When I sat down with Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin for our Melton+ “Meet the Rabbis” series, we talked about the forces shaping North American Jewish life right now, and what comes next.

We also explored the lived realities that shape how a Jewish community feels from the inside: where people live, how institutions function, what philanthropy looks like as a norm, and even what it means when a child grows up thinking security is simply part of going to Jewish school.

Rabbi Fryer Bodzin brings a rare perspective having grown up in Toronto, and having lived and worked in several major American cities for 24 years, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago. She returned home to Toronto to serve the Beth Tzedec Congregation in 2019.

Geography

Rabbi Fryer Bodzin began our talk with a surprising statistic: In Canada, 87% of Jews live in six metro areas, and about half of Canadian Jews lives in Toronto.

“Had we done this conversation 80 years ago,” she said, “we would have named Montreal as the dominant hub, while today it’s closer to a quarter of Canadian Jewry.”

When a community is concentrated, the “distance” between Jewish institutions, social networks, and communal life compresses. You can feel how that compression might affect everything from affiliation to philanthropy to the way Jewish identity is reinforced socially.

Reflection: In your community, what is the “distance cost” of Jewish life: the extra time, travel, and logistics it takes to show up for Jewish life? Time, travel, childcare, scheduling; does that unintentionally exclude anyone?

Civic Culture & Political Polarization

Rabbi Fryer Bodzin described Canada as less politically polarized than the U.S., and she spoke about a practical social consequence: people can still “sit together” at family celebrations, even if they voted differently.

That observation was especially resonant because Rabbi Fryer Bodzin contrasted it with pastoral conversations with colleagues in the U.S., who indicate that communal gatherings could become tense because politics are at the core of people’s identities.

She connected that dynamic to what she sees as a more “community oriented” civic culture, one that is less individualistic and has greater faith in institutions.

Reflection: In the last year, what topics have actually changed who you feel comfortable sitting with at a communal table?

A Closer Look at Toronto

When we turned from Canada as a whole to Toronto specifically, Rabbi Fryer Bodzin offered a view of a community that is highly organized and highly social.

She described Toronto as the “center of Jewish power” and “center of Jewish wealth,” where “people who give, they really, really give.” She also highlighted Toronto’s strong Federation system including a centralized network of agencies that creates what she called “cradle to grave options.” “It’s really easy to be Jewish in Toronto,” she said.

One of the easiest, most common, and intimate ways is through Shabbat dinners. Rabbi Fryer Bodzin described how her congregation runs monthly Shabbat dinners for young families, with around 300 people attending. The evening includes food, programming, and a lot of community time.

Over time, the community culture shifted to the point where families began to weave synagogue Shabbat dinners into their regular routine, alternating between parents’ homes, other families, and the congregational dinner. What she discovered is that “the glue is Shabbat dinner.”

Reflection: What is the most reliable connector in your Jewish life right now? A meal, a class, a holiday, a cause, and why does that work?

Engaging All Generations

Rabbi Fryer Bodzin’s congregation, Beth Tzedec, also offers an interesting case study in synagogue membership structure.

During COVID, their leadership recognized a familiar economic reality: in an expensive city, when people are choosing between day school, camp, home ownership, and the “roof that needs fixing,” synagogue affiliation is often what falls off.

Their response was a program that they call “Generations Membership” in which anyone Jewish under 40 does not pay dues, period. They expected about 100 new family units. Instead, they grew to 700 families, and now close to 900, where the head of household is 40 or younger.

Rabbi Fryer Bodzin described intentional onboarding for these families, including staff whose job is to meet new members for coffee, cohort programming for people in their 20s and 30s, and large Shabbat dinners where 150 people can be described as “small.” She also noted that when they make targeted asks, people do give, and she linked that back to a broader philanthropic culture.

Reflection: In your local synagogue or Jewish community, what are the most visible ways leaders try to engage the people who are easiest to miss, whether that’s young adults, interfaith families, newcomers, or the less affiliated? What seems to work best?

Antisemitism in Canada

Rabbi Fryer Bodzin named a frightening baseline related to Antisemitic incidents that many Jews, unfortunately, now recognize: “It’s when, not if.”

She spoke about emerging security networks, school perimeter safety training for parents, and the cost of adding security to congregational life, including a reported additional $300,000 in security costs at her synagogue alone.

Later, she told a story that made the issue personal. After taking her daughter on public transit, her daughter noticed that there was “no security,” no ID check. Rabbi Fryer Bodzin’s worry was not only about immediate threats, but about what becomes psychologically normalized for children. She described how her child now assumes multiple layers of security are simply what Jewish institutions require, even more than what is required to board a train.

Reflection: What have our communities started treating as “normal”?

Israel Connection after October 7

When I asked about shifts in connection to Israel since October 7, Rabbi Fryer Bodzin’s answer was direct: “It’s gotten stronger.”

She described a May 2024 “Walk for Israel Parade” with 50,000 people marching.

She added another striking statistic she said she has “known forever”: Canadian Jews, on average, visit Israel 5.3 times in their lives. For context, Pew’s survey of U.S. Jews found that 45% have ever been to Israel, 19% visited once, and 26% visited multiple times or lived there.

She described continued travel despite high costs and complicated flight routes, and a sense that commitment to Israel has intensified, including increased philanthropic giving and events related to Israel that quickly outgrow their venues.

Reflection: Since October 7, what has shifted most in your relationship to Israel- conversation, giving, learning or travel?

A Closing Thought

Near the end of our conversation, after describing security concerns and the emotional toll of this era, Rabbi Fryer Bodzin returned again to Shabbat dinner. She called it “the anchor,” and described the simple power of pausing, being in conversation, putting phones away, and including ritual.

Communities are shaped by geography and institutions, by philanthropy and affiliation, by fear and resilience. They are also shaped by the practices that gather us in ordinary time, the meals we share, the conversations we engage in, and the commitments we renew weekly, even when the world outside feels unstable.

That, to me, was one of the gifts of speaking with Rabbi Fryer Bodzin. She offered a view of Canadian Jewish life that is specific and textured, and in doing so, she gave us another set of lenses through which to consider our own communities more clearly.

Rabbi Rachel Rudis Bovitz is the Executive Director of the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning.