Are you looking to explore the rich history of Jewish European heritage? Me too. I have come a long way to discover the Amazing Old continent and its picturesque little villages.
I was looking for tours through some of the most important sites in Jewish European heritage. From the Jewish quarter of Prague to the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, the experts guides I have been in contact with took me through the most important sites and monuments, providing me and my wife with an in-depth look at Jewish European history.
History tours are a unique fun way, maybe expensive but a chance to experience the beauty and history of these incredible regions. I mean, I could look for a documentary on internet but we really wanted to experience the wonders of Jewish European heritage by walking the storied streets where it all happened.
Visiting Jewish Paris Twice
Traveling to the same place twice can be a great way to explore and find something new. Every time you visit the same place, you can look at it with a different perspective and find something new that you may have missed before. For example, if you visit a city twice, you may notice new restaurants, stores, or even interesting people that you may have missed the first time around.
On my second time to Paris, I have been visiting the Jewish Paris with Léontine Cohen and Flora Goldenberg under the recommendation of the recent article of Michael Levin on his visit to Jewish Paris but also based on Randy Reuven Guttman & Esther Maimon and many of the trip advisor reviews.
The writer Michael Levin is a New York Times bestselling author and Shark Tank contestant. Randy Guttman is a great author and travel blogger for AMI. I started following them 2 years ago.
Reuven Guttman & Esther Maimon are famous jewish travelers and authors.
I follow the threads and posts attentively as they visit all the cities of the world searching for Jewish gems of our rich global heritage.
The beautiful Jewish couple are followed by thousands of Jewish History & Jewish culture fans.
Lately, they shared a lovely post on facebook about Flora Goldenberg which gave me the idea to go ahead and book with Flora 3 days of tours in Paris.
Flora was available the first day but for the second day and third, she helped us book with another tour guide: Léontine Cohen.
Day one
Jewish history of Paris – Introduction – 3 hours walking tour
Guide : Flora Goldenberg
9:30 : We started the Jewish tour in le Marais.
We were very curious about the hidden apartment-synagogue where many members of my family daven at this sephardic Shul for more than 10 years.
The pilier and the first Chabad Shul in Paris. Rabbi Azimov was sent to Paris by the lubavitcher Rebbe. Farbrengen, kiddush, Nigunim with Rabbi Azimov.
We tasted many foods from Ashkenazi boutiques and a Kosher Sephardic bakery called Murciano.
We suggest that you begin the tour by Rue des Rosiers: a touristic street with many kosher restaurants and a Jewish ambiance.
We visited the Shoah Memorial with Flora who works there as a part time guide.
During the private tour, you can get inside the Memorial only with someone who works there. We learned a lot about the Memorial, their Filing system, the horrors of WWI, the justs among the nations, we took our time to pay our respect.
Then we headed to le Marais to see many old houses, private aristocratic mansions from the 17th century and beautiful Parisian gardens and parks all along.
Flora is an amazing authentic tour guide. She calls Le Marais “Home” as she lived there all her life. She was a real person, with a nice demeanor, full of energy and passion for Art and History. We loved her company.
We know that this is a different tour from any other tour I undertook. Her qualities and her preparation made everything seamless and pleasant. We later knew that she began touring at a very young age with her mother Leontine Cohen, that she recommend for the next day (See below Day two) as Flora is not available.
I advise you to book with Flora in advance.
DAY 2
Guide Léontine Cohen
9.30 AM: Leontine came to Pick us up at the hotel and we took the metro and a bus to Drancy.
Drancy was the detention camp during WW 2 where more than 60000 Jews transited before send to Auswitch.
It was important for me to see the monument and the train car, and to understand the history of the site and to experience the harsh reality during WW2. Today, we see movies about heroic individual adventures during the WWII but we forget to tell our kids that War was really horrible. Nothing better to get this, is to go to Drancy and hear about the stories, see by your own eyes that horrible truth.
As we left, Leontine showed us the site where the escape tunnel passed , an attempt of the prisoners to escape.
What is Drancy today ?
Drancy was originally a high rise housing project started in the 1930-s and stopped because of financial problems and because people did want to live in high rise buildings.
When the Germans arrested Jews in 1941, they turned the unfinished project into a detention camp. The non finished building in U-shape was closed off at the open side by barbed wire. The camp became very full after the big round up of 1000-s of Jews in the summer of 1942, the Vel d’Hiv razzia.
Why Drancy ?
Drancy was also chosen because it was close to a railway network so it was very convenient to transport the Jews from Drancy to the death camps.
An attempt was made to dig a tunnel by a group of prisoners but just a few meters away from their goal the diggers were discovered and arrested.
After the war the housing project was finished and until today people live on the site and in the buildings that were used as a detention camp.
The Memorial de la Shoah recently built an archive and exhibition center here.
Until then, there were two small exhibition rooms in the building set up by ex-prisoners/survivors and volunteers.
An imam in Drancy, Hassan Chalgoumi has become an icon for tolerance and actively advocates about what happened in Drancy.
They told me that Orthodox Jews are not necessarily interested in the Shoah stories unless there is a story about a rabbi or an Orthodox Jew. So maybe we should search for stories that will relate to them and that talk about certain people/religious Jews/rabbis.
Then we walked back to the metro station and we went to district 19 to have an Indian lunch at Tavlini et Massala.
It was delicious. Friendly service. Cooked by Indian chefs.
But we initially didn’t want to have lunch there so she didn’t enjoy it.
Then we walked to Belleville to visit the two synagogues there. They enjoyed this a lot and loved the presence and explanation of the two guardians of the synagogues. These two synagogues were part of an abandoned cinema and were transformed into synagogues after the war by Tunisian and Algerian Jews.
They said that this would be a highlight for Orthodox Jews. They were very impressed that only Flora brings people here.
From there we went to Invalides where we visited the tomb of Napoleon and his son. Then we visited the section in Invalides about WW 2. We were very interested in the different unicorns and of course the American part . He also was interested in all the signs in German. Not sure that this is the best for Orthodox Jews, unless they are interested in WW2.
Invalides is a former military hospital built in the 17th century. It is now a huge military museum, mausoleum of Napoleon and famous generals, and is managed by the Ministry of War until today.
From there we walked to the Champs Elysées. We wanted to see the shops.
Then we were tired, Leontine was so kind and she took us back to the hotel in le Marais central area.
Day 3
Guide Leontine Cohen
We took the metro and train to Versailles. It was too long, about 1h30.
We did a quick Jewish highlights visit to the palace of Versailles. Their highlight was the painting of David, king of Judea, the hebrew Y***** inscription on the chapel of Louis 14.
If you go there with qualified tour guides who happened to be also Jews completely immersed in Jewish History research, they actually do make Versailles 100% more interesting.
However, be careful, we must warn you there are statues and paintings of nudes. Leontine Cohen who is also an Art History expert, explained this very well :
“Art and creativity used to be a competition between many french Artists to get the attention of the King. Because the Artists of Versailles were very well paid, they had to do anything to showcase their skills. Only the top of these artists, la creme de la creme, could produce such nude masterpieces with so much elegance and precision. The best of these masterpieces won the right to be exhibited in Versailles. It is a different perception of nudity. Knowing the Louis 15 was a christian king, I don’t believe the King accepted these nudity sculptures and paintings as a desire of flesh but more about beauty, technicality and accuracy.
People have expressed themselves through art since the beginning of time. Naked art is no different. Depending on the artist, it can be used to explore the beauty of the human form and the power of vulnerability, to express emotions and feelings, to challenge social conventions, to reflect on sexuality and gender roles, to convey a political message, or to simply capture a unique moment. Naked art is an effective and powerful way to communicate, and it can be both inspiring and thought-provoking.
For example : the Iconologia Ripa is a way to represent a white marble sculpture of a walking woman leaning on the left, in a white dress, with uncovered neck and the left shoulder nude.”
Versailles is the largest palace in Europe, built in the 17th century by Louis 14, the famous sun king. The gardens of Versailles are beautiful. In this garden we can also come across statues of nudes.
Walking back to the train station we came across a commemoration of the liberation of Versailles by Americans in 1944. We chatted with French officers and military reserve officers and took pictures in with old jeeps/tanks.
On our way back we decided to go back by cab as the train from Versailles is too long.
We went to Italian kosher restaurant Iossa in 75017. Excellent Italian restaurant. Friendly service. We enjoyed it a lot. We ordered two dishes of pasta.
Then we walked to Musee Nissim de Camondo. We talked in the way of the Rothschilds, Pereire and Kraemer families… Very interesting jewish families. Leontine knew so much about their history. She answered all out questions with such precision and rapidity, which exceeded our expectations.
We wanted to do a quick visit to the museum of Camondo called today : Musée des Art Décoratif but, honestly, we had no interest in the permanent collection of furniture and Leontine adapted to our demands. So she understood what we wanted and showed us the rest : we loved the amazingly decorated kitchen and the Camondo family history and some little anecdotes about a stolen painting.
The museum is actually the private home of Moses of Camondo who in the beginning of the 19tj century collected furniture of the 18th century and rebuilt the family mansion to make it look like the Petit Trianon, the private palace of Queen Marie Antoinette.
Moses de Camondo died from sadness after his son Nissim, a pilot in the French army, was shot down during WW1. His daughter, Beatrice inherited the house and collection. She was murdered as well as her two children in Auschwitz.
From there, Leontine made us navigate the streets of Paris, talked about its Roman history, the evolution of the city and we finally took the subway system to go to the Louvre.
We visited only the Jewish highlights and we mostly loved the triptych with the story of Esther and the double painting with David.
The Louvre is the largest art museum in Europe, the building was originally a fortress, then changed into the Royal palace and became a museum after the French Revolution. The most famous painting is the Mona Lisa but Leontine made the Louvre more interesting thanks to her Jewish History spotting : We saw how Jews were painted during the medieval ages, the signs of their persecution, the paintings of Jerusalem, some Dutch Paintings and French paintings and few interesting artifacts from Israel and the Ain Ghazal found in the Jordan river.
From there she brought us back to the hotel. She was very kind and her English is perfect. Actually she is Dutch from Amsterdam, she lived in Paris all her adult life before she moved to Israel, became (again) a licensed tour guide and started giving Jerusalem tours in Israel.
Hotels in Paris and Kosher options
Paris is not really renowned for its many kosher hotels, with options to suit all budgets and styles. The Hotel Aida Opera is maybe a great option, located within the 9th district of the city and offering a Kosher daily breakfast.
Guests can enjoy a stylishly decorated room, with a flat-screen TV, a desk, and an empty minibar, as well as a private bathroom with a hairdryer, free toiletries, and a bathtub or a shower. The Art Hotel Lafayette is also a great choice, with a trendy Mediterranean restaurant and bar.
The Hôtel La Nouvelle République is a popular option, located in the centre of the city and offering superior comfort and convenience. All these hotels are supervised by the Beth Din de Paris, guaranteeing a high-quality kosher experience.
What you should do is contact Flora in advance, she will help you choose and even make the calls for you (You don’t need to get a tour with her for that, she is truly helpful)
About Wearing a kippa in Paris
No, wearing a kippah (also known as a yarmulke) in public in Paris is not recommended in all areas.
Exceptionally you can enjoy wearing a kippa without any problem in le Marais, le Sentier, and Paris 6th, 4th, 19th and 17th district where all jewish french people are wearing it. We even saw many hassidic and orthodox jews in the streets walking safely without any trouble. I would not believe the fake news about Paris, as Paris is really safe for the jews. That’s what I felt in my trip.
However, the French government has a policy of laïcité / secularism, which means that religion is not supposed to appear clearly in the public sphere. Although this policy is not enforced, as we saw many muslim wearing Hijab and many christian priests… it is best to respect it and avoid wearing such items of clothing in public can be provocative for the Locals.
If you’re looking to get a glimpse of Jewish life in Paris, Flora’s Instagram is a great place to start!
You can find plenty of posts from locals and tourists alike, chanting in synagogues with Flora, showcasing Jewish culture of France, as well as pictures of people wearing the traditional kippah.
You’ll also find posts from Jewish organizations and stores, giving you a sense of the vibrant and diverse Jewish community in Paris. Whether you’re looking for religious sites, community events, or just a vibrant atmosphere, Flora’s website and Instagram are a great place to explore Jewish life in Paris.