Jewish Ottawa

Local news and updates on the Jewish community of Ottawa.

‘Just write’: New memoir on Rabbi Simes released

A new book on “Rolling Rabbi” Simes is inspiring the Ottawa Jewish community — and took author Shaindel Simes by surprise. 

Rabbi Yehuda Simes Z”L, Ottawa’s “Rolling Rabbi,” died in 2017 — nearly seven years after he was paralyzed and left a quadriplegic after a car acciden…

A lone soldier’s experience in Israel

Temima Silver grew up in a predominantly Jewish environment in Ottawa — but when she entered public high school she realized antisemitism wasn’t as far away as she thought. 

That experience was among the reasons that made her decide to enlist as a lone soldier for the Israeli Defence F…

Celebrating our connection to Israel through Partnership2Gether (P2G)

Jewish communities around the world are celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut, which begins tomorrow evening, making this week the ideal time to celebrate our local connection to Israel through the Partnership2Gether (P2G) program.

Through the Jewish Federation network, Ottawa, along with Vancouver,…

Ottawa's early Jewish community

In honour of Jewish Heritage Month, the E-Bulletin went to Ottawa Jewish Archives to learn more about Ottawa’s early Jewish community.

Did you know that we don’t know for certain who the first Jewish settler was in Ottawa? Many consider it to be Moses Bilsky, whose family was very invol…

‘The world still has much to learn’

This Yom HaShoah, the Jewish community and broader Ottawa community are invited to join in- person or via livestream, for an intergenerational commemoration held for the first time at the National Holocaust Memorial.

The service will take place on April 28 at 11 am and will honour and remem…