This was a period of turbulence, but also of great expansion, for Montreal’s Jewish community. Israel faced two existential crises: In 1967 and again in 1973. Emerging from these wars as a formidable power in the Middle East, it faced increasing hostility in the international arena. Jewish communities the world over rallied to its support. Locally, this was the era of the Quiet Revolution, a period of dramatic social and political secularization in Quebec. In 1967, the world came to Montreal for the International Expo, and a Pavilion of Judaism, the first Jewish presence since Chicago’s 1933 World’s Fair, educated hundreds of thousands of visitors. 1976 signalled two major events in Quebec’s history: The Olympic Games and the election of the Parti québécois. Quebec nationalism rose to the forefront of politics with the election of René Lévesque, resulting in tens of thousands of Anglophones relocating outside the province, including many Jews.
Jewish culture during this period received a tremendous boost when Saidye Bronfman’s children opened an arts centre in her honour in 1972, known today as the Segal Centre for Performing Arts. That same year, Cummings House was opened, thanks to the generous support of Nathan and Maxwell Cummings, which became the headquarters for Allied Jewish Community Services and the eventual hub of Montreal’s Jewish Community Campus. In 1975, the Combined Jewish Appeal adopted Jewish education as one of its top priorities, and the Jewish Education Council of Greater Montreal was created.
A journey through 100 years
