Grand Rabbinat du Quebec – Association Sépharade Francophone (ASF)

The Grand Rabbinat du Québec, created in 1978, serves as the umbrella organization addressing the spiritual, social and religious needs of Montreal’s growing Sephardic community. Although it was originally affiliated with the Communauté sépharade du Québec, differences of opinion concerning tasks and communal responsibilities over which the Rabbinat would have jurisdiction led to the Rabbinat becoming an independent organization. Supervising the Sephardic KSR kosher certification program and promoting a return to Sephardic religious traditions and practice, the Grand Rabbinat oversees the spiritual elements of the community and plays an important role in its cultural, educational, and social life.

With the independence of French North African colonies starting in the 1950s, a wave of Sephardic Jews left their countries of origin, with many establishing themselves in bilingual Montreal. At first, Montreal’s Sephardic Jews had few options for religious and cultural affiliation. Often feeling alienated from the established Ashkenazi (and English-speaking) Jewish community, the Sephardic community built its own institutions in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Rabbinat was created with great fanfare to promote Sephardic Judaism, address the community’s religious needs, and oversee Jewish education. Under the spiritual leadership today of the Grand Rabbin Séfarade du Québec, David Sabbah, the Sephardic community works to promote Sephardic culture and a spiritual retour aux sources (return to one’s roots). More than twenty synagogues in different parts of Montreal and its suburbs now serve the community.

Born in Morocco, Grand Rabbin Sabbah oversees the independent Commission de la Kacheroute du Grand Rabbinat, a kosher meat certification system identified by the KSR stamp (representing Kacheroute Séfarade du Rabbinat or KoSheR). The Commission adheres to strict Sephardic rituals of slaughter dictated by the Chéhita Hallaq Bèt Yossèf. As the dayane (judge) of the Bèt Dine de Montréal (Rabbinical Tribunal), Rabbin Sabbah also settles cases of get (religious divorces).

The Rabbinat also supervises the Hevra Kadisha (holy society), which ensures that Jewish laws of washing, dressing and guarding the deceased are observed according to Sephardic tradition before funeral and burial. The Hevra Kadisha had been created in 1966 by the Association sépharade francophone (now known as the Communauté sépharade unifiée du Québec). In addition, the Grand Rabbinat oversees a mikvah (a bath used by traditional Jews to attain ritual purity).

Rabbin Sabbah’s supervision of Judaic studies extends beyond those of the Sephardic community. In addition to creating the Yéshiva Or Tora (religious school), the Institut supérieur de théologie juive and the Kolel Torat Haïm, which trains spiritual leaders in the Sephardic tradition, in the 1990s Grand Rabbin Sabbah also launched a unique French-language Jewish studies program in the Faculté de théologie et de sciences religieuses at Université Laval. The graduate program in Jewish theology, taught by rabbis with appropriate academic credentials, is testament to the Grand Rabbinat’s efforts to improve relations between Jews and Quebec society. Rabbin Sabbah continues to teach as an associate professor at l’Université Laval.

Compiled by Marian Pinsky.

Sources

700 Lucerne, Montreal

Interactive map at coordinates 45.5024969, -73.6449931. Open this location in Google Maps (opens in a new tab) .

Other Exhibits

• Grand Rabbinat du Quebec – Association Sépharade Francophone (ASF) (1974-1976)