1 First Jewish Cemetery in Canada West

In 1849, the Trustees of the Toronto Hebrew Congregation purchased a plot of land at Pape and Gerrard avenues (Leslieville), close to one of the city’s earliest Jewish immigrant communities. The land was used to establish the first Jewish cemetery in Canada West (Ontario). This purchase was spearheaded by local jeweller and optician Judah G. Joseph (1798-1857), who despaired at burying his fatally ill son in one of the nearest Jewish cemeteries at Montreal or Buffalo. The burial of Samuel Joseph is believed to be the first Jewish burial in Toronto. After acquiring the cemetery land, the Toronto Hebrew Congregation became known in 1856 as the Holy Blossom Congregation and took over the management of Pape Avenue Cemetery, by then known as Holy Blossom Cemetery. By the 1930s, the cemetery had little available burial space remaining, and the Holy Blossom Congregation created Holy Blossom Temple Memorial Park on Brimley Road as their new burying ground.

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