A Short History of Har El
The origins of what would become Congregation Har El can be traced to the determined efforts of a number of Jewish residents of the North Shore, led by Horst Sachs z”l, during the middle of the last century. The community became more formally established following an open community meeting in the 1970’s, and by 1981 the landmark figure of 100 member families had been reached.
In 1984, Har El moved to a semi-permanent home in rented premises on Inglewood Avenue in West Vancouver. Religious services and the community’s social activities were held there until 1997, when Har El moved into its permanent home on Taylor Way. The spiritual leader during this period was Rabbi Imre Balla, who served the congregation from 1982 until 1999.
Rabbi Shmuel and Sara Birnham and their son David Shalom moved to West Vancouver and joined the Har El community in the summer of 2000. The congregation joined the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in 2002.
Our building, which was designed by Mark Ostry of the architectural firm of Acton Johnson Ostry, won the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia Award of Excellence and the Ron Thom Wood Design Award. The facilities include a beautiful sanctuary, fully-equipped kitchen, library, meeting rooms and social halls. Congregation Har El’s classroom wing is also home to the North Shore Hebrew School.
A major renovation took place in 2008 which greatly improved the acoustics and warm ambience of the sanctuary and main social hall.
In the summer of 2010, Cantor Teron Cohen was engaged as the first full-time professional Cantor of the congregation.