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Synagogue Spotlight
OUR COMMUNITY
SYNAGOGUE SPOTLIGHT
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Rabbi Sholom Galperin near the bimah.
NATHAN VICAR
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
Atrue piece of Jewish history sits just over the Detroit River, an institution that’s seen it all in its near century of existence. It may have originated as a replica, but there’s no duplicating it.
Windsor’s Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, or “Gate of Heaven,” is an exact model of the namesake synagogue in Montreal, just on a smaller scale. The synagogue was built 93 years ago and is listed on the Heritage Register of the City of Windsor.
As Windsor’s population boomed in the post-World War I era, so, too, did its Jewish population, until the Shaarey Zedek on Mercer Street could no longer hold its membership. According to the Windsor Jewish Federation, just over 300 Jews lived in Windsor in 1911. By 1921, the community numbered 980. It became clear a new synagogue was needed.
A building committee was organized in 1925. The present Shaar Hashomayim site on Giles Boulevard was purchased and groundbreaking took place on June 24, 1929. The first services were held on Rosh Hashanah in 1930.
By the time Shaar Hashomayim was built, the Windsor Jewish community had grown to 2,200 people.
From that beginning, the synagogue grew both in membership and in function. High Holidays at Shaar Hashomayim were packed, full of congregants all the way up to the balcony.
That was then, and now is now. The Windsor Jewish community has dwindled in numbers over the years. But Bill Mechanic, current acting-president of the congregation and fifth-generation member of the community, has worked tirelessly to keep the doors open to the near century-old gem of Jewish architecture and history.
Mechanic’s great-grandfather, Morris Gitlin, was the first acting rabbi in Windsor, and his grandfather Bill and his brother Abraham were among the founding fathers of Shaar Hashomayim. Mechanic follows in his father Dave’s footsteps as a dedicated and giving congregant.
The community has assisted Mechanic and Shaar Hashomayim in endless ways over the years, helping keep the operation going. “We’ve raised a lot of money,” Mechanic said. “Our heating and cooling was kaput. It was from 1929. We raised $300,000 to replace that last year.”
Mechanic says along with help from those still in town, the congregation has received help from people who were raised in Windsor and moved away.
When the ceiling collapsed about six years ago and they didn’t have the money to fix it, a man who was bar mitzvahed at the Shaar years prior visited and said, “That can’t be.” Mechanic said the problem was taken care of.
“If there’s a cause, people in the community will come through and rally around it. They don’t turn their backs,” Mechanic said. “We’re trying to keep it operational. We keep reinvesting, and we’re able to have weekly services and High
Bill Mechanic
The exterior
Holidays. We keep the synagogue going.”
Cantor David Neumark has been Shaar Hashomayim’s spiritual leader since 1993. Rabbi Sholom Galperin of the Chabad Jewish Centre of Windsor also has a hand in services at the synagogue.
Shaar Hashomayim’s constitution defines it as an Orthodox congregation, although it has made some concessions to certain Conservative practices at the request of many congregants. While it strives to maintain strict separation of men and women in the main sanctuary, it does provide mixed seating in the social hall as well as limited areas of family seating in the balcony during the High Holidays.
Shaar Hashomayim also runs its own Hebrew school, serving about 20 kids, with Rabbi Galperin as its director. The Shaar runs its own cemetery as well, which Mechanic estimates holds 1,000-1,300 graves spanning generations of families.
Mechanic says the synagogue currently has 85-90 “member units” — families or individuals who belong.
Each year, Shaar Hashomayim draws men from all over for its biggest social/fundraising event of the year, a kosher deli feast known as “The Man’s Lunch.” It features all-youcan-eat corned beef, pastrami, salami and more. The meat is custom-brined and takes a month to make in Hamilton, Ontario. The lunch also offers seven-layer cake and rye bread from Detroit’s Bake Station, along with guest speakers. This year’s lunch takes place Sept. 22, and spots can be reserved now.
The synagogue, which has endured its fair share of struggles, is still going strong as it approaches its centennial. Mechanic takes pride in its aged uniqueness and is grateful for the community that continues to unabashedly support it and the multiplegenerational families that still congregate there.
“We’ve reinvested over $1 million in the last 20 years to bring this building back to the level it should be at and to honor those who made it available to us starting in 1929,” Mechanic said.
“We’ve been given this magnificent synagogue, and we just have to keep it going. There’s no synagogue like it; it’s inspirational.”
The sanctuary
To learn more about Shaar Hashomayim or to donate, visit https://shaarwindsor. org, call (519) 256-3123 or email shaar@ mnsi.net. Also, check out a conversation with Rabbi Galperin on thejewishnews. com.
