Shabbat & Festival Services

Note: The Song Shul’s High Holy Day services are at the magnificent George Weston Recital Hall in Toronto’s Meridian Centre. Below find information about Shabbat and 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 (never the same music twice in a row!), 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 feature additional speaking with Q&A during kiddush, as well as Sermons-In-Song by visiting musical scholars and artists.

Our service is “traditional egalitarian,” meaning that we use both Conservative and Orthodox prayer books. Because of the enormous crowds who flock to our service, it is not uncommon for us to run out of books. We currently have a Song Shul Siddur Drive to purchase the Koren Siddur so that we will have enough for all. There is mixed seating but for those who prefer separate seating, we reserve a davening space on Shabbat and festivals for separate seating. Women participate as equals with men. We do not use musical instruments on Shabbat and Yom Tov.

Beginning each year on Sukkot, The Song Shul’s festival services and twice-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 dates.

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.