(NEWS) Rabbi Hoping To Build Jewish Community In Moose Jaw

"The number 10 is an important number within the Jewish religion and local Rabbi Callan David is hopeful that within 10 years the Friendly City will have an actual Jewish community.

Currently, David is alone as a practicing Jew in Moose Jaw, using his attic as a worship space and unable to perform some of the worship practices without a community. While having a proper synagogue would be appreciated (the building that now houses the Denee School of Dance used to be a synagogue), David knows a community is needed first, something he thinks may not be far off.

'I think (the community) might grow more and more because the warehouse distribution centre that is growing in Regina is going to bring in a lot of people and the housing prices in Regina are going to go sky high. A lot of people who are going to come to Regina will probably come from places where an hour commute is nothing and on this road it would be a gift. I think it can happen; I would make a bet that within 10 years I would have 10 Jewish men in Moose Jaw,' said David.

Without 10 men, called a 'minyan,' David cannot read from the Torah on the Sabbath or say kaddish. This role is exclusively for men in the Orthodox Judaism David practices, due to a rabbinic decree making prayer a time-bound commandment, which traditionally only men are obliged to do." (source)