The Ottawa Jewish community traces its history to the middle of the 19th century.  The first Jewish settler, Moses Bilsky, came to Ottawa from Russia in 1858, left three years later and returned to stay in 1869.  He and his descendants played an important role in the development of the type of community we know today. There were only a handful of Jews in Ottawa in the 1860 and 1870s but by the 1880s, religious services were flourishing in homes, notably that of Moses Bilsky and his family.

Ottawa's first congregation (Adath Jeshurun) traces its origin from 1890, followed by Agudath Achim, founded in 1902.  Both merged in 1956 to form Beth Shalom. Machzikei Hadas was founded in 1906; Agudath Israel in 1936; Temple Israel and Young Israel in 1966.  Adath Shalom was established in 1978; and Beth Shalom West in 1980. Both the Ottawa Reconstructionist Havurah and the Sephardi Association of Ottawa began in 1987.

The original Jewish Community Centre was established in 1951, in the heart of Ottawa at 151 Chapel Street. There were a few thousand Jews in Ottawa and the Chapel Street JCC was in the center of their community.

Over the next half century, the Jewish community outgrew Chapel Street, both in numbers and location. In 1998, after a $29 million dollar campaign to build a new campus, the JCC named changed to the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (SJCC) and moved west to the state-of-the-art Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building.

Jewish Community Campus of Ottawa:

The Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building also houses many community organizations and services, such as:

• Jewish Federation of Ottawa  
• Ottawa Jewish Bulletin
• Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation
• Ottawa Jewish Archives
• Shoah (Holocaust) Committee of Ottawa
• Shalom Ottawa
• Mikvah
• Shalom Welcome Service

The new location of the SJCC has allowed the Ottawa's Jewish community to centralize many of the activities involved in Jewish living. Already existing on the site was the Michael and Sibyl Greenberg Family Centre for Jewish Learning.  This building is home to Hillel Academy Day School, Talmud Torah Afternoon School, Ottawa Modern Jewish School and Akiva High School.

After the new SJCC was finished, construction began immediately on a new home for the aged. The Joseph and Inez Zelikovitz Long Term Care Center housing the Bess and Moe Greenberg Family Hillel Lodge then opened its doors in 2000. The residents can now watch the school children playing at recess from their windows, or go across the road to use the many services at the SJCC.

A large duplex on one of the residential streets bordering the campus is home to a group of developmental-disabled Jewish adults, allowing them thesame easy access to all the services the campus provides.

Finally, there is the multi-functional Jewish Services building, housing the following agencies and organizations:

• Jewish Family Services
• Early Beginnings Multicultural Child Development Centre
• Tamir Foundation
• State of Israel Bonds
• Jewish National Fund
• Ottawa Hadassah-WIZO
• Ottawa Jewish Historical Society
• Na'amat Ottawa (Telephone Directory)