Rabbi Stroh

Rabbi Michael Stroh, Temple Har Zion's founding Rabbi, continues to serve our congregation by leading monthly Shabbat morning Torah Study sessions and other adult education programs.

Rabbi Stroh teaches and lectures regularly at Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist synagogues in the Toronto area. He lectures frequently at interfaith programs at the University of Toronto, York University and secondary schools. He was a member of the Theology faculty of the University of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto. Rabbi Stroh spent his last sabbatical in New York and Israel. He taught Covenant Theology with Professor Eugene Borowitz at HUC – JIR and did research on Franz Rosenzweig. He has been an instructor at Queen’s College and taught Jewish Thought at the School of Education and Philosophy at the School of Sacred Music of HUC – JIR. He has been an instructor in Jewish Theology at the University of Waterloo.

Rabbi Stroh is a Past President of Arza Canada, (Reform Zionist Organization) and a Past Chairperson of Arzenu: International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists. He was a member of the Zionist General Council (Va’ad Hapoel) of the World Zionist Organization and the Assembly of the Jewish Agency. He is a past president of the Toronto Board of Rabbis and was a member of the Commission on Sustaining Rabbinic Education of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion/Central Conference of American Rabbis. Rabbi Stroh was a chair of the Reform Round Table, a group of rabbis who discuss the content and direction of Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Stroh  received his B.A. from Queen’s College, Summa Cum Laude. He was ordained at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC – JIR) at which he earned an M.A. with honours.  In l991, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from HUC – JIR.  

He is married to retired publicist Celia Stroh; together they have two children and four grandchildren.

Among Rabbi Stroh’s publications are the following: 

• Marshall McLuhan and the Shape of the Reform Jewish Future
• Tradition for Reform Judaism
• A New Look at Franz Rosenzweig’s Speech Thinking
  Central Conference of American Rabbis Journal
• The Authority of the Tradition for the Reform Rabbi
  Yearbook of the Central Conference of American Rabbis,Vol. XC, Part Two
• A Reform Perspective
  Midstream Magazine
• Authority, Autonomy, and Authenticity: A Personal Search
  Jewish Spiritual Journeys
  Lawrence A. Hoffman and Arnold J. Wolf, Behrman House Inc.
• Mending The World And The Evil Inclination: The Human Role In Redemption
  Duties of the Soul
  Niles Goldstein and Peter S. Knobel, URJ Press
• Martyrdom: Suicide for the Sake of Heaven
  The Freehof Institute of Progressive Halakhah

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