Governor General David Johnston invests Rabbi Reuven Bulka of Ottawa into the Order of Canada to during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on May 7, 2014. Mr. Bulka died on June 27 of pancreatic and liver cancer at the age of 77.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
When the 23-year-old, recently married Rabbi Reuven Bulka arrived in Ottawa in 1967 from New York to take over leadership of Congregation Machzikei Hadas, the Orthodox synagogue in the city’s Lowertown district was struggling. Its membership was in decline as young families had moved to the suburbs.
By 1973, with the dynamic young rabbi at its helm, the congregation had moved to a new building in suburban Alta Vista and membership began expanding, eventually growing to 500 families.
Mr. Bulka soon became a ubiquitous presence in Ottawa, hosting a radio show, writing a religion column for The Ottawa Citizen, embracing inter-faith activities and a range of charitable ventures while remaining a religious scholar and student of psychology, authoring more than 30 books.
He took on a national presence, appearing at Remembrance Day ceremonies for decades at Ottawa’s Cenotaph as Honorary Dominion Chaplain of the Royal Canadian Legion, always delivering a moving homage to Canada’s veterans. That commitment earned him the moniker of “Canada’s Rabbi.”
Mr. Bulka, who died on June 27 of pancreatic and liver cancer at the age of 77, was a rarity in an increasingly secular world, a spiritual leader who connected with the public in myriad ways and was an influence well beyond his own co-religionists.
Reuven Bulka was born in London on June 6, 1944, the middle child of Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Bulka, and his wife, Yehudis. A short time later, the family moved to the United States, where his father taught Hebrew school in Providence, R.I., and Rockaway, N.Y., before becoming a rabbi at a synagogue in the Bronx.
Mr. Bulka was ordained a rabbi in 1965, also earning a BA in philosophy from City College of New York. After a brief stint as a rabbi in the Bronx, he moved to Ottawa.
While building his career, the young rabbi also pursued his studies, earning a PhD from University of Ottawa. His thesis subject was the work of the late Viktor Frankl, the Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor known for his seminal work Man’s Search for Meaning and his pursuit of logotherapy, an approach to psychotherapy. The two men became friends.
Beyond ministering to his own congregation, Mr. Bulka was active in inter-religious dialogue with fellow ministers, priests and imams, occasionally co-authoring articles on issues of common concern such as medical assistance in dying.
Terrence Prendergast, archbishop emeritus for Ottawa-Cornwall, said Mr. Bulka was “a great rassembleur. His enthusiasm was catching.” Every February, the archbishop would go to Ottawa airport with Mr. Bulka and other faith leaders and greet arriving passengers with chocolates and warm welcomes during Kindness Week, which was Mr. Bulka’s pet project in recent years.
Rev. Dr. Anthony Bailey of Parkdale United Church, one of the city’s leading Black clergymen, also collaborated frequently with Mr. Bulka, notably in 2016 when a vandal defaced Dr. Bailey’s church, Mr. Bulka’s synagogue and a local mosque with racist and antisemitic graffiti.
The three men joined in mutual support and organized a massive blood drive to make the point that when you donate blood, it’s only the blood type that matters, not the donor’s race or religion, Dr. Bailey said. “We had a strong bond,” he added of his relationship with Mr. Bulka. “I miss him.”
Rabbi Steven Garten got to know Mr. Bulka after moving to Ottawa to take over the pulpit at Temple Israel, a Reform congregation that was far more liberal than Mr. Bulka’s Orthodox congregation.
They would often disagree on theological issues. Mr. Garten remembers debating Mr. Bulka on the question of patrilineal descent, after the Reform Jewish movement decided Jewish religion could be transmitted by a Jewish father to his child, a departure from the traditional interpretation that Judaism can only be transmitted by the mother. Mr. Garten argued for the new approach. Mr. Bulka was opposed.
“What struck me was that he was so reasonable and so supportive of another opinion, even though it wasn’t his,” Mr. Garten said. “He was open-minded about other spheres of Judaism, which is rare for Orthodox rabbis.”
When it came to the role of women, Mr. Bulka was a traditionalist but always respectful. Mr. Garten said Mr. Bulka would not offer his hand in greeting to a woman but would shake a woman’s hand if she extended it first.
Mr. Garten was amazed at Mr. Bulka’s ability to get so much done in a day, starting at 6 a.m. with hospital visits, before heading to synagogue for the first of three daily prayer services. He also developed a reputation for never wearing a coat, even at a cemetery in the depths of an Ottawa winter, sticking to a dark suit and tie.
The rabbi’s eldest son, Shmuel Bulka, a corporate lawyer in New York, said despite his responsibilities, his father always found time for his children. “I don’t remember him ever watching a mindless TV show. He used every minute that he had. Nothing he did was unproductive.”
And in a world where people often emphasize their differences, his father “had this way of always finding the commonality,” his son added.
Senator Jim Munson can still remember the day three or four years ago when Mr. Bulka “bounded” into his office on Parliament Hill and urged the senator to propose legislation proclaiming the third week in February as national “Kindness Week.” It was an idea he had launched a decade earlier through an organization called Kind Canada.
Mr. Bulka had retired as rabbi of his Ottawa synagogue in 2015 but was still engaged in community projects. Kindness Week was a typical project, encouraging individuals to do a simple thing to demonstrate love for a fellow human being, such as giving blood or volunteering to shop for an elderly neighbour.
Even when it’s a motherhood issue such as promoting good deeds, getting a private member’s bill through Parliament can be time-consuming, Mr. Munson said. The Kindness Week bill took three years to get secure passage.
By the time the Senate approved the bill early this year, Mr. Bulka had been diagnosed with advanced cancer. Mr. Munson knew there was little time to waste. But Mr. Bulka’s reputation made partisan differences in the Commons melt. An Ontario Conservative MP and a Quebec Liberal MP agreed to co-sponsor the bill. The Prime Minister’s Office was brought on side.
“It was debated and passed within an hour,” Mr. Munson said. By early June, the law was given royal assent, just weeks before the rabbi’s death. Canada became the first country with a National Kindness Week.
“This is his legacy,” Mr. Munson said. “Rabbi Bulka taught us, and continues to teach us, compassion and empathy.”
Mr. Bulka was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2013. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Carleton University in 2006 and was given the Key to the City of Ottawa in 2009.
He served as co-president of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 2007 to 2009, and was a board member of Canadian Blood Services and the Trillium Gift of Life Network. He also chaired the Courage Campaign for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation and actively supported United Way. For his Remembrance Day sermons, he was awarded the Canadian Forces Medallion for Distinguished Service.
A park adjacent to his synagogue was renamed in the rabbi’s honour in 2019 by the City of Ottawa.
Rabbi Idan Scher, who took over the pulpit at Machzikei Hadas in 2015, said it was daunting to succeed Mr. Bulka, who had been at the helm for almost 50 years. “But from the moment I arrived in Ottawa, Rabbi Bulka was my greatest fan and greatest supporter.”
Mr. Bulka became rabbi eEmeritus but didn’t slow down. “It’s as if he had four full-time jobs,” Mr. Scher said. “He was a fixture at the hospital. Every staff member would know him. He would be at the hospital visiting you before the rest of your family even knew you were in the hospital.”
After being diagnosed with cancer in January, Mr. Bulka moved to New York to be closer to family, where he died. He was buried in Israel.
His first wife, Naomi Jakobovits, died in 2001. Mr. Bulka leaves their five children: Yocheved Shonek of Far Rockaway, N.Y.; Shmuel Bulka of Woodmere, N.Y.; Rena Levy of Monsey, N.Y.; Eliezer Bulka of Baltimore, Md.; and Binyomin Bulka of Jerusalem.
He also leaves his wife, Leah, whom he married in 2002; his brother, Yitzchok Bulka; and sister, Rebecca Rivkin; as well as many grandchildren and more than a dozen great-grandchildren.