Chassidic modesty clashes with female exercisers
By JANICE ARNOLD
Staff Reporter
MONTREAL - The request by a chassidic congregation to have its neighbour, the YMCA, frost its windows in order to block the shul's view of female exercisers is ''exaggerated,'' Canadian Jewish Congress says.
Interim regional communications director Leyla Di Cori said CJC, Quebec region, doesn't agree that the Yetev Lev synagogue, a Satmar congregation, and its adjoining yeshiva should have asked the Park Avenue Y in Mile End to make the change.
The back ends of the synagogue, which has been on Hutchison Street for about 20 years, and the century-old Y face each other across an alley.
Synagogue officials had complained that the sight of women in form-fitting or revealing gym-wear was distracting to worshippers, and especially to boys and young men. The synagogue paid for the alteration to the Y's windows.
Four windows were frosted last spring, without apparent protest, until one member, Renée Lavaillante, who takes pilates classes in the room that was in view, recently began circulating a petition among members, which as of last week had about 100 signatures.
The signatories object to not being able to see out the windows and to not having the same quality of light, as well as to the notion that women must be shielded from male observers, even though they are clothed, indoors on private property and engaged in a wholesome activity they are paying for.
Di Cori said CJC is trying to get the message out to the public that the entire chassidic population represents only five to 10 per cent of the Montreal Jewish community and ''does not reflect the community as a whole.''
In fact, she added, there is little contact between Outremont-area Chassidim and the mainstream Jewish community.
''The exercise room is on the second floor and the windows of the synagogue are also frosted. You would have to really want to look to see what was going on inside [the Y]. It's not smack in your face,'' Di Cori said.
She said CJC has received numerous questions from the media and public, and especially from francophones, who apparently think that all Jews have the same belief as this chassidic community.
''The reaction is: why does the Jewish community want to do this? Why is it asking for favours again? We're trying to explain that it's not the Jewish community… It is not representative of [the majority]. We are not trying to make women regress 100 years.''
Di Cori said she thinks this seemingly minor incident has been played up in the media because it fits into the ''reasonable accommodation'' debate going on in Quebec today about how far a society that prides itself on being secular and progressive should go to tolerate practices of religious and cultural minorities that are at odds with the majority.
Periodic clashes between the growing number of Chassidim in Outremont and neighbouring areas have been surfacing for at least 20 years, with some disputes ending up in the courts.
This dispute attracted media attention across the country when the Globe and Mail ran a story about it on the front page.
That said, Di Cori points out that the Y's administration and the congregation came to a mutual agreement, and the Y's director, Serge St. Andre, has ''clearly stated that he didn't get any pressure'' from synagogue leaders.
Moreover, she said, not all Y members object to making the windows opaque, and some have apparently even welcomed it.
B'nai Brith Canada legal counsel Steven Slimovitch ''commended'' the Y administration for good neighbourliness and finding a ''compromise'' that poses little or no inconvenience to the institution or its members. In fact, it appears to have been a plus for the Y, because the congregation paid for the change to the windows.
''Was the space rendered any less comfortable? Can they not work out there any more? No. If it had been, for example, a sewing class that was held there that required a lot of natural light, it would be a different story.''
He deplored what he regards as the visceral ''us versus them'' mentality among some Y members. In an increasingly diverse society, he said, it's necessary more than ever to co-operate and show respect and understanding.
Slimovitch said he doesn't see this case as a status of women issue in any way, or one that endorses a view that women are somehow shameful and must be kept out of sight.
Alex Werzberg, president of the Coalition of Outremont Chassidic Organizations and a Satmar community member, called ''the whole thing a big joke.''
''Everyone seems to be missing the point that a deal was made more than 10 years ago, when the Y was renovated and huge windows were installed, that they would put in venetian blinds. Especially at night, it was like they [the women exercisers] were on the street, and our kids were upstairs praying.''
The original blinds wore out and the congregation agreed to pay the cost of frosting the windows, rather than replacing the blinds, which would have been more expensive for the Y, Werzberger said. He was not sure how much the frosting cost – he estimated that it was between $1,500 and $1,800.
''Everything was fine for months, and then somebody came in and made a big deal out of it – an agent provocateur – who says, 'Those Jews are not going to tell us what to do,' called the media and made a hullabaloo.''
