MONTREAL  —   The YM-YWHA’s decision to fully open on Saturdays will alienate more than half of the Montreal Jewish community and may open the door to more non-Jews joining the Y, says one of the rabbis involved last year in trying to reach a compromise to limit the facility’s Shabbat operations.

Majority of those polled favoured opening Ben Weider JCC.

On Nov. 1, the Y’s board of directors and board of trustees voted to fully open its main branch, the Ben Weider Jewish Community Centre in Snowdon, on Saturdays. The decision followed on the results of a non-binding poll taken among members, which found 55.5 per cent in favour of the move.

The Y had already been open from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays since October 2009, but its Cardio Centre, kosher restaurant and front desk remained closed. The new policy will see the Cardio Centre, with its electrically activated exercise machines, open as well. It had been kept closed as part of the compromise that was reached with a group of local rabbis.

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem, said this decision will “disturb” observant Jews across the spectrum, from modern Orthodox to chassidim, and the great majority of Sephardim, who are deeply traditional.

The Y says it has a duty to serve all of Montreal’s diverse Jews, and is especially concerned with reaching the unaffiliated.

“Advocates of opening the Y on Shabbat argue it will attract more Jews,” Rabbi Steinmetz said. “By opening on Shabbat, the Y, as a health club, becomes much more attractive to non-Jews. Unquestionably, the Y will see a rise in the percentage of non-Jewish members… and the Jewish community will have lost its opportunity to build a true Jewish community centre.”

The Y management points out that the overwhelming majority of JCCs in North America are open on Shabbat, either fully or to some extent.

But the American-born Rabbi Steinmetz contends that Montreal, with its strong adherence to tradition, is “dramatically different” from other Jewish communities in Canada and the United States.

“We need a Y that represents the mainstream of the Montreal Jewish community,” he said.

“Not everyone is observant, but it is easily understood if you call something ‘Jewish’ that you cannot simply ignore one of the Ten Commandments,” he said.

The heads of the (Orthodox) Rabbinical Council of Montreal, the interdenominational Montreal Board of Rabbis and the Jewish Community Council (Vaad Ha’ir) issued a joint public statement urging Y members to vote for closing on Shabbat.

From Oct. 20 to 26, the Y held a poll that allowed adult members to vote for full closure of the Y on Saturday – a return to the schedule that existed before Oct. 31, 2009 – or full operation. The only exception is that the front desk and the restaurant will not be open to avoid the exchange of money, which is proscribed on Shabbat.

The results, which were made public the day after the boards’ decision, were 55.5 per cent, or 945 votes, for opening, and 44 per cent, or 750 votes, for closing. With 4,200 eligible voters, the turnout was slightly more than 40 per cent.

The new policy will be implemented “as soon as reasonably possible,” said Y executive director Michael Crelinsten. Time is needed for “logistical” reasons, but full operation will be in effect “well before the end of the year.”

In August 2009, the Y management, to the surprise of many, announced that the Y would be opening its fitness facilities on Saturdays, originally starting at 1 p.m.

After an outcry from not only the rabbinate, but a significant number of both observant and non-observant Jews, the Y agreed to negotiate with a small group of rabbis from major mainstream congregations, Rabbi Steinmetz among them.

The main compromise that came from those talks was that the Y would keep its popular Cardio Centre, with its electrically activated training machines, closed on Saturdays, and the concession to the Y was that it would open from early morning.

Crelinsten conceded that the deal pleased nobody and angered many. Over the past year, an average of 200 to 250 people have been coming to the Y on Saturdays, far lower than the number on Sunday. The Y’s management felt the status quo could not continue and decided to put a “clear and simple” question to the membership.

The hope is that the reopening of the Cardio Centre will bring more people in on Saturdays. The Y is also considering holding fitness classes that day.

While the poll didn’t yield a resounding majority, Crelinsten believes that “a 10-point spread is significant on an issue where people have such deeply held feelings.”