VILLEPINTE, France (JTA) -- Rabbi David Altabe looks older than his 27 years when he talks about the future of the Jewish community in this working-class suburb of Paris.
Altabe leans his elbows on a table set for the Sabbath and sinks his furrowed brow in his palms.
"We do what we can, but it's hard,” he says. “I don't know why I stay. I ask myself that question all the time.”
Over a period of just three years, roughly half the Jewish families in Villepinte have left. Some have gone to other suburbs or Paris neighborhoods considered safer for Jews; a few have left the country.
Of 300 families three years ago, only 150 remain today, community president Charly Hannoun estimates.
The reason, he says, is anti-Semitism.
Now Villepinte’s 40-year-old synagogue, which was torched in 1991 and 2001, is at risk of closing because there are barely enough regulars for a minyan. Jewish community leaders are wondering if Jews have a future here.
“It’s a whole history that's being erased,” says Hannoun, who worked with contractors and friends to build the town’s synagogue. “It's the end of the synagogue, and I say that with rage in my heart.”
Villepinte is one stark example of what is happening to many Jewish communities in the immigrant-heavy suburbs of the Seine-Saint-Denis region, north of Paris.
If you like to read the whole story click: The Jewish Federation
Altabe leans his elbows on a table set for the Sabbath and sinks his furrowed brow in his palms.
"We do what we can, but it's hard,” he says. “I don't know why I stay. I ask myself that question all the time.”
Over a period of just three years, roughly half the Jewish families in Villepinte have left. Some have gone to other suburbs or Paris neighborhoods considered safer for Jews; a few have left the country.
Of 300 families three years ago, only 150 remain today, community president Charly Hannoun estimates.
The reason, he says, is anti-Semitism.
Now Villepinte’s 40-year-old synagogue, which was torched in 1991 and 2001, is at risk of closing because there are barely enough regulars for a minyan. Jewish community leaders are wondering if Jews have a future here.
“It’s a whole history that's being erased,” says Hannoun, who worked with contractors and friends to build the town’s synagogue. “It's the end of the synagogue, and I say that with rage in my heart.”
Villepinte is one stark example of what is happening to many Jewish communities in the immigrant-heavy suburbs of the Seine-Saint-Denis region, north of Paris.
If you like to read the whole story click: The Jewish Federation
No comments:
Post a Comment