My name is Yosef D. Robinson and I was born in Montreal on June 14, 1982 so that makes me 38 right now. I am a freelance/independent scholar in the field of Jewish Studies and before the pandemic, I was a ba’al tefillah at Maimonides.
My hobbies include geography, social/natural sciences, travel/sightseeing, reading, Torah/Jewish studies, checking email/surfing the Web, watching TV (certain genres – e.g. news, documentaries, game shows), walking, biking, skiing and classical music.
My family and I are Modern Orthodox and we attend synagogue every Shabbat and holidays. My parents are both originally from the United States but moved to Montreal before both my sister and I were born. We have many relatives in the United States (including my sister and her family). My father has been a professor in Judaic Studies at Concordia University, while my mother taught Accounting at Concordia before her retirement in 2010. When I grew up, I attended Giant Steps (a school/program for children on the autism spectrum) until grade 4, as well as public schools through grade 3 (plus afternoon Hebrew school twice a week and some private Hebrew tutoring), Akiva School from grade 4 to grade 6, and Hebrew Academy for high school. In addition, I have one Bachelors degree (in Geography, from Rutgers University in New Jersey) and three Masters degrees (in Urban Planning from Ohio State University; and Environmental Impact Assessment and Judaic Studies, both from Concordia) under my belt.
Cantor Benlolo recruited me to join the choir when I was the Baal Kore on Shabbat mornings at Shaare Zedek Congregation, in the spring of 2019. The choir provides me with a good deal of camaraderie, not just with the other choir members but with those parents who attend along with their children, as well as with the people who are involved in running the choir.