The Jews of Calgary gathered together for prayer as soon as there were enough Jewish males to form a prayer quorum of ten. In the earliest days, these prayer groups consisted largely of travelling salesmen and peddlers. They met only on the High Holidays, often in the home of the earliest Jewish resident, Jacob Diamond. In 1906 Rabbi Hyman Goldstick came to serve the Jewish community as prayer leader, ritual slaughterer and circumciser. For the next few years, he travelled between Calgary and Edmonton, helping with the spiritual and ritual needs of both communities.

      The Calgary Jewish community was formally organized in October of 1909, when the congregation House of Jacob was incorporated. The Congregation met in rented halls until enough funds were raised to erect a 500-seat synagogue on 5th Avenue S.E. in 1911. Jacob Diamond was its first President and he served six additional terms in that office. The Congregation also established a Hebrew School which met on the premises. Rabbi Shimon Smolensky served the Congregation from 1917 to 1935. Rabbi David Barenholtz was another long-serving Rabbi, from 1939 until 1968, when the original building was torn down to make way for urban development.

      The Synagogue was the focal point of all communal activity. In addition to meeting for daily and holiday prayers, the Congregation gathered for family celebrations, raised funds for communal needs by taxing kosher meat and organized local cultural events and charity for their brethren in Europe.

      By 1935 there were enough Jews in Calgary to warrant the establishment of a second congregation. The Congregation Beth Israel was formed with A. S. Horwitz as its first President and M. Casriel Katz as its first Rabbi. It met in the House of Israel community building. In 1951 Cecil Horwitz became the President of the newly constituted Beth Israel Synagogue which was affiliated with the United Synagogues of America.