History of the Jews in Quebec is an English translation of the 2017 book Histoire des Juifs du Québec, written by Canadian author and historian Pierre Anctil, and translated by Canadian academic Judith Weisz Woodsworth. It was published in September 2021 by University of Ottawa Press and is the winner of the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for French to English translation.
Synopsis In the three decades it took to write History of the Jews in Quebec, Anctil sums up Quebec Jewish history as a succession of migrations from Europe that carried with them the experience of an often painful minority. In the four centuries covered, the Jews of Quebec have shown a sense of belonging. The rights they systematically reclaimed and their sustained contributions have helped foster diversity in Quebec. With migration from different regions of the world, this continues today, making Judaism found in Quebec, and in particular in Montreal, unique from that found in other communities throughout North America.
Awards History of the Jews in Quebec won the Governor General’s Literary Award for French to English translation at the 2022 Governor General's Awards. The book was selected by a three-person peer assessment committee, and the award was granted by the Canada Council for the Arts, which is normally presented by the Governor General of Canada at a ceremony held at Rideau Hall. Histoire des Juifs du Québec won the 2018 J.I. Segal Award for best book in English or French.
Reception The book was generally well received. In the Canadian Jewish News, Elias Levy writes, "Historian Pierre Anctil has just published a masterful, comprehensive, and fascinating book, History of the Jews in Quebec, in which he recounts four centuries of Jewish life in Quebec." Additionally Levy describes it as, "A work that will go down in the annals of Jewish history in Canada." Ira Robinson included in Project MUSE, "Anctil's Histoire des Juifs du Québec presents the reader with its own unique perspective on the significance of the Jewish presence in Quebec and, in particular, the often fraught historical relationship between Jews and French Canadians."
References
Further reading Butovsky, Mervin, and Ode Garfinkle. 2001. “In Defence of Yiddishkeit: The Journals of Yaacov Zipper, a Selection: 1950-1972”. Canadian Jewish Studies Études Juives Canadiennes, 9 (January). https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.19929. D. Macfadyen, J. (2004). "“Nip the Noxious Growth in the Bud”: Ortenberg v. Plamondon and the Roots of Canadian Anti-Hate Activism." Canadian Jewish Studies Études Juives Canadiennes, 12. https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.22627 Gontovnick, Howard. 2001. “From Colony to Community: Ste-Sophie, Quebec”. Canadian Jewish Studies Études Juives Canadiennes 9 (January). https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.19932. Gubbay Helfer, S. (2014). "Rome Among the Bishops: An Immigrant Jew Explores The Unknown Worlds of French Canada." Canadian Jewish Studies Études Juives Canadiennes, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.36099 Kenedy, Robert Aaron. The New Anti-Semitism and Diasporic Liminality: Jewish Identity from France to Montreal, Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juives canadiennes, vol. 25, 2017. Mines, R. (2014). "A Canadian-Born Holocaust Survivor: Identity and Continuity." Canadian Jewish Studies Études Juives Canadiennes, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.35895 * Schwartz, Stephanie Tara. 2017. “Occupation and 20 Ans après: Representing Jewish Dissent in Montreal, 1967-1977”. Canadian Jewish Studies Études Juives Canadiennes 25 (1). https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.40014.
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