30 | MAY 19 • 2022 

A 

true piece of Jewish 
history sits just over 
the Detroit River, an 
institution that’s seen it all in 
its near century of existence. It 
may have originated as a repli-
ca, but there’s no duplicating it. 
Windsor’s Congregation 
Shaar Hashomayim, or “Gate 
of Heaven,
” is an exact model 
of the namesake synagogue 
in Montreal, just on a smaller 
scale. The synagogue was built 
93 years ago and is listed on the 
Heritage Register of the City of 
Windsor. 
As Windsor’s population 
boomed in the post-World 
War I era, so, too, did its Jewish 
population, until the Shaarey 
Zedek on Mercer Street could 
no longer hold its membership. 
According to the Windsor 
Jewish Federation, just over 
300 Jews lived in Windsor in 
1911. By 1921, the community 

numbered 980. It became clear 
a new synagogue was needed. 
A building committee was 
organized in 1925. The present 
Shaar Hashomayim site on 
Giles Boulevard was purchased 
and groundbreaking took place 
on June 24, 1929. The first 
services were held on Rosh 
Hashanah in 1930. 
By the time Shaar 
Hashomayim was built, the 
Windsor Jewish community 
had grown to 2,200 people. 
From that beginning, the 
synagogue grew both in mem-
bership and in function. High 
Holidays at Shaar Hashomayim 
were packed, full of congre-
gants all the way up to the 
balcony.
That was then, and now 
is now. The Windsor Jewish 
community has dwindled in 
numbers over the years. But 
Bill Mechanic, current act-

ing-president of 
the congregation 
and fifth-gener-
ation member of 
the community, 
has worked tire-
lessly to keep the 
doors open to the 
near century-old gem of Jewish 
architecture and history.
Mechanic’s great-grandfather, 

Morris Gitlin, was the first 
acting rabbi in Windsor, and 
his grandfather Bill and his 
brother Abraham were among 
the founding fathers of Shaar 
Hashomayim. Mechanic fol-
lows in his father Dave’s foot-
steps as a dedicated and giving 
congregant.
The community has assist-
ed Mechanic and Shaar 
Hashomayim in endless ways 
over the years, helping keep the 
operation going. “We’ve raised 
a lot of money,
” Mechanic said. 
“Our heating and cooling was 
kaput. It was from 1929. We 
raised $300,000 to replace that 
last year.
”
Mechanic says along with 
help from those still in town, 
the congregation has received 
help from people who were 
raised in Windsor and moved 
away. 
When the ceiling collapsed 
about six years ago and they 
didn’t have the money to fix it, 
a man who was bar mitzvahed 
at the Shaar years prior visit-
ed and said, “That can’t be.
” 
Mechanic said the problem was 
taken care of. 
“If there’s a cause, people 
in the community will come 
through and rally around it. 
They don’t turn their backs,
” 
Mechanic said. “We’re trying 
to keep it operational. We keep 
reinvesting, and we’re able to 
have weekly services and High 

Windsor’s Congregation 
Shaar Hashomayim 
Nears Its Centennial

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

SYNAGOGUE SPOTLIGHT

The exterior

Rabbi Sholom Galperin 
near the bimah.

NATHAN VICAR

Bill 
Mechanic

