A few years ago Rabbi Garten was teaching Florence Melton School (adult Jewish education program) students a lesson on the process of conversion. He asked the class why people converted to Judaism and got the expected answer. He smiled and remarked that the class was jaded and had no idea why Judaism attracted people who did not convert in order to marry.
Perhaps he was thinking about Richard Marceau, another Melton School student and former Bloc Québécois MP, 11th generation Quebecker, educated by Catholic priests and now General Counsel and Senior Government Advisor for Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Ottawa. Marceau will discuss his journey from sovereignist to Jew to Israel advocate at the SJCC on Sunday, February 5 at 1:00 when he launches the English version of his book A Quebec Jew, From Bloc Québécois MP to Jewish Activist (Juif, Une Histoire Québécoise)
The journey that Richard Marceau undertook involved separate strands that entwined into a coherent Jewish identity. Marceau’s dedication to the forging of heritage and politics began with his admiration of Rene Levesque and subsequent membership in the Bloc Quebecois. His tenure in Parliament coincided with his growing attachment and involvement with the Jewish community. As an MP he was instrumental in the passing of Bill C 24 which established Canada’s national Holocaust Memorial Day in 2003.
Marceau’s marriage to a Jew introduced him to Judaism, but it was his trips to Israel that he understood the parallel struggles of Jews and Quebecers to create a place where their precious heritage is nurtured and thrives. On his first visit to Israel he discovered a state with the modern progressive values and economic prowess which he saw as a partner for Quebec, but his fellow BQ members were reflexively pro-Palestinian and were not open to his point of view.
His second trip to Israel was during the Intifada and Marceau learned about the resilience of Israelis and their vise-like determination to maintain civil society in the face of terror. On his third trip to Israel Marceau encountered the spirituality of Israel, and was no longer visiting a foreign country: he felt at home, and he felt Jewish. In a havdallah service he was returned to a spiritual yearning that he thought had long ago been extinguished. “I cannot fully explain why I, a Quebec native, born and raised as a practicing Catholic, later became agnostic, even cynical, went back to God, not as a Christian, but as a Jew.” Ten years after his marriage he converted to Judaism.
Marceau’s exploration of Jewish life expanded to his own province. Citing René Lévesque, speaking of the arrival of the first Jews in Trois-Rivières in the 18th century, in his book Marceau recounts the involvement of the Jewish community in the construction of Quebec and in the movement of the Patriots. He highlights Jewish contributions to Quebec history and society, touching on union organizer Léa Roback, as well as Jewish engineers, businessmen, and judges.
Born in Quebec in 1970, Richard Marceau became a political activist as an adolescent and founded a Bloc Québécois club at the University of Western Ontario. A lawyer with degrees in both civil and common law, he completed his education at France’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration. Upon his return to Quebec, he was elected as a Bloc Québécois Member of Parliament at the age of 26, and sat in the House of Commons from 1997 to 2006 where he was the critic for the Justice portfolio. He now works for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
A Quebec Jew, From Bloc Québécois MP to Jewish Activist will be available for sale the book launch. For information contact Roslyn Wollock at 613-798-9818 ext. 254.
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