AUTHENTICITY, IDENTITY AND THE POLITICS OF BELONGING: SEPHARDIC JEWS FROM NORTH AFRICA AND INDIA WITHIN THE TORONTO JEWISH COMMUNITY KELLY AMANDA TRAIN A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIOLOGY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO AUGUST 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-46016-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-46016-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. •*• Canada ABSTRACT This study explores racial, ethnic and cultural identity and the construction of community boundaries in relation to the concept of authenticity. The purpose of this study is to examine the problem of authenticity, and how it serves as the basis of inclusion or exclusion within racial, ethnic and religious communities. This research explores how who holds power can be used to marginalize and exclude members of diverse (non-hegemonic) identities within communities. While I am using the example of the Toronto Jewish community, the theoretical content and application of this specific case study sheds light on how the problem of authenticity is relevant to other racial, ethnic and religious communities, not only in the Toronto and Canadian context, but globally. This research destabilizes the notions of Jewish identity and Jewish community as absolute and unified categories. I show that it is misleading and inadequate to speak of a singular Jewish identity, history or culture because of the many ways of living Jewish identity in a variety of historical, social, political, economic and geographic contexts. I argue that the ways in which the notion of an authentic Jewish identity is used operates to marginalize diverse (Sephardic) Jewish identities within community boundaries, and explore how North African and Indian Jewish identities are rendered inauthentic. IV This dissertation focuses on two particular case studies: 1) the establishment of the Sephardic Hebrew day school, Or Haemet Sephardic School, and 2) the establishment of the Indian Jewish prayer congregation, Congregation BINA. These case studies are situated within the social and historical formation of the Toronto Jewish community. The establishment of these institutions separate from those of the established Ashkenazi-dominated institutions signifies the North African and Indian Jewish communities' resistance to "Ashkenazification", and the empowerment of Sephardic community members through the establishment of their own institutions that celebrate their diverse (Sephardic) Jewish identities. v To my parents, Robert and Sharon Train ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study has taken over ten years to come to fruition. Throughout this time, family, friends and academic colleagues have provided much encouragement for which I am ever grateful. This study would not have been possible without the assistance of various people who provided guidance and aid in finding pertinent archival materials and access to research participants. Stephen Speisman, Ellen Scheinberg and Howard Marcus at Ontario Jewish Archives were instrumental in the search for archival materials. The interviews, which form the basis of this study, would not have been possible without the help of personal contacts and friends within the North African and Indian Jewish communities. For ethical purposes, I cannot mention them by name. However, their interest and encouragement of this project has been unlimited, and their generosity in introducing me to the interview subjects and facilitating this research has been invaluable. Many colleagues and friends from York University and Ryerson University greatly encouraged me throughout the writing process. In particular I would like to thank Cheryl Teelucksingh, Renuka Sooknanan and Scott Schaffer. Sara Promislow meticulously edited this dissertation and provided helpful information about Jewish law and Hebrew terms. I also want to thank the members of my examining committee, Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, Valerie Preston and Roberto vii Perin, for their comments on this work. I would especially like to thank Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz for her thorough and close reading of this work and her immensely valuable feedback, critical questions and suggestions. This project was shaped in every way by my Ph.D. dissertation committee, Ester Reiter, my dissertation supervisor, and dissertation committee members, Tania Das Gupta and Wenona Giles, who read and commented on numerous drafts and provided priceless detailed critical insight. I want to especially thank Ester Reiter who has been instrumental and influential in the development of my academic and intellectual thought. Her wealth of knowledge, comments and criticisms inform every aspect of this work, and her interest in this project and patience throughout the years has sustained this study. She has been my teacher, mentor, friend and surrogate "Jewish mother" throughout this process. I owe her a great deal of intellectual and emotional debt. I could not have completed this work without the encouragement and support of my family. Kimberly Train, Christopher Fuoco, Zachary Fuoco and Talia Fuoco are always sources of strength and inspiration. My grandmothers, Ettie Pelchovitz and the late Ethel Train Barnett, in many ways shaped parts of this research by sharing numerous stories about their own lives growing up in the immigrant Eastern European Jewish community in Toronto during the 1920s and 1930s. viii I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Robert and Sharon Train, who have always provided me with love, respect, encouragement, patience and understanding. Without their support, this project, and most of my accomplishments throughout my life, would never have been possible. IX TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iv Dedication vi Acknowledgments vii List of Tables xvii List of Appendixes xviii 1. Introduction 1 Background 1 "Who is a Jew?" 5 My Previous Research 6 Focus of this Study 7 Filling the Research Gap 11 Overview of Dissertation Chapters 13 2. Authenticity, Identity and Jewish Community 19 I ntroduction 19 Jean-Paul Sartre and the Concept of Authenticity 23 Responses to Sartre's Concept of Authenticity 26 Claims of Authenticity 31 Constructing Community Boundaries 33 Claims of Authenticity and Hybrid Discourse 35 From Religion to Racialization 38 Modernity, Enlightenment and Religion 38 Biological Definitions of Race 40 Race and Ethnicity 43 The "Whitening" of Jews 44 Race as a Social Construct 46 Racialization 49 The Racialized Community 51 The Racialization of Jewish Identity 55 The Racialization of the Jewish Community 60 The Racialization of Sephardim and Ashkenazim 62 x Jewish Jews and the Ashkenazification of Sephardim.. 66 Conclusion '... 69 Gathering "Experience", Studying Community: Research Design 71 Introduction 71 The Historical Discussions 75 The Archival Research 77 Community Newspapers 78 Jewish Immigrant Aid Services Documents '. 81 Board of Jewish Education Documents 83 Open-Ended Interviews in the Study of Community 85 Sampling 86 Obtaining Access to Research Participants 88 The Or Haemet Sephardic School Case Study 93 The Congregation BINA Case Study 96 Participant Observation Research 98 Conclusion 100 The History of Jewish Authenticity Debates 102 Introduction 102 Emancipation and the Origin of Jewish Authenticity Claims 104 Jews as a Singular Religious-Political Entity 104 Western European Jewish Emancipation 106 Jewish Enlightenment 107 The Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews in France 108 Western European Jewish Citizens 110 The Jewish Reform Movement 112 Enlightenment in Eastern Europe 113 Hasidism and Rabbinic Judaism 114 Eastern European Maskilim 117 The Reverse of Emancipation in Eastern Europe 119 Zionism and the Bund 123 Modernity