4. 150 Years of Montreal Care

150 Years of Montreal Care

Virtual

A virtual tour of 150 years of Jewish social services in Montreal, including immigration and vocational services, and the Baron De Hirsch Institute established in 1901.
A community-driven project from the beginning, the Museum of Jewish Montreal’s unique story is one tied to its city and people. The Museum of Jewish Montreal was founded in 2010 as a digital project, when our founder Zev Moses realized that no single institution existed to exhibit, map, and share Montreal’s storied Jewish history for the public!

My Other Listings

Virtual Tour

Between these Walls: Montreal

Hidden sounds of Hazzanut in Montreal. A relic of the past? Irrelevant to today’s jewish experience? listen again. From the early 20th century to this day, montreal has one of the highest numbers of professional cantors in the world. What was it about the jewish community in montreal, sizeable, but not nearly as large as other jewish centres like tel aviv, new york, london, and buenos aires that made this possible? What in turn, does the community’s love affair with hazzanut reveal about montreal jews? This tour tells the story of montreal hazzanim who sang at “downtown” synagogues from 1934 to 1965.
Virtual Tour

Jewish Immigration in Montreal

Exploring the open expanses of downtown Montreal’s Quartier des spectacles, it’s difficult to believe this was once a bustling garment district. Packed with factories and sweatshops, tailors and seamstresses, manufacturers and union executives, the relatively small Rue Ste-Catherine corridor between University and Boulevard St-Laurent was a hotbed of clothing production, class confrontation and radical politics. Picture Ste-Catherine on a busy day in the 1920s and 1930s: steam billowing out of factory windows and grey snow covering the muddied streets; children ferrying newspapers and bales of cloth from building to building; thousands of weary workers flooding the streets for a brief lunchtime break; the mingling sounds of French, English, Yiddish, Italian, Russian . . . Welcome to Work upon Arrival, a geographic and historic guide to Jewish immigrant labour at the beginning of the twentieth century. We invite you to explore the ways in which these newcomers changed – and were changed by – the work world they found in Montreal. Coming to an unknown country and speaking a foreign language, how did these immigrants find work with little financial support and few personal connections at their disposal? How did so many Jews end up in the garment industry, working as cutters, machine operators and even as manufacturers? And how did so many Jews get involved in labour politics? In the early 1970s, Seemah C. Berson conducted interviews with Eastern European Jews who had immigrated to Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver in the first decades of the twentieth century. I Have a Story to Tell You (WLU Press, 2010) is a compilation of these oral histories. On this tour, discover the stories of six Montrealers whose lives help illustrate the immigrant Jewish experience of labour. These witnesses, most of whom worked in the garment industry, tell us in their own words about immigrating, entering the needle trades, enduring terrible working conditions, union organizing and striking.
Virtual Tour

A Geography of Jewish Care

A virtual tour of 150 years of Jewish social services in Montreal. The year 2013 marks 150 years of continuous Jewish social service in Montreal, beginning with the founding of the Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society (YMHBS) in 1863 and continuing through the work of Ometz today. For the first century of its existence, from 1760 to 1860, the Jewish community of Canada was too small to require a formal charity. Montreal’s first Jews were British Sephardim, who arrived alongside the British conquest of New France. This small community initially established itself in business and trades. The 1840s began several decades of mass immigration by Central- and later Eastern European Jews to Montreal. Many of these newcomers arrived with little money and had great difficulties adjusting to Canadian life. The established community responded, guided by the Jewish ethics of tzedakah (righteousness or justice) and tikun olam (repairing the world), by establishing a society dedicated to providing assistance to the newcomers. As the Jewish community of Montreal expanded and developed, so did its framework for community support.
Virtual Tour

Jewish Tours Around the World

We invite you to get on our Hot Air Zoom Balloon to meet exceptional guides and Jewish community members who live around the world and will tell us first-hand the history and current activities of their communities. Traverse through ancient courtyards of the noble class, and unearth the secrets of the forgotten Jewish neighborhoods. Immerse yourself in the rich culture and heritage of this enigmatic island as you explore the landmarks that bore witness to the persecution of Jewish communities. Join us in this unique experience. Don’t miss the chance to discover the captivating stories of Jewish Majorca – book your video tour today!
Virtual Tour

Between these Walls: Montreal

Hidden sounds of Hazzanut in Montreal. A relic of the past? Irrelevant to today’s jewish experience? listen again. From the early 20th century to this day, montreal has one of the highest numbers of professional cantors in the world. What was it about the jewish community in montreal, sizeable, but not nearly as large as other jewish centres like tel aviv, new york, london, and buenos aires that made this possible? What in turn, does the community’s love affair with hazzanut reveal about montreal jews? This tour tells the story of montreal hazzanim who sang at “downtown” synagogues from 1934 to 1965.
Virtual Tour

Jewish Immigration in Montreal

Exploring the open expanses of downtown Montreal’s Quartier des spectacles, it’s difficult to believe this was once a bustling garment district. Packed with factories and sweatshops, tailors and seamstresses, manufacturers and union executives, the relatively small Rue Ste-Catherine corridor between University and Boulevard St-Laurent was a hotbed of clothing production, class confrontation and radical politics. Picture Ste-Catherine on a busy day in the 1920s and 1930s: steam billowing out of factory windows and grey snow covering the muddied streets; children ferrying newspapers and bales of cloth from building to building; thousands of weary workers flooding the streets for a brief lunchtime break; the mingling sounds of French, English, Yiddish, Italian, Russian . . . Welcome to Work upon Arrival, a geographic and historic guide to Jewish immigrant labour at the beginning of the twentieth century. We invite you to explore the ways in which these newcomers changed – and were changed by – the work world they found in Montreal. Coming to an unknown country and speaking a foreign language, how did these immigrants find work with little financial support and few personal connections at their disposal? How did so many Jews end up in the garment industry, working as cutters, machine operators and even as manufacturers? And how did so many Jews get involved in labour politics? In the early 1970s, Seemah C. Berson conducted interviews with Eastern European Jews who had immigrated to Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver in the first decades of the twentieth century. I Have a Story to Tell You (WLU Press, 2010) is a compilation of these oral histories. On this tour, discover the stories of six Montrealers whose lives help illustrate the immigrant Jewish experience of labour. These witnesses, most of whom worked in the garment industry, tell us in their own words about immigrating, entering the needle trades, enduring terrible working conditions, union organizing and striking.
Virtual Tour

A Geography of Jewish Care

A virtual tour of 150 years of Jewish social services in Montreal. The year 2013 marks 150 years of continuous Jewish social service in Montreal, beginning with the founding of the Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society (YMHBS) in 1863 and continuing through the work of Ometz today. For the first century of its existence, from 1760 to 1860, the Jewish community of Canada was too small to require a formal charity. Montreal’s first Jews were British Sephardim, who arrived alongside the British conquest of New France. This small community initially established itself in business and trades. The 1840s began several decades of mass immigration by Central- and later Eastern European Jews to Montreal. Many of these newcomers arrived with little money and had great difficulties adjusting to Canadian life. The established community responded, guided by the Jewish ethics of tzedakah (righteousness or justice) and tikun olam (repairing the world), by establishing a society dedicated to providing assistance to the newcomers. As the Jewish community of Montreal expanded and developed, so did its framework for community support.
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השפה העברית בחלקה, תורגמה בעזרת גוגל. לפיכך, מתנצלים מראש אם נמצאו טעויות. תיאמנו את פריסת הדף. אנו עושים כל מאמץ לשיפור מיטבי של התרגום. מקווים שתהנו מהאתר!
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השפה העברית בחלקה, תורגמה בעזרת גוגל. לפיכך, מתנצלים מראש אם נמצאו טעויות. תיאמנו את פריסת הדף. אנו עושים כל מאמץ לשיפור מיטבי של התרגום. מקווים שתהנו מהאתר!
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