When Rabbi Chaim Boyarsky ordered an Uber on March 3 to go celebrate Purim — a festive Jewish holiday — the last thing he expected was for the driver to look at him angrily and drive away.
Disappointed but not surprised, he was forced to order another Uber.
Boyarsky supports Jewish post-secondary students in Ottawa at Rohr Chabad Student Network.
He describes himself as “visibly Jewish,” and wears a kippah under his traditional black hat, commonly worn by Orthodox Jews.
In previous Uber rides, he said he was treated like “garbage” for these outward expressions of his Jewish faith and identity.
Rabbi Boyarsky recalled that last October, he asked an Uber driver if he had ever visited Israel.
He said the driver looked at him with a stern expression before saying,: “No Israel — Palestine.”
“Right away he was mad at me for asking that,” he said. “I was just trying to be friendly. I wasn’t trying to get him all riled up.”
He didn’t report either incident to Uber as he was in a rush, but admitted he should’ve.
Antisemitism across Canada is on the rise. According to Statistics Canada, 900 antisemitic hate crimes were reported to police in 2023, a 71-per-cent increase compared with 2022.
Despite incidents reported by Jews in Ottawa and Toronto, antisemitism in public transit and ride-share is largely overlooked.
While anti-hate policies exist, the Jewish community is resorting to a specialized ride-share service for temporary but immediate relief.
“I know the overall sentiment is that Jews are not comfortable (using Uber),” said Rabbi Boyarsky.
In March 2025, Vadim Danilov decided to take matters into his own hands when he founded Jew Ride, a service offering safe transportation to Jews in the Greater Toronto Area.
After relocating from Israel with his wife and children, Danilov became an Uber driver, where he heard about antisemitic incidents from Jewish passengers, according to a National Post article.
‘What kind of world have we gotten to that we can’t even take Uber without risking [our safety?]’
— Gabrielle Makovka, Carleton University student
The service caters towards Jews but is open to all passengers and operates 24 hours a day.
“My passengers today say they feel safe when I pick them up and they also say … antisemitism in Canada, it’s getting worse and worse,” Danilov told the Post at the time.
“I will definitely be using Jew Ride again,” one passenger, Mandy Heyman, wrote on Facebook. “The driver was on time and very friendly.”
In March, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree said in a written statement that a rise in antisemitic incidents hadn’t been observed in ride-share or public transit. But a number of incidents involving ride sharing have been reported in the media.
City of Ottawa College Ward Coun. Laine Johnson said tracking of incidents isn’t always a reliable indicator because some victims may not be reporting antisemitic encounters.
Johnson previously condemned a hate-motivated attack on an elderly Jewish woman at a kosher grocery store in her west-end ward.
College Ward has the largest Jewish community in Ottawa.
Uber spokesperson Austen Radcliff said all forms of discrimination — “including antisemitism” — are not tolerated by the company.
“We take reports seriously and investigate thoroughly so we can take appropriate action, including banning individuals who violate our policies,” he said in a written statement. “We will continue to enforce our guidelines to help promote the respectful behaviour that keeps Uber safe and inclusive for everyone.”
Uber has “made it easier” to report discrimination, he says. As of last October, there is a standalone reporting option in the help centre of the app.
Similar incidents are being reported in Toronto.
Last December, after Miriam Mattova called her friend during an Uber ride to discuss her trip to Israel, the driver told her to vacate the vehicle because they “do not drive Jewish people.”
Mattova has since reached a settlement and signed a non-disclosure agreement. She now travels with a security team.
‘The seat belt wasn’t invented until a certain number of people died in car crashes. (Jew Ride) is a seat belt for those who have experienced rough scenarios in ride-share or public transit.”
— Lucas Rozanski, Carleton University student
“When something antisemitic happens, it’s very important to report every incident, speak about these issues and hold people accountable,” she said.
These cases aren’t just occurring in ride-share. They’re also happening on public transit.
According to the Toronto Police Service’s 2024 annual hate crime statistical report, 47 per cent of total hate crime incidents occurred on “public streets and transit.”
TPS didn’t respond to comment more precisely on what percentage of anti-Jewish hate crimes occurred on public transit.
Following TPS’ report, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center urged TTC employees to seek “further education.”
“FSWC is advocating for further education on antisemitism to be prioritized across sectors where such hate is surging, particularly with the Toronto Transit Commission and its special constables, as well as in schools and universities, where Jewish students are increasingly targeted,” the organization stated in a May 2025 press release.
In 2024, former TTC interim CEO Greg Percy wrote a letter to Toronto Police Service, outlining concerns with the surge of antisemitic graffiti found on the TTC.
He cited “hundreds” of customer complaints.
In April 2025, Toronto police partnered with the TTC to produce a “public awareness campaign.”
Reports of antisemitism on public transit have been observed in Ottawa.
Carleton University student Lucas Rozanski said he always wears his Star of David pendant. People often give him “dirty looks” and “scoff” while passing him on the bus, he said.
While these reactions catch him off guard, he added, they don’t surprise him.
In 2025, 11 hate-motivated incidents related to transit were reported to OC Transpo. One incident was found to be antisemitic, according to OC Transpo chief special constable Peter Scislowski.
“Public transit is a shared community space, and everyone has the right to feel safe and respected while using transit services,” Scislowski said.
OC Transpo announced an app last year that will soon enable customers to report incidents directly to the special constable unit as part of its broader Public Safety Strategy.
Further information regarding the strategy was expected to be provided later this year.
Ottawa Police Service spokesperson Maeghan McGaraughty said OPS doesn’t have specific data available yet to comment on these trends.
Danilov said Jew Ride is looking to support other Jewish communities.
Ottawa is home to the fourth largest population of Jews in Canada – between 14,000 to 15,000 people, according to Choose Ottawa, an online resource that provides information about the capital’s Jewish community.
Hate-motivated attacks against Jews remain a pressing issue.
In 2025, the Ottawa Police Service ranked Jews as the most targeted group for reported hate crime incidents, with 113 incidents, compared with 54 incidents for LGBTQ2+ people and 18 incidents for Muslims.
Antisemitic incidents in ride-share have been brought to the attention of David Sachs, community relations and antisemitism specialist at the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.
According to Sachs, Jewish people have reportedly been “harassed, insulted, kicked out of cars or refused rides.”
He said out of fear of harassment, families are sending their children by Uber to “false addresses,” to avoid revealing Jewish destinations like schools.
In 2022, during her first year at Carleton, Gabrielle Makovka’s enjoyable night fundraisingfor a competitive school dance team came to a screeching halt.
After mentioning that she was studying communication and media studies, the driver — who wasn’t aware Makovka was Jewish — declared “Jews control the media.”
Makovka felt unsafe but didn’t report the incident because she was unfamiliar with the reporting process.
Now she says she “absolutely” should have.
While Danilov hasn’t yet confirmed plans to expand Jew Ride to Ottawa, the service may be useful to many.
For Makovka, Jew Ride could have spared her the antisemitic incident she experienced.
Rozanski, who continues wearing his Star of David pendant on public transit, says Jew Ride could be a “piece of the puzzle” in combatting antisemitism in Ottawa.
“The seat belt wasn’t invented until a certain number of people died in car crashes,” he said. Jew Ride, he added, “is a seat belt for those who have experienced rough scenarios in ride-share or public transit.”
If the service became available in Ottawa, Rozanski said he would “one hundred per cent” use Jew Ride over Uber, when travelling to Jewish destinations such as Chabad or a synagogue.
For many, Jew Ride is a service born out of necessity.
“As much as it seems like a positive solution, we don’t have another choice,” Makovka said. “‘What kind of world have we gotten to that we can’t even take Uber without risking [our safety?]’”
But she added that businesses like Jew Ride could make Jews feel like “targets” and force them to change how they present themselves in their own cities.
Mattova said she’s concerned about “segregating” or reinforcing isolation.
“Antisemitism is not going to go away with (Jew Ride). It’s the same as when people are scared, so they take down their mezuzahs or they don’t wear their Stars of David,” she said.
Sachs agreed, saying Jew Ride reflects a “loss of faith in existing institutions.”
“Building private institutions is a symptom of exclusion from the larger society,” he said. “We saw this generations ago, when Jews built hospitals and social service groups, like the Jewish General Hospital in Toronto.”
For Sachs, the federal government says the “right things to Jewish audiences” but it hasn’t “done enough” to combat antisemitism.
“We need new hate laws,” he said.
The solution is not more policy, it’s better enforcement of current policy, according to Yasir Naqvi, the Liberal MP for Ottawa Centre.
He said it’s important that police enforce federal laws under the Criminal Code and provincial laws including the Human Rights Code.
“Until we see that very active enforcement of the law, we’re not going to deter people from engaging in that kind of odious behaviour,” he said.
Naqvi said better enforcement requires police officers to receive “appropriate training” on what hate crimes look like and how to enforce hate crime laws.
“I fully recognize that our police officers have a lot of things to do, but when you’re looking at data points, this is a significant issue,” he said.
Despite experiencing two separate incidents, Rabbi Boyarsky said he refuses to hide.
Before those incidents, he was a frequent Uber user, he said. And he still is.
“Antisemitism has been around as long as sliced bread. Anybody who knows a little bit of history knows that it hasn’t accomplished anything,” he said. “All that it does is emboldens the Jewish community even stronger.”
After being shunned by the Uber driver in March, his second Uber eventually arrived, ferrying him safely to his Purim festivities.
There, he reflected on Purim’s story.
After Haman, a minister, convinced King Ahasuerus to sign a law to kill Jews, Queen Esther courageously revealed her Jewish identity. A new law was issued and the Jews survived.
Every year, Jews commemorate Queen Esther standing up for her community.
Rabbi Boyarsky said Purim’s story lives on as Jewish students continue to support each other by beating hatred with dancing and laughter.
“Being proud of who you are,” he said, “is the best way to fight antisemitism.”
