Montreal’s main Jewish federation has apologized for posting an article containing Jewish stereotypes on a non-Jewish website.

Federation CJA pulled its supposedly tongue-in-cheek article — “10 Realities of Having a Jewish Best Friend in Montreal” — from the MTLBlog, a commercial website for young people, several days after receiving complaints from members of the Jewish community. The post ran from about Sept. 1 to 4.

Among the benefits cited in having Jewish best friends were that they are “well-connected,” enjoy “lounging around” Florida in winter, love gossip, and are “natural-born talkers” who can help expedite medical appointments and reservations at good restaurants. It concluded with a pitch for a donation to the Combined Jewish Appeal.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“Initial analytics showed this to be a very popular post with high engagement,” Federation CJA told the Canadian Jewish News. “However, the few negative comments were troubling to us. Therefore, it was our decision to pull the article and our branding.”

An open letter to the federation signed by 55 “primarily young Montreal Jews” said the article “perpetuated a stale, unfunny, uninspired and sad stereotype of what it is apparently like to be an upper-middle class Jew.” The letter writers said the fact that Federation CJA would sponsor an article “reinforcing dangerous stereotypes about Jewish wealth, influence and character traits is quite distressing and damaging.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount