Among the thousands who poured in fleeing pogroms and poverty were men, and sometimes families, from two small Polish shtetlach of Staszow and Slipi.

They were meeting places, a small "piece of der alte Heim" (their homes in Poland) where they could converse in Yiddish, read letters from home to each other, talk about their "Canadian" children who were doing so well at school, and boast of how their hard earned incomes were being used to bring in more family members.

The onset of the First World War stopped immigration for a while, but the gates of Canada reopened, albeit more reluctantly, in the 1920s, thus allowing the small congregations to continue growing.

He was a respected and learned man who authored books on Jewish law, opened a Yeshiva, became Principal of the Eitz Chaim School on D'Arcy Street, and a source of pride to his congregants.

But as the numbers of the second generation members dwindled, and their children attended less often, a slow decline began.

Services fell from twice a day to twice a week, and "waiting for minyan" - the 10 men needed to make a quorum for public prayer - became frequent on Shabbat.

Together, both generations, aided by new members attracted by our traditional friendly and familial atmosphere, reinvigorated the congregation.