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Jewish History - Big Cities versus Small Cities
Big Cities versus Small Cities
As familiar as the patterns above may be to the student of North American Jewish history, comparisons between the experience of Jews in a city the size of Kingston and that of large urban centres reveal major differences—in terms of economics, religion, and settlement patterns.
Economically speaking, Kingston has not possessed the surplus population nor the infrastructure to sustain a large manufacturing base. Correspondingly, as Gerald Tulchinsky has pointed out, “here there was no Jewish working-class.” Despite their significant involvement in the clothing business as retailers, Kingston Jews never developed a garment industry along the lines and magnitude of those existing in New York, Montreal, and Toronto. For that reason, the kind of internecine labour strife those cities have known in the past, with Jewish manufacturers often pitted against Jewish workers, never found its equivalent here.
Similarly, the heavier the density of population, the more likely and vociferous intramural religious disputes are apt to be. Sizable metropolises usually boast at least four Jewish denominations—Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist Judaism—in addition to a range of Hasidic groups that could include the Lubavitcher, Satmar, and Bobover sects. These often compete with each other for the hearts and minds of Jewish citizens; they can also afford to be choosy about whom they allow into the fold.
By necessity, a more conciliatory spirit tends to prevail in smaller centres. Nominally Orthodox, while practically Conservative, Kingston’s Beth Israel congregation is illustrative of a spirit of cooperation and stability; begun as an amalgamation of three congregations, it will celebrate its centenary in 2010.
One noteworthy religious disagreement did occur, and brought about the establishment of a second congregation in Kingston, the Reform-affiliated Iyr Ha-Melech. This did not happen until the 1970s, however, an era which saw the hiring of a considerable number of out-of-town Jewish academics to teach at Queen’s University. This splintering off from the mother congregation Beth Israel, then, was less indicative of internal divisiveness than of the inability to accommodate a new demographic within the confines of the older, established congregational model.
