‘Hard to be a Jew Right Now’ – Rabbi Harry Brechner Retires
Jeff Bell, Victoria
Volume 40 Issue 7, 8, & 9 | Posted: October 20, 2025
The man affectionately known as “Victoria’s downtown rabbi” is retiring.
Rabbi Harry Brechner, 61, has been at Congregation Emanu-El for 24 years, leading the synagogue at the corner of Blanshard Street and Pandora Avenue that has stood since the 19th century.
“Rabbi Harry is a gem,” said Ilana Stanger-Ross, the synagogue’s board president. “For nearly two-and-a-half decades, he’s led Western Canada’s oldest synagogue with warmth and sensitivity. While deeply grounded in tradition, he’s always embraced a progressive vision that inspires action and nurtures deep community — things we’re known for in Victoria.”
Congregation Emanu-El was founded in 1863, and in addition to providing services and running a Hebrew school, it co-sponsors Syrian and Palestinian-Syrian refugee families, supports homeless people nearby in the 900-block of Pandora, and collects monthly donations to help marginalized groups in the region.
The synagogue’s congregation is made up of about 260 families, with an estimated 2,000 Jewish people in the capital region.
Brechner’s successor, Rabbi Elisha (Eli) Herb, has been a congregational rabbi in Salem, Oregon, for nine years. “I am honoured to continue Rabbi Harry’s legacy and to offer spiritual guidance and new leadership at Emanu-El,” Herb said. “When I visited in the spring, I immediately felt a deep connection with the synagogue and the city. I am thrilled at the opportunity to be rabbi of such a special community in a special place.”
Brechner said that retiring is “a little bittersweet.”
“I feel a sense of pride in the work that I’ve been able to do,” he said. “I’m not leaving town, I’m staying in Victoria, but sad to leave the role in some ways.”
The international situation with conflict in the Middle East involving Israel has been challenging, Brechner said.
Anti-semitic graffiti was left on the exterior of the synagogue in early August.
“It’s hard to be a Jew right now,” he said. “It just makes it that much harder sometimes to be a rabbi and to maintain a sense of being a well of hope for people, and showing people how to navigate through.”
Brechner said the community he has helped to grow has also helped him grow.
“The people I’ve met, the joy and pain I’ve had entrée to, and the relationships I’ve developed all inform how I understand our place in the world as a Jewish people,” he said. “I hope Rabbi Eli has a similar experience. I know I’m handing our synagogue into very capable and caring hands.”
Brechner received the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2024 for his contributions to interfaith measures and social justice, along with an honorary doctorate in 2025 from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
A retirement party for Brechner was planned for September, and Herb will be formally installed in the fall.
Jeff Bell, Victoria