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MONTREAL'S JEWISH COMMUNITY OF YESTERDAY: BOOK REVIEW - Page 2

© Norman P. Goldman

There is also a very substantial section dealing with the translator's notes as well as an extensive bibliography where the reader can refer to a multiple of resources if he or she is interested in pursuing further research pertaining to the subject matter.

Perhaps from an academic point of view the book would not be classified as a scholarly contribution however this in no way diminishes its value as an excellent starting point if one wishes to pursue the study of the foundation of Montreal's Jewish Community.

Another book dealing with the same theme and also published by Vehicule Press is entitled "Through The Eyes Of The Eagle". This publication emanated as a result of a grant the Institut québécois d'études sur la culture juive (IQECJ) received from the Minister of Multiculuralism and Citizenship Canada.

The primary objective of this non-profit organization as indicated in their charter "de faire connaître l'héritage historique et culturel de la commaunauté juive de Montréal et du Québec". In other words to make known the historical and cultural heritage of Montréal's and Québec's Jewish community.

Unfortunately Montréal's Jewish community's contribution to Québec society was little known up until the early part of the 1990's.

David Rome and Jacques Langlais were the founders of the IQECJ and it was David Rome who during the last years of his life translated close to four hundred essays into English that were previously published in the Keneder Odler (The Canadian Eagle) and other Yiddish newspapers in Montréal which had appeared before and during the First World War.

Many of the themes dealt with in "Montreal of Yesterday", reappear within the pages of "Through the Eyes of the Eagle".

However, the latter publication seems to expose the reader to more editorial commentary concerning a particular event. For example, in the case of the Strike of Yiddish School Children in Aberdeen School, the author of the essay Reuben Brainin, states that "the incident in the School which evoked a pupil to strike after a teacher offended the Jewish people is a major contribution to Jewish renaissance."

This same event in "Montreal of Yesterday" only recounts the facts of the event without editorial comments.

The organization of the "Through The Eyes Of The Eagle" is divided into 13 sections dealing with such topics as the Montreal Jewish Community, Reuben Brainin who according to the author and many individuals the greatest among the Jewish intellectuals who resided in Montreal, Yiddish versus Hebrew, Strikes and Social Protest, Yiddish Theatre.

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