What are some of the quirky facts or surprises one might discover about Canadian Jewry?
Rabbi Marmur: Quirky isn’t something you should look for here. Life in Canada is decent and solid but, mercifully, not particularly exciting. It’s a good country to live in, which is why so many immigrants stay. Those in search of excitement pop over to the United States, at least for a visit. Rabbi Lerner: Canada’s first synagogue, Shearith Israel, The Corporation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, was founded in Montreal by Ashkenazic Jews, but since all the other colonial synagogues of North America were Sephardic, they chose the Sephardic ritual, too. In the Laurentian Mountains about sixty miles north of Montreal, a ride through the maple woods will take you to Mont Rabbi Stern, the only mountain in the world named after a rabbi, Rabbi Harry Joshua Stern. From a Canadian perspective, what does it mean to be part of a North American Movement when the overwhelming majority of the North American population is in America? Rabbi Marmur: Canadian Reform Jews have often felt like the stepch
