MONTREAL — How long a sukkah can remain standing in Outremont has become the latest source of tension between the borough’s Jews – mostly Chassidim – and some of its other residents.
The last two public council meetings have been dominated by the question of whether the borough should extend the number of days the temporary shelters can be kept on private property or whether the existing regulation should be more restrictive.
Many in Outremont’s various chassidic communities, supported by chassidic councillor Mindy Pollak, want more time, saying the 15-day allowance that’s been on the books for years is not enough. The council has also heard from those who think sukkahs are an eyesore or dangerous and should be severely curtailed.
At the most recent meeting on Dec. 1, a majority of the five-member council rejected a recommendation from the borough’s own urban planning department that sukkahs be permitted seven days before the nine-day holiday of Sukkot and seven days afterward.
They instead supported a counter-proposal – with a slight modification – by councillor Céline Forget, a longtime critic of the Chassidim’s alleged flouting of municipal regulations, to further limit when sukkahs can be in place.
The total number of days stipulated in a borough bylaw – 15 – remains the same, but Forget’s proposed amendment specifically stated that these days cover three days before the holiday of Sukkot and three days after.
After a long and sometimes heated debate, a compromise was reached to re-word the amendment to “three weekdays” before and after Sukkot.
Before, the number of days preceding and following the nine-day festival was not spelled out, which allowed a certain measure of flexibility, but not enough, according to many Chassidim, who make up about a quarter of the borough’s population of about 25,000.
Critics also claimed that the vague time period made it difficult to enforce the regulation.
Pollak told The CJN that a 23-day period would be in line with the regulation in the neighbouring borough of Côte des Neiges-Notre-de-Grâce.
She argued that the extra time is needed because Chassidim cannot work on building or dismantling their sukkahs on Shabbat – Saturday – and Outremont prohibits noisy construction on Sunday. Depending on what day of the week Sukkot begins and the weather, the amount of time available can be quite short, she said.
Pollak is not satisfied with the “weekday” compromise, as much on principle as for practical reasons. “There is no other city that specifies in such detail the limits imposed.”
She points out that next year Sukkot begins on a Sunday – at sundown Sept. 27 – which will make it difficult to comply with the three-day rule.
The seven-day before, seven-day after proposition is supported by Friends of Hutchison, an activist group of Chassidim and non-Jews who, since 2011, have been trying to ease tensions and misunderstanding between the communities.
Seven Jewish and non-Jewish borough residents have appealed in writing to Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre to intervene, calling the Outremont bylaw the most severe in North America when it comes to sukkahs.
Friends of Hutchison founder Leah Marshy, who is not Jewish, has written that she feels Chassidim in Outremont continue to be the target of “a pattern of misinformation” and “out-and-out harassment” that’s reflected in unfair bylaws.
Even though they have been residents of Outremont for three generations and now make up 25 per cent of the population, she said, they have “never had the luxury of being considered full citizens.”
Before the council decision, borough mayor Marie Cinq-Mars warned against allowing the sukkah issue to disrupt the “fragile” peace that has been achieved among Outremont’s diverse communities of late.
“We have an obligation of reasonable accommodation for certain religious practices. It’s not me that invented it, it’s the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms],” she said. “It’s that way for the Russian Easter, the Lebanese Palm Sunday. It’s the same thing for the sukkah.”