The town of Banff, Alberta, sits in a tight pocket surrounded by the jagged snow-streaked mountains of the Canadian Rockies. It’s a dazzling place—the type where every scene seems to belong on a postcard and pictures taken on your phone don’t need any filters.
Although the town’s residential population is quite small—fewer than 10,000 people—Banff’s natural beauty and cozy charm annually attracts 5 million tourists. Banff is one of many small towns that line the Canadian Rockies, getaway destinations to enjoy pure natural beauty and disconnect from an otherwise bustling world. But to Rabbi Dovid and Devorah Pinson, it is something more: a chain of untapped terrain, prime for an infusion of dynamic and authentic Judaism.
“There’s absolutely no Jewish infrastructure in the Canadian Rockies,” Rabbi Pinson explained. “Yet there’s a huge need ... between the full-time residents, part-time residents and tourists, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”
