The Jewish Public Library or JPL ( French : Bibliothèque publique juive , Yiddish : ייִדישע פֿאָלקס ביבליאָטעק ) is a public library in Montreal , Quebec , Canada, founded in 1914. The library contains the largest circulating collection of Judaica in North America. The JPL has close to 4000 members, and receives 700 to 800 visitors weekly. A constituent agency of Federation CJA , the Jewish Public Library is independent of the Montreal Public Libraries Network and instead receives its funding from the city's Jewish community , membership fees, donations and endowments.
21-397: Jewish Public Library may refer to: Jewish Public Library (Montreal) Jewish Public Library (Toronto) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Jewish Public Library . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
42-548: A Spanish-Portuguese congregation, opened in 1768; it was the first Jewish congregation in Montreal. The grave of Lazarus David was the oldest Jewish grave in Montreal; it was dated to 1776. There were about 6,000 Russian Jews in Montreal in 1900. Jews made up 6-7% of Montreal's population between 1911 and 1931. In 1921, Greater Montreal had 45,802 Jews, with 93.7% of them being in the City of Montreal. In 1931, about 80% of
63-609: A German-Jewish elite that other communities had. Bernard Spolsky, author of The Languages of the Jews: A Sociolinguistic History , stated that "Yiddish was the dominant language of the Jewish community of Montreal". In 1931, 99% of Montreal Jews stated that Yiddish was their mother language. In the 1930s there was a Yiddish language education system and a Yiddish newspaper in Montreal. In 1938, most Jewish households in Montreal primarily used English and often used French and Yiddish. 9% of
84-429: A campus on the corner of Cote Ste. Catherine Road and Westbury Avenue in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges sector. The Jewish Public Library's collection of over 150,000 items is accessible online, including specialist collections in five languages. The Children’s Library offers programs and activities with more than 30,000 items for children up to 14 years of age. The JPL is a full service lending and research library . 75% of
105-483: A joint project. The JPL's collections are primarily in English , French , Hebrew , Yiddish and Russian , with other languages comprising works in its special non-circulating collections. Special collections include: The Library has an active program of cultural events and educational workshops throughout the year. During Jewish Book Month , Andrei Codrescu , Cynthia Ozick , and Salman Rushdie have all spoken at
126-750: Is grounded in the Yiddish -speaking immigrants who fled Europe at the turn of the 20th century. The early homes of the JPL were in rented cold water flats on St. Urbain Street and, for 20 years, on the corner of Esplanade Avenue and Mount-Royal. In the early 1970s, the patterns of Jewish migration within the city had made it apparent that the library should move again, to be nearer to other Jewish agencies and organizations. The Segal Centre for Performing Arts , YM-YWHA Jewish community centre , Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre , and all Federation CJA offices are now within
147-767: Is primarily concentrated in Côte St. Luc , Hampstead , Snowdon , and the West Island . Other major Jewish communities exist in Outremont , Park Extension , and Chomedey . In the early 20th century, Jewish representatives of the Montreal City Council, the Quebec legislature, and the Canadian parliament originated from Jewish neighbourhoods in Montreal. Jewish politicians were often elected federally in
168-520: Is still a living part of the Montreal language mix, particularly in the substantial Hasidic community. Demographically smaller as a result of the exodus that came with the instability provoked by the Quebec sovereignty movement , Montreal's Jewish community has nevertheless been a leading contributor to the city's cultural landscape and is renowned for its level of charitable giving and its plethora of social service community institutions. Among these are
189-687: The Montreal Holocaust Museum , the Montreal Jewish Museum , and Bloomsday Montreal. The Archives offers exhibitions, tours, workshops and offers much of its content digitally. Jews in Montreal Montreal 's Jewish community is one of the oldest and most populous in the country, formerly first but now second to Toronto and numbering about 82,000 in Greater Montreal according to
210-534: The 2021 census. The community is quite diverse and is composed of many different Jewish ethnic divisions that arrived in Canada at different periods of time and under differing circumstances. Montreal's first Jews were Sepharadi and Ashkenazi Jews who had previously settled in Britain and from there moved to Canada as far back as the 18th century. Predominant in number and cultural influence throughout much of
231-898: The 20th century were the Ashkenazi Jews who arrived from Eastern Europe mostly prior to and following World War II ; they settled largely along the Main and in the Mile End , a life vividly chronicled by such writers as Mordecai Richler . There is also a substantial number of French-speaking Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews, originating from former French colonies in the Middle East and North Africa . More recent arrivals include significant numbers of Russian Jews , Argentinian Jews , and French Jews as well as some Indian Jews , Ethiopian Jews and others. Close to 25% of Montreal's Jewish population have French as their mother tongue. Yiddish
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#1732780935252252-523: The 60,087 Quebecers of Jewish origin lived in Montreal. In 1931, 84% of Greater Montreal's Jews lived in Montreal. Between 1921 and 1931 many Jews moved to Outremont and Westmount from Laurier and St. Louis in Montreal. Montreal has the second largest Jewish community in Canada, and about a quarter (23.2%) of the country’s Jewish population. In the 19th century, most Jews from Montreal were of British Sephardic origins, and Montreal did not have
273-600: The Francophone and Anglophone sectors of Montreal. The Montreal government granted Jews the right to choose whether to pay taxes to Protestant schools or Catholic schools, and therefore the right for their children to attend either school system, in 1870. In 1894 the Montreal Protestant School Board agreed to begin funding the Baron de Hirsch School for Jewish Immigrants in exchange for being
294-631: The Jewish households only used French and 6% only used Yiddish. From 1907 to 1988 the Keneder Adler ( Odler , The Canadian Eagle ), a Yiddish newspaper, was published in Montreal. In the 20th century, children in Montreal Jewish households mostly read English publications while parents read publications in French and Yiddish. In 2006, Montreal had more Yiddish speakers than Toronto. In 1931, Laurier, St. Louis and St. Michel had
315-728: The collection is Judaica , 25% general interest and popular fiction. The collection itself is oriented towards both academic and popular readerships, the Judaica collection being akin to most university libraries' Judaic collections. Members of Montreal's Orthodox Jewish community also use the library for religious works. The general collection attempts a diversity of popular and literary fiction, as well as an AV collection of first-run films on VHS and DVD, and audiobooks in Yiddish. The Yiddish Book Center has digitized many of these tapes and made them available on compact disc and free online in
336-409: The highest concentration of Jews living within the limits of the city of Montreal, with St. Louis having 54.8% of its population being Jewish, Laurier having 50.9% of its population being Jewish and St. Michel having 38.5% of its population being Jewish. During that year, 23.7% of the population of Outremont was Jewish and 7.3% of the population of Westmount was Jewish. Today, the Jewish community
357-409: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jewish_Public_Library&oldid=840727979 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Jewish Public Library (Montreal) Founded in 1914, the library's early history
378-508: The library. It also stages dramatic readings in Hebrew, Yiddish musical evenings and Russian concerts and walking tours of Jewish Montreal are given throughout the year. First Fruits is an annual literary anthology of student writing from local high school students, and it awards the J. I. Segal Prizes bi-annually to published writers of Jewish content in various languages. Many programs represent collaborations with other organizations such as
399-538: The ridings of Cartier , which exclusively elected Jewish MPs for its entire history from 1925 until it was abolished in 1966, and Mount Royal . The riding of Outremont also has a significant Jewish population. Provincially, the ridings of Montréal–Saint-Louis (later Saint-Louis ) and D'Arcy-McGee often elected Jewish candidates. Charles Dellheim, the author of "Is It Good for the Jews? The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz ," wrote that Jews often faced conflict from both
420-591: The secular courses in their curriculum from the Quebec government (like most denominational schools in Quebec). Approximately 7,000 children attend Jewish day schools, over 50% of the total Jewish school age population, an extremely high percentage for North American cities. The Jewish left and secular Jewish culture have flourished in Montreal, producing notable artists and public figures such as Charles Krauthammer , Mort Zuckerman , Naomi Klein , Leonard Cohen , Irving Layton and Gerald Cohen . Shearith Israel ,
441-420: The world-renowned Jewish Public Library of Montreal , Segal Centre for Performing Arts , Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre and Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre . Jewish culinary contributions have also been a source of pride for Montrealers; two contributions are its smoked meat sandwiches and its distinctive style of bagels . There are many private Jewish schools in Montreal, receiving partial funding of
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