Diversity Within and Around Jewish Elementary Schools in Montreal

Abstract

Montreal’s Jewish elementary schools, which educate the majority of its community’s youth, play an important role in their socialization within Quebec society. This article, based on fieldwork conducted in four of these elementary schools, each of them officially attached to a different religious Jewish current (modern orthodox, conservative, liberal and Mesorati Sephardi), show how they articulate internal and external diversity in their daily routines and teaching. Their main objective is indeed to ensure a sense of belonging to a community that lives within a plural society.