French Jewry's Transformation as Fourth Largest Jewish Community
French Jewry, under the impe- a post-World War II population of Europe's surviving Jews.
tus of widespread immigration 150,000 to more than 500,000, are
The influx of emigres from
North Africa, has undergone outlined in a report just issued by North Africa has resulted in
a from
a
10 transformation during the past the American Jewish Committee's dramatic change in the composition
years that has made it the European office, directed by of France's Jewish community.
fourth largest Jewish community Zachariah Shuster.
Where once it was predominantly
in t he world. In the process, what
With it has appeared a new European (Ashkenazi), it has be-
was a community tending toward 64-page
guide to the Jewish corn- come at least 50 per cent North
assimilation has become m o r e munities of France, prepared by African Sephardic,
the latter being
aware of Judaism and Jewish tra- the Community Service, which more Orthodox in outlook.
dition than at any time in its re- AJC set up in 1958 in cooperation
cent history.
Nonetheless, the report pointed
with the Anglo-Jewish Association
The dimensions of this trans- of Britain and the French Alliance out the North African Jews have
formation, in which the French Israelite Universelle to help spur been integrating well into French
Jewish community has grown from a sense of Jewish identity among Jewish life, for several reasons:
• They speak the same lan-
guage — French — and many of
the emigres have been educated
antenvis
in French schools.
• They have had business
LENS IS:rVAlitiV.NNES
ties with metropolitan France
1.44
in the past.
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• A large number of the emi-
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of or
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o Complim
gres are well-educated, coming
ate.
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flint*
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from upper socio-e c o n o m i c
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177.7:I
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levels, and are marrying native
8,/,•Docc, NANCY®
French Jews.
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While there are also problems
()Pols
LIM*
eEPINAI
Sees*
RENNES
Reartmonto
of national integration — among
LE MANS •
0 mower
COLMAR
CRILVIS•
them an acute housing shortage
BELFORT®
ollob
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and competition for jobs—in gen-
DIJON
• ANGERS
()TOURS
eBESANCom
eral the French population as a
whole and its government are re-
CHALONVFMONE
C41 telftralt 0
0 ERATERUROUX
ported to have been generous and
ehret
helpful toward both the Jewish
mural
and non-Jewish emigres.
mmoemi..
•ANNECY
• ROARK
A previous issue of the guide,
LYON QVILLEURBAMEs.BAt i s
issued in 1961, found 23 towns in
ST-FONS/ "HAMDERY
the Paris region where some form
sr1119" VENISSIEUX
()GRENOBLE
of Jewish activity existed, much
()VALENCE
of it desultory. Today the same
area lists 44 active Jewish com-
munities. And where in 1961 the
_
gale
CARPENTRAS
French provinces—excluding Al-
."1%
HONTAIMANS
AVIGNON Ze AIX-EN-
NiCE .
Aibi
sace-Lorraine, which has remained
C
NIME
% :_74,1,,..
snot PROVENCE s i sAssE ,,
&de
relatively stable—listed 70 Jewish
Cortaro MONTPELLIER.A•
SETE•
ArAGNE
TOULOUSE
communities of which 37 had a
Oros •
TAMES
termer
/SIAZitt-4
1
as
rabbi or cantor, today these prov-
9*
inces include 91 Jewish communi-
petHIGNAR 0
ties, of which 54- have a rabbi or
cantor.
7 r=
More than, „ half of France's
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN FRANCE, 1966
500,000 Jews, the booklet states,
reside in Paris and its suburbs.
a Communities with a network of Institutions
JEWISH POPULATION
Other large communities are:
• COMMUnities with some Institutions
LYON More than 10,00
Marseilles, 65,000; Lyon, 20,000;
Toulouse, 18,000; Nice, 16,000;
O Other communities
DIJON 1,000 to 10,000
Strasbourg, 12,000.
BEZIERS 100 t01,000
Following these are 17 com-
Metz-Strasbourg-Colmar areas 83 cOMmuniUes
krxim Less than 100
munities with more than 1,000
Jews: Bordeaux, 5,000; Grenoble,
Vgdurt
4,000; Metz, 3,500; Nancy 3,000; prove that it can develop a viable
Lille, 2,500; Montpellier, 2,000; Jewish culture and tradition of its
Toulon, 2,000; Villeurbanne, 1,800; own, one that will assure mean-
Aixen-Province, 1,500; Avignon, ingful Jewish continuity.
1,400; Cannes, 1,400; Belfort, 1,300;
Nimes, 1,200; St-Fons/Venissieux,
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
1,200; Colmar, 1,000; Dijon, 1,000;
Friday, November 4, 1966-11
Rouen, 1,000. (These figures are
all approximations.)
,
The AJC report concludes,
though, on a note of caution:
"French Jews, unique in being
the only diaspora community in
which Ashkenazi and Sephardic
cultures are now melted on rela-
tively equal terms, still has to
in cooperation with
ISRAEL GOVERNMENT TOURIST OFFICE
EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES
THE GREEK LINE
SHERATON TEL AVIV HOTEL
takes pleasure in inviting you
to attend
"AN EVENING IN ISRAEL"
Wednesday, November 9th, 1966
tt
Youth Seen to Be Responding
on Their Own, Not by Parent Pressure
FORD
For 1967
Your Best Buy Is At
Northland Ford
TO Mile at Greenfield
SAVANNAH, Ga.—Jewish teen-
agers affiliate with Jewish organi-
zations out of their own interest
and on their own initiative rather
than because of parental pressure,
according to a study of the 236
Jewish high school age boys and
girls in Savannah completed by
the National Jewish Welfare Board
for the Savannah Jewish Council.
Those who reported weakening
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association with Jewish communal
organizations attributed this less
to alienation from Jewish life or
to acculturation and more to their
search for a different type of pro-
gram and to the fact that they
find existing programs irrelevant
to their style of life and behavior-
ial values.
The study disclosed that the
teen-agers have developed their
own pattern of use for leisure time,
which includes primary participa-
tion in several Jewish groups but
also some participation in school
groups and individual recreational
activities.
The study's findings indicate
that an increase in the number
of Jewish organizations and
groups offering the same kind of
program would not attract the
non-affiliated Jewish teen-ager.
It would only increase the circu-
lation of the habitual joiners.
On the other hand, a decrease
in the number of programs offered
by Jewish organizations, the study
established, would not give the
teen-ager more "free" time but
would be reflected in increased
participation in school - sponsored
and non-Jewish activities.
That which is striking and beau-
tiful is not always good, but that
which is good is always beautiful.
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REFRESHMENTS — DOOR PRIZES
If Israel is so small,
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Read the following out loud: Jerusalem,
Galilee, Mt. Zion, Mt. Carmel, Acre, Caesarea,
the Red Sea, the Dead Sea, Beersheba, Tel Aviv,
Haifa.
•.
, .
These are just a few of the places you'll want
to visit in Israel, where some 5000 years of history
have created many more. But how successful you
are in thoroughly seeing these places can depend
on whether you go as an independent traveler, or
on a tour.
The choice we want you to make is the tour.
The organized tour.
Tours are designed to bring you to as much
of Israel as is possible, and in a short amount of
time. For example, you can easily find your own
way to the Sea of Galilee. But only an experi-
enced tour guide can take you to the Biblical sites
that dot the shore. This way you neither lose time
following an unfamiliar map, nor waste time
hunting up transportation.
A tour has several other built-in conveniences.
For instance, your baggage is transferred for you.
Your hotel rooms are reserved long before you
arrive. You're directed to the restaurants and
shops which will give you more for your money.
Perhaps one of the least-known features of
traveling with a tour, and one of the most im-
portant, concerns the money you'll save. While
you'll see and do more, you'll spend less. Tours
receive speciarrates, the savings of which are
passed on to you. That also includes your round
trip El Al air fare.
Tours vary as to length of stay and
price. Your travel agent can discuss the
different ones with you, and answer your ques-
tions.
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