French Jews Still Anxious, Despite Calm

Falafel shop owner feels at home in Paris, but not all Jews agree. Sharon Udasin

by Sharon Udasin
Staff Writer

Paris — Nestled among Parisian gefilte fish proprietors, pickled herring vendors and boulangeries stocked with chocolate rugelach, an Israeli restaurateur yanks otherwise oblivious customers into his teeming falafel palace while Chabad boys sell palm fronds for Sukkot across the cobblestone Rue des Rosiers.

In the Marais, the traditional Jewish quarter of the French capital, neon leaflets advertise Hebrew classes and nearly every shop window has a stamp of approval from the Beth Din of Paris.

“We are in our home here,” says Yomi, the owner of the popular falafel shop, L’as du Fallafel (The Ace of Falafel), who refused to give his last name.

But step outside the close-knit quarters of the Marais district, and France’s Jews will tell you they hardly feel at home and that a low-grade but chronic anxiety gnaws at them because of their Jewish identity. And because of a persistent fear that tensions in the Middle East could escalate at a moment’s notice, leaving them vulnerable.

The war in Gaza ended 10 months ago, Hamas rocket fire into the southern Israeli town of Sderot is almost nonexistent and Iran, Israel’s existential enemy, is torn apart by internal political dissent. In other words, things are relatively quiet in Israel and the status quo is more than tolerable, say many Israelis. Yet in interviews with dozens of French Jews from Paris to Lille to Nice over the course of 10 days earlier this month, a picture emerges of a French Jewish population walking on eggshells.

Despite the 1,800 miles that separate Paris from Tel Aviv, Jews in France say they face ongoing repercussions from the ongoing Middle Eastern tensions. And it’s not only from the country’s large Arab population but perhaps even more so from native French citizens and political leaders. France, with a population of more than 62 million, boasts the largest Jewish population in Europe, as well as a growing Arab population — more than 600,000 Jews and an estimated 4 to 7 million Arabs, according to Time magazine.

“Even at university you can’t even show that you’re Jewish,” said Leah Soussan, 20, at a kosher sushi restaurant in the Marais, where she was catching up with five girlfriends home for Sukkot and Simchat Torah.

Soussan, who said she’d never dare wear a Star of David in public, decided to attend university in Israel at the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya, rather than stay in France. Perhaps the least traditionally dressed among her friends — she wore tight jeans while her friends all sported long skirts — Soussan actually attended a Catholic high school, where she said she tried to convert her Catholic friends into respecting her Jewish faith.

“Here there is no respect at all if they know you are Jewish,” said her friend Jessica Antunes, also 20.  Continue reading…

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Also take a look at this clip of Philippe Karsenty’s speech for American Friends of the Likud, 10/22/09:

…And then the room stood still…

Today I spent most of the day in Lille, where I met up with my former roommate Rachel King. We had an interesting experience in the Fives neighborhood — the Brooklyn of Lille — when we decided to buy coffee at a bar for the purpose of using their toilet facilities. As we walked in, the dozen or so people in the room literally froze, as if they were in a movie freeze-frame, and peeled their eyes at us through a haze of cigarette smoke. I guess we didn’t quite “fit in” with that crowd — among the dozen was a buff bartender with tattoos and piercings and shaved head, a 14-year-old girl dressed like a bowler, a shit-faced 80-year-old woman who arrived with her equally shit-faced son, and an enormous dog. All in all, was a really great experience, one of the best today — except, perhaps, conversing in French with the Halal restauranteur and his customer.

Prior to meeting up with Rachel, I also visited the Musee des Beaux Artes this morning, where I saw a lot of impressionist stuff and violent Jesuses — that is, until I was museum-ed out for the morning. It’s slightly challenging for me to spend more than an hour in an art museum for some reason. I love the paintings and they’re all gorgeous, but my eyelids inevitably start drooping after an hour or so.

After the art museum, I met with the Chabad rabbi of Lille, who told me about the latest anti-Semitic violence in the area — and there’s a ton. He discussed how lot’s of French Jews are making aliyah to Israel for this very reason. His children were adorable, and the two little boys helped their father build a Sukkah, with the younger boy pretending he was a chevalier riding a tree branch.

What else? The hostel seems clean and nice — it’s a bit of an adjustment though to have four roommates, when they all want to sleep at different times than you do! But I’ll deal, I’m en vacances, after all!

Okay, well, I think I’ll get to bed for the night now too, as it is approaching midnight. Tomorrow morning, I spend with Rachel again, and then I’m off solo for the rest of the trip, heading first to Annecy in the Alps.

Au revoir!

My first blog post from France!

I landed about an hour and a half ago, and now I’m hanging out in Charles De Gaulle Airport, waiting for my first train — to Lille. Not much to type as of yet, but I do have to say that the France rail “chime” or theme tune or whatever you want to call it sounds like a weird suspense sequence in a 1990s video game.

One funny thing did happen yesterday before I even left for the airport — I learned to pack like a man, well, sort of.  So I borrowed my friend’s real backpacker’s backpack for this voyage and decided to stuff it to full capacity like any woman would. When I finally got to my office, however, two of the men there successfully convinced me to empty out half of the clothes and toiletries that I had originally packed. I have never traveled with so few sets of clothing! Hope there are laundry machines somewhere.