Adath Israel Congregation is a Conservative

Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...

 synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 located at 37 Southbourne Avenue in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

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It was founded around 1903 by Jewish immigrants from Romania as the First Roumanian Hebrew Congregation Adath Israel (the name was shortened in the 1950s). As of 2006 there are three rabbis at the Adath Israel Congregation, Rabbi Steven Saltzman, Rabbi David Seed, and rabbi emeritus Rabbi Erwin Schild

Erwin Schild

Erwin Schild, is a Canadian Conservative rabbi and author.Born in Cologne, Germany, a Holocaust survivor of the Dachau concentration camp, he is the author of World Through My Window and his autobiography The very narrow bridge: a memoir of an uncertain passage...

. The synagogue has approximately 2100 families and provides many daily programs for all ages, including a daily minyan

Minyan

A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....

. Alex Stein from Sydney Australia, serves as senior cantor

Hazzan

A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...

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As a traditionalist Conservative Congregation, Adath Israel prohibits intermarried families, including the Jewish member, from membership. http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=1363 This policy has been called "an anomaly in the Conservative movement" http://www.jtsa.edu/about/communications/media/fall05/conservativemovement/20051222.pdf#search='conservative%20intermarriage%20toronto'. Adath Israel, unlike most United States Conservative Synagogues but like the majority of Conservative synagogues in the Toronto area, has not adopted egalitarianism.

Rabbi Steven Saltzman of Adath Israel Congregation is reported to have proposed the establishment of a Canadian “sovereignty association” within the Conservative movement that would support synagogues following traditionalist polices. Rabbi Saltzman’s suggestion came on the heels of the Conservative biennial convention in Boston, where Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Menachem Creditor

Menachem Creditor is the rabbi of Congregation Netivot Shalom, in Berkeley, California. He is chair of , a co-founder and facilitator of , co-founder of KeshetRabbis: The Alliance of Gay-Friendly Conservative/Masorti Rabbis, and author of , a commentary on Jewish Spirituality...

 of Sharon, Mass., challenged the philosophy of halakhic

Halakha

Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...

 pluralism - an approach affirmed by movement leaders - when he argued against continuing to permit non-egalitarian synagogues from being a part of the Conservative movement http://www.glbtjews.org/article.php3?id_article=213. In 2008 the congregation seceded from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is the primary organization of synagogues practicing Conservative Judaism in North America...

 and affiliated with the Canadian Council of Conservative Synagogues.