Paris Pletzl: A Glimpse at Jewish Paris

By Arnie Greenberg, ultours@aol.com

It's like a culture shock. Suddenly, the language changes. All at once the stores offer Jewish books, religious artifacts, and Jewish style food.

There are people on the streets wearing black and sporting kipahs (or skullcaps). An orthodox Jew keeps his head covered in the presence of God and God is everywhere. It is a narrow street with people darting in and out to enjoy a quick falafel, that middle-eastern fast food with an acquired taste.

A young woman sells halvah by the 100 grams as others rush by on their way to Goldenberg's. Here they can sit down with a glass of tea and enjoy all the delicatessen products they remember from Mama's kitchen. Even the word delicatessen conjures up memories of middle European or Germanic food...Essen means 'to eat' and we all know where delicate comes from.

On both sides the stores are filled with locals buying menorahs for
Hanukah. A menorah is a candleholder or a place to burn oil. One places a main candle called the 'shamus' on top or at one end. The flame from that candle is used to ignite each other candle with one more added each night.

There are eight nights in all. One requires many candles. You can do the math or buy a prepared box, good for one year which is what most of the people in the store were doing. Hanukah is in the winter. It is a happy festival of lights. I remember how children were given small amounts of money, 'Hanukah gelt,' and we ate special potato pancakes called 'latkes.'

Obviously, the tradition still lives in France even with the community of Jews being so small. And other traditions live on. I stood in line at the Korcarz bakery, restaurant and tea salon. People were buying 'Challah,' that beautiful, braided egg bread found in Jewish homes around the world.

They were also buying pastry or bread rolls. I spotted one round and almost flat roll, which I knew as a 'pletzl'. How fitting, I thought, since the Jewish quarter, now very small, was called the 'Pletzl'.

The roll has onions on the top. The sweet of the onions and the addition of jam makes this old world find an excellent addition to hot breakfast coffee. I bought one and ate it today.

Memories are made of this. I am not implying that the Jews of Paris live in the Pletzl today. It is a place of shops, restaurants, and businesses with a Jewish need or theme.

It is life being carried on by a few for visitors and natives. In the summer months it is crowded with tourists gathering in what is certainly a relic of the past.

There are synagogues, social agencies, an Israeli Consulate and Embassy in Paris. There is even an office for The United Jewish Appeal. But none of these organizations, agencies or offices is on rue des Rosiers (street of rose shrubs). They are spread out as Jews are, all over Paris.

The Pletzl is the gathering place for visitors, for people needing special religious articles or a sense of familiarity with their traditions. It's the traditions that keep the community going.

There is a strong sense that it will survive. There is a sharp thorn of tradition that protects it. Perhaps that's why they named it after 'rosiers,' for they, too, have sharp thorns.

Visit at will any time of the year, and in the meantime, Happy Hanukah! (Korcarz Bakery is at #29, rue des Rosiers, Paris 70004).