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 ONE – American and Canadian Jews Contrasted
We will examine the different histories of American and Canadian Jews. Because America is the older and stronger North American partner, it became a magnet for Jews long before Canada did. At the same time, as we will see, the broader culture of each country affected its Jews in different ways, and in an ironic twist, America’s earlier tolerance of the Jew is responsible in part for today’s higher rate of assimilation.