There are many ways to be Jewish, and Jewish Heritage Month offers an opportunity to celebrate the richness and diversity of Jewish life and identity.

While popular portrayals of the Canadian Jewish experience often centre Ashkenazi traditions, from matzo ball soup to Yiddish expressions, Jewish Canadians are far from one-dimensional. Our community is shaped by a wide range of cultures, histories, languages, traditions, and lived experiences, all of which contribute to the vibrant tapestry of Jewish life in Canada.

Gillian Koh, who is of Malaysian Chinese descent, says a typical family celebration might include challah and mooncakes, Shabbat and Chinese New Year traditions, or Chinese food on Christmas Day. In her home, Jewish and Chinese identities are not treated as separate halves to balance, but as equally important parts of one whole family culture.

“Our children are Jewish and Chinese,” she said. “We don’t put emphasis on one or the other. It’s just who we are fully, expressing both in equal amounts.”

That blending of traditions has shaped the way her children understand identity from a young age. Koh recalls a conversation her daughter once had while learning about different places of worship. After discussing churches, temples, and synagogues, her daughter concluded: “We go to a synagogue because we’re Chinese.”

For Koh, the moment was both amusing and meaningful. It reflected how naturally multiple identities coexist in her children’s lives. 

Similarly, Alexa Barett-Taller, Hillel Ottawa’s Springboard Fellow, grew up with a mix of cultures. Her mother is Jewish Canadian and her father is Dominican. Growing up in the Dominican Republic as a Jew has helped to shape her cultural identity, and she identifies strongly with both sides of her heritage.

“It’s in the food I eat, where I might have traditional Dominican dishes alongside Jewish ones,” Barett-Taller explained. “It’s also in how I think about family, community, and celebration.” 

Barett-Taller says she naturally switches between cultural references, languages, and traditions depending on who she is with. 

“Even my sense of identity feels layered and interconnected; I don’t feel like just one thing, but a combination of both,” she said.

It can sometimes be challenging explaining to others how they fit into Jewish spaces, despite the joys of celebrating multiple cultures in the home.

“In some Jewish communities, I’ve had to explain my background or felt like I was different because I didn’t grow up in a typical Jewish environment,” explained Barett-Taller. “At the same time, in broader Dominican spaces, my Jewish identity can feel less understood.”

Furthermore, antisemitism compounded with other forms of racism can lead to discomfort in the broader community.
“At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a lot of anti-Chinese racism,” said Koh. “Thinking about that while also dealing with antisemitism was a concern, especially regarding how it would affect our children. Every parent has to prepare themselves for it.”

At the same time, Koh emphasized the importance of community and connection. Ottawa’s Jewish community has become increasingly diverse, and friendships with families of mixed heritages have helped normalize multicultural Jewish life for her children.

For both Koh and Barett-Taller, Jewish traditions can blend quite nicely with their respective cultures.

For Koh’s daughter’s 100-day celebration, an important custom in Chinese culture to welcome a baby into the world, the family combined it with her Jewish baby naming ceremony during the Chinese New Year weekend. “We called it ‘Shoshi’s Big Weekend’.”

Barett-Taller talked about the combination of Jewish and Dominican dishes that adorn her holiday table.

“Sometimes celebrations overlap, [where having] Dominican dishes at Jewish gatherings or bringing Jewish traditions into everyday family moments like matzo ball soup, rice and avocado on the side is normal,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like switching between two identities, but more like combining them into one amazing experience.”

Stories like Koh’s and Barett-Taller’s challenge ideas of what Jewish life is stereotypically categorized to look like. Their experiences reflect a Jewish community shaped not only by shared traditions and history, but also by migration, multiculturalism, and the blending of identities across generations. 

As Canada’s Jewish community continues to grow and evolve, these families remind us that Jewish identity is not confined to a single language, cuisine, appearance, or cultural background. Rather, it is enriched by the vast experiences of people bringing their full selves into Jewish life, creating traditions that are uniquely their own while remaining deeply connected to community, family, and heritage.