DJC Shabbat services are accessible, participatory, musical, and open to all!
We include explanations and insights by Rabbi Glickman that help guide a meaningful, personal connection with Jewish prayer, and live musical accompaniment from our Chazzan and Director of Music, David Gershon.
We always have a communal kiddush following our services, to nosh, meet new people, and connect with friends. Check the DJC calendar for upcoming Shabbat services.
SHABBAT
High Holy Days
A time to take stock of the past year, look forward, and recommit ourselves to living in line with our values and our deepest potential individually and collectively.
Let us bless the flow of life that revives us, sustains us, and brings us to this time
New DJC members often comment on how warm and musical our services are. With a unique balance of tradition and innovation, DJC High Holy Day services are relaxed, participatory, and spiritually moving regardless of your knowledge or background.
Our services include community aliyot, where dozens of us stand on the bimah together, sharing in the common joys and challenges of life. We also include wisdom and personal reflections shared from the pulpit by community members, our Rabbi’s inspiring sermons, and music that lifts our hearts and elevates our voices.
HHD
Jewish Holidays
The Jewish calendar offers us so many reasons to gather together with family, friends, and community to celebrate! DJC holiday celebrations include:
Singing, decorating, and sitting in the sukkah during Sukkot
Lighting up a dark December night for Chanukah
A mystical meal for Tu B’shvat
Vampy, campy megillah reading and Purim celebration
Community members hosting one another for Pesach
Earth Hour Havdallah and music by candlelight
All-night Shavuot learning
Take a look through our calendar for our upcoming holiday programming.
HOLIDAYS
CHILDREN
Children's Services
Young families attending our Saturday morning family services are invited to David & Bagel’s Shabbat Breakout, which begins when we take out the Torah in the middle of the service. Bring the kids for a breakout of singing, stories, and Shabbat fun with David Gershon and his stuffed dog, Bagel. David is our DJC Music Director and also happens to be a Juno award-winning children’s recording artist from the duo, “Judy & David”. All are welcome, but this event is recommended for children up to six years old accompanied by a caregiver.
Take a look through our calendar for our upcoming Shabbat morning services.
LIFECYCLE
Lifecycle Events
In the Jewish community, no one rejoices or mourns alone. Both celebrations and experiences of loss are opportunities for the DJC family to gather, sharing in important life stages together, supported by Jewish traditions. Our spiritual leaders are uniquely skilled at working with individuals and families so that the rituals of lifecycle moments are meaningful, beautiful, and reflect the distinct people involved. In the process, our members are actively engaged in learning about prayers and rituals, and connecting to Jewish practice.
Below are life cycle events traditionally marked through Jewish customs and practices. Creative new rituals are being incorporated into Jewish life to mark significant milestones and transitions. These can include a coming-out ceremony, the beginning of menses, menopause, and healing from trauma.
The arrival of a new baby is cause for great celebration and joy. At the DJC, we bring special warmth and care to helping families welcome their children into the circle of Jewish community.
Traditionally, on the eighth day of a Jewish baby boy’s life he is welcomed into the Jewish community through the ritual of brit milah, also known as a bris (the sign of the covenant/ circumcision). This is also when a Jewish boy is traditionally given his Hebrew name.
The ritual for welcoming baby girls into the covenant and community is known as a simchat bat (rejoicing for a daughter), when she also receives her Hebrew name. Creative contemporary rituals mark this significant and joyous moment. Some families choose to have an intimate gathering for the brit milah and to hold a communal simchat ben (rejoicing for a son) celebration.
Parents are also encouraged to be called to the Torah for an aliyah with a new baby during Shabbat morning service. The baby is blessed and the entire DJC community welcomes this young one into our midst.
As these Jewish rituals grow and evolve, we’re delighted to explore the possibilities with you.
Planning a Bris or Simchat Bat? Our rabbi is available to officiate and is happy to recommend the right mohel (male) or mohelet (female) to perform your son’s bris, including those who are sensitive to the needs of same-sex, interfaith, or intercultural families.
It’s a powerful moment when a young person steps into a new stage of their personal development and takes greater responsibility for their Jewish life. In Judaism, we mark that shift through the Bet Mitzvah ritual.
At the DJC, becoming Bet Mitzvah is a wonderfully communal experience. Every year, the students of our Bet Mitzvah class undertake a year-long journey of learning, exploration, and increased responsibility in the world through community service and other activities. The program culminates in a group Bet Mitzvah ceremony, with each student being called to the Torah for the first time. The ceremony is made especially beautiful by the individual contributions and explorations of Jewish life by each of the students, as well as their musical leadership in prayer and song as a group. In addition to their families and friends, the class invites the rest of the community to celebrate with them. It’s one of the most joyous moments of the DJC year.
Learn more about our Bet Mitzvah program.
There are also families in our community who choose to celebrate their children becoming Bet Mitzvah as part of one of our Shabbat morning services. Interested in a Saturday morning celebration for your child? Email info@djctoronto.com.
Inaugural Adult Group Bet Mitzvah Program
JUNE 2026-NOVEMBER 2027
The Danforth Jewish Circle is delighted to be launching our inaugural Adult Bet Mitzvah cohort! This exciting program is an engaging, interactive journey designed specifically for adult learners ready to explore, reconnect, or go deeper. Together, we’ll build a supportive space where curiosity and questions are welcomed, where learning feels alive and meaningful.
LEARN MORE!
Each person’s journey towards Judaism is organic and individual.
For those interested in exploring conversion, the Danforth Jewish Circle offers a 24-week course called Jewish Living Jewish Wisdom, a multi-denominational course taught by rabbis and educators from all the Jewish movements, offering genuine exploration of the diversity of Jewish ideas and approaches.
This course introduces the central Jewish ideas and practices, texts and experiences that form the foundation of a Jewish life. If you decide to pursue conversion, this course will give you the tools to choose an informed, healthy and whole commitment to Jewish living and the Jewish people. The process of conversion includes a period of extensive study, increasingly taking on Jewish practices and regularly meeting with your mentoring rabbi.
When two people choose to create a life together, a Jewish wedding joins them in celebration and joy.
A Jewish wedding takes place under a canopy – the chuppah – that shelters a couple, even as it is open on all sides. The ceremony ends with the breaking of a glass, which symbolizes all that needs healing in the world today. A wedding isn’t just a celebration of love; it offers hope that we can heal all that is broken.
Just as the rituals of a Jewish wedding unite a couple, the rituals of a Jewish divorce can bring sacred attention to the ending of a relationship, with wisdom and warmth.
Would you like to learn more about acquiring a get (document of divorce)? Please contact: rabbiglickman@djctoronto.com
Death, loss, and mourning are among the most difficult and transformative parts of life. The comfort of Judaism — and of being part of a community like the DJC — means we don’t have to bear it alone.
Our rabbi offers spiritual support, and is honoured to officiate at funerals, including conducting a non-denominational ceremony when a non-Jewish member of the community dies.
If a loved one has died:
View the DJC’s Guide Through Death and Mourning for a fulsome understanding of how to proceed logistically, and various rituals/practices.
Contact a Jewish funeral home first. Note that Jewish funeral homes will not attend to arrangements during Shabbat or on a holy day, so call as soon as the holy day has ended.
Send an email to info@djctoronto.com to inform us about the death. We’ll inform the community of your loss, including information about the funeral and shiva. In addition, our rabbi will follow up with you. If she is officiating at the funeral, she will set up a time to meet with you and your family.
To learn more about Jewish Death & Mourning practice, visit My Jewish Learning.
Jewish Toronto offers a list of Jewish funeral homes.
The DJC offers a solution to our diverse, inclusive community’s cemetery needs – a section at Beit Olam at Glenview Memorial Gardens for DJC members in good standing and their immediate relatives. This is currently the only available option in Toronto for a Jewish cemetery in which Jews and non-Jews can be buried together. Please see below.
BEIT OLAM
Beit Olam Garden at Glenview Memorial Gardens
Beit Olam Garden is a Jewish section (demarcated section of consecrated ground required for the purpose of Jewish burial) within Glenview Memorial Gardens, in which Jews and non-Jews can be buried side by side.
Beit Olam is a section of Glenview Memorial Gardens at 7541 Hwy 50, Woodbridge, Ontario (near Pearson Airport, just north of Steeles). An area with 200 plots has been developed for various communities. There is room to eventually accommodate 2,000 plots. Glenview Memorial Gardens is responsible for the daily operation and maintenance of the cemetery.
Beit Olam will use only bronze markers on pillow granite bases. Bronze markers can accommodate the desired design and Hebrew and English inscription.
The cemetery decided on this type of marker as standard for the entire Beit Olam section. Other options are not available as other monument designs would alter the size of plots and would affect maintenance.
Memorialization
24 x 14 bronze marker on pillow granite base for 1 person (includes general maintenance): $6,565 + HST
36 x 13 bronze marker on pillow granite base for 2 people (centred between both plots, includes general maintenance): $9,270 + HST Interment
(Opening and closing of the grave) for 1 single depth plot: $1,750 + HST
Payment Options
Payment in full (all major credit cards, cheque, cash, debit, bank draft)
25% down payment and balance within 90 days (no financing charge)
20% down payment and remaining balance on a monthly payment plan over 1-4 years (Includes 5.95% interest, and payment plan is open-ended)
Important To Know
By pre-planning now, you are securing today’s prices against annual price increases. Prices are subject to change. Annual price increases typically take place at the beginning of January. Purchase of plots, memorialization and internment can be prepaid. Prices are subject to change.
Members of the DJC can purchase plots directly from Glenview Memorial Gardens through our contact, Ryan Szigeti 416.990.1899.
