How the urban-suburban divide shapes the ways Jews see each other

A discussion about the dopplegangers of Jewish geography.
A relief carved out of the plaster at HaMiffal, an arts and cultural centre in Jerusalem (Photo courtesy of Zachary Kauffman)

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While playing ‘Jewish geography’ highlights the ways Canadian Jews are connected, thinking about the geography of Jews reveals some of the community’s most important divisions. In recent weeks, suburban Jews have trekked down to city centres for rallies and marches—not far from the working-class immigrant neighbourhoods where their forbears settled in Canada.

This week on Bonjour Chai, co-host Phoebe Maltz Bovy and The CJN managing editor Marc Weisblott analyze how the urban-suburban divide continues to shape Jewish life in their respective native cities of New York and Toronto. After that, they discuss Canadian activist and writer Naomi Klein’s most recent book, Doppelganger, which examines the ways Klein’s life has become strangely intertwined with that of Naomi Wolf, whose politics could not be more different.

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold and Phoebe Maltz Bovy. Zachary Kauffman is the producer and editor. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Socalled. The show is a co-production from The Jewish Learning Lab and The CJN, and is distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Support the show by subscribing to this podcast, donating to The CJN and subscribing to the podcast’s Substack.

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