MONTREAL - About 40 people showed up for a vigil to show solidarity with the Satmar chassidic community that summers in Val David where two homes were destroyed by three deliberately set fires this month.

The event was the personal initiative of David Birnbaum, executive director of the Quebec English School Boards Association, who was executive director of Canadian Jewish Congress, Quebec region, for five years until September 2004. He said he felt it was important for Quebecers to publicly deplore the arsons. The latest took place in the wee hours of June 17.

Birnbaum sent notices to every federal member of Parliament from Quebec, member of the national assembly and Montreal city councillor, as well as union and community organization leaders, and was disappointed by the lack of response.

Only Mile End borough councillor Eleni Fakotakis, who was asked by Mayor Gerald Tremblay to represent the city, and Cote St. Luc councillor Dida Berku attended. Also present was Guy Bouthillier, former president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society.

The provincial police, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), have not labelled the fires hate crimes for lack of concrete evidence, but members of the Satmar community say they feel targeted because of who they are, and Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) said that, after three arsons within two weeks, anti-Semitism has to be suspected. The police are looking into two other recent arsons in the area, of commercial properties not owned by Jews.

The vigil took place across the street from the Satmar Congregation Yetev Lev on Hutchison Street at St. Viateur Street.

The congregants stayed away from the vigil and avoided the media. The congregation issued a press release expressing gratitude to Val David Mayor Pierre Lapointe and his council “for their continuous support through all our hardships, and for their encouragement to restore our lives in our community.”

The release also thanked the SQ for its continuing investigation. “We fully trust their professional work in restoring security to our community.”

Alex Werzberger, president of the Coalition of Chassidic Organizations of Outremont and a congregation member, told The CJN the community prefers not to draw attention to itself and did not want it to be thought that it organized the event, which might be interpreted as a criticism of the authorities.

“The thinking is, rightly or wrongly, ‘Let’s be quiet, maybe it will die out and go away.’”

Werzberger is confident the police are taking the incidents seriously, and he was pleasantly surprised to receive a long letter – in English – from the SQ, reassuring the community that it is dedicating the necessary resources to the case.

“They are definitely not ignoring it. The pressure on them is big. This story has made the international media,” he said.

Birnbaum said he had checked with three Satmar leaders in advance, and only one objected to the vigil.

The congregation has been in the media spotlight in the past year after it requested that the Park Avenue YMCA cover windows that are in view of the synagogue’s rear windows.

Several chassidic women passing by the vigil stopped to ask what it was about and expressed appreciation for the gesture. One said it was her neighbour in Montreal who had lost a house, and another that she has sent her son to spend the summer in Val David with a sense of uneasiness.

Rabbi Reuben Poupko, co-chair of the Jewish community’s security co-ordinating committee, blamed the arsons on the “antagonistic climate” for Jews in the wake of the “reasonable accommodation” debate.

“While I don’t believe Quebec is any more anti-Semitic than anywhere else in North America, the silence from our political leaders, mainstream media and all good people has signalled to the bad people that it’s fair game to attack Jews.”

He is disturbed that an “innocuous” meeting between retired senator Leo Kolber and Action Démocratique leader Mario Dumont should be the subject of “conspiracy theories” in certain media, as well as by some editorial cartoons, in particular the Sherbrooke Tribune’s caricature of Dumont with dollar signs in his eyes as he is visited by two obviously chassidic men carrying briefcases.

“This is an extremely dangerous message,” Rabbi Poupko said.

Nearby resident Stéphane Gelinas came to the vigil because he is fed up with what he sees as growing prejudice against Jews. “Enough is enough. In the last few years, I have witnessed too many actions against the Jewish people in Quebec. People are hypocrites to say the opposite.

“Whatever I talk to people about – politics, the economy, sports – the end of the conversation is always about Jews, that there’s too many of them,” said Gelinas, 44, who is originally from Ste. Agathe, near Val David.

Werzberger said the 50 or 60 families who vacation in the Val David enclave are anxious, but it will not dissuade them from going back this summer. “The fear is not so much about personal safety. We don’t think anyone will attack while we are there, but what about after September when everyone leaves. Will there still be a house standing after the eight or nine months that the place is empty?”

Mayor Lapointe told The CJN that he is trying to dispel misconceptions about the Chassidim among the town’s 4,500 citizens, especially the children. “They have lived in the area since the 1940s, longer than a lot of the people here. They are not going to change their insularity or their beliefs. But they are a peaceful people.”

He said the worst complaint the town has received about the Chassidim is related to littering, and the community has tried to address it.

Preventing crime is a problem for the area because of limited policing in the Laurentians, he noted. “The villages feel very, very neglected. At night, only two cars are on patrol in 20 villages.”

In a statement, CJC Quebec chair Victor Goldbloom said, “If, according to the police, there is no indication that this latest act is a hate crime, we cannot deny that the chassidic community has been targeted for the third time in two weeks. We are anxious for the security of these families. These acts are a threat to society as a whole.”

Allan Adel, national chair of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights, said, “We do not need a sign saying ‘no Jews welcome’ to understand what is going on there.” B’nai Brith called on the SQ to investigate the arsons as hate crimes of the highest priority.

The Muslim Council of Montreal also thinks the arsons should be dealt with as hate crimes. The council condemned the attacks and extended its solidarity with the Chassidim.

Anyone with information is asked to call the SQ at 1-800-659-4264.