Is There a Future for Jews in France?

Gerard Leval

The Jerusalem Post reported that Moshe Sebbag, the rabbi of Paris’ most prominent synagogue on rue de la Victoire, recently stated that “it is clear today that there is no future for Jews in France. I tell everyone who is young to go to Israel or a more secure country.”

Sebbag’s statement reminded me of a conversation I had some years ago at a dinner with friends in Paris.

I was passing through Paris on a business trip and was invited to dinner at one of the city’s dozens of kosher restaurants by a non-Jewish client and his wife. I had represented the client on several transactions, both in the United States and in Africa, and we became good friends over the course of our association, regularly exchanging candid conversations about controversial subjects. My client also invited another couple to join us. That couple was Jewish, and their family had lived in France for many years.

Our conversation quickly turned to the subject of the condition of the Jewish community in France. The second couple, echoing Rabbi Sebbag’s recent comment, noted that they were seeking to purchase an apartment in Israel because, as the husband, a physician, put it, “there is no future for us here.”

I looked up with a measure of astonishment since the Jewish doctor and his wife had just lauded the quality of their life in France and their profound affection for their country. They seemed to me to be living very well in France.

But I was even more astonished by the response of our host to the doctor and his wife. Without flinching, he simply said, “what do you mean you don’t have a future here?” He went on, “none of us has a future here.” Continuing, he then said “at least, you have a place to which you can go; the rest of us have nowhere to go.”

We Jews, so often characterized as “wandering Jews” because we have frequently been expelled from nations in which we settled, are sadly accustomed to feeling insecure in our lands of residence. Christians, such as my client friend, are far less used to the notion of being strangers in their own land, and it was assuredly surprising to hear my friend speak as he did.

Consequently, I asked my friend why he believed that it might be necessary for him and his family to consider leaving their native land. He supplied me with a litany of reasons, from economic stagnation to insecurity, and from rising crime to fear of Islamists seeking to impose their lifestyle on his nation.

The resounding pessimism of his words has stayed with me.

Assuredly, several years ago, antisemitism was already instilling a degree of fear in French Jews. However, it is also apparent that the growing fear in Western nations is not limited to Jews. An ever more virulent wave of intolerance and sheer self-hatred is tearing at the fabric of our civilization, both in France and elsewhere.

It has often been said that Jews are the canary in the coal mine; that we are the first to be pursued when the forces of evil are marching forward. But we are hardly the last. Those who will not defend the right of Jews to live in peace and security will soon find themselves suffering from the same lack of peace and security. History provides us with an abundance of examples, none so stark as the rise of Nazi Germany and its aftermath.

Today, it is clear that Western civilization is being challenged from multiple directions. Rising antisemitism (which has been increasing for some time now but has dramatically accelerated since Oct. 7) is but the harbinger of potentially terrible things to come.

Everyone suffused with Western values is now under siege.

The real question that must be asked, however, is whether contemplating departure, be it to Israel or elsewhere, is really the answer for the French Jewish community. Is Sebbag correct in his view that Jews should leave France? Was my client friend right as well?
I hope not. I think not.

For those of us, Jewish or otherwise, who have a profound belief in the fundamental benefits of Western civilization, who believe that, despite its flaws, Western civilization — the civilization that emerged from Jerusalem, Athens and Rome and spread to northern Europe and then to America — has provided humankind with some of the most remarkable advantages in human history, it should be obvious that we must not and cannot abandon that civilization to those who would destroy it.

For the entire Jewish community, the state of Israel is a vital asset which must be supported, nurtured and protected in every way possible. However, since the Jewish people were commanded by our Creator to be a light unto the nations, we must also be true to our spiritual mission and remain, at least in part, scattered throughout the world. We must stand firmly with our non-Jewish fellow beings as part of the bulwark against barbarism and incivility. We must hold up the banner of morality and enlightened behavior.

Performing acts of tikkun olam — of repairing the world, an obligation of every Jew — means being in the world and engaging with the world even when it is difficult. If we abandon the world, especially those places where we have successfully integrated into society and made important contributions, then we are relinquishing one of our
fundamental roles as Jews.

French Jews should, of course, take all reasonable measures to protect themselves, but they should not, contrary to Sebbag’s suggestion, all plan on leaving France. French Jews, together with their non-Jewish neighbors, should stand their ground and do their best to protect the French component of Western civilization to which Jews have contributed immeasurably.

Gerard Leval is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of a national law firm.