Calgary – The Little Synagogue on the Prairie Project is bringing one of the last surviving prairie synagogues to Heritage Park Historical Village. 

The 66-acre park is the largest living historical park in Canada, and is home to more than 400,000 visitors annually.

The synagogue, originally known as the Montefiore Institute, was built in 1913 to serve one of the last Jewish bloc farming settlements in Western Canada, in Sibbald, AB.

Jewish philanthropists like Baron Maurice de Hirsch and Sir Moses Montefiore supported the Jewish bloc settlements, with the goal of helping Eastern European Jews escape the pogroms and settle farms in Western Canada.

Irena Karshenbaum, who started up the Little Synagogue group in 2005, has been doing research on it for much longer. 

She recruited people with different skills and expertise, and wrote a proposal to the park to bring in a synagogue. Originally, the proposal was to build a synagogue at the park to depict life in that era, about 100 years ago (not to bring one in from elsewhere). 

Karshenbaum said, “Farming conditions for the Jewish block settlers were brutal. They endured terrible cold and dryness, grasshoppers and draught.  So the community didn’t last long. Most of the people there abandoned their farms and buildings by the mid-1920s, and moved to Calgary, Edmonton, or Los Angeles.

“The little synagogue was abandoned by the time of the Great Depression and was rediscovered by one of our society’s board members, Manny Cohen, 70 years later.”

Cohen, 78, is a Jewish rancher, who was born near where he found the synagogue.

“During the Great Depression, a government program restored old farm buildings and turned farming areas into small towns,” said Karshenbaum. “This synagogue was sold for $200, and was moved to another location in 1937. No one could track it down until Manny.”

Karshenbaum said that until now there has been no mention of a Jewish contribution to Alberta at a heritage park. “Our society is changing that,” she said. 

“We plan to move the little synagogue to the park, restore it to its original state, develop educational programs about it and open it to park visitors. Most people coming to the park who will see the synagogue will not be Jewish, and that’s wonderful.”

According to Karshenbaum, during the past 40 years, various members of Calgary’s Jewish community have tried to get permission to bring a synagogue to the park.

“When we came to the park with our proposal, they were very excited,” she said. “By the end of 2006, the park board unanimously voted to go ahead with the project.” 

Although Jewish settlers were a small minority in Alberta’s early years, Karshenbaum said, “they were important in their societal contributions and had a hand in building the land.” 

Karshenbaum views this little synagogue project as having tremendous positive outreach aspects. 

“It will speak to non-Jewish and Jewish audiences about the rich Jewish history of Western Canada, about the Jewish religion and its traditions, and will build bridges of understanding between people of all faiths and cultures.”

She said this project is important because “it will tell park visitors that Canada is built on Judaeo-Christian values – a fact that is now missing. It’s an important part of Alberta’s history, will make the park that much more interesting and shows that Jews are just like any other settlers.”

The project has about 27 volunteers in Calgary, including nine board members, with committees for fundraising, interpreting, research, communications and restoration.   

The team has also hired expert individuals, like Restoration Architect Loran Simpson, the only expert in his field in Calgary.

The plan is to bring the synagogue to Calgary by truck (about 215km). Next, the group will take a year to restore it to its original condition, with the goal of opening it up to the public at the park in spring 2009.  

For more information or to assist in the project, contact Irena Karshenbaum at (403) 287-8464 or littlesynagogue @shaw.ca, or visit www.littlesynagogue.ca.