By Meir Hackenbroch
It's a great honour and a privilege to be up here today to share some remarks from our ventures in Joliette with all you. I'd like to thank my wife, my family and friends for being here today, to the Rabbis and to all of you, for your continued support.
Our story begins a few short months ago, with research and a proposal from Rabbi Levi Y. New, showing data from the 2021 Census for the town of Joliette; a small Quebec town, the regional seat for the Lanaudière region. It's about 1h15 min drive north east of Montreal, with a population of 21,000 residents. The data showed that out of the 21K residents of Joliette there were 115 people that put Jewish as their 'ethnicity', and 15 individuals who selected Judaism as their 'religion'.
Further research brought up an old newspaper article that spoke about the once vibrant Resort Hotel in Joliette named Maison Antoine Lacombe; owned and operated by Harry Schwartzman in the 1920s, and for 40 years drew Jewish families every summer.
Based on this info, we went on an all-out marketing blitz campaign: "Êtes-vous Juifs?" with a Facebook page, Instagram account, business cards, and a ton of paid ads for every Joliette related group you could find; and thus Juifs de Joliette was born.
Our ad went viral, with over 100 comments and reactions. Albeit mostly anti-Semitic, we followed up with a private message to each person that was positive and stood up for Israel and the Jews.
One of the funniest interactions we've had in our search was calling Maison Antoine Lacombe, (still in operation today as a heritage site) and asking the manager if they knew of any Jews still living in the area. Her response, "Sorry, none that I know of. But try reaching out to Chabad, they're usually very good at this."
Social media ads, in addition to word of mouth networking, lead us to our current growing total of 10 Jews. Of these 10 interactions, one is more fascinating than the next. What would drive a Jew to live in Joliette?
Here’s a brief overview from some of the ones that we’ve met:
Meet Miriam, a frum elderly lady whose home is filled with pictures of The Rebbe, was living in her native Belgium would meet so many lovely foreign exchange students from Quebec. She applied for a job as a social worker, and as her luck would have it, La Ville de Joliette, offered her a position, and she has lived here ever since.
Meet Hannah, a native to the Lanaudière region, and a lawyer that works for UQAM and enjoys the peaceful and remote life. She commutes a few times a month to the head office here in Montreal.
Meet Jordan, a native Montrealer, finds year-round solace in the quiet solitude and affordable living the city has to offer. And the first home in Joliette to have a mezuzah on his doorpost since Elul!
We've delivered them all Rosh Hashana baskets, blew shofar for them in their homes, in their lobbies, and in public parks. On Sukkos we held a pop-up Sukkah party with food, music, lulav and esrog in a green space called Parc Lajoie. We mentioned that the main theme of Sukkot is, Vsemachta Vechagecha, to be joyful, and by Divine providence we're celebrating in Joliette in Parc LaJoie, park of joy.
Then there's Julie, Mia, Lenny, Dimitry, Jules, and most recently Valentin.
We met Valentin this past Sunday. He was scrolling through reels on Facebook and our ad appeared in between videos, "Êtes-vous Juifs?" ... "Oui" a message came in.
A native to the town of Bayonne, France he moved here two years ago looking for an exciting new adventure on his 40th birthday, and the opportunity to work in Joliette as a transnational truck driver was just the thing for him. We had to ask out of curiosity, so where do you drive? What are you transporting? “I leave loaded with lumber and maple syrup and from here go to Toronto, Michigan, Chicago, Missouri, all the way through California. Where I collect fruits and vegetables.”
After meeting him for a coffee in downtown Joliette, he told us he had been searching to learn more about his heritage and had never heard of Tefillin or even the Shema. Devorah Leah's excitement to this news got him really excited about it too.
As we left the coffee shop, we put on tefillin for the first time, said the Shema, and sang and danced Siman Tov and Mazal Tov on his Bar Mitzvah! (First time putting on Tefillin is your bar mitzvah) Devorah Leah asked him do you have a Jewish name? No, I never got one...so pick one now, it's your Bar Mitzvah!! "Well... my grandfather's name was Aaron so maybe I could use that"
So just imagine, the berries you're eating now in December, could be on your table because Aaron from Joliette shlepped there for you to enjoy.
One day in shul, someone asked me "That takes a ton of courage to go out there and do what you do! How do you do it? I could never do that! Have you always been like that?"
Not knowing what to reply, I smiled and said Baruch Hashem! But I've been thinking deeply about the question ever since.
You see, my father A”H, was one of the world's greatest salesmen. He could sell ice to eskimos as the idiom goes. A natural charmer, charisma, dashing good looks, and of course, an irresistible British accent. Never one to be shy in any scenario, (especially restaurants) he would often nudge me not to be shy either. To ask for what I want, to right my wrongs, and always stand up to anyone and everyone. But alas, this was just not who I was. My first job out of university was a telemarketing gig that I was fired after 3 weeks for not making any sales. If someone had a rebuttal, I would say OK you're right, no problem. Because did they REALLY need that set of knives?
I was shy, I kept to myself, I didn't want to ruffle anyone’s feathers, live and let live! Don’t bother me and I won’t bother you. We've all experienced that internal debate during an uncomfortable social situation where we ask ourselves... "Should I say something?" This was almost always met with a resounding internal "no". It's fine, it'll be fine, it's not that big a deal, it’ll be over soon.
So I ask myself the same question, where did this new found confidence, this daring brazenness come from?
The answer is friends, The Truth. When we know that what we're doing is truly good, is truly the right thing, and we can say unequivocally without any shadow of a doubt, that this Jew DOES absolutely NEED this whether they're aware of it or not. Then it would be like running into a building to save your own child. You would do it without thinking.
The source of Truth my dear friends is our Torah and our Rebbe shepherds this Truth for us. He believes in us, he knows what we’re capable of, and you don't need to have a beard or a wig to tap into this infinite potential of confidence and brazenness to carry out your individual Divine mission. If we all hold onto this message, and bring it into our hearts then surely, we will be immediately redeemed into a perfected world reunited with all our loved ones with the coming of Moshiach Now.
