Susan Landau-Chark - Concordia University

The Story of One Suburban Synagogue and its Founding Rabbi
---Susan Landau-Chark---
Rabbi Abraham Bernard Leffell was a rarity amongst Canadian rabbis in his day.
He was a first generation Canadian - born in Montreal, June 12, 1926, with both his
parents having migrated to North America at a very young age. 1 In order to fully fathom
the milieu within which Rabbi Leffell spent his rabbinical career it is important to be
aware of further divergences between Canada and the United States especially in regard
to the suburbanization of their respective Jewish communities.
One striking variation between the American immigration experience and that of
immigrants to Canada was that while many of the immigrants and their children
“Canadianized” they continued to maintain their traditional religious practices. By the
1950's in both Canada and the United States, the demobilization of the armed forces and
the influx of new immigrants contributed to this period of time as being one of intense
preoccupation with conformity. In the United States, “Levittowns” were being built and
families were rushing from the cities to the suburbs to live in these look-alike houses.
Women were in the suburbs with the children, family size increased, men were in their
grey flannel suits climbing the corporate ladder, and the key word to family life was
“togetherness.” 2
The legendary family of the 1950's, complete with appliances, station
wagon, backyard barbecues and tricycles scattered on the sidewalks
1
Who’s Who in Canadian Jewry, ed. Edmond Lipsetz (Downsview, ON: JESL
Educational Products, 1989): 158. Also email received from J. Leffell, September 12,
2004.
2
Chafe, William, The Paradox of Change: Women in the Twentieth Century (New York
and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992): 188.

2
represented ... the first whole-hearted effort to create a home that would
fulfill virtually all its members personal needs through an expressive and
energized personal life. 3
Like similar communities all over North America after World War Two, young Jewish
families were part of this exodus from the older sections of the city to the suburbs. In
Vancouver, they moved from the east-end immigrant quarter to the newer, lower-middleclass,
west-side neighbourhoods; in Winnipeg, Jews moved out of the old north end to the
adjacent area of West Kildonan and southward into River Heights. They built
synagogues, schools and social facilities, replacing virtually all of the previously existing
institutional networks. In Toronto, the main Jewish migration pushed up Bathurst Street
past St. Clair, Eglinton, and Lawrence, while in Montreal, the biggest movement was
from Outremont over the mountain into Côte Des Neiges, Notre Dame de Grace, and the
western suburbs of Saint-Laurent, Chomedy, Dollard des Ormeauxand Cote St, Luc.
The realities of Canadian suburbanization distinguished itself in several
waysfrom the “given North American paradigm.” Canada’s history with France had
shaped a centralized urban system in Quebec, whereas Canada’s history with England
shaped a decentralized urban system in Ontario. The slower growth of the Canadian
population and economy permitted more orderly urban growth. This kept a number of
urban centres intact and avoided the decayed zones of America’s major cities. This also
allowed for the gradual growth of the suburbs. Moving over the mountains to NDG or
CDN or up Bathurst street towards Cote St Luc or Thornhill seeded these areas with
communities that continue to exist today. In Canada it was as often the workers who
3
Laura J. Miller, “Family Togetherness and the Suburban Ideal,” Sociological Forum, V.
10, #3 (1995):401. Miller is quoting Elaine Tyler May, Homebound: American Families
in the Cold War Era (New York: Basic Books, 1988):11.

3
moved from the urban areas for cheaper housing, as well as the burgeoning middle-class.
Most American suburban Jewish communities formed Conservative synagogues.
By 1956, in the United States, there were 599 conservative synagogues - an increase of
65% from 1949, when there were 365 Conservative synagogues. Albert Gordon, a
Conservative rabbi as well as a professor of anthropology, was curious about the fact that
young Jewish couples, whom he called “seekers of the good life,” were establishing
themselves in America’s suburban communities in vast numbers. He undertook a three
year research project that covered 89 American suburban Jewish communities. His
study, Jews in Suburbia, was completed in 1959. 4 Gordon was concerned with how the
acculturation of suburban Jews might adversely affect the Jewish family and by
extension, the Jewish community. He noted that the suburban synagogue had however,
become the most important Jewish institution, as families tended to affiliate as soon as
their children were old enough to attend Hebrew or Sunday school.
During these years after the war, all families, Jewish and non-Jewish, sought
collective involvement in a religious social life. In the 1950's and 60's in North America,
a billion dollars were raised to build 1000 new synagogues. 5 Tulchinsky noted that in
Canada, between 1945 and 1952, eight million dollars was spent on synagogue
development. 6 In his article, “Two Centuries of Jewish Life in Canada” Louis Rosenberg
further noted that in 1935 throughout Canada there were 152 Jewish congregations of
which 140 were Orthodox, 9 were Conservative, and 3 were Reform. 7 By 1960 there
4
Albert Gordon, Jews in Suburbia (Boston: Beacon Press, 1959).
5
Arthur Hertzberg, The Jews in America: Four Centuries of an Uneasy Encounter: A
History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997): 309.
6
Gerald Tulchinsky, Branching Out: The Transformation of the Canadian Jewish
Community (Toronto, ON: Stoddart Publishing Co., Ltd, 1998): 278.
7
Louis Rosenberg, “Two Centuries of Jewish Life in Canada,” in Canadian Jewish

4
were 206 congregations of which 174 were Orthodox, 25 were Conservative and 7 were
Reform. 8 Rosenberg commented that this “rise in synagogue building and membership
appeared to be motivated by a desire to “belong” rather than [by] a strong religious
conviction.” 9
In Montreal’s West Notre Dame de Grace, by 1951, there was a large enough
Jewish population to prompt consideration for a building that would house a synagogue
(soon to be named “Shaare Zion”), a Hebrew school, and a community hall. 10 In July of
1951 the initial group of 16 families had expanded sufficiently to elect officers and
organize into the Jewish Congregation of Western N.D.G. 11 On April 2, 1952, the
congregation was incorporated under the Companies Act of Canada.
In Gordon’s observation of the families moving to the American suburbs, he had
expressed concern that many of these families were joining their synagogues in order to
“socialize” with other Jews rather than because of any perceived connection with Jewish
tradition. Many of the group in Western N.D.G. grew up within a traditional Jewish
setting but were now seeking a more modern approach to Judaism for themselves and the
families they were forming. This group very much saw itself as a community, and wanted
to be seen that way by others. They hoped to attract members by emphasizing not only
the community’s friendly and hospitable environment, but also the fact that their services
were structured and decorous unlike the remembered services, for many, of their
childhood.
Reference Book and Directory, ed. Dr. Elie Gottesman, (Montreal, QC: Central
Rabbinical Seminary of Canada, 1965): 189.
8
Ibid. 189. In Montreal by the 1960's there were 48 Orthodox synagogues, 4
Conservative and 3 Reform synagogues.
9
Ibid. 190.
10
Shaare Zedek Souvenir Book. 1955: 4
11
Shaare Zedek Souvenir book. 1955: 4

5
While Rabbi Leffell was still a rabbinical student, he was asked to conduct the
High Holiday overflow services at the newly completed Shaare Zion synagogue. 12 He did
so for two years. A number of the families who lived in Western NDG attended the
overflow service in those years. When this group decided to have its own High Holiday
Service they remembered the eloquent young rabbinical student and asked him to conduct
their services. It was a matter of great relief and excitement when on June 21 st , 1953 the
congregation and others witnessed the ceremonial turning of the sod on the synagogue’s
present site. 13 Rabbi Leffell was now in his senior year at JTS.
Shortly after his ordination in the summer of 1954, Rabbi Leffell was invited to
“undertake the organization and leadership” of a new synagogue being built in the northwest
sections of the city of Montreal known as Western Notre Dame de Grace. 14 He was
formally installed in September 1954 and was with the congregation until he retired, 37
years later, in October 1991. 15
Rabbi Leffell struck a cord with his audience and grasped the “needs” of this new
community. Most of his audience were young families who had moved into the new
housing being built in Western N.D.G. While they were not affluent, many of them were
able to purchase homes in the area around the synagogue.
12
Op Cit. Retirement Address. 3; also in conversation with Mrs. F. Leffell (October 21,
2004).
13
Ibid. p.6
14
Harvey Shepherd, “N.D.G. Rabbi sees big changes over Career,” The Gazette
(September 28, 1991): L-5.
15
Ibid. Last spring it came to my attention that Rabbi Leffell’s papers and notes had not
yet been archived but were in the care of his eldest son Jonathan Leffell. The family had
decided to “burn” all of Rabbi Leffells’s notes and sermons onto CD ROMs which will
be archived with the Jewish Theological Seminary. Jonathan told me that one CD
containing thirty-odd years of sermons on three parshiot (Bereshit, Noach, and Vayera)
was finished, and it is that CD that I have used for this paper.
19
Stanley F. Chyet, “Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion,”

6
Let us more deeply examine Rabbi Leffell’s spiritual background. After
graduating from McGill, Rabbi Leffell attended the Jewish Institute of Religion until
1950. Founded in 1922 by Rabbi Stephen Wise, the Institute was seen as a place where
students from a variety of backgrounds could engage in “training for the Jewish ministry,
research and community service.” 19 This openness to those from traditional backgrounds,
as well as the Institute’s pro-Zionist stance seemed a good fit for the young man from
Montreal, hailing from a Jewish community that through to the 1940's, “remained by and
large …. traditional.” 20
When Stephen Wise died in 1949, the merger between the Institute and Hebrew
Union College took place a year later in 1950. 21 Rabbi Leffell transferred to the Jewish
Theological Seminary at this time as he did not wish to be part of the Reform
movement. 22
When Rabbi Leffell moved over to JTS, the teaching staff was a scholar’s list of
‘Famous People’ in the Jewish world. The head of JTS was Louis Finkelstein, president
from 1940, becoming chancellor in 1951 23 , Mordechai Kaplan was on staff, as were Louis
Ginzberg, A.J. Heschel and Saul Lieberman, to name a few. 24
Rabbi Finkelstein saw Judaism as a pivotal force in the establishment of a world
Encyclopaedia Judaica, Volume 8 ( Jerusalem: The MacMillan Company, 1971): 217.
20
Op Cit. Tulchinsky (1998): 25.
21
Op Cit. Chayet 217.
22
Email received from J. Leffell, September 12, 2004.
23
Ibid. p.10.
24
The Seminary at 100: Reflections on the Jewish Theological Seminary and the
Conservative Movement, Ed Nina Beth Cardin and David Wolfe Silverman (New York,
NY: The Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1987).

7
order “that was characterized by peace, brotherhood, and a deep belief in what was then
referred to as ‘the democratic way’." 25 He saw the Seminary as the single greatest Jewish
institution in the world and, as such, the vehicle for bringing the message of Judaism to
the world. 26 Accordingly, seminary programs were put in place by Rabbi Finkelstein to
teach Judaism to American society, open Jewish studies to the findings of other
disciplines, and most of all to train the Seminary's rabbinic graduates to take on the task
of caring for and nurturing the religious and spiritual well-being of the masses of
Conservative congregants. 27 It was in this open and innovative environment that Abraham
Bernard Leffell received his Masters in Hebrew Letters and his Rabbinical Ordination in
1954.
Rabbi Leffell saw the congregation— now the Shaare Zedek Congregation of
Western N.D.G— through some major changes, implementing the switch from separate
seating (as the synagogue had begun as an Orthodox one) to family seating in 1962 -
along with the shift from the Birenbaum Orthodox prayer book to the Conservative
Siddur of Rabbi Morris Silverman, as well as moving from being an Orthodox-affiliated
synagogue to a middle-of-the-road Conservative congregation. 28
It was very likely that Rabbi Leffell was highly influenced by Rabbi Charles
Bender. Rabbi Leffell was Bar Mitzvah at the Adath Israel and it is highly likely that this
event and/or its preparation was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between he and
25
Michael B. Greenbaum, “Apprenticeship as a Leader,” The Finkelstein Era: Tradition
Renewed,
Copyright © 1998-2003 Jewish Theological Seminary of America. [October 17, 2004]
26
Ibid.
27
Ibid. “Key Initiatives.”
[October
17, 2004]
28
Conversation with Leon Penn, Montreal (October 18, 2004)

8
Rabbi Bender. In his retirement speech Rabbi Leffell paid tribute to Rabbi Bender,
describing him as “my teacher who was most influential with regard to the development
of our Services, and to the Conduct (I am saying this with a capital C) of our services”. 29
Rabbi Bender was trained in England at the Aria College, in Portsmouth,
England. A history of Aria College comments that on the Sabbath, the presence of the
College principal and his students ensured lively services and a well disciplined and
reverent enclave which in turn raised the decorum of congregational members. 30 The
standards of Aria College could be considered influential to the second generation of
Rabbis in Europe and North America. In his Retirement Message, Rabbi Leffell
commented that in the early days of the synagogue many of the members “found this
kind of decorum and organization foreign”. 31 He noted that “disciplined Services were an
important innovation 37 years ago, and that...this was not easy to accomplish because this
was not part of the prior synagogue experience of most of the early members of Shaare
Zedek.” 32 He further noted that “ultimately they came to insist upon it and even to boast
about it.” 33
Decorum, or what Rabbi Leffell and others would call “derekh eretz,” was one of
the core themes running through Rabbin Leffell’s sermons like an undercurrent:
sometimes visible, sometimes hinted at - but always there. In his retirement speech Rabbi
Leffell estimated that over the course of his 41 years as a rabbi he had delivered around
29
Rabbi A. B. Leffell, Retirement Address. Shaare Zedek Congregation, Montreal. (July
1991):6.
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid. 6.
32
Ibid. 6.
33
Ibid.

9
2,050 sermons. 34
Rabbi Leffell discussed many issues, but often his sermons would come back to
the question of behaviour, relationships, and the place (responsibility) of the individual
Jew to his congregation, community and the world. These concerns often related directly
to the themes encountered in parasha Vayera: hospitality, right behaviour, responsibility,
truth, and relationships, to name the few that he emphasized through the years.
It is worthy to consider that at the time that Rabbi Leffell was in training at JTS,
Rabbi Finkelstein persistently addressed the importance of ethical values in his public
remarks. 35 Finkelstein was enamoured of the idea of applying the study of ethics and its
results to the problems of the modern world, and had every expectation that his rabbis-intraining
would carry his concerns into their communities. 36
The Vayera sermon delivered in his first year reflected clearly on issues that he
felt were important in the development of a new community. When Rabbi Leffell
delivered this sermon in November 15, 1954, he chose to deal with the concept of
hospitality in all its fullness. Using Abraham’s behaviour to the three visitors as his
guide, Rabbi Lefell asked his congregation to consider the “real” meaning of hospitality.
Hospitality, he noted, “is primarily more than good manners - it is a spiritual attitude
which described the outreaching of human personality”. 37 Rabbi Leffell then proceeded to
break down for his audience what he meant by this and outlined what he perceived as
three aspects of hospitality.
For Rabbi Leffell “real” hospitality had three aspects: hospitality of the heart,
34
Ibid. 3.
35
Op Cit. Greenbaum.
36
Ibid
37
Leffell, Rabbi A. B. “Vayera” (November 13, 1954): 2. Op Cit. CD-ROM. 2004.

10
hospitality of the mind, and hospitality of the soul. The first aspect, “Hospitality of the
Heart,” was the basic good will one would show to strangers. Unfortunately, noted Rabbi
Leffell, very few people were able to open their hearts long enough to talk with
strangers. It was thus his congregant’s “r duty to learn to meet people half way ... in
order to add to the total friendship in the world.” 38 It should also be kept in mind that
during the time Rabbi Leffell was at JTS, the Seminary had become a center for
interreligious and intercultural dialogue, and that as a Seminary student he was
accustomed to seeing clergy of all faiths in its hallways and dining room. 39 ()
The second aspect of hospitality, “Hospitality of the Mind,” reflected an openness
to new ideas. Rabbi Leffell noted that “adult minds become quickly congealed and closed
to new thoughts.” 40 He equated growth and maturity with a willingness to be “hospitable
to new ideas … [and] grateful for every new truth that comes”. 41
The third and last aspect of hospitality coined by Rabbi Lefell was the
“Hospitality of the Soul.” This particular aspect harkened back to Chancellor
Finkelstein’s statement: “When I pray, I speak to God. When I study, God speaks to
me.” 42 Rabbi Leffell noted that while most people believed in God and were not atheists,
he referred to many as “atheists in practice.” 43 He commented that such people had to “set
up their own zoning laws preventing G-D from moving into their souls”. 44 Thus, how we
treat the other is not only the physical hospitality of offering a hand to cross the street or
38
Ibid. 2.
39
Neil Gillman, “Leadership: Cyrus Adler and Louis Finkelstein.”
40
Op Cit. 3.
41
Ibid. 3
42
Op Cit. Gillman.
43
Op Cit. 4.
44
Ibid. 4.

11
delivering a meal, but also the passing on of what is important in the tradition --
providing that spiritual hospitality which Rabbi Lefell defined as friendliness, openmindedness
and worshipfulness. 45 To do anything less was to undermine one’s standing
as a Jew. 46
Rabbi Lefell re-iterated a similar theme in his sermon of October 22, 1956 when
he examined in more detail the concept of “derekh eretz” and its place in Judaism. 47 At all
times Rabbi Leffell was seeking to create a community marked by acts of kindness, acts
that illustrated respect and concern: acts, and not words.
For Rabbi Leffell, the phrase “derekh eretz” was used by the rabbis to
demonstrate how Abraham epitomized the “principles of proper conduct”. 48 Abraham’s
behaviour towards his three guests in the book of Genesis was considered to be an act of
“derekh eretz”, defined as “etiquette, good manners, good breeding, courtesy, and
politeness”. 49 In this sermon, Rabbi Leffell took time to reinforce the notion that these
acts that seemed so simple were “not normally seen as part of religion or an aspect of
religion”. 50 With today’s busy lifestyle, there seemed to be less room for what he called
the “niceties” of life. 51 Rabbi Leffell also noted that “the Talmud contain[ed] within it
enough principles of etiquette to compile a book that could rival Emily Post or Amy
Vanderbilt”. 52 He set out very clearly those behaviours that constitute “derekh eretz” for
the Shaare Zedek congregation: 1) when speaking to a person, unless they were a parent
45
Ibid. 5.
46
Rabbi A. B. Leffell, “Vayera.” (October 28, 1961).
47
Rabbi A. B. Leffell, “Vayera.” (October 20, 1956).
48
Ibid. 3.
49
Ibid. 3.
50
Ibid. 5.
51
Ibid. 5.
52
Ibid. 6.

12
or a teacher, they should always be addressed by their name; 2) when you knocked on a
door and someone responded ‘Yes” that meant “wait,” and did not mean “enter”; 53 3) one
should not enter a neighbour’s house without announcing oneself; 4) One should not use
indecent expressions even if more words were required to complete the sentence; 5)
when writing and speaking, one should use ‘he and I’, and not not ‘he and he’; one
should do not interrupt when someone is speaking and not monopolize conversation, and,
lastly, one should forget themselves and think of those around them. 54
This basic theme of “derekh eretz” was woven through nearly all thirty-odd years
of sermons on the three parshiot (Bereshit, Noach, and Vayera) that I received. He
further explored these same principles of human happiness, decency and respect in a
sermon on the wife of Abraham’s nephew Lot. Lefell used the image of Lot’s wife’s
“need to look back” upon the destroyed city of Sodom as his springboard for addressing
some of the possible psychological issues that inhibit people from being open (showing
hospitality of the heart) with the “other.” 55 He asked his congregants not to allow
themselves, like Lot’s wife, to be paralyzed by the past - but to move forward - and to be
both open to positive relationships and to engage with others. 56
Rabbi Leffell was ardent in promoting the synagogue’s relationship with the
United Synagogue Movement. Rabbi Leffell’s notes and sermons on the Seminary and
the United Synagogue, his high regard for these institutions and his frequent calls on the
congregation to participate indicate to some extent that he saw himself as creating new
social and religious possibilities through the synagogue’s relationship with the United
53
Ibid. 6.
54
Ibid. 7.
55
Rabbi A. B. Leffell, “Vayera.” (1958): 2-3.
56
Ibid.

13
Synagogue movement. Certainly in his retirement address he notes that the synagogue
“was blessed with generations of lay leaders who [had] been thoroughly devoted,
absolutely generous in their efforts ... from those very first days.” 57
Earlier I noted that one of Chancellor Finkelstein’s goals for his seminary students
was that they would see themselves as being trained to take on the task of caring for and
nurturing the religious and spiritual well-being their Conservative congregants. 58 As a
Seminary graduate, Rabbi Leffell, and others like him, saw themselves as the
“transmitters” of “the enduring message of Judaism to the world.” 59
Rabbi Leffell’s own involvement in the Conservative movement outside of Shaare
Zedek was an incentive for his congregants. At various times Rabbi Leffell was the
Canadian division vice-chairman of the Rabbinical Assembly, Executive Director of the
local region of the United Synagogue, the Association of Conservative Congregations.
Rabbi Leffell was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity from the Jewish Theological
Seminary in 1979 for his twenty-five years of service of extra-ordinary involvement with
both JTS and the United Synagogue movement.
The following three sermons are representative of the many sermons he gave on
community involvement. These three sermons were given at different moments in the
synagogues’s life: in 1961, prior to the joining of Shaare Zedek tothe United Synagogue
movement, in 1962, in all probability after the referendum on the synagogue’s affiliation
had taken place, and in 1969, seven years after the synagogue had become affiliated with
the Conservative movement. 60
57
Op Cit. Retirement Address. 7.
58
Op Cit. Gillman.
59
Ibid.
60
Conversation with Leon Penn, Montreal (October 18, 2004)

14
Prior to the United Synagogue convention in 1961, Rabbi Leffell began his
discussion of Vayera by addressing how Abraham, even when recovering from his
“surgery,” rushed to provide hospitality for his guests. Rabbi Leffell noted how even as
preoccupied as he was with his pain, Abraham was able to exert himself and look to the
needs of others. he comments that charity begins at home but does not end there.
Rabbi Lefell’s purpose in setting up this scenario was to inform the congregation
that it needed to morally support all aspects of Jewish communal living, especially the
Seminary and the United Synagogue movement that now included over 700
congregations across the United States and Canada. He noted that “the purpose of the
synagogue is to make us aware of our larger responsibilities and to relate us to them.” 61 In
effect he asked “what other meaning is there in being a Jew if it isn’t our relationship to
the Jewish people” This relationship was to be achieved through a strong connection to
the Conservative movement. 62
The second sermon given in mid-November of 1962 built on the motif of the
Akeda, the Biblical story of the Binding of Isaac. Rabbi Leffell noted that after the Akeda,
“Abraham found within himself the powers of replenishment and endurance to rise from
the crisis and go forth toward greater promise and accomplishment.” 63 Rabbi Leffell
provided a succinct summary of Jewish crisis- points in history, beginning with the
Babylonian exile through to the current “test of prosperity” for North American Jews in
1962. 64 When prosperity played havoc with maintaining Jewish commitment, Rabbi
Leffell averred that the Conservative movement and the Seminary were “the modern
61
Rabbi A. B. Leffell, “Vayera” (October 28, 1961): 3. CD-ROM 2004.
62
Ibid. 4.
63
Rabbi A. B. Leffell, “Vayera” (November 17, 1962): 1 CD-ROM 2004.
64
Ibid. 4.

15
manifestation of our powers of replenishment and endurance and …h[eld] within it the
key to our survival”. 65
The third sermon was upbeat, reporting on the 1969 United Synagogue
Convention that had been attended by a “large delegation from [the] congregation.” 66 In
this sermon, Rabbi Leffell emphasized the prestige that had been accrued to the
synagogue as a result of one its members (the late J.Berlin) being elected Vice-President
of the United Synagogue Association. 67 He paid homage to Rabbi Finkelstein for his
intellectual prowess and survival skills that had helped lead the JTS and the United
Synagogue movement through tumultuous times. 68 He also noted that the US Association
numbered almost 850 congregations, and that being at a meeting with 3000
representatives from all over the United States and Canada, each with similar concerns
and issues, had been an enervating, learning experience - one that he hoped more
members of the congregation would participate in during the coming years. 69
Some rabbis see their role as acquiring knowledge to pass on Halakha, or Jewish
Law. Others see themselves as teachers and write in the hope that their books will be read
and studied, while still others see themselves as voices for their community. Rabbi
Leffell came into a nascent community, “a community of positive and responsive Jews,”
and as I have been told, a fractious community at times, but one that valued nonetheless
his skills as an orator, his approach to community and wholeheartedly accepted him as
their “Captain.” These notes and sermons are what we have of Rabbi Leffell’s written
legacy - no books, pamphlets, or printed sermons (other than his retirement address) - that
65
Ibid. 6.
66
Rabbi A. B. Leffell, “Vayera” (November 1, 1969): 1 CD-Rom 2004.
67
Ibid.
68
Ibid.
69
Ibid.

16
I have interpreted to be an expression of his deep desire to create a community of
knowledgeable and “menshlikeit” Jews, tolerant and respectful of each other’s foibles,
who are involved and concerned with their synagogue and its place in both the Montreal
community and the larger community known as the United Synagogue movement. I
suspect that his energies were focused wholly on his community - the synagogue and its
‘parent body’, the United Synagogue movement - and to engage in any activities (such as
writing) would have been for him a distraction from his primary goal.

17
Bibliography
Belkin, Simon. Through Narrow Gates: A Review of Jewish Immigration, Colonization
and Immigrant Aid Work in Canada (1840-1940) (Montreal: The Eagle
Publishing Co. 1966).
Bloom, Jack H. “‘By the Power Vested in Me’: Symbolic Examplarhood and the Pulpit
Rabbi.” Conservative Judaism Synagogue Life: A Special Section. Volume L,
#4 (Summer 1998): 59-66.
Chafe, William. The Paradox of Change: Women in the Twentieth Century (New York
and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).
Chyet, Stanley F. “Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion,” Encyclopaedia
Judaica, Volume 8 ( Jerusalem: The MacMillan Company, 1971): 217.
Gamm, Gerald. Urban Exodus: Why the Jews Left Boston and the Catholics Stayed.
(Cambridge, MA & London, England: Harvard University Press. 1999).
Gillman, Neil. “Leadership: Cyrus Adler and Louis Finkelstein.”
in
Conservative Judaism: The New Century.
>http://www.learn.jtsa.edu/topics/reading/bookexc/gillman_conservativej/index.shtml>
Copyright ©© 1998-2003 Jewish Theological Seminary of America. [October 18,
2004]
Gordon, Albert. Jews in Suburbia (Boston: Beacon Press, 1959).
Greenbaum, Michael B. “Apprenticeship as a Leader,” The Finkelstein Era: Tradition
Renewed.
Copyright ©© 1998-2003 Jewish Theological Seminary of America. [October 17,
2004]
---. “Key Initiatives.” The Finkelstein Era: Tradition Renewed.
Copyright ©© 1998-2003 Jewish Theological Seminary of America. [October 17,
2004]
Hertzberg, Arthur. The Jews in America: Four Centuries of an Uneasy Encounter: A
History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997).
Hyman, Paula. “From City to Suburb: Temple Mishkan Tefila of Boston.” The American
Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed. Ed. Jack Wertheimer. Cambridge/ New
York /New Rochelle/ Melbourne/Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
185-205.

18
Leffell, Rabbi A. B. “Vayera” (November 13, 1954) CD-ROM. 2004.
---. “Vayera.” (October 20, 1956). CD-ROM. 2004.
---. “Vayera.” (November 1, 1958). CD-ROM. 2004.
---. “Vayera.” (October 28, 1961). CD-ROM. 2004.
---. “Vayera.” (November 17, 1962). CD-ROM 2004.
---. “Vayera” (November 1, 1969). CD-Rom 2004.
---. Retirement Address. Shaare Zedek Congregation, Montreal. (July 1991).
Linteau, Paul-André. “Canadian Suburbanization in a North American Context: Does the
Border Make a Difference.” Journal of Urban History, Volume 13, #3 (May
1987): 252-274.
Lipsetz, Edmond, ed. Who’s Who in Canadian Jewry, (Downsview, ON: JESL
Educational Products, 1989).
Harney, Robert F. and Harold Troper. Immigrants: A Portrait of the Urban Experience,
1890-1930. ( Toronto/New York/Cincinnati/London/Melbourne: Van Nostrand
Rheinhold Ltd. 1975).
Miller, Laura J. “Family Togetherness and the Suburban Ideal,” Sociological Forum, V.
10, #3 (1995).
O’Connor, Carol A. “The Rise and Fall of Suburbia.” (Review Essays) Journal of Urban
History, Volume 13, #3 (May 1987): 354-361.
“Rabbi A. Leffell Installed Tuesday.” The Gazette (September 11, 1954): 24.
Rosenberg, Louis. “Two Centuries of Jewish Life in Canada,” in Canadian Jewish
Reference Book and Directory, ed. Dr. Elie Gottesman, (Montreal, QC: Central
Rabbinical Seminary of Canada, 1965).
Sarna, Jonathan. “Introduction.” American Synagogue History: A Bibliography and State
of the Field Survey. Eds. Alexandra Shecket Korros and Jonathan Sarna. (New
York: Markus Wiener Publishing, Inc. 1988): 1-22.
Schwartz, Joel. “Ordinary People: The Coming of Age of Suburban North America.”
Journal of Urban History 2002 28(6): 836-843.
Shaare Zedec Souvenir Book: June 1951- December 1954. Montreal , Quebec. 1955.
Shaare Zedek Congregation 40 th Anniversary Celebration Souvenir Book. Shaare Zedec
Congregation. Montreal, Quebec. 1994.
Shaare Zedek Congregation 50 th Anniversary Celebration Souvenir Book. Shaare Zedec
Congregation. Montreal, Quebec. 2001..

19
Shaffir, William and Morton Weinfeld. “Canada and the Jews: An Introduction.” in The
Canadian Mosaic ed. M. Weinfeld, W. Shaffir and I. Cotler. (Toronto and New
York: John Wiley and Sons, 1981): 7-20.
Shepherd, Harvey. “N.D.G. Rabbi sees big changes over Career.” The Gazette
(September 28, 1991): L-5.
Sodden, Jacob. The Impact of Suburbanization on the Synagogue. (PhD Thesis, New
York, 1962).
Sussman, Lance J. “The Suburbanization of American Judaism as Reflected in
Synagogue Building and Architecture, 1945-1975.” American Jewish History. 75,
1 (1985):31-47.
Tauben, Sara Ferdman. Aspirations and Adaptations: Immigrant Synagogues of
Montreal, 1880's-1945 (MA Thesis, Concordia University, 2004).
The Seminary at 100: Reflections on the Jewish Theological Seminary and the
Conservative Movement, Ed Nina Beth Cardin and David Wolfe Silverman (New
York, NY: The Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary of
America, 1987
Tulchinsky, Gerald. Taking Root: The Origins of The Canadian Jewish Community.
(Toronto, ON: Lester Publishing Ltd. 1992).
---. Branching Out: The Transformation of the Canadian Jewish Community (Toronto,
ON: Stoddart Publishing Co., Ltd, 1998).
Wertheimer, Jack, Ed. “Preface/ The Era of Suburban Growth and Recent Trends.” The
American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed. Ed. Jack Wertheimer.
Cambridge/ New York /New Rochelle/ Melbourne/Sydney: Cambridge
University Press, 1987. vii-xiii; 123-149.
Wunsch, James L. “The Suburban Cliche.” Journal of Social History 1995 28(3): 643-
658.
Interviews:
Leon Penn, Montreal (October 18, 2004)
Mrs. F. Leffell (October 21, 2004).
Email correspondence: Jonathan Leffell.