Torah Study Saturdays | 9:00 a.m. - In the Library and on Zoom Come explore this week’s Parsha with us before services. We are usually lay-led, often lively and always rewarding. If you would like to participate via Zoom, please contact the office to be added to the list and receive a link
Experience the heartwarming blend of traditional egalitarian Shabbat morning services, engaging children’s programming, Torah study, enlightening talks, alternative creative services, spirited Israeli dancing, and the camaraderie of communal Kiddush. Whatever you seek on Shabbat, Darchei Noam has something to offer! Our Shabbat morning services, filled with joyous singing accompanied by instruments, moments of contemplative reflection, and insightful divrei Torah (teachings), create a backdrop for life cycle celebrations within our welcoming community. Enhance your communal Shabbat experience by joining our Kiddush lunch. Whether you participate in our morning Torah study, celebrate a simcha with a community family, join in our monthly Israeli dancing sessions, or host your own gathering, Shabbat at Darchei Noam is a chance to reconnect with old friends and make new ones! We follow the Reconstructionist prayer book Kol Haneshamah Shabbat v’Chagim. Services take place on Saturday mornings at 10 am, with child care available. All our services are also streamed via Zoom!. If you’d like a community member to accompany you during a Darchei Noam service, simply let us know – we’d be delighted to arrange it! Come and immerse yourself in the richness and diversity of our community’s Shabbat observances. Aliyah and Special Occasions For an Aliyah during sanctuary services or to acknowledge a special occasion during virtual services, please contact Rabbi Ryan Leszner at least two days in advance. The Parnass will happily share news of your occasion with the congregation at the start of the Torah service.
Join us for a Shabbat morning unlike any other, as we welcome Rabbi Shefa Gold into the heart of our community's weekly gathering. Services begin at 10:00 AM. We encourage you to arrive a little early, so we can gently settle in and co-create the spiritual container together. Please register in advance, and if you’re able, consider contributing toward the cost of the event. Suggested donation: $18. Congregation Darchei Noam is Toronto's only Reconstructionist synagogue, and our Shabbat morning services are built on the same foundations that animate Shefa's work: sacred sound, embodied prayer, and the conviction that spiritual practice is meant to crack us open rather than close us down. We pray from Kol Haneshamah, the Reconstructionist siddur, with joyful singing accompanied by instruments, moments of genuine contemplative stillness, and a d'var Torah rooted in honest engagement with our tradition. Shefa's presence will weave through our morning, bringing the transformative power of Hebrew chant into a living, breathing community at worship. Whether you are a longtime chanter or brand new to this practice, whether you have davened every Shabbat of your life or this is your first time in a synagogue in years, you will find a place here. Stay after the service for our communal Kiddush lunch, where the conversation, the connection, and the singing tend to continue well past noon. The service will also be available via Zoom for those joining from a distance. Register Here By registering, I consent to my email address being shared with program organizers in order to gain access to complimentary chanting resources from Rabbi Shefa Gold, a post-event survey, as well as notice about future chanting opportunities in Toronto. This program is part of a chant-based “urban retreat” led by Rabbi Shefa Gold across the city from June 4-7. For more details on the entire retreat itinerary, visit https://www.eventcreate.com/e/shefagoldtoronto The Elka Klein Memorial Lecture Series was established in 2008 as a living memorial to Elka Klein z”l, daughter of Darchei Noam members Suzanne Silk Klein and Martin Klein. At the time of her death, Elka was an assistant professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati. The family’s intent is that the lectures support the passions of Elka, including Jewish social history, ethics, evolving halachic practice, women’s rights and education. Her vocation in the educational system centred on the history of Jewish communities in “host” countries where Jews were usually seen as temporary or outsiders. She was interested in how they integrated while retaining their Jewish identity.
Ark Adventures is designed for young children (ages birth to 5) and their families to experience Shabbat in community together. The program is offered on select Saturdays throughout the year. Ark Adventures will “set sail” on June 6/ 2026, at 10:00 A.M. Join us on the ark for a Shabbat adventure! Member Registration Guest Registration
Rabbi Dr. Wendy Zierler is a rabbi, scholar, and author whose work explores Jewish literature, feminism, and contemporary culture. Originally from Sarnia and raised in Toronto, she is the Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies at Hebrew Union College in New York. Ordained by Yeshiva Maharat in 2021, she is the author of several acclaimed books, including Going Out with Knots: My Two Kaddish Years with Hebrew Poetry (2025). 📅 Thursday, June 4 | ⏰ 7:00 PM | 📍Social Hall Book Talk: Going Out with Knots: My Two Kaddish Years with Hebrew Poetry Rabbi Dr. Zierler explores how Hebrew poetry and Israeli culture can offer meaning, comfort, and creative response in times of personal and communal loss. 📅 Shabbat, June 6 | ⏰ 1:00 PM | 📍Sanctuary And Rachel Stole the Idols: How the First Hebrew Women Writers Took Their Cue from the Biblical Rachel This talk, based on Zierler's first book on the emergence of modern Hebrew women's writing, examines the cryptic biblical episode of Rachel stealing her father's teraphim from Genesis 31 as a thematic key to understand how the first modern Hebrew woman poets—after centuries of silence—took control of the language of Hebrew literary culture, laying claim to icons of femininity and recasting them for their own purposes. Register Here
