Shabbat Services
2026-05-23 10:00, 2026-05-30 10:00, 2026-06-06 10:00, 2026-06-13 10:00, 2026-06-20 10:00 UTC | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
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.

Shabbat Service, Kiddush Lunch & Community Learning
2026-05-23 10:00 (America/Toronto) | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
DON’T MISS OUT! BE PART OF THE TRIBUTE: A Special Weekend Honouring Rabbi Tina on May 23rd and 24th!
Space is limited – register NOW!

Shabbat Service
Chai Tea

HIGH TEA — A Celebration of Rabbinic Leadership and Legacy SOLD OUT!!!!
2026-05-24 14:00 (America/Toronto)
The High Tea event is now SOLD OUT! Due to high demand, we have decided to live-stream this event. In order to access the link to view, you MUST
Register Here.

Coffee and Docs
2026-05-27 13:30, 2026-06-10 13:30 (America/Toronto) | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
Join us for Coffee and Docs, a series of three Israeli documentary screenings, each accompanied by a pre-recorded Q&A with the filmmaker. Screenings will take place on May 13, May 27, and June 10 at 1:30 pm. Enjoy coffee and cookies in a relaxed and engaging setting. Pre-registration is required. There is no fee to attend; donations are welcome.

Register Here

FRESH AIR CLUB: An invitation by the DN Chesed Committee
2026-05-29 09:30 - 10:30, 2026-06-05 09:30 - 10:30, 2026-06-12 09:30 - 10:30, 2026-06-19 09:30 - 10:30, 2026-06-26 09:30 - 10:30 (America/Toronto) | Earl Bales Park, 4169 Bathurst St, North York, ON M3H 3P7, 4169 Bathurst St, North York, Ontario, M3H 3P7, Canada
FRESH AIR CLUB: An invitation by the DN Chesed Committee
We LOVE walking!
(Would you like to join us?)
Every Friday, from 9.30-10.30 am
Earl Bales Park
The Community Centre is where we’ll meet (9.15am)
Bring along water and maybe a treat.
Be ready to waddle or skip or just walk,
‘cause being in the fresh air is walkin’ the talk.
Please email Bernie Riley
sevenkbernie@gmail.com

Shabbat Torah Study
2026-05-30 09:00 - 22:00, 2026-06-06 09:00 - 22:00, 2026-06-13 09:00 - 22:00, 2026-06-20 09:00 - 22:00 (Asia/Karachi) | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
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

Pins & Needles
2026-06-02 13:30 - 15:30, 2026-06-16 13:30 - 15:30 (America/Toronto) | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
Pins and Needles is a knitting and crochet group that meets in the shul library on the first Tuesday of each month from 1:30–3:30 p.m., and on Zoom on the third Tuesday of each month. Members gather to knit, crochet, socialize, and share tips, projects, and stories.
The group is also accepting yarn donations, especially blanket-weight yarn and multiple balls of the same weight or colour.
For more information, please contact nancy@kosiner.com.

LECHAYIM! A Canadian Reconstructionist Meet-up
2026-06-02 19:30 (America/Toronto)
LECHAYIM! A Canadian Reconstructionist Meet-up
📅 Tuesday, June 2 ⏰ 7:30 p.m.📍Zoom
What does it mean to build Jewish community in Canada right now? Three Rabbis from three cities are coming together to explore exactly that.
Join Rabbi Liz Bolton (Or Haneshamah, Ottawa), Rabbi Boris Dolan (Congregation Dorshei Emet, Montreal), and Rabbi Ryan Leszner (Congregation Darchei Noam, Toronto) for an evening of shared teaching, honest conversation, and cross-community connection. Together we’ll reflect on what it means to serve Reconstructionist communities in this moment, and what we can learn from one another.
This gathering is also a chance to mark a meaningful moment in Canadian Reconstructionist life. On July 1st, Rabbi Ryan Leszner begins his tenure as Lead Rabbi of Congregation Darchei Noam, Toronto’s Reconstructionist congregation. As this new chapter opens, we thought: what better way to step into it than together, in learning, across our three communities.
This is a rare opportunity to step outside our individual congregations and experience something larger: a living, breathing Canadian Reconstructionist community. Whether you are a longtime member or newer to the movement, you are warmly welcome.
L’chaim to learning together.

Register Here

A WEEKEND WITH RABBI DR. WENDY ZIERLER
2026-06-04 19:00, 2026-06-06 13:00 (America/Toronto) | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
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

Rabbi Shefa Gold: Toronto Jewish Chanting Retreat
2026-06-06 10:00 (America/Toronto) | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
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
2026-06-06 10:00 (America/Toronto)
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

Reconstructionist Reading Group: The Religion of Ethical Nationhood
2026-06-13 13:15 (America/Toronto)
Reconstructionist Reading Group: The Religion of Ethical Nationhood

Reconstructionist Reading Group: The Religion of Ethical Nationhood
Curious about Reconstructionist Judaism, nationhood, and big ethical questions in an age that sometimes feels apocalyptic? Join us as we continue studying The Religion of Ethical Nationhood by Mordecai Kaplan, in which Kaplan argues that ethical nationhood is essential for human survival and global stability.
We’ll meet monthly on Shabbat in the library after kiddush, 1:15. The next session is June 13. Registration is required. Digital excerpts will be provided in advance of each session.

Please Register Here

AGM save the date
2026-06-17 19:00 (America/Toronto)

Synaplex Shabbat
2026-06-20 11:00 (America/Toronto) | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
Synaplex Shabbat

Join us for a meaningful and engaging Synaplex Shabbat at Darchei Noam. We will begin together at 10:00 a.m. with introductory prayers, setting the stage for a meaningful and transformative morning. Then, as we arrive at the Torah service, participants will have the opportunity to choose from three unique experiences of Torah, learning, and community:
– Torah Reading
– Tot Shabbat
– Learning with Rona Kosansky in honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day
Each program offers a different lens into Jewish tradition, spirituality, and learning, creating a Shabbat morning experience with something for everyone.

Please register here for Synaplex Shabbat.
We are committed to providing accessible and inclusive events. If you require an accommodation to fully participate, please contact Claire Levy-Boker at claire@darcheinoam.ca by Monday, March 2.

Tot Shabbat
2026-06-20 11:30 (America/Toronto) | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
Tot Shabbat!
On Saturday, June 20, Join us as we learn together, sing, and enjoy a delicious Kiddush lunch!
🎵 11:30 AM: Tot Shabbat with fun activities and songs
Let’s celebrate a beautiful year of singing, playing, and dancing together.
Member Registration
Guest Registration

Israeli Dancing
2026-06-20 13:00 (America/Toronto) | Congregation Darchei Noam, 864 Sheppard Ave W., North York, Ontario, M3H 2T, Canada
Israeli Dancing
Please join us toward the end of kiddush in the Social Hall for an hour of Israeli dancing.
All are welcome to join us in this fun, community-building activity. Join us to enjoy Israeli music and movement.
