December 18, 2008 - Canadian Jewish News (Montreal
edition) By: Heather Solomon
Museum shows Jews are from same cloth, just different thread
NICOLET, Quebec — When the Musée des Religions du Monde in Nicolet, Que., was asked to help put together a bilingual panel exhibition on Quebec City’s Jewish community for that city’s 400th birthday, a plan began to take form.
Why not transfer the display after its summer-long showing in the Lower City’s railway station, to the museum? Then the museum could do what it does best: add vitrines of religious objects, original documents, images on everchanging digital photo screens, a video theatre and even a full-scale reproduction of part of the interior of a synagogue sanctuary, with four benches, a ner tamid and an ark with a parochet.
When the South Shore Jewish Community offered to loan its Torah for display in a sealed acrylic showcase, the stage was set for the show to open on Nov. 30 (it runs until Sept. 13, 2009). It’s one of the most comprehensive portraits of Judaism that the museum has ever hosted.
Nicolet is about 135 kilometres from Montreal, across the St. Lawrence River from Trois-Rivières.
“Usually we put together shows on a theme, like the one we did in 2005 on the symbolism of fire in religion,” says the museum’s communications director, Marie-Josée Savard. “Judaism was represented by how candles are used for Shabbat, Havdalah, Chanukah, and so on.”
Jews have had a storied presence in Quebec, starting with the first Jew to settle in Canada in 1761, Aaron Hart. Like many Jews who would follow, he opened a store, although he began his career here as Gen. Jeffrey Amherst’s victualler, acquiring rations for his army.
His son, Ezekiel, was elected to the Lower Canada legislature in 1807.
The stories of prominent Jews from four centuries ago all the way up to the present day give viewers a very impressive account of Jewish contributions to Quebec society.
What’s timely about this exhibition is that it coincides with the new ethics and religious culture course that’s now compulsory in Quebec schools, and Savard says school tours will mushroom accordingly. Some 2,000 students within a 150-kilometre radius of Nicolet have been received in the past year. The museum has educators in place to lead tours of the exhibition, which is tailored to students from grades 1 through 11.
Both young people and adults have so far had strong reactions to the Jewish display, which is titled Plusieurs fibres, une meme étoffe (Same cloth, different thread).
“People are surprised to see the amount of input the Jewish community had in the development of [Quebec City], like its electrification by Sigismund Mohr, and that many businesses, like the Pollack department store, Woodhouse and Assh, belonged to Jewish businessmen. They gave employment to the populace. Also, people were interested to discover what the interior of a synagogue looks like. For them, it had been mysterious, closed, a secret place. Now they see similarities to their own house of worship,” says Savard.
French Québécois visitors are immediately affected by photos of René Lévesque with Jewish community leaders marking the anniversary of the 1832 act that gave Lower Canada Jews their full rights as citizens.
Hockey hero Maurice Richard is shown raising funds with Jews for amateur sport. Jewish foundations and sponsorships are also emphasized.
Yet the exhibition doesn’t gloss over periodic waves of anti-Semitism, such as the 1944 torching of a new synagogue in Quebec City on the day before its inauguration, or the libel suit against Joseph Plamondon.
Eliciting gasps of admiration is the huge silver Torah crown engraved with the name of the Synagogue de Québec, along with its matching breastplate.
Another hit with visitors is the marriage ketubah, because it provides for a woman in case of divorce, making it the original “pre-nup.”
What I found rather humorous was the placement of a shochet’s long ritual slaughter knife next to a small circumcision utensil. Savard says the circumcision knife draws many comments, and no wonder!
Most of the objects have been borrowed from Canadian Jewish Congress, as well as from religious orders that kept meticulous records and the Quebec City Jewish community, which was generous with family photos and stories.
To set up the show, museum director Jean-François Royal met several times with his committee, which included Pierre Anctil, Arthur Aron, Fréderic Potok, Simon Jacobs and Roch Samson. Putting artifacts within the context of a community’s history has “humanized” the objects on display for non-Jews.
And for Jews of every age, this is a truly absorbing and fascinating exhibition,
one that’s well worth the 90-minute drive from Montreal.
For details, call 819-293-6148 or visit www.museedesreligions.qc.ca.
[Janice Rosen, CJCCC archivist, notes: This article in the Canadian Jewish News mentions Canadian Jewish Congress in the context of the recent loan of a number of objects (approximately 25 items) by the CJCCC National Archives to the Museum of Religion in Nicolet. Among the borrowed objects are the knives described near the end of the article, donated to CJC in the 1950s by a long-time CJC officer, Lavy Becker, z”l.]