Rabbi Steven (Shimon) Schonblum was born and raised in Toronto, has been married to his wife Lolita since 1988, and together they have three beautiful children, Joshua, Josef and Deena. Rabbi Schonblum received his smicha (rabbinical ordination) from Tifereth Yisrael Rabbinical Yeshiva in 2001 and has since been the head Rabbi at the Beth Radom Congregation. The Beth Radom, or “Roodomer” as it is commonly known, has seen an increase in membership by over 100 families under Rabbi Schonblum’s leadership and guidance.
Rabbi Schonblum is also an accomplished baal Koreh (Torah reader), a baal tefilah (High Holyday and everyday davening) and a baal tekiah (sounding the shofar). Since 1986 he has been helping people through their life cycle events, such as funerals, unveilings, visiting the sick, baby namings, Bar-Bat Mitzvahs and weddings.
Rabbi Schonblum grew up attending the Clanton Park Synagogue where he was active from an early age in choirs, junior services, B’nai Akiva (youth programs) and thus acquiring early experience in Jewish ritual leadership. He is a graduate of the Associated Hebrew Day Schools and CHAT (Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto), and still maintains contact with many of his former high school friends, some of whom he has known since kindergarden. He has been teaching Bar and Bat Mitzvah students since his late teens. He has taught the young and young-at-heart Hebrew, how to daven (lead services) and read from the Torah. Before receiving his ordination, Rabbi Schonblum worked for fifteen years as the ritual/religious director of the Pride of Israel Synagogue where he became affectionately known to the congregation and community at large as “Steven from the Pride.”
Prior to discovering his calling to assist the Jewish community of Toronto in their religious needs, Rabbi Schonblum studied respiratory technology at the Toronto Institute of Medical Technology, worked in a retail business helping out his family, and even studied carpentry at the George Brown College. He still has a weakness for wood working which remains his hobby, and when he manages to find some spare time, can be found in his garage with a pencil behind his ear, by his 10inch table saw. (He still has all ten fingers). In the colder months of the year, Rabbi Schonblum enjoys ‘putting up the boards’ in his backyard and heading outside with the hose when the mercury dips well below zero to flood his 45 by 70 foot ice rink, affording him the opportunity to host shinny hockey games for those interested in winter fun.
Rabbi Schonblum is also known for making a mean chulent, for his congregation and those with a hearty appetite. He is friendly, approachable, insightful and filled with humor, warmth, compassion and sincerity. He is often told that he is “not like most Rabbis”, and considers such comments to be the greatest of compliments. His primary goal remains to continue spreading the beauty and warmth of yiddishkite throughout the vibrant and growing Jewish community in which he was born and raised.
Cantor David Rosen acquired a love for Jewish music from a very young age. A graduate of the School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, he became an invested Cantor on May 4th 2003.
A native of Toronto, Cantor Rosen completed his Senior Thesis and Masters Recital on Jewish Contemporary Canadian Composers, featuring the music of the late Srul Glick, Ben Steinberg, Cantors Benjamin Maissner and Norman Summers. Prior to his formal Cantorial training, David studied chazzanut under Cantor Benjamin Maissner of Holy Blossom and received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology along with an advanced certificate in Hebrew and Judaic Studies at York University in Toronto.
Cantor Rosen is an active member of both the Cantor’s Assembly and the American Conference of Cantors having served as faculty on the Cantorial Certification panel for the past three years. He also serves as secretary for the Cantorial Alumni Association for the School of Sacred Music.
After serving as cantor and Music director For Temple Emanu-El in Livingston, New Jersey, Cantor Rosen thrilled to return to Toronto as cantor and director of Beth Radom’s Hebrew School, “Jumpin 4 Judaism.” Along with his dear colleague and friend, Rabbi Steven Schonblum, this dynamic clergy team seeks to create contemporary religious services and dynamic programming for a diverse community. In addition to his pulpit and teaching responsibilities, Cantor Rosen offers lectures on Jewish music and Liturgy and provides pastoral counseling as well as life-cycle ceremonies. He also initiated Beth Radom’s first Youth choir, which had a very successful inaugural year. His dramatic tenor voice and sensitivity to traditional Jewish modes and their role within liturgical expression allow him to bring a unique blend of styles to contemporary synagogue worship.
Over the years, Cantor Rosen has sung in many choirs, including the men’s choir at the renowned Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. In addition to Jewish music, Cantor Rosen enjoys opera and musical theatre, having performed roles in The Merry Widow, Yentl, Camelot and Fiddler on the Roof. He has also a co-founder of a musical group called the “Honourable Menchen” and has performed and organized concerts throughout Canada and abroad. Last year Cantor Rosen sang with the Markham Singers in a Interfaith Holiday concert, which is set to air on Vision Televison later this year.
Cantor Rosen is happily married to his beautiful wife, Rabbi Ilyse Glickman, and they reside in Toronto with their adorable Shih-Tzu, Molly.
