3 Stories… from our Senior School Students

Our visit to Imdadul Islamic Centre with our Grade 7s
By one of our student’s, Remy Abramson

Recently, the grade 7 Monday night Hebrew School classes went to Imdadul Islamic Center for a class field trip. Immediately, we all felt very welcome in the mosque, because of how nice the people who greeted us were. We had a session with the Imam of the mosque, who leads the services. We asked many questions, including how Judaism is similar to the Islamic religion. The session went by very fast because of the incredible interaction we all had with the Imam. We were then greeted in a room where kosher pizza and samosas were waiting for us. We were thrilled to see that there was food! We could not believe that they took the time to get us the delicious food. 

We concluded our visit by watching the evening prayer. Leaving the Mosque, I realized that I learned so much. I learned so many interesting things, including how they have to pray five times a day. Walking away from the mosque, I was thinking, “Imagine if all religions in the world got along just like we just did, and how it would be.” It was so interesting to see how we all got along in the mosque, and how easy it was to get along too. I left feeling so happy to have gone to the mosque, and I hope I get to go back another time.

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Spadina Walking Tour: Early Jewish Life in Toronto (grades 8, 9 and 10)
By Mara, Naomi and Liliana

Our trip downtown was a great experience.  We saw the old Jewish culture in Toronto. On the trip we saw many different examples of how and where the Jewish people lived. For example, we visited the Narayver Congregation and Cecil Street Community Centre (which was once a synagogue). We walked up Spadina Avenue and saw where the Jewish shops and Jewish people first settled when they moved to Toronto.

We learned that Jewish people came to Toronto to make a new and improved life for themselves and to escape anti-Semitism. The jobs they had were low income such as working in garment factories and small markets. When the Jewish community first settled in Toronto, they spread out into small synagogue groups and communities. Eventually, people started moving from away from downtown to expand their homes in the suburbs.

During this informative trip we learned multiple new facts about the Jewish community, however the biggest thing we learned was that the Jewish community has developed and improved and that we are much more fortunate now as we have many more opportunities.

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Passover Food Drive Packing
National Council of Jewish Women (Grade 6)

The grade 6 students had a great time packing food donations for the Passover food drive at the National Council of Jewish Women.   

The students worked very hard and as a team, we were able to pack an impressive number of boxes – it was truly a wonderful mitzvah. It was also a very important learning experience as many of our students were surprised at the amount Toronto Jewish families in need.  Students should be proud of this important mitzvah. We hope that this experience inspired students to get involved with programs like this in the future! 

*one of the students enjoyed the experience so much that he signed up to do additional volunteer work.