Joseph Weinreb

A march in support of the Balfour Declaration in 1917, in front of the parliament building in Toronto, Canada. The man in the shiny black top hat is Rabbi Joseph Weinreb, the chief rabbi of Toronto at the time. 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. 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. After an ideological split in the congregation, a new synagogue was built on Terauley Street, on land donated by Zelig Shapira.

Weinreb died on October 15, 1943, in Toronto. His successor was Rabbi Gedalia Felder.