From North Africa to Canada: The Integration of Jews
Rachel Kelly Benizri (260745414)
SOCI 227: Jews in North America
McGill University
Canada is known as being a “country of immigrants” where 300 000 immigrants are welcomed by the Canadian government every year (Kelley& Trebilcock; Singer, 2018). While building their new lives in their new country, they have largely contributed to the evolution and the development of the country. In fact, Rosenberg and Weinfeld state in their book entitle Canada’s Jews that “Canada is still what she is, and will be what she will become in the future, because of the immigrants which have come to her shores in the past and will come to her in the future” (Rosenberg & Weinfeld, 1993, p. 118). Immigrants decide to leave their home country for various reasons and also have numerous reasons for choosing which country will become their new home. However, even after overcoming all the obstacles that may arise throughout their journey, there are many more hurdles to overcome in their new country. The Jews, in particular, came to Canada over the course of many years, through many different migration waves and left their old lives behind for different reasons such as persecution, discrimination or economic deprivation, and all came to Canada in search of refuge and a new start on life. Canadian life, for these Jewish immigrants, was a permanent move, an opportunity to provide their children the opportunities they knew would not be possible in their old countries. In short, Canada was a source of hope for these Jewish immigrants (Weinfeld, 2018).
The Jewish immigration to Canada began in the late 1700s and early 1800s; this was the first organized migration that consisted of traders and merchants from Germany and Great Britain who were mainly of Sephardi tradition (Rosenberg & Weinfeld, 1993; Weinfeld, 2018). Nonetheless, the first large wave of Jewish migration was that of the Central European Jews who came between the years of 1840 and 1880. This wave included mostly German Jews who practiced Reform Judaism. The late 1870s was when the second largest wave of Jewish migration took place, which consisted of Jews from Eastern Europe. Unlike the German Jews, these Jews were mostly Orthodox. The next large wave of immigrants consisted of the Holocaust survivors that migrated in Canada from 1947 to 1952 and followed the rituals of traditional Judaism. These Jewish immigrants helped the Jewish life in Canada grow and were involved in Jewish education and culture. All of these Jewish immigrations consisted all of Ashkenazi Jews that spoke English (Weinfeld, 2018). However, most recent immigration waves to Canada started in the 1950s where Jewish immigrants came from North Africa between 1950 and 1980, mostly from Morocco and were Sephardi and Francophone (Cohen, 2011). In fact, because of their preference for the French language, their integration into the larger already established English-speaking Ashkenazi Jews was not very easy (Lasry, 1983). After the North African Jews came the Soviet Jews. They arrived in Canada in the 1970s; they were highly educated, but not very familiar with Judaism. Lastly, there was the Israeli wave, which is known as being the most controversial wave of migration as they were going the “wrong way”. In fact, this wave of migration conflicted with the Zionistic views of all migrating one day to Israel (Weinfeld, 2018). Nevertheless, the North African Jews remain an interesting migration. Their integration and patterns of immigration into larger society while still maintaining the culture and traditions of their homeland is what shaped their Canadian identity which will be discussed in this paper.
Among the North African Jews that immigrated to Canada, Moroccan Jews make up the vast majority of those who immigrated to Montreal specifically (Lasry, 1983). Moroccan Jews immigrated later than the Jews who came from European countries; thus they adopted much of the lifestyle and cultural patterns from their neighbours in their old country, Arabs, who practiced Islam (Batshaw & Lowe, 1971). Unlike the North American family patterns that are “diffuse, informal and based on the individual needs of the nuclear unit, … [the Moroccan family life is based on] … tradition and responsibility to the larger family” (Amber & Lipper, 1968, p. 3). In fact, the Arab world was known as a “Gemeinschaft” society, where families, comprised of husband, wife, married sons and their families as well as their unmarried sons and daughters, dominated the individual and had a great impact on any life decision (Amber & Lipper, 1968). The father was very respected and was considered the head of the family whereas the wives and daughters were “subordinate to the males”(Amber & Lipper, 1968, p. 60). Thus, in typical Moroccan families, roles were clearly differentiated on the basis of sex and age. The family ambiance and lifestyle of the younger generation were defined by the elders of the family, who were considered wise and strong, and the desires of the men were always enforced before those of the women (Amber & Lipper, 1968). Every city in Morocco inhabited by Jews had a “mellah” that can be described as being a distinctive “Jewish quarter” where the Jews lived (Amber & Lipper, 1968, p. 64). Life In the “mellah” could be compared to life in the “shtetl”, where Jews in Eastern Europe happily lived in small villages, secluded from their neighbours (Pinchuk, 2001). In Morocco, French was the official language so the Jews spoke French, but their mother tongue was Judeo-Arabic, “an Arabic-Berber-Hebrew dialect, common to Moroccan Jews” (Amber & Lipper, 1968, p. 67). Moroccan Jews were known as practicing the Sephardic traditions and customs. Their religious faith was very strong and important to them as “their belonging to a Jewish community was recognized by law and rabbinical authority was rooted in tradition” (Bejarano & Aizenberg, 2012, p. 21). Sephardic communities are ones in which Jewish law was determined by the “principles, rulings and traditions of the great Spanish sages” (Medding & Makhon, 2007, p. vii). Every town had fifteen to twenty houses that served as synagogues, where Jewish learning and every day prayers took place, where no dues had to be paid in order to be a member ensuring any Jew could attend the prayers whenever he felt like it. Jews in Morocco were largely middle class. The upper level of these middle class Jews were technicians and white-collar employees, whereas the lower levels of this middle class consisted of small merchants, tradesman and artisans. Jewellers and leather workers were also found among Jews who were less educated (Amber & Lipper, 1968).
The immigration of Jews from Morocco to Montreal can be explained by many reasons: Some left because of the unstable relationship between the Arabs, the Jews and the French during the colonization of Morocco. Many Jews felt uncomfortable to be in this “complex triangular configuration” and also a change in the interactions between those communities when Morocco got its independence in 1956 (Cohen, 2011, p. 247). Another could be explained by the Arab-Israeli conflict (Cohen, 2011). After the Moroccan independence, the future of the Jews seemed to be unpromising and unfavourable and some feared the men would be forced to join the Moroccan army. Additionally, parents did not see a bright future for their children and “saw few prospects in Morocco”; some young men had already begun leaving their homes to attend schools in Europe (Cohen, 2011, p. 256). As explained, unlike any other immigration group to Canada, who left their home country for economic motives, Moroccan Jews left the old world because of the political situation, insecurities and fear of an all-Moslem government overpowering the French (Weinfeld et al., 1981).
Over 8000 francophone Jews chose to immigrate to Montreal between the years of 1960 to 1980 (Cohen & Schwartz, 2016). Quebec was a convivial new home for Moroccan Jews, where the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS) welcomed them at their arrival and guided them through the first difficult yet necessary steps of integration, such as locating housing and even provided an allowance, clothes, rent or furniture to families in financial need (Weinfeld et al., 1981). Montreal had an already well-established Jewish community and most of the people living in Montreal spoke French, just like these Moroccan immigrant Jews (Bejarano & Aizenberg, 2012). In fact, a study done on Moroccan Jewish immigrants who came from 1957 to 1967 done by Berman et al., found that “the most common language spoken by the sample [population] was French” (Berman et al., 1970, p. 22). As a result, these immigrants felt like Montreal was the ideal place to settle their family. As soon as they arrived to Montreal, Moroccan Jews began to found their communities and organizations. The most prominent organization established by Sephardic Jews of Montreal is the Communauté Sépharade Unifiée du Québec (CSUQ), still active to this day. This institute organizes very frequently educational and cultural events and also founded summer and winter camps for kids ages six to sixteen. The CSUQ also put together a “quarterly magazine” called La Voix Sépharade, written mainly in French (Bejarano & Aizenberg, 2012, p. 205). Additionally, the École Maimonide that was founded in 1968 offers a Jewish Sephardic education to its students where classes are all taught in French. Before its establishment, Moroccan parents were forced to put their children in a French but not Catholic school or a Catholic school because all Jewish schools at the time functioned in English. Furthermore, the Moroccan Jews upon their arrival also established Sephardic synagogues where “the traditional music of the liturgy is used and taught to the younger generation” (Bejarano & Aizenberg, 2012, p. 205). At first, Moroccan Jews encountered some difficulty in economic adjustment like any immigrant group arriving to Montreal. However, they managed to get through this adjustment pretty well because they “ arrived knowing the majority language of the host society and most had had a fait amount of education” (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 228). The study performed by Berman et al suggests that “the Moroccan immigrants were a highly selective group and made a good initial economic adjustment in Montreal” (Berman et al., 1970, p. 92). Nevertheless, the advantage they had with the language was not strictly beneficial to their integration within Quebec society where “the difficulties they encountered in Montreal are probably unique in North America” (Bejarano & Aizenberg, 2012, p. 206).
When they arrived, Sephardic Jews were a minority compared to the already established Anglophone Ashkenazi Jews. Their integration into this larger Jewish community of Montreal was quite complicated because they preferred speaking in French and the Jewish community was Anglophone (Lasry et al., 2007; Weinfeld et al., 1981). Preservation of their Sephardic tradition was very important to them and installed barriers between the Ashkenazi already established Jews and the Sephardi Moroccan Jews (Lasry, 1983). Essentially, for the English-speaking Jews of Montreal, French-speaking Moroccan Jews were perceived as a threat, “especially since the Quiet Revolution of the early 1960s and the rise of French Canadian nationalism” (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 234). The Anglophone Jewish community of Montreal greatly disliked the idea that the government of Quebec was decided to make the province of Quebec French and unfortunately, Moroccan Jews were a “constant reminder” of this idea and therefore were associated with the “highly anxiety-provoking nationalistic orientation of Quebec” (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 234). Moreover, the foundation of École Maimonide didn’t help this situation and “reinforced this threatening association” as it encouraged the Quebec government to force English-language Jewish schools to increase the number of hours they dedicated to teaching French (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 234). As a result, École Maimonide was never accepted as being part of the Association of Jewish Day Schools (AJDS) and was always excluded from community events and activities. Furthermore, even when École Maimonide was finally recognized as being an official member of the AJDS its “name never appeared on the organization’s letterhead, and it was not represented on its executive” (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 235). Another factor that can explain the intracommunity tensions between the Sephardim and Ashkenazim is “the usual animosity that earlier settlers express towards the later ones” (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 233). Additionally, European Jews feel like they are superior to North African Jews that emigrated from Arabic countries whose culture were unfamiliar in the shtetl; having Arabic origin is perceived as an insult to those European Jews (Weinfeld et al., 1981). Another problem faced by Moroccan Jews upon their emigration to Montreal is the lack of grants and loans they received at their arrival. The study performed by Berman et al states that the 31% of immigrants they sampled for their study “received grants and loans of less than ten dollars” and “68% did not receive a loan” (Berman et al., 1970, p. 24). These findings could suggest that Moroccan Jews struggled financially during the first steps of their integration in Montreal.
Intermarriage among North-African Jews was very common upon their arrival to Montreal and can be explained by many factors. Between the years of 1969 and 1972 the intermarriage rate of Jews living in Montreal was of 15%. Furthermore, the intermarriage rate for the Sephardim only was of 50%. On the other side, the intermarriage rate for the Ashkenazim was of 12%. Within the Sephardic community, North Africans are the ones with the highest intermarriage rate and back in the days, they often chose to get married to a Francophone Quebecois (Cohen & Guerry, 2011). This high intermarriage rate may have been encouraged by the fact that AIU (Alliance Israélite Universelle) schools that were under the French rule back in Morocco “had been the instruments of a swift change from Judeo-Arabic language and mores to French” (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 232). Perhaps, this is how Moroccan Jews were able to share a common language with the Francophone community of Montreal. However, in Morocco, there were socio-ethnic barriers of colonial society that prevented Jews from high rates of intermarriage. In Montreal, those barriers did not exist anymore as “the society is an open one that allows great freedom of social interaction” (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 232). As a result, the “sharing of a common language and the “quasi-absence of socio-ethnic barriers” promoted high rates of intermarriage (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 232). Another factor that comes into play is the fact that the already established Anglophone Jews of Montreal had very high in-marriage rates and “they were much more likely to marry non-Jews than to marry Jews who are not Ashkenazic” (Weinfeld et al., 1981, p. 232). A study conducted by Cohen and Guerry noticed that when Moroccan Jewish men arrived to Montreal they met a few women from the Anglophone Jewish community. However, despite their efforts to build some sort of relationship with them, the women remained unresponsive. Thus, the Moroccan Jewish men turned themselves to the Quebecois women, which were more welcoming (Cohen & Guerry, 2011).
Today, Canada is considered a multicultural country, where pluralism is a major contributor to the Canadian mosaic. In 2011, the Jewish population was of 391,665 representing 1.2 % of the Canadian population (Shahar, 2011). They have both retained many of their traditions as well as integrated into the major society. The Moroccan Jews, in particular, were able to establish their own organizations upon arrival and afford a new opportunity to their children. However, they also faced intracommunity tensions with the already established Anglophone Jewish community. Nevertheless, today, they have learnt to grow within the Canadian and more specifically, the Montreal population. The Sephardim make up 24.5% of the Montreal Jewish population and “as the numbers of Ashkenazim have diminished significantly in the last four decades, the size of the Sephardic population has increased in the same period” (National Household Survey Analysis, 2011). As for their social and economic standing, “Sephardim have been on the ascendancy” (National Household Survey Analysis, 2011). As noticed, Moroccan Jews have been growing and slowly but surely finding their place amongst the Ashkenazi Jews and the Montreal society.
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