Rav Yosef Weinreb Zt”l (1869–1942) Toronto’s First Chief Rabbi and Founding Rav of Shomrai Shabbos-chevra Mishnayos
Today, 4 Cheshvan, marks the 84th yahrtzeit of Rav Yosef Weinreb zt”l, a pioneering figure in Toronto’s Orthodox Jewish history.
Born in Busk, Galicia, Rav Weinreb received semichah from three of the great Torah luminaries of his generation: the Belzer Rov, the Brezaner Rov — Rav Sholom Mordechai HaKohen Schwadron (the Maharsham) — and the Lemberger Rov.
After serving as rav in Iași, Romania, he came to Toronto in 1900 at the urging of his brother-in-law, Reb Binyamin Kurtz, to lead the young Shomrai Shabbos congregation. He subsequently became recognized as Toronto’s first Chief Rabbi.
For more than four decades, Rav Weinreb guided his kehillah as it grew from its early home on Chestnut Street to its later location at Brunswick and Sussex. Known affectionately as the Galitzianer Rav, he played an important role in establishing the foundations of Orthodox Jewish life in Toronto, including mikveh facilities, kashrus supervision, and the Chevra Kadisha.
Family and Legacy
Rav Weinreb arrived in Canada as a widower with two daughters. His daughter Malka (Mollie) married Reb Pesach Edell; their son, Sol Edell, became a prominent Toronto Jewish communal leader.
His daughter Perel (Lillian Leah) married Rav Menachem Mendel Perr, a longtime rov in Queens, New York. Their son was Rav Yechiel Yitzchok Perr zt”l, the renowned founder and rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Derech Ayson in Far Rockaway.
In Toronto, Rav Weinreb remarried Freyda Kurtz, and they had three additional children: Soore Ratze, Sol, and Ruth.
Rav Weinreb was niftar on 4 Cheshvan 5703 (1942) and was laid to rest at Toronto’s Jones Avenue Cemetery.
More than eight decades after his petirah, his legacy lives on through the institutions he helped establish, the kehillah he nurtured, and the generations of Torah leadership descended from him.
