Shabbat & Festival Services

In-the-round and out of the box!

Join us for our musical services In-The-Round at Bialik Hebrew Day School. Come and experience what everyone is talking about, starting with the Shabbat Starbucks Coffee Lounge, continuing through the exciting musical davening, and ending with the amazing kiddush as part of our Community in Harmony!

Our services are conducted by Cantor Simon Spiro, with the exquisite and lively a cappella accompaniment of the Toronto Festival Singers. Our seating is in-the-round, providing an intimate, warm and welcoming atmosphere for singing along.

Children of all ages are welcome in the service at The Song Shul, and the Cantor and choir are regularly joined on the bimah by children and teens from our Be A H.I.T. (Hazzan-In-Training) Program. Whenever we march around with the Torah, children are invited to join in the world’s first Torah Bubble Parade! (We used to be the world’s “only” but other shuls are following our lead!) During the Torah reading, young children are invited to our special Music Mini-yan, a minyan just for kids and a chance for them to learn new songs.

In lieu of a sermon, our Shabbat and holiday services feature a 5-8 minute “Staccato Sermonette” given by select invited speakers. Special Shabbatot during the year will feature full sermons as well as Sermons-In-Song by visiting musical scholars and artists.

Our service is “traditional egalitarian,” meaning that we use both Conservative (Siddur Chadash) and Orthodox (Artscroll) prayer books, but there is mixed seating, and women participate as equals with men. If you enjoy our service but prefer separate seating, we reserve a davening space on Shabbat for separate seating. We do not use musical instruments on Shabbat and Yom Tov.

Beginning on Sukkot, The Song Shul’s festival services and once-a-month Shabbat services are held at Bialik Hebrew Day School, followed by a full Kiddush to which everyone is invited. See side panel for details.

On most Friday evenings, our services are at the home of the Spiros or another member. If you are visiting, please contact us to check the location and get directions.