Canadian by-elections, 2016 (next event: Quebec provincial byelections [Dec 5])

[DavidB.]

This legislation is obviously a big disgrace and I don't understand how issues like these are allowed to be on the ballot anyway, since freedom of religion is a human right and minority rights shouldn't be on the ballot -- and I know this referendum was technically about all houses of worship but everybody knows this was a referendum on synagogues. I felt Canada was the last country where something like tolerance was still a thing, but I turned out to be horribly wrong.

Is using a bicycle on the Sabbath forbidden?

Unfortunately, yes. Based on the reasoning that if it breaks, you will be inclined to fix it, and that is forbidden. I kid you not. Additionally, outside an "eruv", it is considered carrying and that is forbidden on shabbat too. The biggest struggle in the life of a Dutch Jew, sad!

And yes, Adam is right that these people are haredi ("ultra orthodox").

The "parking space" excuse is basically the biggest joke; it's always used in opposition to new mosques here in the Netherlands too, and it basically means "we don't want all these strange looking, strangely dressing individuals in our neighborhood". And while people may feel that way, that is not an argument decision makers should take seriously, especially when the issue revolves around religious rights of minorities.

Why doesnt the Quebec government offer to give the Hassidim a plot of land in northern Quebec and have them build a Hutterite style closed community where everyone is walking distance to the synagogue and where they don't have to be in contact with the rest of society. None of them have jobs - they just pray and study all day anyways - so what does it matter to them if they are on the shores of James Bay or in the middle of Outremont...?

Seems to me that the problem with these religious freaks is that they want to live like an isolated religious sect/cult in the middle of a densely populated diverse urban area - its never going to work. Why can't they be like the Amish or the Hutterites and isolate themselves  to a remote place where they can live as they please with no contact with the rest of the world?

wtf

[DavidB.]

Well, I would say the referendum was a demand from the Jew community.

The borough council passed a law banning worship places on Bernard Avenue, but, as it is a planning law, local citizens (living in zones affected by the change and those contiguous to them) can petition a referendum on it (with a petition with 10% of the registered electors of the zone). So, they collected signatures and forced a referendum (which they lost).

They are probably going to court, now.

Oh, I didn't know, thanks for clarifying Well, I cannot blame them for trying to change the status-quo, though I guess it was a bit naive to expect the others in the neighborhood to, you know, respect the Jews' freedom of worship. Not going to engage in an exercise of blaming the victim, though. Shame on the elected politicians that have kept this law in place and necessitated the referendum initiative.

Apart from that... "Jew community"?

One issue we fully agree on.

More things, I'm afraid... I've become such a liberal, at least compared to my views before... more similar to American Jews. Would not write some of the things I wrote last summer anymore. You can attribute that change to Trump. But my Zionism hasn't changed a bit

[DavidB.]

Oh, the issue is "Jew community" instead of "Jewish community"? Well, English isn't my mother tongue, to me, it's "communauté juive" in French, usually, so it's more an English error than any intent.

I tend to forget that, sorry for the emoji. "Jew" as an adjective has a rather pejorative connotation. I was sure you weren't going for that, but I still couldn't refrain from responding to it.