YM-YWHA

1950 - present
5500 Westbury

Exclusion from clubs compelled Montreal Jews to create their own institutions in the 1900s, of which the YM-YWHA is a key example. Initially separate organizations, the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Associations merged in 1950. A community gathering place, the Jewish ‘Y’ has existed for more than 100 years, providing recreational, cultural and educational services.

A counterpoint to the exclusive Young Men’s Christian Associations, the first American Jewish ‘Y’s opened in 1854 in Baltimore, with chapters soon developing across North America. A 1908 meeting of Montreal’s Disraeli Conservative Political Club led to the creation of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) two years later, with the mandate of “developing young men physically, mentally, and morally.” By 1912, its rapidly expanding membership made the Montreal YMHA the second-largest Jewish ‘Y’ in North America, following New York’s well-known 92nd Street Y.

Expanding membership and services necessitated a move from the Baron de Hirsch Institute to Mont-Royal and Parc in the 1920s. Philanthropist Sir Mortimer B. Davis, encouraged by honorary ‘Y’ President Solomon Kellert, funded the construction of a building across from Fletcher’s Field to house the sports centre. The ‘Davis Y’ became a community centre rather than a private club in 1929.

The Young Women’s Hebrew Association (YWHA), initially named the Friendly League of Jewish Women until 1919, established the Welcome Club in 1913 to integrate immigrant girls. It also hosted Montreal’s first Jewish Girl Guides troop. The YWHA met in the Baron de Hirsch Institute, with satellite branches on St. Urbain, St. Charles Borromée (now Clark Street) and Papineau Streets.

The ‘Y’s were particularly active during the 1930s and 1940s, offering dance classes, concerts and scouting activities for Jewish youth. While the popular ‘Y Minstrels’ boosted morale during the Second World War, the ‘Y’ Soldiers Corner provided much-needed distraction for enlisted men.

Following the westward migration of the Jewish community, the merged YM-YWHA moved to its current location on Westbury Avenue in Snowdon in 1950. The Y’s activities expanded in the 1960s and 1970s with the founding of the Y Country Camp in the Laurentians in 1962 and through outreach to new waves of Jewish immigrants. Since 1971, the Centre Communautaire Juif (Jewish Community Centre) has worked in conjunction with the ‘Y’ to provide cultural and recreational activities for the growing Sephardic community.

Officially renamed the Ben Weider Jewish Community Centre in 2000, in tribute to the fitness guru’s financial support, the ‘Y’ remains a popular centre for sports, having hosted half of the 1948 Canadian Olympic basketball team and the 2002 Maccabi Games. It features a full fitness centre, and hosts the Wolf Pack running team led by Holocaust survivor Wolf Bronet. In 1986, the ‘Y’ expanded its services to include a branch serving the West Island.

The Saidye Bronfman Centre (now the Segal Centre for Performing Arts), was affiliated with the YM-YWHA until 2007. Opening in 1967, its Yiddish theatre directed by Dora Wasserman garnered international recognition. The Segal Centre became a separate agency under Federation CJA, and serves as a multi-purpose performance and educational arts centre.

Compiled by Marian Pinsky

Liens

History – YM-YWHA

Sources

“Saidye Bronfman Centre.” Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia.

Gold, Muriel. A Gift for Their Mother: The Saidye Bronfman Centre Theatre: A History. Montreal: Miri Productions, 2007.

"Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA) of Montreal." Jewish Public Library.

King, Joe. Fabled City: the Jews of Montreal. Montreal: Price-Patterson, 2009.

Mennie, J. "Torch Run Symbol of Sportsmanship, Says Montreal Olympics Torch Runner." The Gazette April 8th, 2008.

Rosenberg, Michael M., and Jack Jedwab. "Institutional Completeness, Ethnic Organizational Style and the Role of the State: the Jewish, Italian and Greek Communities of Montreal." Canadian Review of Sociology 29.3 (1992): 266-87.

Tzuk, Yogev. "Challenge and Response: Jewish Communal Welfare in Montreal." Contemporary Jewry 6.2 (1983): 43-52.

"The Harry Bronfmn Y Country Camp." Y Country Camp.

"YM-YWHA – 100 Years Young!” Jewish Montreal of Yesterday, Jewish Public Library Archives.

*Images courtesy of the Jewish Public Library Archives and the McCord Museum.