ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Over the past few years, no scholar has tried to understand what makes Canadian Jews tick with greater energy and enthusiasm than the sociologist Robert Brym. Since publishing his groundbreaking post-October 7 report, "Jews and Israel 2024: A Survey of Canadian Attitudes and Jewish Perceptions," in the spring of 2024, Brym has gone on to produce similarly pioneering research on Jewish intermarriage and continuity; visible, Indigenous, and gender minorities within Canadian Jewry; and antisemitism in Ontario's K-12 school system, among other topics.
Brym's fascination with the sociology of Canadian Jewry dates back decades, and for his larger body of work the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies awarded him its Louis Rosenberg Canadian Jewish Studies Distinguished Service Award in 2025. In this episode, Brym reflects on his recent findings while looking ahead to even more vital contributions, including a study on Jewish voting patterns in the 2025 Canadian federal election.
OUR GUEST
Robert Brym, FRSC, is emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. He has published more than two hundred scholarly works and received multiple awards for his publications and teaching, including the Northrop Frye Award (University of Toronto), the British Journal of Sociology Prize (London School of Economics and Political Science), the Outstanding Contribution Award of the Canadian Sociological Association, and the Louis Rosenberg Canadian Jewish Studies Distinguished Service Award. Brym’s main research projects have focused on the politics of intellectuals, Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union and its successor states, the second intifada, and Jews in Canada.
RECOMMENDED READING
"Jews and Israel 2024: A Survey of Canadian Attitudes and Jewish Perceptions," Robert Brym, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juives canadiennes
"Patterns of Canadian-Jewish Intermarriage, 2021," Robert Brym and Rhonda Lenton, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juvies canadiennes
"Jewish Continuity and the Canadian Census," Robert Brym, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juvies canadiennes
"Visible, Indigenous, and Gender Minorities among Canadian Jews, 2021," Robert Brym, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juvies canadiennes
"A Survey on Antisemitism in Ontario's K-12 Schools," Robert Brym, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juvies canadiennes
EPISODE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Host: Jonathan Slater
Producer/Editor: Theadora Draper
Music: J.K. Bradley
Executive Producers: Joshua Tapper and David S. Koffman
Tête-à-tête: Conversations in Canadian Jewish Studies is made possible by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Aid to Scholarly Journals program and the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies and J. Richard Shiff Chair for the Study of Canadian Jewry, both at York University.