If our existing Jewish establishments are failing us—what comes next?

Photo by Marcel Strauß/Unsplash

It’s the one-year anniversary of Bonjour Chai, and to celebrate, we’re taking a look ahead at what the future of Judaism looks like. As more Jews engage with their culture outside of Federations and traditional synagogues, what are the “new establishments” coming up? How do they take shape? Who’s behind them, and are they indeed the future of Jewish life?

We think of Bonjour Chai as one of those new establishments, but there are more popping up across Canada. To analyze the issue, we’re joined by Rabbi Yossi Sapirman, who left his bricks-and-mortar pulpit to start Living Jewishly, an organization that aims to connect with Jews of all ages through experience-based, rule-breaking routes; and Orly Zebak, a designer and artist who co-founded Niv Magazine, an independent Jewish online arts zine, at the outset of the pandemic.

Credits

Bonjour Chai is hosted by Avi Finegold, Ilana Zackon and David Sklar. Michael Fraiman is the producer. Andre Goulet is the technical 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. Find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.