Joseph (Yosef) Weinreb (1869–1943), also known as the "Galitzianer Rav," was the first chief rabbi of Toronto, Canada.
Biography Joseph Weinreb was born in Busk, Galicia, son of Rabbi Baruch Shlomo Weinreb and his wife Soore Ratze.
Rabbinic career He worked as a rabbi in Iași, Romania after receiving his smicha (rabbinical ordination) from the Brejaner Rebbe. Around the year 1900, he received an invitation at the suggestion of his brother-in-law, Binyamin Kurtz, who was living in Toronto at that time, to serve as the rabbi of Toronto's Shomrai Shabbos congregation.Shomrai Shabbos celebrates 120 years The congregation had just purchased a building on Chestnut Street. Weinreb moved to Toronto with his two daughters, Malka and Lil, after his wife, Ethel, died in childbirth. In Toronto, he married his niece, Freyda, with whom he had three more children, Soore Ratze, Sol and Ruth. The rabbi purchased a home on Henry Street across from the Poilishe Shul, and continued to head the congregation for more than 40 years.Genealogy as a labour of love. Bill GladstoneYosef Weinreb (1869 - 1942)Yahrzeit Memoir - 'One Hundred Years'. Shomrei Shabbas Mahzikei Hadas - The Trolley Street Shul. By Sara Edell Schafler Kelman After an ideological split in the congregation, a new synagogue was built on Terauley Street, on land donated by Zelig Shapira.Shapira family held key to Terauley Street synagogue
Weinreb died on October 15, 1943, in Toronto. His successor was Rabbi Gedalia Felder.
See also History of the Jews in Toronto
References
External links Documents in Ontario Jewish Archives