What you see above is a picture of the synagogue on the outside as it exists today. However, if you look at the original design as pictured below you note that it had a very different look back then.
When the synagogue opened and until the early 1960’s, people passing by would have seen the domes as well as the rest of the front. However, in the early 1960’s, the rabbi of that day, Rabbi Israel Freedman, who had come from England via Montreal to serve as our rabbi, complained about the domes which, in his mind, made the synagogue look too Eastern European or something. So he asked the Board of Governors at the time to have them removed. His wish was their command. Whatever happened to them way back when is not known today. What is known, however, to anyone who comes upstairs to the sanctuary via the stairs from below, would immediately notice the damage to the walls. We’ve tried to repair that damage repeatedly, but it keeps on coming back because there is damage to the roof above. If you look to the far right and the far left of the main sanctuary entrance, you will immediately understand that the staircases extending from lower level to the Mechitsa or women’s gallery at the tope are directly below in the passageway with the stained glass windows. Now it is up to the current board and part of our planned 100th year renovations and refurbishing, to repair that roof where the domes were removed so we can then dry out the walls and repair them below. Anyone interested in helping us complete the job is welcomed to make a donation to the synagogue via our office.