海角大神

Yael has lived in her Paris apartment for 30 years. She had always felt safe in her residential area with a large Jewish community. But last year, she and her husband decided to remove the mezuzah from their front doorway.

The rectangular piece of parchment, inscribed with verses from the Torah, protected her household from harm. But it was also a signal to the outside world that a Jewish family lived here.

鈥淵ou can still see the trace of it next to the door,鈥� says Yael, placing a tray of almond biscuits left over from Yom Kippur on her coffee table. 鈥淚 need to paint over it.鈥�

Tears sting Yael鈥檚 eyes as she talks about one of her sons, who lives in Israel. She鈥檚 worried sick about him. But she is also scared for her two other sons who live in Paris. She tells them not to go out wearing a kippah, a religious head covering, and is cautious about opening the door to delivery workers. Someone recently tagged their car with 鈥渄irty Jew.鈥�

鈥淪ince Oct. 7, life has completely changed,鈥� says Yael, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. To protect her safety, she asked to be identified only by her first name. 鈥淚鈥檓 afraid. I hear the smallest noise and I jump.鈥�

A July 2024 study by the European Union鈥檚 Agency for Fundamental Rights says European Jews feel more unsafe than ever. And nowhere more so than in France.

The country is home to the second-largest Jewish community outside Israel, after the United States 鈥� comprising around 500,000 people. It is also the European country that has seen the sharpest rise in antisemitic acts since Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people and took 253 hostages a year ago, according to the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions.

鈥淲hether it鈥檚 within civil society, on social media, or politics, we see the conflation of the conflict in the Middle East with regular Jewish citizens,鈥� says Robert Ejn猫s, the council鈥檚 executive director.

鈥淓very time there鈥檚 an escalation of the conflict, we see a new wave of antisemitic acts in France. We need more sanctions to punish these acts, but also more education if we want to improve things in the future,鈥� he says.

As feelings of insecurity rise, more and more French Jews are talking about leaving 鈥� for Israel or the U.S. Still, the vast majority stays. They have found ways to overcome their fears or to live with them 鈥� many defiantly. It鈥檚 the small daily acts, they say, that help them feel safe.

Stella Rosen, a Parisian doctor, recently gave the post office a fake, 鈥渕ore French-sounding鈥� name for deliveries. She has also stopped taking Ubers after several uncomfortable conversations with male drivers who supported the Palestinian cause, made clear they understood she was Jewish, and knew her home address.

鈥淚 need to protect myself, but also my kids,鈥� says Dr. Rosen, who has two young sons. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not worth the risk.鈥�

A recent turning point

Jews have lived in France for over 2,000 years, making them one of the oldest Jewish populations in Western Europe. France was the first European country to emancipate the Jewish people, during the French Revolution, and Jewish street names and quarters can be found across the country.

But in recent years, attitudes toward Jews have appeared to harden in some French minds. 鈥淓verything changed with the second intifada,鈥� says Philippe Boukara, a French historian of contemporary Judaism.

The uprising of Palestinians against Israeli occupation, lasting from 2000 to 2005, brought in its wake an unprecedented number of antisemitic acts in France: 970 in 2004.

That record was surpassed last year, after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. In 2023, France recorded 1,676 antisemitic incidents, compared with 436 in 2022, according to data from the French Interior Ministry and the Service for the Protection of the Jewish Community. Around 75% of them occurred in the three months following the attack.

That has prompted more French Jews to apply for Israeli nationality and residence rights; in the last three months of 2023, some 1,200 began applications to emigrate to Israel, or to 鈥渕ake aliyah,鈥� a 430% increase over the same period in 2022.

Still, the number of Jews who actually leave has been falling each year for nearly a decade. Most simply do not want to leave their homes in France, and certainly not when Israel is engaged in active conflict. Instead, they鈥檙e adapting to the current situation by changing their everyday behavior.

Anna, a Parisian architect, has taken to covering herself and her two young daughters with kaffiyehs 鈥� the black-and-white checkered scarves that have become symbols of Palestinian nationalism 鈥� when she visits her grandmother in a Paris suburb with a large Muslim population.

There is no evidence that antisemitic acts are committed more frequently by French Muslims than by extreme far-left or far-right antisemites. But because French Muslims generally support the Palestinian cause, many French Jews 鈥� with or without reason 鈥� are afraid they might be harassed.

鈥淚鈥檓 responsible for my daughters鈥� safety,鈥� says Anna, who asked to be identified only by a pseudonym. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the time to be a hero.鈥�

Safety in numbers

People like Christine Taieb see this sort of attitude as evidence that more education is needed if Jews and Muslims are to feel safe in France.

Ms. Taieb leads the Paris branch of Judeo-Muslim Friendship in France, a group that seeks to encourage interfaith dialogue and understanding between the two communities.

鈥淲e teach people to respect and listen to others, and learn from their experiences,鈥� says Ms. Taieb. 鈥淭he goal is to extend a hand to the person on the other side.鈥�

Ms. Taieb says she has never personally been subjected to antisemitic remarks and refuses to be afraid. That鈥檚 a recurrent theme among Jews living in a heavily Orthodox community in the northeast of Paris.

On a sunny weekday afternoon, young men proudly wear their kippahs at stands selling etrog 鈥� a citrus fruit used to observe this week鈥檚 Sukkot holiday. The soldiers often stationed in front of a nearby school have left, stood down after an Oct. 7 anniversary alert. Hundreds of schoolchildren filter out into waiting buses and cars.

鈥淚 was educated from a young age that we should all be able to live together, that there are good people and bad. Why should I be scared?鈥� says David Benchetrit, an etrog seller, holding out a fruit to a prospective client. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 definitely a feeling of safety in numbers.鈥�

There is a sense of defiance among many in the Jewish community here 鈥� not to give up and let fear win. Rebecca, who stops for a sandwich at a local kosher bakery, says she鈥檚 not a scared person by nature and won鈥檛 become one now.

鈥淧eople tell me to be careful, to change my daily habits,鈥� says Rebecca, who asked to be identified by her first name only to protect her family. 鈥淏ut I refuse to enter into that fear. The day I do that, I鈥檒l leave.鈥�

Still, Rebecca says she has taken down her mezuzah and changed her last name for home deliveries. Last year, she went ahead and completed her application to make aliyah聽鈥� just in case.