The Jews of France : a history from antiquity to the present
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Bibliographic Information
The Jews of France : a history from antiquity to the present
Princeton University Press, 2001 printing, c1999
- : pbk
- Other Title
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Histoire des juifs de France
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Note
Bibliography: p. [241]-270
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In the first English-language edition of a general, synthetic history of French Jewry from antiquity to the present, Esther Benbassa tells the intriguing tale of the social, economic, and cultural vicissitudes of a people in diaspora. With verve and insight, she reveals the diversity of Jewish life throughout France's regions, while showing how Jewish identity has constantly redefined itself in a country known for both the Rights of Man and the Dreyfus affair. Beginning with late antiquity, she charts the migrations of Jews into France and traces their fortunes through the making of the French kingdom, the Revolution, the rise of modern anti-Semitism, and the current renewal of interest in Judaism. As early as the fourth century, Jews inhabited Roman Gaul, and by the reign of Charlemagne, some figured prominently at court. The perception of Jewish influence on France's rulers contributed to a clash between church and monarchy that would culminate in the mass expulsion of Jews in the fourteenth century.
The book examines the re-entry of small numbers of Jews as New Christians in the Southwest and the emergence of a new French Jewish population with the country's acquisition of Alsace and Lorraine. The saga of modernity comes next, beginning with the French Revolution and the granting of citizenship to French Jews. Detailed yet quick-paced discussions of key episodes follow: progress made toward social and political integration, the shifting social and demographic profiles of Jews in the 1800s, Jewish participation in the economy and the arts, the mass migrations from Eastern Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, the Dreyfus affair, persecution under Vichy, the Holocaust, and the postwar arrival of North African Jews. Reinterpreting such themes as assimilation, acculturation, and pluralism, Benbassa finds that French Jews have integrated successfully without always risking loss of identity. Published to great acclaim in France, this book brings important current issues to bear on the study of Judaism in general, while making for dramatic reading.
Table of Contents
Translator's Note xi Note to the French Edition xiii Preface xv Foreword, by Aron Rodrique xxi Chapter 1. The Origins of the Jewish Presence in Gaul 3 During the Roman Conquest 3 Under the Franks 5 The Church and the Jews 5 The Carolingian "Golden Age" 7 Toward Royal Alliance 8 Ecclesiastical Reaction 9 Economy and Culture 11 Chapter 2. Nobles' Jews, Kings' Jews 13 In the Seigneuries 13 Kings' Jews 15 The Religious Zeal of Saint Louis 17 Between Church and Temporal Power is Conditional Liberty 20 The Era of Crises 21 Another Return 22 North/South 24 Chapter 3. Jewish Life in the Middle Ages 26 Communal Space 26 Cultural Space 33 Chapter 4. The Jews of the South 41 The Comtat Venaissin and Avignon 41 New Christians and Jews. Spanish and Portuguese in France 47 Chapter 5. The Jews of the East and of Paris 58 Metz and Lorraine 58 Alsace 64 Paris 70 Chapter 6. On the Way to Emancipation 73 The Enlightenment and the Jews 73 A Policy of Emancipation? 79 Chapter 7. New Perspectives 84 The Terror 85 Under Napoleon 86 The Grand Sanhedrin 89 The Consistories 90 Internal Divisions 92 In a Secular State 94 Chapter 8. Entry into French Society 96 A Spectacular Integration 97 From Tradition to Integration 99 Paris. The Nerve Center 103 Socioeconomic Profile 106 Demography 110 Chapter 9. Advancement and Identity 114 Advancement through Education 114 In the Arts and Literature 115 In the Academy and State Administration 117 Alternative Paths 119 And Women 123 Integration and Jewishness 124 From Jew to Israelite 125 Modern Solidarity 128 Scholarship and the Perpetuation of Tradition 131 Chapter 10. Breaches in Franco-Judaism 134 Immigration 134 Anti-Semitism 137 The Affair 141 Zionism 146 Chapter 11. Between the Wars 148 Migration 148 Neighborhoods and Trades 149 Conception of Judaism 151 Revival of Anti-Semitism 153 Reexamining, Judaism 156 Youth Movements 157 Repositioning Zionism 159 The Nazi Peril 161 Chapter 12. The Dark Years 166 The War 166 From Citizen to Pariah 167 The Roundups 171 Public Opinion 174 The UGIF 175 The Resistance 177 Chapter 13. Recovery 179 The Influx of North African Jews 185 The New Face of French Jewry 189 Chronology 201 Notes 221 Bibliography 241 Index 271
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