Paris: The Jewish Quarter

Juif: Jew

Juive: Jewess

pluie: rain

Hôtel de Ville: city hall

quartier: quarter, neighborhood -pronounced like Cartier, the jeweler

marais: marsh

Today's post is especially for my favorite Juive, Mademoiselle Jacqui:

Today while headed home in the rain, I decided to walk all the way from the Hôtel de Ville back to rue Popincourt so that I could make a tour of Jewish Paris...or at least part of it. While Paris has vast suburbs, the 20 arrondissements contain a fairly compact area. Of course, Jewish Parisians live throughout the city. In fact, I encountered a Hassidic Jewish couple in Passy on Saturday, and there is a Jewish center about two blocks from my apartment -the Centre Maayan.

Still, Le Marais, literally the marsh since it was built in a low-lying former marsh, serves as the traditional Jewish quartier -as well as Paris' most famous gay neighborhood.

The rue de Rosiers, the Street of Roses, marks the heart of the Jewish section. There are at least two synagogues I found there as well as a kosher pizza place.  There are several restaurants and shops with Judaica and bakeries with Hebrew signs and fresh-baked challah. I think the primary Jewish community here must be Hassidic to judge by the people walking in the area.

With all its restaurants and trendy shops, the Marais has a lot of tourists and local Gentile people living, eating, and shopping there too. I saw several shops selling the famous falafel sandwich that I'll blog about another time.