“This Is Who I Would Become”: Russian Jewish Immigrants and Their Encounters with Chabad-Lubavitch in the Greater Toronto Area

Joshua  Tapper

doi:10.25071/1916-0925.40169

Auteurs-es

Joshua Tapper

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-0925.40169

Mots-clés :

Chabad-Lubavitch, Juifs soviétiques, diaspora juive russophone, religion

Résumé

Depuis le début des années 1970, le mouvement Chabad Lubavitch a servi de cadre important à l’activité religieuse, sociale et culturelle des migrants juifs russophones au Canada et aux États-Unis. Si les chercheurs et les observateurs de la communauté reconnaissent depuis longtemps l’attention que les émissaires de Lubavitch portent aux Juifs russes, il n’existe pas de données quantitatives et peu de recherches qualitatives sur l’influence de Chabad dans la diaspora juive post-soviétique. Cet article explore les motivations, les mécanismes et les conséquences de cette rencontre dans le contexte canadien, en examinant comment Chabad crée un espace religieux et social adapté aux caractéristiques uniques de l’identité ethnique et religieuse des juifs post-soviétiques. Participant à un débat scientifique de plus en plus important, cet article s’éloigne des anciennes caractérisations de l’identité juive soviétique comme étant peu établie et se tourne vers l’espace Chabad pour des constructions alternatives dans lesquelles la religion et le traditionalisme jouent un rôle intégral. Cet article s’appuie sur des histoires orales et des observations de terrain tirées d’une étude qualitative d’un centre communautaire juif russe géré par Chabad à Toronto, en Ontario. Ce texte soutient que Chabad, qui a été fondé au XVIIIe siècle en Biélorussie, connait un succès parmi les juifs post-soviétiques au Canada et ailleurs notamment grâce à sa présentation du mouvement comme une forme de judaïsme russe authentique — un mouvement qui a grandi dans un cadre russe pré-soviétique, a enduré les répressions de la période soviétique et est depuis lors devenu la force juive dominante dans le monde russophone. La recherche révèle que les juifs post-soviétiques de Toronto gravitent vers Chabad parce qu’ils considèrent le mouvement comme un espace exclusivement russe. Cet article est l’un des premiers à examiner les convictions religieuses de la communauté juive russophone du Canada, l’un des sous-groupes les plus importants et les plus incompris de la population juive du pays.

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