Canada's Jews

Ira Robinson (PhD Harvard University, USA) is Professor of Judaic Studies in the Department of Religion of Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and serves as president of the Canadian Society for Jewish Studies. His recent books include Rabbis and Their Community: Studies in the Eastern European Orthodox Rabbinate in Montreal, 1896-1930 (2007) and Translating a Tradition: Studies in American Jewish History (2009). Dr. Robinson is the 2013 recipient of the Louis Rosenberg Canadian Jewish Studies Distinguished Service Award.

“This collection of 26 essays offers a comprehensive snapshot of the history of Jews in Canada, their contemporary situation, their spiritual/cultural life, and their representation in Canadian literature. . . . The essays are written in a clear style largely by experts in their respective fields. . . . This book would serve equally well as a University text book on Canadian Jewish Studies for the uninitiated and as an introduction to the topic for the curious lay person.”

• Preface. I. In Time: Canada ’s Jews and Their History. 1. Jews and New France. 2. Jewish beginnings under the British (eighteenth century). 3. Jews in British North America (nineteenth century). 4. Eastern European Jewish immigration and its impact: Farming Colonies and the West. 5. Eastern European Jewish immigration and its impact: Quebec and Ontario ; Jewish labor. 6. Jews and the Political and Social Life of Canada (to 1945): anti-Semitism; Zionism; Canadian Jewish Congress. 7. Jews in Postwar Canada: Holocaust survivors, Sephardim, Russians and Israelis, Federations and Communal Governance. II. In Space: a Survey of Jews in Contemporary Canada. 1. Toronto. 2. Montreal. 3. Vancouver. 4. Winnipeg. 5. Maritimes. 6. Central Canada (not including Toronto and Montreal ). 7. Prairies (not including Winnipeg ). 8. West and North (not including Vancouver ). III. In Spirit: the Religious and Cultural Expressions of Canadian Jews. A. Religious. 1. Ashkenazic Orthodox: Hasidic, Modern, Kashrut. 2. Sephardic. 3. Non-Orthodox: Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform. B. Languages, Literatures and Cultures. 1. Yiddish. 2. Jews in Canadian literature. 3. Jews in Quebec literature. 4. Canadian Jewish Studies. Conclusion. For further reading. List of contributors. Index.