TORONTO:
Canadian city; capital of the province of Ontario. Toronto possesses four regularly organized Jewish congregations, the oldest being the Holy Blossom congregation, which had its beginnings in 1845, though it was not formally organized until 1852. Its first synagogue was in Richmond street, the building being dedicated in 1857; later the congregation moved to its present home in Bond street. Attached to it is a large and well-organized Sabbath-school. The Goel Tsedek congregation, founded in 1880, has a synagogue in Elm street; the Shomerei Shabbas, an Austrian congregation organized in 1891, worships in Chestnut street; and the Chevra Tillim congregation, organized in 1895, is at Richmond and York streets. Inaddition to these there are a number of minor congregations, formed in recent years, but acquiring a large membership and steadily growing in importance.
The Jewish communal institutions of Toronto include organizations of a philanthropic, educational, religious, and literary character. Among these are the Jewish Benevolent Society, the Ladies' Montefiore Aid Society, the Ḥebra Ḳaddisha, the Toronto Hebrew Ladies' Aid Society, the Ḥebra Linous Hatsedek, the Austrian Hebrew Ladies' Aid Society, a branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association, the Toronto branch of the Council of Jewish Women, the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the Jewish Literary Society, the Talmud Torah, the Toronto Hebrew Benevolent Society, the Jewish Shelter Society, the Judean Club, several lodges, and four Zionist organizations—the Agudath Zion, Toronto Daughters of Zion, B'nai Zion Association, and Ahavath Zion Society.
Toronto has a population of 207,971, of whom about 7,000 are Jews.
