Montreal’s Jewish community celebrates Israel’s 75th anniversary

The Montreal Jewish community, along with other cultural groups, are here celebrating Israel’s 75th anniversary.

Many walking from Phillips Square to Place du Canada, where they are celebrating for 75 minutes to song and dance.

This is the 20th year festivities have taken place in downtown Montreal. Organizers for this event have called it the most significant celebration outside of Israel.

“It’s the largest gathering on Israel’s independence day outside of Israel. So, other cities such as New York have more than a million people show up, but it’s not on Israel’s independence day,” said Michael Druckman, co-chair of the Israel celebration.

For Paul Hirschson, the Israeli Consul-General in Montreal, today’s celebrations are important. “This year in particular, seventy-five, is kind of a milestone. It’s significant because we were almost two-thousand years without sovereignty,” he said, adding, “You remember that the Jewish people had a country two-thousand years ago and two-and-a-half thousand years ago and we were twice defeated and scattered around the world. And the rejuvenation of Jewish independence, sovereignty was a historical landmark.”  

The Jewish community participating in the 75th anniversary festivities included many generations who have strong ties to Israel.

“It’s a miracle that we’re still alive and living in Israel. We just got back from a two month stay, it was fantastic,” said Elliot Goldenberg at Place du Canada where celebrations were taking place.

“We have a large Jewish community here that’s proud of Israel and proud of all the accomplishments of Israel in the last 75 years,” said John Kovac, who also attended the event.

“This is this nation fought all odds,” he continued, “and still throughout 75 years brought itself to the forefront of the world in every area in education and technology and the arts and sciences has contributed far more than its pro rata share to the world and we’re very proud of that.”

There were also video messages from politicians like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the official opposition leader in Ottawa Pierre Poilievre.