Mindy Pollak, a 24-year-old aesthetician, became the first
Chassidic woman to hold public office in Montreal.
Pollak, a member of the Vishnitzer sect, defeated four
candidates to win her race for the municipal council on Sunday in the Outremont
borough.
She garnered about 35 percent of the vote in a district that
is home to an estimated 5,000 Chassidim. Among the candidates she defeated was
Pierre Lacerte, an anti-Hasidim blogger in Montreal. Montreal has had Orthodox
Jewish councillors but all have been men.
Pollak’s political aspirations were triggered two years ago
when controversy erupted in her neighborhood over plans to expand a small
Bobover synagogue.
Tensions with non-Jewish neighbors already were running high
over zoning, noise and congestion issues.
She teamed with Leila Marshy, a
neighbor who is of Palestinian origin, to found Friends of Hutchison — named
for the street on which the synagogue was to be expanded — to promote dialogue
between the haredi Orthodox Jews and francophones.
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