He was known affectionately as the "people's rabbi." Rabbi David Aaron Monson, founder and rabbi emeritus of Beth Sholom Synagogue in Toronto, earned many accolades, titles, and praises throughout his extraordinary life.
A gentle man with a big heart, he helped found Northwestern General (now part of Humber River Regional) hospital and the University of Waterloo. In 1961, he was named by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to the Canada Council board.
But among his greatest achievements was his ability to deeply touch all those who met him.
"Not only did everyone in the community know him, but he knew them and remembered them by name," said Beth Waldman, a granddaughter. "He had the memory of an encyclopedia."
Monson died last week at 91.
He was born in Ottawa in 1917, and became a rabbi in his early 20s. Soon his life would encapsulate both love and war.
He met Sue, the love of his life, and pursued her relentlessly, even following her on dates with other men. "It would be considered stalking now. But at that time, I guess it was persistence and he eventually won her over," said Waldman.
They were married for 61 years and had a daughter, Judy. Sue died five years ago after a series of strokes. "When she passed, he definitely lost a bounce in his step," Waldman said.
An army buff, Monson at age 23 enlisted as Jewish chaplain and went overseas with Canadian troops during World War II, and maintained a love of war films and singing war songs all his life.
In Toronto after the war, Monson turned his attention to community building. He helped set up Beth Sholom Synagogue in 1946, staging early services in a pharmacy until the current Eglinton Ave. W. location in Forest Hill was acquired.
Monson introduced a mixed choir and allowed women to sit with the men in the sanctuary. Under his leadership, Beth Sholom in 1953 became one of the first to hold bat mitzvahs for young women.
He trail-blazed "modernization of synagogue life, without diluting it to a degree that it's not recognizably Jewish anymore," said Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich at Beth Sholom.
Monson was a founder of the Canadian Council for Christians and Jews, served on Ontario Police Services Commission and Hebrew Association of the Blind.
A loyal supporter of Israel, he helped set up a community centre and Shaare Zedek clinic there.
In his final days "he was so ill, and couldn't talk, but if you would start whispering one Jewish prayer in particular ... he would finish it," said Flanzraich.
