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June 10, 2005
The very heart of our history
Montreal is still the place to which many Canadian Jews connect.
KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR
For years, Montreal was the largest Jewish centre in Canada. In
the 1980s, as the separatist movement became a mainstay of Quebec
politics, thousands of members of the Jewish community began to
leave, many for Toronto. But close to 100,000 still remain –
and in the collective imagination, the city is still identified
as the heart of Canadian Jewry. And with a variety of festivals
lighting up the warm evenings, summer is the best time to explore
this historic metropolis.
The hub of the old Jewish community, known as Mile End or simply,
"The Main," is a good place to start – and the best
way to discover it is on foot. Encompassing a quadrangle between
Boulevard St-Laurent and the McGill University campus at the foot
of Mont Royal, the area includes many of the stomping grounds made
famous by Mordecai Richler in novels such as The Apprenticeship
of Duddy Kravitz.
Stanley Asher, a former Jewish studies teacher and a long-time volunteer
with the Montreal Jewish Library, leads excellent walking tours,
sparked with side-splitting yarns about the neighborhood he also
grew up in. He can be reached at stanleyasher@yahoo.com
– although he will only lead groups, arranged in advance.
Among the highlights of Asher's tour: Wilensky's Deli at the corner
of Fairmount and Clark streets. It's one of the city's famed smoked
meat delis, whose menu features hot dogs with Kraft cheese. Extra
mustard is 10 cents a pop. A thinly disguised version of Wilensky's
was the setting for an early scene in Duddy Kravitz –
and Richler himself frequented the eatery.
Many of the brick buildings in and around St-Urbain Street now house
yeshivah schools and Chassidic places of worship. But in the period
after the Second World War, the neighborhood was also home to various
synagogues and community schools, including the Jewish People's
School. The Jewish schools have now moved north to Côte Saint-Luc
and the synagogues have been replaced with baptist churches or other
communities' meeting places. If you look closely, said Asher, you
can see where the Hebraic lettering has been scrubbed from the fronts
of buildings. "Somewhere," he joked, "there must
be a warehouse full of the Ten Commandments."
Back on Boulevard St-Laurent, Schwartz's Deli is legendary, as is
Moishe's Steak House, an institution dating back to 1938. It still
possesses an old world sort of charm, marked by white linen tablecloths,
dark wood panelling and waistcoasted waiters who descend within
minutes of your arrival with an array of coleslaw, rye and pumpernickel
bread and, of course, pickles. Appetizers include chopped liver
and marinated herring. Main courses focus, naturally, on the meat
– an assortment of steak cuts that weigh heavily on one's plate.
The restaurant also has an extensive wine list.
North of Mont Royal, in Côte-des-Neiges, is the city's well-appointed
Jewish Community Centre. Adjacent to the JCC is the Saidye Bronfman
Centre for the Arts – a gift to the culture-loving Bronfman
from her children. Colloquially known as "the Saidye,"
the centre comprises the Liane and Danny Taran Gallery, a fine arts
school and the Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre – internationally
recognized for its English-language plays and home to the Dora Wasserman
Theatre – North America's only Yiddish theatre (the Yiddish-language
play Lies My Father Told Me runs until June 30.)
Across the street is the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, which
highlights what was once the world's third-largest community of
survivors. Artifacts from prewar communities are on display, as
well as videotaped interviews with survivors. More than three-quarters
of the museum's annual visitors are non-Jews and, as the centre's
Marcia Shuster pointed out, "How can someone come to a museum
to learn about the death of the Jews when they don't know what the
Jews were like?" Many visitors, Shuster said, come simply to
use the museum's memorial room as a meditation space.
The second-oldest synagogue in Montreal (and, in fact, in Canada)
is Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Westmount. Founded in 1846 (when
congregants gathered in a single rented room), the "Conservadox"
congregation now boasts 4,000 members and is undergoing a second
renovation. Among its most unique offerings: a museum of Judaica
that holds such items as a peacock-shaped escrow box and a breastplate
studded with jewels representing the 12 tribes of Israel. It's open
to the public, but visitors to
Shaar Hashomayim need to call in advance.
Aside from Jewish history, Montreal is a vibrant city with much
to offer. Old Montreal, like Vancouver's industrial areas, has undergone
a major revamp. The cobblestone streets remain, but the district
is now home to numerous galleries, chic restaurants and high-end
condos. Montreal is also a premier shopping destination, with European
boutiques and 20 miles of underground shopping. It has 150 miles
of cycle paths and the second largest botanical garden next to London's
Kew Gardens. Among the city's numerous cultural centres and museums
are the Musée de Beaux Arts, the Musée d'Art Contemporain
and the Biodome. Coming up over the summer months: Montreal's celebrated
Jazz Festival and Just for Laughs – the world's largest comedy
festival.
For complete tourist information, visit www.tourism-montreal.org.
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