Visiting JEWISH PARIS
Earl Evleth
JEWISH PARIS
Sent on: 03-06-2002
‹Toni Kamins , Paris, France
When you walk around Paris, Jewish history is all around. Visitors already
may be familiar with the "Pletzl," the area of narrow streets on and around
the rue des Rosiers. It's a good place to begin, but look beyond that.
This neighborhood in Paris' 4th arrondissement (district) has been Jewish on
and off since the thirteenth century. Today, though gentrification has made
this one of the city's most fashionable quarters, it is still heavily Jewish
and has been for nearly one hundred years.
At 10 rue Pavée, near the rue de Rivoli, is Agudath Hakehilot the largest
synagogue in the Pletzl. Built in 1914, it was designed by Hector Guimard,
the Art Nouveau architect famous for Paris Métro's green vegetal archways.
Guimard's American wife was Jewish and with the rise of Nazism they left
France for the United States. On Yom Kippur 1940 the synagogue was dynamited
by the Germans, but has since been restored and is now a national monument.
Walk up the rue Pavée to the rue des Rosiers, and turn left. Along this
narrow, ancient street you will find kosher and Jewish style restaurants
cheek by jowl with Jewish bookshops, synagogues, shtiebels , and kosher
boulangeries and charcuteries .
Off the rue des Rosiers is the rue Ferdinand Duval; until 1900 the "rue des
Juifs." In the rear of the courtyard of number 20 is a sixteenth-century
hôtel particulier (private house) known as the "Hôtel des Juifs." Now owned
by an artist, it is a remnant of a Jewish community of the eighteenth
century, composed of Jews from Alsace, Lorraine, and Germany.
The next street off the rue des Rosiers is rue des Ecouffes--"street of
kites." The kite is a bird of prey and an archaic and derisive term for
pawnbroker.
Nearby at 6, rue des Hôspitalières-St-Gervais is a plaque commemorating the
165 students and headmaster of this Jewish school who were deported to
Auschwitz via the transit camp at Drancy, and at 17, rue Geoffroy-l'Asnier
is the Memorial to the Unknown Jewish Martyr with its invaluable archives of
World War II documents.
The Jews of Paris and of France have the task of perpetuating Judaism while
living with some very unpleasant and constant reminders of a history as
outsiders that started way before the German occupation in the 1940s. For
centuries the Jewish community lived within France at the sufferance of the
king. Expulsions were common, as were all manner of physical, social, and
economic degradations.
When you wander the ancient streets of the Pletzl, think about Jonathan, a
Jewish moneylender in the thirteenth century. In 1290, Jonathan loaned money
to a neighbor who gave her clothing as collateral. She repaid the loan, but
spread rumors that he wouldn't return her clothing unless she gave him the
communion host from the local church. According to her story, she gave it to
him and he hacked it with a knife until it bled. Then he threw it into a vat
of boiling water, which turned red. According to the woman's tale, the host
rose out of the vat and hovered in the air. She told this to the entire
neighborhood, and Jonathan was burnt at the stake. Later, a chapel was built
on the site--now the Protestant church of Les Billettes (22-24 rue des
Archives). Jonathan and his family were not the only ones to suffer in this
incident--the whole Jewish community was accused along with him, and it
could very well have contributed to the expulsion of all Jews from France in
1306.
Nearby, the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville was once known as the Place de Grève.
In 1240 an infamous trial of the Talmud took place there followed by the
burning of some twenty-four cartloads of Jewish books two years later. So
traumatic was this trial and its outcome that it has been ever since
included in the roster of disasters that are recalled each year on Tisha
B'Av.
On the rue de Temple is the Musée de l'Art et d'Histoire du Judaisme, 71 rue
de Temple Métro: Hôtel de Ville, phone 01-53-01-86-53. Hours: Monday-Friday
11a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Saturdays and Jewish holidays. Opened to much
publicity in December 1998, the museum is dedicated to the celebration of
Jewish life in the extensive picture exhibits and collection of ritual
objects. There is also a huge model of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The
museum's library provides rich resources for scholars. Future planned
exhibits (as of this writing) include The Wandering Jew in western society,
art, and popular culture.
Walk over to the Ile de la Cité. In the twelfth-century a Jewish quarter was
delineated by the present rue de la Cité (known then as the "rue des
Juifs"), the Quai de la Corse, and the rue de Lutèce. The synagogue was on
Place Louis Lépine, the site of today's Marché aux Fleurs.
Other than the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame is Paris' most identifiable
landmark. This symbol of French Catholicism also is emblematic of the
centuries old conflict between Christianity and Judaism. On either side of
the central portal, in tall niches, are two female figures--Ecclesia and
Synagoga. On the left as you face it is Ecclesia, a beautiful woman wearing
a crown. She represents the Roman Church. On the right is Synagoga, a woman
blinded by a serpent around her eyes, with her head bowed, and her staff
shattered; the tablets of the law slip from her hand. She represents
Judaism. Variations of these figures are common in church architecture all
over Europe and in medieval art as well.
In the 15th arrondissement, not far from the Bir-Hakeim Bridge, between Quai
Branly and Quai de Grenelle, is a memorial to a shameful chapter in French
history--the Place des Martyrs Juifs du Vélodrome d'Hiver, dedicated in
1994. It was nearby, on the rue Nélaton, that the huge Vél d'Hiv was
located. An indoor stadium used for six-day bicycle races, concerts, boxing
matches and other events, it was from 1942 until its demolition in 1958, one
of the most infamous places in all Paris. Early in the morning of July 16,
1942, the French police, acting under orders from the German Gestapo
(headquartered at the Hotel Lutetia on the boulevard Raspail), wrenched over
13,000 Jewish men, women, and children from their beds and brought them
here. Kept under horrendous conditions for days, they were shipped to the
transit camp at Drancy (outside the city) and then to Auschwitz.
The courtyard of the Ecole Militaire (7th arrondissement) hosted the
culmination of one of the most notorious incidents in modern French history.
On January 5, 1895, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was publicly stripped of his rank
and uniform following a sham trial in which he was convicted of treason
based on forged evidence. Over the shouts of "mort aux Juifs" by the angry
crowd, and anti-Jewish jeers by his fellow officers, Dreyfus continued to
proclaim his innocence. Though he was eventually cleared, reinstated in the
army, and promoted, his reinstatement ceremony didn't get nearly as much
press as the one at which he was dishonored--and it didn't take place in the
main courtyard. Who else trained at the Ecole Militaire? Moshe Dayan and
Chaim Bar Lev.
Dreyfus is buried in Montparnasse cemetery. Ironically his grave is not far
from the wife of Maréchal Phillipe Petain who actually did sell-out France
to the Germans just decades after Dreyfus was falsely accused. Pierre Laval,
the former French premier who became an official in Petain's Vichy
government and who, as the head of the collaborationist government himself
negotiated with Germany, also is buried nearby.
Toni L. Kamins is a journalist and writer. She is the author of the Complete
Jewish Guide to France and the Complete Jewish Guide to Britain and Ireland
(St. Martin's Press), the first two books in a new series of Jewish
historical travel guides she created. The books may be obtained by visiting
this site: http://www.completejewishguides.com/
Irwell
Fascinating novel about the Jews in Spain under
the Inquisition.
Adella
Goldenberg's deli on the rue des Rosiers.
The food is terrible!
JX Bardant
"Adella" <adella...@earthlink.net> a écrit dans le message de
news:yrUJc.5247$Qu5...@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Yes, do visit these sites, but whatever you do, don't eat at Joe
> Goldenberg's deli on the rue des Rosiers.
>
> The food is terrible!
I've been sick once after eating there... But the food was actually tasting
nice.
In the same street you'll find the best falafels of Paris.
meurgues
In the 19th c. the largest jewish districts were the traditional
Marais centred on rue des Rosiers, until the Bastille and the faubourg
Montmartre near rue de Chateaudun (on 500 m around there you've got 8
of the about 40 parisian synagogues). The synagogues des Tournelles
and de la Victoire, the largest in Paris are respectively in these 2
districts. Today you've got some communities in the Sentier (near rue
d'Aboukir), further East of Bastille in the faubourg St Antoine
(around rue Ledru Rollin), in Belleville (near the boulevard) with
some traditionalists, and more discreet ones in the nearby western
Buttes Chaumont or in Passy at the opposite of Paris.
The chinese district is mainly south in the triangle between Italy and
Ivry avenues but has spread now as well in Belleville and in the
northwestern Marais (near rues des Gravilliers / au Maire).
The arab communities are originally in Barbès and Goutte d'Or
districts and many other parts of eastern Paris now but the great mosk
is near the natural history museum in the 5th ardt.
The indians and pakistanis are at passage Brady and in the faubourg
saint Denis until La Chapelle where takes place the Ganesha feast.
didier Meurgues
Donna Evleth
Dans l'article <eed496ff.0407...@posting.google.com>,
meur...@my-deja.com (meurgues) a écrit :
> The indians and pakistanis are at passage Brady and in the faubourg
> saint Denis until La Chapelle where takes place the Ganesha feast.
>
> didier Meurgues
I was just there exploring today. The passage itself is wall to wall
Indian restaurants. I did not stop too long in front of the menus because
there were always people trying to coax me inside, and I had already eaten
lunch. On the other hand, I was most interested in the grocery stores,
which, unlike the grocery stores we are used to in the rest of Paris, are
full service, including meat. Often hallal, indicating to me Pakistani.
When you get outside, on the rue du Faubourg St Denis, for example, you also
see a lot of Turkish restaurants.
It's an interesting neighborhood which I intend to explore further.
Preferably when I have not already eaten lunch.
Donna
meurgues
I've notice many shops selling indian "saris" and fabrics, in rue du
faubourg St Denis behind gare du Nord, if I remember well. The area of
passage Brady and the faubourg are not in perfect state as you have
probably noticed but some studies have been made by the municipality
to restore the decorations of about 10 of the last unrestored XIXth
century parisian passages including passage Brady, passage du Caire,
etc... They propose to restore the arcades and to keep some of the
best woodcarved indian front shops of passage Brady but not all of
them since they are altering the original pattern. I have not heard of
works yet but those passages are generally owned in "copropriétés" and
the municipality only wants to partially help financially, after the
architectural studies already offered. The men hairdressers of passage
Brady are among the cheapest I know in Paris...
You should visit rue au Maire too. That's an old street corresponding
better to a Chinatown IMO than the modern 13th ardt but that's small.
Unfortunately its eastern extremity has been partially rebuilt about
15 years ago... because it was decaying. Not badly, but now that the
perpendicular rue des Vertus has been on the other hand quickly
restored I regret bitterly that they didn't choosed the same treatment
for the destroyed part, which waited enchanged during centuries and
only lacked 4 or 5 more years of patience... Without this modern
discontinuity it would have been a good example of a mainly 17th
century preserved area in Paris. Such destruction which was among the
last of that kind are now impossible except in case of peril like
recently rue des Boulangers in the 5th ardt.
Donna Evleth
Dans l'article <eed496ff.04072...@posting.google.com>,
meur...@my-deja.com (meurgues) a écrit :
> You should visit rue au Maire too. That's an old street corresponding
> better to a Chinatown IMO than the modern 13th ardt but that's small.
> Unfortunately its eastern extremity has been partially rebuilt about
> 15 years ago... because it was decaying. Not badly, but now that the
> perpendicular rue des Vertus has been on the other hand quickly
> restored I regret bitterly that they didn't choosed the same treatment
> for the destroyed part, which waited enchanged during centuries and
> only lacked 4 or 5 more years of patience... Without this modern
> discontinuity it would have been a good example of a mainly 17th
> century preserved area in Paris. Such destruction which was among the
> last of that kind are now impossible except in case of peril like
> recently rue des Boulangers in the 5th ardt.
I took your advice and visited the rue au Maire today. The doctor has told
me I need to exercise more, walking is my kind of exercise, so I am always
looking for interesting places to walk. This one certainly filled the bill.
The rue au Maire is just one block of Chinatown, but it is a very intense
block. It is obviously a Chinatown for the local Chinese population, not
for tourists. In addition to myself, I saw only two other Caucasians as I
walked down it. There were grocery stores with specialty products, and
there was a restaurant that had smoked duck on the menu. We have had
tea-smoked duck, and if that is what it is, it is very hard to find, and
very delicious. What most struck me, though, was the "traiteur oriental,"
the "Chinese takeout". We have a lot of these in our neighborhood, and they
are all alike, and not very good. The one on the rue au Maire looked
wonderful. A Chinese takeout that has leg of suckling pork, duck legs, and
small crabs on display is worth giving a try!
Didier, do you have any other suggestions for wonderful walks I might take?
Donna Evleth
Patrick Hernan
I am not *vrai parisien* like Didier, but I have visited and lived in
Paris, with my most recent visit about a month ago. I suggest rue
Jean-Pierre Timbaud, one street over from rue Oberkampf in the 11th.
There are a couple of synagogues in the area, and it is common to see
men wearing yarmulkes in the neighborhood.
Donna Evleth
Dans l'article <ce957q$1t7c$1...@agate.berkeley.edu>, Patrick Hernan
<her...@eecs.berkeley.edu> a écrit :
>
> I am not *vrai parisien* like Didier, but I have visited and lived in
> Paris, with my most recent visit about a month ago. I suggest rue
> Jean-Pierre Timbaud, one street over from rue Oberkampf in the 11th.
> There are a couple of synagogues in the area, and it is common to see
> men wearing yarmulkes in the neighborhood.
I shall definitely try that one. The 11th is an interesting arrondissement.
Donna Evleth
meurgues
Hi Donna and Patrick,
I'm not a "true parisian" but a "true berrichon". You can't be more
berrichon "pur jus" than me! I'm nevertheless parisian now because I
vote in Paris since 2002.
Rue Jean pierre Timbaud ends on the boulevard de Belleville which I
was talking about. I've noticed traditionalist jews too on the
opposite side of the bvd near the synagogue situated at the crossroads
of rue de Pali Kao and passage de Pékin just down the Belleville park
and even avenue de Flandres on the other side of the bassin de la
Villette : both areas where jewish and arabs communities are visible
but mixted without problems.
If you have decided to take rue J.P. Timbaud, where I've never been,
continues on until Belleville park. At the top of the park I generally
take rues Piat, Rebeval, Padier, Simon Bolivar to visit as well the
Buttes Chaumont park.
Check the streets there :
http://photos.pagesjaunes.fr
Le quartier n'est pas extraordinaire....
I don't know if you are interested only in communities areas or in
architecturally picturesque and historical areas.
answer ?
I know many old picturesque streets but generally there's only façades
and shops to see. I know perhaps 90 % of the streets of the first
seven arrondissements and several itineraries (on the kind of cours du
Commerce, de Rohan, passage Dauphine, rues de Furstemberg, Cardinale,
Des Canettes, Guisade and Servandoni passing through St Sulpice or
rues du Prévot, Eginhard, passage St paul, etc...), but probably less
than 10 % of the others ardts...
Concerning again the 11th I know well the western part and the
faubourg St Antoine. but not very well the North and East. I rarely
cross it to the East except in the South, since when I go to Père
Lachaise cemetery I generally exit at Metro Philippe Auguste. After
the visit I generally take Bvd de Belleville until rue des
Couronnes/Pali Kao, visit Belleville park, then Buttes Chaumont park
until the belvedere and finally reach the bassin de la Villette. But
that's a rather long walk... I've followed the canal St Martin too.
If you want to visit the 11th ardt I'm going to try the best itinerary
possible in the faubourg St Antoine from the well restored Cours
Damoye to the passages L'Homme and du Chantier and eventually until
the passage de la Main d'Or if it worth a visit. I'll tell you my
result next week.
didier Meurgues
Donna Evleth
>
> Hi Donna and Patrick,
> I'm not a "true parisian" but a "true berrichon". You can't be more
> berrichon "pur jus" than me! I'm nevertheless parisian now because I
> vote in Paris since 2002.
I will shock you here. We were naturalized French in 1988, and have voted
in Paris ever since. One of our neighbors, who volunteers to man the
polling places each election day, knows us well. Who would ever have
thought this of Californians?
> Rue Jean pierre Timbaud ends on the boulevard de Belleville which I
> was talking about. I've noticed traditionalist jews too on the
> opposite side of the bvd near the synagogue situated at the crossroads
> of rue de Pali Kao and passage de Pékin just down the Belleville park
> and even avenue de Flandres on the other side of the bassin de la
> Villette : both areas where jewish and arabs communities are visible
> but mixted without problems.
> If you have decided to take rue J.P. Timbaud, where I've never been,
> continues on until Belleville park. At the top of the park I generally
> take rues Piat, Rebeval, Padier, Simon Bolivar to visit as well the
> Buttes Chaumont park.
I shall explore this further. When I tried it yesterday, I didn't see many
Jews. And yet I expected to, because years ago, when a French Jewish
colleague of my husband's, a Sephardim from Tunisia, who came to France
after North African independence, took us to a Sephardic Jewish restaurant
in Belleville, I noticed many Jewish and Arab commerces side by side. Now
it seemed to me that the Jews were keeping a low profile. But perhaps I did
not go far enough north. I stopped at the boulevard de Belleville. I shall
do better the next time.
> Check the streets there :
> http://photos.pagesjaunes.fr
> Le quartier n'est pas extraordinaire....
> I don't know if you are interested only in communities areas or in
> architecturally picturesque and historical areas.
I am interested in seeing neighborhoods which are not like mine, the
Montparnasse 6th arrondissement. I am looking at stores and restaurants
primarily.
>
> answer ?
>
> I know many old picturesque streets but generally there's only façades
> and shops to see. I know perhaps 90 % of the streets of the first
> seven arrondissements and several itineraries (on the kind of cours du
> Commerce, de Rohan, passage Dauphine, rues de Furstemberg, Cardinale,
> Des Canettes, Guisade and Servandoni passing through St Sulpice or
> rues du Prévot, Eginhard, passage St paul, etc...), but probably less
> than 10 % of the others ardts...
This is where I live, I know them all. I want to branch out.
>
> Concerning again the 11th I know well the western part and the
> faubourg St Antoine. but not very well the North and East. I rarely
> cross it to the East except in the South, since when I go to Père
> Lachaise cemetery I generally exit at Metro Philippe Auguste. After
> the visit I generally take Bvd de Belleville until rue des
> Couronnes/Pali Kao, visit Belleville park, then Buttes Chaumont park
> until the belvedere and finally reach the bassin de la Villette. But
> that's a rather long walk... I've followed the canal St Martin too.
> If you want to visit the 11th ardt I'm going to try the best itinerary
> possible in the faubourg St Antoine from the well restored Cours
> Damoye to the passages L'Homme and du Chantier and eventually until
> the passage de la Main d'Or if it worth a visit. I'll tell you my
> result next week.
What I do with my walks, if it is very far, is to take the metro to get
there, then walk home. What you suggest sounds like just what I want. I
shall try it when I get back from vacation on 18 August. I won't have time
before, we depart the 3rd of August.
Donna Evleth
>
> didier Meurgues
meurgues
> >
> > Hi Donna and Patrick,
> > I'm not a "true parisian" but a "true berrichon". You can't be more
> > berrichon "pur jus" than me! I'm nevertheless parisian now because I
> > vote in Paris since 2002.
>
> I will shock you here.
I'm not shocked. I meant that as long as I kept an official link with
my place of birth (election of the persons who manage it) I was still
participating to its destiny and considering myself from this place
even if I was already living elsewhere. Now I've broken the official
link and I'm attacking the affective one which will fade considerably
when the last familial link will be brocken as well.
We were naturalized French in 1988, and have voted
> in Paris ever since. One of our neighbors, who volunteers to man the
> polling places each election day, knows us well. Who would ever have
> thought this of Californians?
I don't understand very well but that's not important.
> > If you have decided to take rue J.P. Timbaud, where I've NEVER been,
> > continues on until Belleville park. At the top of the park I generally
> > take rues Piat, Rebeval, Padier, Simon Bolivar to visit as well the
> > Buttes Chaumont park.
>
> I shall explore this further. When I tried it yesterday, I didn't see many
> Jews. And yet I expected to, because years ago, when a French Jewish
> colleague of my husband's, a Sephardim from Tunisia, who came to France
> after North African independence, took us to a Sephardic Jewish restaurant
> in Belleville, I noticed many Jewish and Arab commerces side by side. Now
> it seemed to me that the Jews were keeping a low profile. But perhaps I did
> not go far enough north. I stopped at the boulevard de Belleville. I shall
> do better the next time.
> I am interested in seeing neighborhoods which are not like mine, the
> Montparnasse 6th arrondissement. I am looking at stores and restaurants
> primarily.
IMO..., some communities are probably less "visible" in fact than they
used to be some years ago even if they are still there like in the
faubourg St Antoine, according to the presence of the modern synagogue
of rue de la Roquette, around rue du faubourg Montmartre or in the
Sentier where it's well knowned that many shops are owned by jews but
with no particular indications on their fronts. Some old people owners
of their flat or shops stay in the same areas, but the younger
generations don't find so important to live in community anymore even
if they keep their parents properties there, and they don't follow so
rigourously or even loose their religious traditions, even... some
arabs. Concerning the jews and a part of the muslims, like the kabyles
but not only, they look like europeans and it's difficult to
distinguish them except for their names or when they wear religious
clothes, wich is not in fact so common in a country of mainly secular
(not religious) and commune education like France. Most of the jew's
shopkeepers don't write anymore the name of their shop in hebrew or
put distinctive signs except in touristic areas like rue des Rosiers
and on some casher or halal shops, virtually limited to butcheries.
This evolution is not recent... In fact they melt progressively in the
rest of the french society and they settle anywhere in Paris. In my
street (near bvd Beaumarchais) which was a place of polish, hungarian,
etc.. jewish emmigration after WWII according to the recently deceased
old people living in my own building, there are now at least 6 arab
shops including a tobaconist, a laundrette, a baker*, a bar and
grocery stores, at least 4 asiatics including a "manucure", a
"pressing", restaurants*, 1 russian restaurant*, 1 "latino"
restaurant*, and 1 irish pub* which attracts apparently most of the
anglo-saxon community around...
Only those with a (*), generally concerning foods, show their origins.
The Marais and Belleville are some of the place where I've seen,
from... time to time..., some jews with religious clothes. Apparently
they even have been able to settle easily avenue de Flandres, where
I've seen some 2 weeks ago, despite its majoritarily arab community
established there since years...
Recently I've made some works of electricity at home. Except for the
name of the person, the nearby electrician shop inside or outside or
the person herself couldn't have indicated me their jewish origin.
> > If you want to visit the 11th ardt I'm going to try the best itinerary
> > possible in the faubourg St Antoine from the well restored Cours
> > Damoye to the passages L'Homme and du Chantier and eventually until
> > the passage de la Main d'Or if it worth a visit. I'll tell you my
> > result next week.
I've not finished because they put more and more "digicodes" in the
courtyards and passages. So when I get out of work I'm not sure if
they are open during the day... But it's not a very attractive
district even if it's an old and historical one.
didier Meurgues