (a) to make a profit and (b) that it will buy another building at a better location for its members.

    Seems to me that the purchase by Chabad is helping the church!

    THAT IS VERY DIFFERENT THAN BUYING A CHURCH THAT IS CLOSING UP!!

  • Shocked

    To #10: I am the author of #5. I am not shocked at the purchase of the church- that is true ishapcha. I am shocked that the photo of it was posted, with the tzeilem on the front door. As R’ G. said: those doors gotta change.. There are surely other ways to illustrate this news item.

  • Halacha

    Toronto is under the guidance of Rav Dovid Schochet, who is a senior rov of Vaad Rabbonei Lubavitch and very well respected both among CHabad and non-Chabad rabbonim. Rest assured that anything done in Toronto must first pass his halachic approval.

  • to #5

    #5 you are suddenly shocked? at what ? and other things didn’t make you wonder ? where have YOU been?!or is this the only thing you find wrong?