Bagg Street Shul

Congregation Temple Solomon
Bagg Street Shul
Religion
Affiliation	Orthodox Judaism
Province	Quebec
Status	Active
Location
Location	Clark Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Geographic coordinates	45°30′58″N73°34′43″W / 45.516033°N 73.578685°W / 45.516033; -73.578685
Architecture
Completed	1899 [1]
Specifications
Capacity	350 [1]
Materials	Red brick [1]
Website
baggstreetshul.com

The Bagg Street Shul or Beth Shloime (formally Congregation Temple Solomon) is an Orthodox ^[2] synagogue located at the intersection of Clark Street and Bagg Street in the Montreal Plateau neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ^[3]

In the early 1900s, fueled by heavy immigration, a large Jewish community was established in Montreal's Plateau region, around Saint Laurent Boulevard, ^[3] that supported at least a dozen synagogues at its peak. ^[1] The Plateau and Mile End neighbourhood once had over 90 sites and buildings serving as synagogues, with Bagg Street Shul being the last still-functioning synagogue in the area. The congregation started to decline in the 1950s, as many Jews moved further west in Montreal to the growing suburban boroughs of Côte Saint-Luc, Hampstead, Saint-Laurent or to other parts of Canada. The synagogue remains in operation today with a small congregation for Shabbat morning services. ^[3]

Interior

The synagogue's building, a red-brick converted duplex on Clark Street, was constructed in 1899. The congregation purchased the building and moved there in 1921. The sanctuary seats 350. ^[1] The interior of the synagogue is in the style of pre-war Eastern European synagogues, featuring light blue walls and ceilings, highly ornamental lights and fixtures, as well as a U-shaped women's gallery on the second floor with paintings depicting the twelve zodiac animals surrounding the sanctuary. The zodiac animals were depicted with a Canadian lens, with a painted bison instead of a ram for the Hebrew month of Iyar, and a painted moose instead of a bull for the Hebrew month of Nisan. ^[4]

The Torah ark, marble staircase, pews, bimah , and chandeliers were moved to the synagogue from the McGill College location of the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue. These items were purchased from the Shaar Hashomayim in 1918 for $1,500 (more than $27,000 in 2024 dollars). ^[5] The building was recognized as a heritage site in the 1990s by Quebec's Minister of Culture ^[6] and by the City of Montreal. ^[7]

The Bagg Street Shul is the second oldest synagogue still operating with its original congregation in its original location in Quebec. ^[6] As of 2008 ^[update] , the congregation had 50 member families. ^[2] The Museum of Jewish Montreal highlights and visits the exterior of the Bagg Street Shul on a number of their walking tours.

References

1. "Montreal Committee Hopes To Save 1920s Beth Shloime Synagogue" Archived 2011-01-27 at the Wayback Machine , Jewish Heritage Report, Vol. I, Nos. 3-4 / Winter 1997-98.
2. "National Synagogue Directory 5769/2008–2009" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2010-11-28. (620 KB), Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee, 2008, p. 4.
3. Sherman, Neilia (July 22, 2005). "Montreal's Jewish Heritage. A tour looks at 'The Main' enclave". Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. Vol. 57, no. 47. Archived from the original on 2011-06-09.
4. "Bagg Street Shul". Synagogues360. Archived from the original on 2025-01-15.
5. Shuchat, Wilfred (2000). The Gate of Heaven: The Story of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim of Montreal, 1846–1996. McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal. p.  82. ISBN   978-0-7735-2089-9.
6. Shaffer, Carolyn (December 7–13, 2006). "Boosting the Bagg Shul. Funding and a dwindling membership make renovating Quebec's oldest synagogue a struggle". Montreal Mirror . Vol. 22, no. 25. Archived from the original on 2008-10-15.
7. Home Page, Bagg Street Shul website. Accessed 2017-05-31.

External links

• Official website