A great storm was approaching in the form of the Parti Quebecois, Quebec's increasingly popular separatist party. They note that a higher percentage of non-Jewish Anglophones than Jewish Anglophones left the city. Jews Thrive in La Belle Province Despite Seperatist Movement 2002 http://www.giltroy.com/zionismandisrael/JewsThriveinLaBelleProvince.htm, Langlais, Jacques. Some kosher eating establishments opted for CSQ supervision, thereby undermining those who wanted to preserve a single standard of kashrut in the community. The bill declared French as the sole official language of Quebec, cementing the idea that Quebec was, above anything else, a Francophone culture. Within the city, Jewish doctors, wanting to counter systemic Catholic and Protestant antisemitic policies, established the Jewish General Hospital in the 1930s. [3], In the 19th century, most Jews from Montreal were of British Sephardic origins, and Montreal did not have a German-Jewish elite that other communities had. Rather, Quebec anti-Semitism was above all else a crusade of the clergy. ©2000-2020 ITHAKA. In 1972, René Levesque declared that "[this year] is the year of the French Language in Quebec." As a result, the community actively seeks immigrants but has found that the supply is insufficient to maintain the population size. To see the full size images, you need to enable javascript in your browser. He lives with his wife and three children in Canada. The flow of immigrants, almost all European until the Sephardi immigration that began in 1956, gave the community a European character in many respects: religious, cultural, social, and linguistic. Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. For instance, he describes what happened when a Montreal man might be recognized in the “Gallery of Missing Husbands” published by the Forward newspaper of New York as a public service. Medres wrote about the problems of immigrants, religious differences, sick benefit societies, the Workmen’s Circle, the burgeoning Zionist movement, Yiddish vaudeville and theatre, the Jewish press, and the relative merits and demerits of working as a peddler, journalist, tailor or cloakmaker. The bill's passage was an enormous accomplishment for French-Quebecers, who finally could envision a Quebec where they would no longer be at a disadvantage for speaking the language of the majority. Edited by Milton. The Jewish Public Library and the Montreal Yiddish Theatre are two examples of institutions with deep roots in the community. This reaction stemmed from the experiences of the Jews in the Catholic parts of Europe, where the Church often served as a catalyst for anti-Semitic movements. Its population in 2006 was 95,711. Oh Canada! The Jews had two reasons to fear the Marxist separatists: first, they were a group that outspokenly supported Palestinian anti-Israel terrorists and even sent troops to Algeria and Jordan to train as guerilla fighters. One concrete manifestation was the Jewish Federation, now known as Federation CJA, formed in 1965. In The National. Barney's Version is a novel written by Canadian author Mordecai Richler, published by Knopf Canada in 1997. It consists entirely of the former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec. "The Place of Minorities in a Developing Quebec." He gives a gripping thumbnail account of the trial of the antisemites Leduc and Plamondon, who were sued after making vile accusations against the Jews and the Talmud, and whose claims were eventually demolished in the courts. It is well known for effective fundraising and coordination of a range of services to meet community needs. There are ?asidic enclaves in Outremont (mainly *Belz , Skver, and *Satmar), Côte des Neiges (Lubavitch), and Boisbriand (Tosh), as well as an ultra-Orthodox community in Outremont and the Park Avenue area. Between 1904 and 1914, Montreal saw the largest wave of Jewish immigration, with many Jews arriving to the city from Eastern Europe fleeing from antisemitism and violent pogroms. Medres’s prose sometimes reads like a story by Sholom Aleichem or, alternately, like something only I.B. The Jews also recognized that the English dominated Montreal's most successful businesses and lived in the more upscale areas of the city, so assimilation with the English seemed like an obvious choice. As a staff writer for the Keneder Adler, Montreal’s Yiddish-language newspaper from the early years of the last century, Israel Medres penned innumerable short, informative essays on various aspects of Montreal Jewish life. The Conservatives' decision to ordain women was the key precipitating factor. It is in the Mile End district of Montreal and consists of a few streets. From the Ghetto to the Main: The Story of the Jews of Montreal Paperback – Import, January 1, 2003 by Johanne King, Joe; Schumann (Author) 5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating Ryan, Claude. The Sephardim, largely French-speaking, have become increasingly important during the past 20 years. The Museum of Jewish Montreal specializes in Jewish history and leads an intimate food-focused tour called Beyond the Bagel that weaves through the Mile End and Plateau neighborhoods, visiting food producers and exploring the city’s hidden Jewish food history. [2] In 1921, Greater Montreal had 45,802 Jews, with 93.7% of them being in the City of Montreal. Only about half of those who complete Jewish elementary schools remain in the Jewish system for high school. Published by the Montreal Jewish Publication Society. The Jewish left and secular Jewish culture have flourished in Montreal, producing notable artists and public figures such as Charles Krauthammer, Mort Zuckerman, Naomi Klein, Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton and Gerald Cohen. Interview with Mark Charness. In business, the largest success stories have been small businesses that eventually grew into large enterprises. Furthermore, Jews in particular had reason to fear the FLQ, as it was well known that the FLQ had a strong, anti-Jewish core that stemmed from its roots in Marxist separatist philosophy. google_ad_channel ="";
From the Canadian Jewish News, 2019 Although his surname appears in…. The final chapters (including the expressively titled “Exodus 401”) deliver a denouement reflective of Quebec’s politically troubled times. Education has been a major issue for the community for over a century. In the 1930s, the industry employed 35% of Montreal Jewish workers, who were known for their garment skills. For many Jews in Montreal, these new language laws were the final straw. Shalom Montreal is well worth a visit. “When the identification was made, there was a great deal of excitement. Himmelfarb Morris Fine. Richler's Oh Canada! Yet that fact does not seem to have caused significant problems. Jewish immigrants began settling there as far back as the 18th century. Jewish contributions to healthcare are particularly noteworthy, with research that has gone beyond the confines of Montreal to benefit the international community. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz," wrote that Jews often faced conflict from both the Francophone and Anglophone sectors of Montreal. The Canadian Jewish Congress, which had been the dominant representative body of Canadian Jewry for nearly a century, never established a solid fundraising base. By 1991, Montreal's Jewish population had fallen from 115,000 in 1971 to 100,000, while Toronto's had skyrocketed from 88,000 to 162,000. This total would account for approximately 1.1% of the Canadian population. ♦, A Rosenberg by Any Other Name: A History of Jewish Name Changing in America, by Kirsten Fermaglich, New York University Press, 2018.