Chabad Shul Marks 100 Years

Congregation Nussach Hoari of Montreal, the oldest Chabad Shul in Canada, celebrated 100 years last week at a Hakhel farbrengen.

The event also marked the second Yortzeit of Rabbi Moshe Chayim Sapochkinsky z”l, who served as Rabbi of the shul for 61 years.

Rabbi Sapochkinsky was preceded by Rabbi Nosson Afraimovitz, a student of the Rogatshover. As the first Lubavitcher shul in the area, it was the spiritual center for chassidim and their relatives who have emigrated to Canada at the turn of the 20th century. It later served as the base of operation to the 9 shluchim who arrived from Shanghai in 1940, and it was the Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim’s first location.

The current Rabbi of the Congregation, Rabbi Mikhael Dahan, Dean of Chaya Mushka Seminary, shared some of the historical highlights of the Shul, which was founded by a group of Lubavitchers, headed by one of the Rebbe’s cousins, Rabbi Menashe Lavut, son of renowned Rabbi Avrohom Dovid Lavut of Nikolayev, author of Kav Noki.

A memento containing copies of many letters sent by the Rebbe to the shul was distributed. Rabbi Dahan shared some messages drawn from these letters, connecting them with the idea of Hakhel.

Rabbi Yitzchok Zeev Sapochkinsky, Shliach in California and son of the late Rabbi, spoke of the significant history of the Shul and how his father z”l was devoted to its development all through the demographic changes, always adjusting the activities as the needs of the members evolved. The Shul’s Baal Koreh, Rabbi Levi Vaisfiche, related that the first Rabbi of Nussach Hoari, Rabbi Afraimovitz, went with many members of the congregation to see the Frierdiker Rebbe when he came to New York in 1929. Rabbi Afraimovitz later received a letter from his teacher, the Rogatchover, praising him for becoming a chossid and for traveling with his congregants to see the Rebbe.

Rabbi Dahan concluded the evening by pointing out that most of the letters sent by the Rebbe in the early years to the congregation were referring to farbrengens or shiurim held at the shul. He asked the audience to resolve in increasing their attendance to the ongoing shiurim and farbrengens, as we embark in the shul’s second century.

This Kinus Hakhel was attended by the Rabonim and members of the greater Lubavitcher communities of Montreal.