Kiever Synagogue

This Story Map is an updated redo of the original Kensington Market: Hidden Histories Project, undertaken with student research for the course CDN355 Digital Media, Digital Makers in Fall 2016. Findings from this initial research contributed to an early ArcGIS geolocative map and an augmented reality iOS app, Kensington Market: Hidden Histories, no longer available (built by No Campfire Required).

Student researchers were the recipients of the Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Youth Achievement, Group, 2018. The project launched July 2017 with features in the CBC  here  and UToronto news,  here . A 2018 Heritage Matters article on the award  here.  

Shout outs and thanks to the research assistants who worked on the new story maps, Diego Rupolo and Bruce Li, and the original student researcher, Sally Zeng.

This story map is marked as deprecated as links & sources may need updating.

One of the Toronto’s first synagogues, the congregation of Rodfei Sholem Anshei Kiev “Kiever” dates back to 1912, when several men of Ukrainian background living in “the Ward” area of Toronto, decided to form an Orthodox Jewish congregation.

Incorporated in 1914, the congregation initially held services in a rented house, until they had the funds to purchase 25 Bellevue Avenue three years later.

A mere four years after that, the congregation had expanded so much that they required the house next door. They began raising money for a new space, and by 1923 had enough to begin construction of a larger synagogue. 

The Kiever Synagogue has been a central meeting place for the social and religious life of local residents and the wider community.

The Byzantine Revival architectural style synagogue, notable in the twin dome towers with the Star of David, took three years to complete and was finished in 1927.