Tourist Center Wants Locals

David Lazarus – Canadian Jewish News

In the two years since Chabad launched a centre in the lower Laurentian town of Saint-Sauveur, a lot has changed, its 26-year-old director, Rabbi Yitzchok Ezagui said.

The centre remains an important resource for Jewish families who either live in the town of 10,000 or spend their weekends or summers there or in neighbouring areas like Piedmont, Esterel, Sainte-Adèle, Sainte-Anne-du-Lac and even Wentworth, north-west of Lachute.

But more significant is that almost invariably at a Chabad Sauveur event or activity, the Florida-born rabbi sees new Jewish faces.

“I just met six or seven new Jewish families,” he told The CJN in a recent telephone interview. “It always amazes me. There’s always a new face.”

Rabbi Ezagui said the number of Jews making use of Chabad in Saint-Sauveur has grown impressively since 2011, with upward of 250 families now involved.

“The number of kosher wines at the SAQ [Société des alcools du Québec] is up from two to three,” he said jokingly. “I think I am about the only guy in a 40-mile radius with a beard and a yarmulke.”

But that comment, while said in jest, underscored the admitted challenge involved in bringing Jewish religious life and activities to a small, almost completely non-Jewish town.

The motto of Chabad Sauveur is “Bringing Judaism to the Lower Laurentians.”

“It’s not like living in a big city like Montreal,” Rabbi Ezagui said, where finding the Jewish necessities of life – like a minyan or kosher food – is a given. “It’s more spread out here.”

Still, the Chabad centres in Saint-Sauveur and two other Laurentian communities, Mont-Tremblant and Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, have managed to flourish.

Rabbi Ezagui said Chabad Sauveur, operating with only a $40,000 annual programming budget and out of the family home, is planning for its largest kosher barbecue yet for July, and had an extremely successful Shavuot event last month.

The centre also offers regular minyan services, skiing resort discounts during the winter, mitzvah campaigns, women’s programs and, of course, Jewish holiday celebrations.

For Rabbi Ezagui, Saint-Sauveur has come to feel like home despite his warmer Floridian roots and decidedly American accent. His wife, Chyena, grew up in Ste-Agathe, and the rabbi himself once studied at a yeshiva on France.

“My French is really coming along,” Rabbi Ezagui said. The couple now has two children – Lieba, 2, and Shaina, 10 months old – and Rabbi Ezagui’s father, Shlomo, the director of the Chabad centre in Palm Beach Garden, Fla., has even been up to visit.

“I love the cold fresh air and the mountains,” Rabbi Ezagui said. “You feel closer to God.”