Welcome to Toronto!

Shalom! Bienvenue, bienvenido and dobro pozhalovat.

The city of Toronto is the capital of Ontario and the

UJA Federation welcomes newcomers to the GTA. Click here for more information.

largest urban centre in Canada. It is home to 2.48 million people. Located on the north shore of Lake Ontario, the city is at about the same degree latitude as the French Riviera and known as one of North America’s safest and most multicultural cities. There are more than 100 ethnic groups in Toronto, and visible minorities account for nearly 50 per cent of the city’s population. It has the world’s largest freestanding tower (the CN Tower, at 553.33 metres) and the world’s longest street (Yonge Street). Within the city, there are 187 kilometres of bike paths, 7.8 kilometres of walking paths and more than three million publicly owned trees (City of Toronto).

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is a frequently used term. It refers to Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham to the east, York to the north, and Peel and Halton to the west.  These municipalities are far from the traditional image of the suburbs as bedrooms communities fo the big city.

They are each home to business and industry and count several cities within their boundaries. And with a population of 2.62 million, the municipalities have more residents than Toronto.

The majority of Canadian Jews - 114,000 - live in Toronto, and more than 65,000 live in the municipalities. Seventy per cent of the GTA’s Jews live within eight kilometres of Bathurst St., and more than 200 Jewish schools, synagogues, shops and community centres are within walking distance of Bathurst Street.

The GTA is a place with a wide spectrum of Jewish life. Are you looking for an Orthodox all-girls’ high school for students with physical or developmental disabilities? Or a pluralistic, downtown synagogue with a young population? Or a neighbourhood with so much Hebrew that it feels like a Tel Aviv suburb? The GTA has it all.

This Web site is a guideline. It will show you where the Jewish community is located and provide you with a ta’am, or taste, of the neighbourhoods with a Jewish presence. It will tell you where you can find kosher food in Toronto, what the houses in your neighbourhood of choice look like, and what kinds of services you can expect in that area. We hope it will help you decide where to live and how to become part of your new Jewish community.

Please note that these maps are not to scale. For up-to-date driving instructions, please consult Mapquest. The housing prices were obtained from the Toronto Real Estate Board, and average rental costs are from the Canada Mortagage and Housing Corporation.

More information on Toronto’s neighbourhoods is available in the book Your Guide to Toronto Neighbourhoods by David Dunkelman (2002).

Click here for a more detailed map of Toronto and the surrounding areas