Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 49 July 30, 1992 1) Quebec (Zachary Baker) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 09:15:31 PDT From: "Zachary M. Baker" Subject: Quebec In vol. 2, no. 46 of MENDELE, Martin Haase inquires about Yiddish cultural life in Quebec. If he means Quebec City (the capital of the province -- it is still a province -- of Quebec), then there is virtually nothing of interest to visit from that standpoint. Montreal, however, which is the largest city in the province (and now the second largest city in Canada), has a flourishing Jewish community, albeit a community that is under some stress, having been adversely affected by a poor economic climate and a brand of political and linguistic nationalism that in practice (although not in principle) places limits on the province's largest linguistic minority group: the anglophones. Out-migration of Montreal's Jews has reduced the size of the community from 115,000 circa 1961 to about 85,000 today. The true dimensions of that exodus are masked by the immigration during the same period of a substantial number of North African-origin, francophone Jews, along with a smattering of Russians, Israelis and Ethiopians. Who departed? Primarily young, English-speakers of Eastern European, Ashkenazi background. The Montreal Jewish community today nevertheless is one of the most fascinating communities in North America. Like Canada, it is divided linguistically (about 75% anglophone and 25% francophone) as well as confessionally (similar proportions of Ashkenazim versus Sephardim). It is composed disproportionately of the elderly -- who are, in turn -- at least compared with U.S. Jews of the same cohort -- disproportionately of immigrant background, and hence, native Yiddish speakers. Aside from New York, I do not know of any North American Jewish community that has such a large representation of (Yiddish-speaking) Hasidim. These are concentrated in various parts of the city. Belzer, Satmarer and Tasher tend to reside in the av. du Parc- Fairmount area (a district celebrated in the writings of Mordecai Richler, who dealt with an earlier period and a very different type of Jewish first- and second-generation community). Habad tend to live in the Snowdon area (northwest Montreal). In addition, there is a community of Hungarian Hasidim (Tasher, I believe) that has settled in an isolated town north of the city -- along the lines of New Square (=Skvir), NY. Most of the non-Hasidic Jews of Montreal, i.e., about 90+% of the population, have long since left the "old neighborhood," where Belzer, etc., now reside, but culinary relics of that earlier group remain: Moishe's steakhouse, Schwartz's Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen (Charcuterie Hebraique de Montreal, under Quebec's language laws), Warshaw's supermarket, and Waldman's poissonerie -- all within a short distance of one another, near Boul. St. Laurent (The Main) and av. des Pins. Also in that area are a Jewish monument engraver and (on rue Bagg) an exquisite rowhouse synagogue, Beth Shlomo, with beautiful wall paintings. A little further uptown, on Fairmount and St. Viateur (off av. du Parc) are two of the most authentic, European-style bagel bakeries one is likely to find anywhere these days. The Montreal bagel is characterized by its slightly sweet character, its large hole and the aroma of charcoal -- not surprising, since it is baked in a wood-burning oven. Imitators of the Fairmount and St. Viateur bagel bakeries are found elsewhere in the city. I should point out that the aforementioned restaurants are NOT kosher; nevertheless, for the adventurous carnivore, Montreal style smoked meat (at Schwartz's, especially) is a MUST. I could write an essay on that subject alone, but will refrain from doing so. What about Yiddish culture in Montreal? There is the famous Yiddish Drama Group of the Saidye Bronfman Centre, which has just had a very successful run of "Les belles-soeurs," a play by the French Canadian dramatist Michel Tremblay, translated into Yiddish by Goldie Morgentaler and Pierre Anctil. They stage two plays each year, one in the autumn and one in the spring, and are known for their relatively serious repertoire, which includes original productions of plays by Bashevis Singer, translations of "The Jazz Singer" and productions like the one that recently took place. Across the street from the Saidye Bronfman Centre (which houses an art gallery and school, as well as a theater, and which is attached to the Snowdon YM-YWHA -- where there is, by the way, a kosher coffee shop) is the Jewish Public Library, founded in 1914 by the Hebraists Reuven Brainin and Yehuda Kaufmann (later Even-Shmuel) as Di yidishe folks-bibliotek. The JPL maintains one of the largest Yiddish collections in any library on this continent, and during the autumn and spring Yiddish lectures are held there. The cross-streets, by the way, are chemin de la Cote Ste-Catherine and av. Westbury. On Westbury, just in back of the JPL, is the Golden Age Center, where one can hear Yiddish spoken. There is a dairy cafeteria there, which is kosher. There are Jewish shops nearby, on av. Victoria and Van Horne, including bookshops and kosher restaurants -- also along Boul. Decarie and chemin Queen Mary. The principal areas of Jewish residence these days are Snowdon (the area just described), Hampstead, Cote St-Luc -- all of them adjacent -- and Dollard- des-Ormeaux, on the West Island. (Montreal is the name of the island on which the city and many of its suburbs are located.) I don't know of a Jewish community of its size on this continent that can boast of a more glorious cultural heritage -- in terms of writers, both Yiddish (Melekh Ravitch, Y. Y. Segal, Yehuda Elberg, Rokhl Korn, Chava Rosenfarb, and many others) and English (A. M. Klein, Irving Layton, Mordecai Richler, Leonard Cohen), community leaders and artists. It is a community that is aware of its roots, and that has made strong efforts to transmit them to the younger generation. There are about two dozen Jewish day schools in Montreal (a majority of Jewish children and adolescents attend day schools), including the Jewish People's and Peretz Schools and Bialik High School. Among the founders of these schools were their long-time principals, Shloime Wiseman and Jacob Zipper, both relatively recently deceased, both deeply learned, both strongly Yiddish oriented. One of the great teachers at the Folkshule was the late Shimshon Dunsky, translator of Midrash Rabbah into Yiddish, and a mentor of the literary scholar David Roskies. Finally, a word about Jewish Studies at McGill University. This program, which was headed for a long time by Ruth R. Wisse (who is about to depart for Harvard), has several faculty specializing in various aspects of Eastern European Jewish history and culture. Among these are Gershon Hundert (a specialist on Polish Jewry) and Eugene Orenstein (one of the co-founders of Yugntruf, in 1964). Prof. Wisse will be sorely missed, I am sure. I regret that I have gone on for so long. I always resisted the temptation to do so until the Quebec question -- about which I have such a warm feeling -- arose. Forgive me, tayere leyeners. Zachary Baker, YIVO Library (late of JPL, Montreal) N.B. The founder and director of the Yiddish Drama Group is Dora Wasserman, a student of Shloyme Mikhoels in Moscow. [Yasher koyach. Efsher volt men dort gekant haltn a tsunoyfkum fun Mendelnikes?] ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.49 If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu If you want to discuss personal business or have a shmues with the shames, please write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.