- Museum of Jewish Montreal
- Ecole Maïmonide
- École Maïmonide (5010 Coolbrook)
Where
- Held by
- Museum of Jewish Montreal via Museum of Jewish Montreal — map of Jewish Montreal
- Creator
- Marian Pinsky
- Dates
- 1969-1972 (indexed as 1969–1972)
- Level
- file (source: Exhibit)
- Scope & content
- (Traduction à venir) In 1969, École Maïmonide, the brainchild of Moroccan Jewish parents, became the first Jewish day school in Canada with French-language instruction. Named after the twelfth-century Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon or Maimonides, the school’s curriculum combines secular and Jewish studies, with an emphasis on maintaining a distinct Sephardic Jewish identity. École Maïmonide’s early struggle for acceptance within the predominantly Anglophone Jewish community is representative of the past challenges in Ashkenazic–Sephardic relations in Montreal. The creation of Israel and the independence attained by many North African countries in the 1950s and 1960s led to a mass exodus of Sephardic Jews, many of whom arrived in Montreal in search of the “American Dream” . . . in French! Sephardic parents were therefore dismayed to learn that Quebec’s confessional school system reserved French schools for Catholics, compelling them to enroll their children in the more religiously open Anglophone Protestant school system. With Protestant schools unwilling to accommodate requests for French-language instruction, parents appealed to the Association Sépharade Francophone (ASF) to set up an independent school. Dr. Jean-Claude Lasry, chair of the ASF and president of la Commission sur l’éducation des Juifs francophones, met with Yves Martin of la Commission des écoles catholiques de Montreal in 1968 to discuss the bind faced by Francophone Jews: the loss of their religion if they attended French Catholic schools, or the loss of their cultural identity under the Anglophone Protestant system. The autonomous École Maïmonide was subsequently created, with costs shared by the Catholic School Commission of Montreal, Allied Jewish Community Services, and the United Jewish Relief Agencies of Canada. Its first class occupied a wing in the Catholic St. Antonin School on Coolbrook Avenue and Queen Mary Road from 1969 to 1972 under director Judah Castiel before moving to 7450 Côte-St-Luc Road. École Maïmonide now has two campuses: Campus Parkhaven in Côte-St-Luc, and Campus Jacob Safra in Ville St- Laurent. Innovation and dedication buoyed École Maïmonide during its difficult first years. Its tenuous status was exacerbated by the Quiet Revolution and government insistence on increasing French instruction in English Jewish day schools - much to the latter’s resentment. Jewish schools directed their frustration against École Maïmonide, and accused the school’s emphasis on French as indicating nationalist aspirations. During its first decade, École Maïmonide was excluded from the Association of Jewish Day Schools under the claim of “not being fully Jewish.” Relations improved once Anglophone Jews became more accustomed to the changing power structure of Quebec society and the need to integrate Sephardim into the Jewish community. Compiled by Marian Pinsky. FR : L'école Maïmonide, 5010 Coolbrook, Montréal
- Places
- 5010 Coolbrook, Montreal; 5010 Coolbrook, Montréal; 5010 rue Coolbrook, Montreal
- Location
- 5010 avenue Coolbrook · address · confidence 90% · address:exact · found as “5010 rue Coolbrook”
- 7450 chemin de la Côte-Saint-Luc · address · confidence 90% · address:exact · found as “7450 Côte-St-Luc Road.”
- avenue Coolbrook & chemin Queen-Mary · intersection · confidence 80% · intersection · found as “Coolbrook Avenue and Queen Mary Road”
- Subjects
- Education; Sephardic
- Language
- English
- Harvested
- 2026-10-17T06:33:24Z · source datestamp n/a · mjm