'J’y suis. Pour de Bon.': Montreal Jewish Education and the Social Construcion of Diaspora Identity

The author examines the meaning of the State of Israel in diaspora Jewish education in contemporary Montreal. She does so by asking three central questions: "Is there a common idea of the nation?"; "How is the idea of the nation made compelling and transferred from one generation to the next in a diaspora context?"; and "Does the local context of a given diaspora community affect how the idea of the nation is taught?" Taking Montreal Jewish day schools as a site of inquiry, the author analyzes how the process of nation building occurs in a diaspora setting. She investigates how specific elements common to nations - the myth of election, territorialisation, shared ethno-history, and communal destiny - are interwoven and actively cultivated in Israel education curricula and programming developed for mainstream Montreal Jewish day schools. Her study reveals how the absence of territorialisation creates certain challenges when cultivating diaspora nationalism and highlights how Montreal Jewish educators systematically attempt to overcome those challenges. The author also develops the idea that Jewish education is influenced by local social forces and that attachment to a national homeland increases when a diaspora community experiences social isolation. Specifically, she argues that fostering a common idea about the State of Israel in mainstream Montreal Jewish education is made possible due to the near institutional completeness of the Montreal Jewish community; isolation from other local communities, namely the Francophone community of Quebec; and intensive Hebrew language and Jewish Studies curricula and the placement of Israeli teachers in Jewish day schools.

PhD dissertation

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, ON

2015

x-289p.

en