Festival of Sukkot — McCaul Street style, 1952

From the Globe and Mail, Toronto, Oct. 4, 1952

Sukkot-ill-4oct1952gThis photo appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail on October 4, 1952 at the start of the Festival of Sukkot.

The photo shows Rene Slonim, daughter of Rabbi Reuben Slonim of the McCaul Street Synagogue, guiding six-year-old Seymour Epstein through the ceremony of the blessing of the palm branch and citron (etrog) in the shul’s sukkah.

The caption identifies the synagogue as “Beth Tzedec Synagogue on McCaul Street.” It was the former Beit Hamidrash Hagadol Chevrah Tehillim, more usually known as the McCaul Street Synagogue, which had evidently just merged with Goel Tzedek under the new name (devised by Rabbi Slonim) of Beth Tzedec. ♦