The Ever-Dying People?: Canada's Jews in Comparative Perspective

by Robert Brym (Editor), Randal F. Schnoor (Editor)

Overview

Demise by assimilation or antisemitism is often held to be the inevitable future of Jews in Canada and other diaspora countries. The Ever-Dying People? shows that the Jewish diaspora, while often held to be in decline, is influenced by a range of identifiable sociological and historical forces, some of which breathe life into Jewish communities, including Canada’s.

Bringing together leading Canadian and international scholars, The Ever-Dying People? provides a landmark report on Canadian Jewry based on recent surveys, censuses, and other contemporary data sources from Canada and around the world. This collection compares Canada’s Jews with other Canadian ethnic and religious groups and with Jewish communities in other diaspora countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. It also sheds light on social divisions within Canadian Jewry: across cities, sub-ethnic groups, denominations, genders, economic strata, and political orientations. These bases of comparison usefully explain variation in a wide range of sociological phenomena, including ethnic identity, religiosity, acculturation, intermarriage, discrimination, economic achievement, and educational attainment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487528775
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	03/27/2023
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert Brym, FRSC, is a professor of sociology and an associate of the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto.
Randal F. Schnoor is adjunct professor at the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University.

Table of Contents

Part One. Introduction: Profiles of Canadian Jewish life

1. An Ever-Dying People? Some Advantages of Comparative Analysis
Robert Brym and Randal F. Schnoor

2. Canadian Jewry since World War II
Richard Menkis and Harold Troper

3. Demographic Overview
Charles Shahar

4. Antisemitism in Canada
Morton Weinfeld

5. The Centrality of Jewish Education in Canada
Randal F. Schnoor

Part Two. Comparing Categories of Canadian Jews

6. Twelve Degrees of Jewish Identity
Robert Brym and Feng Hou

7. Jewish Residential Patterns and Identity
Joshua Harold

8. Immigrant and Non-immigrant Household Income
Naomi Lightman

9. Comparing Montreal and Toronto
Ira Robinson

10. Experiencing Race, Class, Ethnicity, and Gender: Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Toronto
Marina Morgenstern

11. Attitudes and Activism Concerning Israel
Elizabeth Moorhouse-Stein

Part Three. Comparing Canadian Jews and Other Canadians

12. From the Jewish Question to the Muslim Question
Abdolmohammad Kazemipur

13. Jews and the Christian Goliath
Reginald Bibby

14. Are the Chinese Canada’s New Jews?
Feng Hou and Robert Brym

15. Jews and Métis in Canada: Ethnic Mobility and the Politics of Counting
David S. Koffman and Paul L. Gareau

16. Jewish Intellectual Exceptionalism? Ethnic Diversity in the University of Toronto’s School of Medicine
Jordan Chad and Robert Brym

Part Four. Comparing Jews in Canada and Other Countries

17. Jewish Demography and Identity in Canada and Eight Other Countries
Sergio DellaPergola

18. Intermarriage in Canada and the United States: Déjà vu or Different?
Fern Chertok and Matthew A. Brookner

19. Qualifying the Leading Theory of Diaspora Jewry: Jews from the Former Soviet Union in Canada and the United States
Robert Brym, Anna Slavina, and Rhonda Lenton

20. Perceptions and Realities of Antisemitism: Canadian, British, and French Jews
Daniel Staetsky

21. Marriage and Mobility of Moroccan Jews in Montreal and Paris
Martin Messika and Yolande Cohen

22. Jewish Engagement in Canada and Australia
Adina Bankier-Karp

Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

Jonathan D. Sarna

"This pioneering volume examines Canadian Jewry through a comparative lens. Similarities and differences between Jews and non-Jews, and between Jews in Canada and in other countries, highlight dimensions of Canadian Jewish life that have previously gone unremarked. Substantively and methodologically, The Ever-Dying People? displays the many benefits that a comparative approach to the study of Jewish communities yields."

Anna Shternshis

"This volume is a vital contribution to the socio-scientific studies of the Jewish community in Canada. It is a collection of well-researched, cutting-edge essays, each addressing a vital area of scholarship. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!"

Jeffrey Kopstein

"Drawing on a stellar group of scholars across multiple disciplines, this important collection analyses Canada's Jews in comparative perspective, both in relation to other ethnic communities within the country and to Jewish communities around the world."

Editorial Reviews

"This volume is a vital contribution to the socio-scientific studies of the Jewish community in Canada. It is a collection of well-researched, cutting-edge essays, each addressing a vital area of scholarship. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!"

—Anna Shternshis, Al and Malka Green Professor of Yiddish Studies, University of Toronto, and author of When Sonia Met Boris: An Oral History of Jewish Life under Stalin

"This pioneering volume examines Canadian Jewry through a comparative lens. Similarities and differences between Jews and non-Jews, and between Jews in Canada and in other countries, highlight dimensions of Canadian Jewish life that have previously gone unremarked. Substantively and methodologically, The Ever-Dying People? displays the many benefits that a comparative approach to the study of Jewish communities yields."

—Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University

"Drawing on a stellar group of scholars across multiple disciplines, this important collection analyses Canada’s Jews in comparative perspective, both in relation to other ethnic communities within the country and to Jewish communities around the world."

—Jeffrey Kopstein, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine

From the Publisher