Fresh off New York Magazine’s feature on the Hasidic-hipster divide in Brooklyn comes this piece about inter-communal tensions in the Montreal suburb of Outremont.
The arrondissement of choice for Quebec’s cultural and political elite is synonymous with sidewalk cafés and quiet power. Yet it has in recent years been the scene of a debate over how much leeway should be given to its religious minorities. Many residents think they know the answer: not much. Not any, actually. “Some people just want to make life miserable for the Jews,” says Alex Werzberger, the Hasidic leader frequently parodied on Lacerte’s site.
It has been ugly as of late. In March, anonymous leaflets appeared on lampposts and parking meters decrying an “illegal synagogue” in neighbouring Mile End, and urging Outremont residents to call elected officials to protest. (The building is used as a temporary meeting place for young Hasidic men, Werzberger says.) Then, a couple of weeks ago, vandals broke into an Outremont synagogue and drew swastikas on its bimah, or pulpit.
Council meetings, meanwhile, have become pitched battles between pro- and anti-Hasid camps. Recently, police removed Giselle Lafortune, a 74-year-old retired beautician and vocal critic of the Hasidim, from a meeting for repeated disruptions. Lafortune says police intervened after she called Hasidic spokesperson Meyer Feig a racist, but only after Feig insulted the upbringing of non-Hasidic children. (Feig couldn’t be reached for comment.) “I don’t want it to be like this, but it’s becoming a place where one community is pitted against another,” says Outremont Mayor Marie Cinq-Mars.
