For seventy years, Der Keneder Adler was Montreal’s leading Yiddish publication. Founded during the Great Migration in 1907, the newspaper educated newcomers about the intricacies of Canadian life. Transmitting culture, current events, and literature united a community of immigrants in a foreign land through the familiar language. The publication created what historian Pierre Anctil describes in an interview with Nu Magazine as an “archive of Jewish life in Montreal.”
Anctil’s research primarily focuses on the paper’s publications in the 1930s, around the time The Adler reached the peak of its popularity. He indexed around 5,400 editorials and 3,700 front-page news materials, providing critical insight into the day-to-day matters of the Jewish community. Montreal’s population in 1931 was 600,000; readers of The Adler thus made up approximately a third of the city’s population.
As reflected in demographic trends of early immigration patterns, most of The Adler's readers inhabited the areas directly to the East or West of St. Laurent Boulevard. With fewer existing relics of Montreal and the Plateau’s Jewish roots, one today can excitedly imagine daily editions of the paper sold in stores and community gathering places.
The publication’s expression of ideas in Yiddish allowed for a cultural connection to the old country, Der Alte Haym, where writing was a critical mode of communication and connection. The Adler’s staff produced guides on how new immigrants to Canada should behave, vote, and conduct businesses in Montreal, stemming from Jewish values of self-sufficiency, purpose-driven work, and helping one’s neighbours. The Adler was a secular publication by nature. It did not contain advice or teachings about the practice of Judaism. Anctil even states that “out of twenty journalists, only one wore a kippah.”
The Great Depression and the interwar period of the 1930s posed a moment of change for The Adler’s orientation: “the first immigrants of Czarist Russia reached maturity and had fully integrated.” Due to the demographic shift of post-war diaspora, writers of the Adler had to adapt their leanings to educate and share pertinent information about Canadian naturalization with their readers. Anctil shared that the Adler “encouraged immigrants to become citizens and become a part of Canadian society.”
Anctil shared that The Adler encouraged immigrants to become citizens and become a part of Canadian society. As The Adler’s contributors were predominantly Yiddish-speaking first-generation Canadian journalists, they had lived experience in such integration. The publication emphasized community in establishing oneself in a foreign land. Further, it helped translate complex Canadian Anglophone or Francophone politics into Yiddish with the aim of increasing representation and civil liberties for Jews in Canada.
Although Der Keneder Adler is no longer in circulation, archived editions of the paper continue to offer rich insight into the literary and ideological leanings of those who established this community. Yiddish may no longer be the dominant language in this city, but thankfully, many of The Adler’s editions have since been translated into French and English and are digitized by the Jewish Public Library. Reading these archives will provide a further understanding of the importance of Jewish media in creating community, just as Nu aims to foster within our team of writers and creatives.
Powered by Froala Editor
