Canada's oldest Ashkenazi congregation just recovered a 100-year-old time capsule on their milestone anniversary weekend

Congregation Shaar Hashomayim is older than Canada itself. It was founded by Jews who came from England to what is now Quebec, wanting to create their own space apart from the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. Decades after the congregation's inception in 1846, a new building was built, in 1922, in Westmount. And in a cornerstone of that building, congregants placed a time capsule—a memento of a bygone era that only now, 100 years later, is being unearthed.

The synagogue's archivist, Hannah Srour-Zackon, watched as the capsule re-emerged for the first time in a century during the synagogue's weekend-long 100th-anniversary ceremony. She joins today to describe what they found, how the capsule reminds us of the rich history of the Shaar, and what its role has been in the Canadian Jewish community.

What we talked about:

• Learn about Shaar Hashomayim's archival work
• Read "Deep diving into Shaar Hashomayim’s hidden history of Montreal with archivist Hannah Srour"

Credits

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