Mother of All Accommodations War Brewing

Successive Quebec governments, both Liberal and PQ have been reluctant to impose the rule of law upon certain Jewish fundamentalist sects, lest they be tarred with the hackneyed label of antisemitism and so successive generations of Hasidic schools have been allowed to flout the education laws by teaching an ultra-orthodox Jewish religious syllabus to the exclusion of education ministry mandated courses.

Recently the government has been gently prodding the pirate schools to get in line by adding the mandatory courses, even if it means extending the school week into Sunday. Some schools have reluctantly agreed to implement these changes but whether they actually will is an open question.

Last week, one Hasidic school told the education ministry to take a hike.

In an article on the CBC news web site  entitled Jewish school refuses to expand curriculum, the Yeshiva Toras Moshe told the education department that they are at an impasse and will not comply with the education department's demand that they add more non-religious content, including the dreaded ECR, a course designed to expose children to other religions and ideas.

The Education department has indicated that it will seek an injunction in October to compel the school to knuckle under, but Alex Wertzberger, a spokesman for the Yeshiva said they will be ready to fight the order.

Most cults (like the Amish, or the polygamists in British Columbia) that disavow themselves from mainstream society, flee to the countryside where they set up compounds where they can go about their business far from the prying eyes of organized society. There is one such Hasidic cult set up in a compound in Boisbriand, just north of Montreal. This group is so radical that the Montreal Hasids are blasphemers by comparison.

But the Hasids of Montreal are different, carving out enclaves in urban neighbourhoods, such as the Outremont district of Montreal, where they regularly come into conflict with neighbours because of their propensity to ignore municipal bylaws.

While feigning piety and good intentions, Hasids are tough. When faced with legal action in response to their lawbreaking, they engage in expensive guerrilla legal tactics that are designed to sap the energy and weaken the resolve of opponents, until a satisfactory compromise is reached, one that always favours the Hasids.

This time the Hasids may be up against more than they bargained for. The debate in Quebec surrounding reasonable accommodations is running at fever pitch and like Naima, the Hasid's intransigence may be their undoing.

Past legal victories are likely bolstering the Hasid's perception that they will prevail, but this time they will have the attention of the entire province and the appetite for compromise is nonexistent.

If the issue goes to court,  the Hasids will face the wrath of a hostile media and a vengeful public, spoiling for a fight. Just ask Naima.

There will be no backing down, the public won't allow it and the government will have to play the hand through. The Hasids can engage the likes of Julies Grey or Alan Dershowitz, but it won't help.

No court will find in their favour.

Interesting the  Yeshiva Toras Moshe held a 27th anniverary dinner last year in which they put out a tribute pamphlet.
Leafing through the document, I found this chilling passage that repeated a story which occurred over a century ago in Russia, perhaps a portend of the school's future here in Quebec.

Creepy eh?

The question remains, one or two years down the road, what will the Hasids do when they lose? For the Hasids, complying is not an option.

They will either ignore the judgment, pretend that they are complying, but ignore the judgment all the same, or they can pick up their roots and move.

It's a tough call,  but I going to go with door number two.