Untitled | The Museum of Jewish Montreal

A British subject by birth, Abraham de Sola (1825-1882) immigrated to Canada in 1846. From 1847 to his death in 1882, he was both Reverend of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of Montreal ( Shearith Israel) and the first rabbinic leader of Montreal’s Jewish community. He was also a professor of Hebrew at McGill University, which awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Law in 1858.

Raised in the Sephardic tradition, De Sola championed a modern Orthodox Judaism that accepted rabbinic standards while also embracing modernization. Thus, for instance, he became known for delivering sermons in English, an uncommon practice at the time. De Sola was also a strong proponent of Sephardic tradition, which he considered superior to the tradition of the Ashkenazim of German and Polish origin, and more “British” as well. His elitist views on the issue are reflected in his correspondence with his good friend, the eminent American Reverend Isaac Leeser. De Sola’s mistrust of Ashkenazi tradition arose at a time when Montreal’s well-established Sephardic Jews, who were mostly of British descent, found themselves confronted by a massive influx of destitute Eastern European immigrants, whose growing numbers were beginning to change the face of Canada’s Jewish community.

In the course of his career, de Sola devoted himself to a number of philanthropic causes. He contributed to the foundation several organizations, namely the Young Men’s Hebrew Benevolent Society , the Jewish Mutual Aid Society and the Ladies’ Hebrew Benevolent Society. In 1854, he founded Shearith Israel School, a supplementary school that became a full-time school 1870. He published extensively, demonstrating an abiding interest in the sciences. Seeking to reconcile the claims of science and religion, de Sola wrote an article in defence of obstetric anaesthesia, based on a reinterpretation of several verses of Genesis.

A prominent figure in Montreal’s Jewish community, de Sola helped build the foundations for a distinctive sense of identity among Canadian Jews. Through his integration into Montreal’s Anglo-Saxon Protestant elite and the many honours he received, he also helped raise the profile of the Jewish community. Among other distinctions, he was the first British subject to participate in the opening of the United States House of Representatives in 1872.

Compiled by Valérie Beauchemin, translated by Helge Dascher.