Canadian and American Jews with Dr. Nicholas Maes

Contrasts and a Common Threat

American Jews intermarry at a rate of 55 percent, whereas Canadian Jews intermarry at a rate of 23 percent. The latter, too, are far more likely to visit Israel, to send their children to a Jewish day-school, to attend a synagogue and to observe other features of a Jewish life. How is that Canadian Jews, even as they share so much in common with their brethren down south, have been able to preserve so much more of their identity? And can this immunity to assimilation continue?

LECTURE TWO – The Future of Both Communities
Even if the Canadian Jew is less prone than their American counterpart to assimilate today, the forces of modernity apply to both communities. Is it inevitable that US Jewry continues down its present-day track, and inevitable that Canadian Jewry eventually follows suit? Or can both populations withstand the siren call of modernity and keep a vital core of their identity intact?