Rabbi Sydney Shoham is the founder of Montreal’s Beth Zion Synagogue. He retired after Yom Kippur after 50 years of service to the community, but still plans to play an active role in and around the city, as well as at Hillel events on both Concordia’s and McGill’s campuses.
What originally drove you to become a rabbi?
My father was a rabbi, both my grandfathers were…it was in the family. Actually, my real desire was medicine. When I went to yeshiva, I enjoyed the studies very much. I [also] enjoyed the scientific studies very much that I was taking in Brooklyn College, and I was swaying between the two. What really swayed me was the enjoyment of learning, studying, and coming home and discussing within a rabbinic environment what I was studying in yeshiva.
Why did you decide to retire at this time?
Well, I’ve been [at Beth Zion] 50 years…it’s called Yovel, Jubilee…so it’s a sense of reaching a point that I really wanted to do something else. It’s not just retiring and stopping from what I’ve been doing, I just want to do it in a different direction.
Looking back at your career, what was your proudest moment?
I don’t think it was one proud moment, I think there were many proud moments. Seeing a shul starting from a little house, and davening in the basement of the house, and then putting up an auditorium, and then seeing that wasn’t enough, so we had to put up the main synagogue, and seeing a continuous progression so that almost every stage of a new progression becomes a new stage in life, which is the greatest moment…
It was a result of trying to create a type of community that was a friendly community - one that was working with the youth, with the elderly, the middle aged couples. We had programs that we started from the very beginning to the very end of life.
What aspect of your job will you miss the most?
The basic inter-relationship with the people. Dealing with their sorrows, their joys, their problems. Also, seeing how so many individuals who grew up and developed in Beth Zion became leaders in Montreal or in whatever communities they’ve moved into. So many of them are presidents of shuls in the communities where they moved.
Do you still plan on being active in the community?
As long as the community will ask of me to help…I will give every effort to help them. In terms of being active, I am serving on the ethics committee of the Jewish General Hospital, and Maimonides and Eldercare. I think I certainly have a lot to offer in terms of lecturing…which was one of my most important areas of satisfaction, giving lectures on Judaism.

On November 14th, 2006, at the Montreal Spectrum (318 St. Catherine West) students all across Montreal are invited to hear Holocaust survivor, author, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel speak about “Building a Moral Society - The Urgency of Hope”. Wiesel will be speaking in French with English translation available.
All students from all four major Montreal universities are invited to attend. Tickets are free with a valid student I.D., and advance registration is available. Otherwise, for adults, tickets are $20 each.

One of the most-talked-about Jewish issues on campus these days has been the comments by Liberal Party Leadership Candidate Michael Ignatieff referring to the Israeli Air Force bombing of Qana, Lebanon as a war crime. “I was a professor of human rights and I am also a professor of the laws of war and what happened in Qana was a war crime and I should have said that. That’s clear,” he told Tout Le Monde En Parle.
Some Jewish conservatives at Concordia told CampusJ they are appalled by these remarks from an individual who could potentially be their prime minister after the next election.
Michael Roskies, a second-year biology student, said they were “irresponsible and uninformed” and that he expected such comments from the Liberal party, which he felt has had an anti-Israel agenda for years.
Business student Jesse Rothman thought the comments were “disgusting,” and shared in Roskies’s sentiment that the Liberal Party is anti-Israel, adding that he thinks Ignatieff’s comments could sway the opinions of Jewish students who are Liberal Party supporters.

Though Hillel Concordia has had a strong start to the year — with a Shabbat dinner of over 400 students, two club days and the inauguration of the Hillel House — it has been without a permanent president.
Since the beginning of the semester, Adam Margulies has been working as interim president of Concordia Hillel, due to the resignation over the summer of then-president-elect Jackie Biber, who is taking a year off from school. In accordance with the Hillel and Concordia University bylaws, it is mandatory to have an election for both the office of the president and the vice president.
Nominations are open as of now, and any Jewish Concordia student is able to be nominated and run. The deadline for nominations is October 15th. All that’s needed to be nominated is one’s resume and a 100-word statement explaining why one wants to be president or vice president, to be submitted via e-mail to concordia -at- hillel.ca, or in person to any Hillel staffer.
The elections will take place October 18 and 19. Voting will be taking place at both the Loyola and Downtown Hillel rooms, with only one’s student ID needed to vote.

2.1 million dollars later, the Hillel House was finally inagurated last week to serve all 8,000 Jewish students in the Montreal area.
Placed in the heart of downtown Montreal between Concordia and McGill universities, the Hillel House was renovated to suit the needs of today’s students. Resources such as the addition of a wireless Internet network, multiple computers, a student activity center and a study area have all been added or redesigned. In addition to those resources, a library filled with books is available for research or reading purposes.
“It’s really exciting, the Hillel House really acts as a centre for Jewish student life in Montreal,� said Hillel Montreal President and Concordia University student Mitch Kahan, asserting, “we created a friendlier environment.�
The opening ceremonies brought speakers from various political and academic backgrounds. Quebec Finance Minister, and Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for D’Arcy-McGee, Lawrence Bergman led the list of speakers which included Concordia University President and Vice Chancellor Dr. Claude LaJeunesse, McGill University Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum, and Harvard University Professor Ruth R. Wisse.
“The idea here is to provide Jewish students a home away from home,� said Hillel Executive Director Gisele Rucker. “[We want to give them] a forum where they can talk about what concerns them not only as Jews but as young people and future leaders of the world.�
The Hillel House also provides additional room for nine students to live throughout the year. Jonathan Ames, a McGill University Arts student from Vancouver is one of the few who are fortunate to be living in the house. “It’s great,� he said. “It keeps me connected with other Jews, the meal plan offers kosher meals, and I’m right on campus.�
McGill student Jaclyn Rappaport spent her evening giving tours to all the guests in attendance. “It’s a social and dynamic environment; there’s always someone to talk to about an upcoming event or just to hang out with,â€? said Rappaport, adding “it’s the center for so much activity and [the upgrades are a] wonderful addition to our downtown campuses.”