Finally, antisemitism in France has risen to a level un- known in any other country with a substantial Jewish pop- ulation, and has led to considerable Jewish out-migration in recent years. The great majority of émigré French Jews have migrated to Israel. However, Quebec, with its majority French-speaking population and relatively large French- speaking Jewish population in Montreal, has also become an attractive destination for some French Jews. What does all this add up to? At present, Canada’s Jew- ish population is the fourth largest in the world, exceed- ed by the Jewish populations of Israel, the US, and France. However, France’s Jewish population has been shrinking due to emigration, a low total fertility rate, and an aging population. If France’s Jewish population continues to de- crease at its current rate, and Canada’s Jewish population continues its slow increase, then early in the next decade Canada’s Jewish population will exceed that of France. Of course, this is just an interpretation and extrapolation of recent trends. It’s impossible to know what will actual- ly happen. But what we do know is that by far the fastest
growing category of Jews in this country consists of secular Jews. Secular Jewish organizations continue to grow apace to meet their demands, and also the demands of religious Jews. To be sure, acculturation is taking place, enabling Jews of all stripes to adapt to today’s world. But far from all accul- turated Jews are epikorsim , lost to the community forever. This article is based on several of the author’s recent schol- arly works: “Twelve degrees of Jewish identity” (with Feng Hou, in The Ever-Dying People? Canada’s Jews in Com- parative Perspective, edited by Robert Brym and Randal F. Schnoor, published by University of Toronto Press in 2023); “Jewish continuity and the Canadian census” (published in the Fall 2024 issue of Canadian Jewish Studies/Études juives canadiennes ); and “Canada’s Jewish population 2024: Focus on attitudes toward Jews and Israel” (in press in American Jewish Year Book 2024, published by Spring- er). Our thanks especially to Canadian Jewish Studies for their support of our aspirations to develop a non-academic version of the article they originally published.
5785 אביב 43
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator