The Community Today
On 2 April 2006, the Beth El Synagogue hosted a celebration of the five-generation-long history of Cornwall's Jewish community. It was also the occasion of the synagogue's closing. The day was a moving and dignified tribute to a vibrant and venerable congregation, one of the oldest of Ontario's small Jewish communities.
Speakers for the occasion included long-serving shul president and devoted community leader, Mark Goldhamer. Another speaker was Farrand Miller, a member of the fourth generation of Cornwall-born Jews and son of Julius Miller, community leader and Cornwall's first Jewish municipal councillor. Farrand Miller's wife Joyce offered a clear and heartfelt account of her engagement with the Beth El congregation. Also present were Ronen Gilor, Head of Mission for the Israeli Embassy in Ottawa, and Eric Vernon, representing the Canadian Jewish Congress. The spirit of the occasion was enhanced by musical interludes performed by Marc Goldhamer's son Brahm, a faculty member of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, together with his colleagues soprano Ramona Carmelly and violinist Jan Szot.
Rabbi Arnold Fine of Ottawa testified to the care and respect that would be given to the Ark, Torahs and memorial tablets that would find a new home at the Agudath Israel synagogue in Ottawa. Rabbi Fine touched a chord among all present when he stated: "What you have done here will live on in your children, grandchildren, and, please G-d, your great-grandchildren."
Ann and Bernard Miller with their family, 2 April 2006.