High Holiday fever has gripped the Rue des Rosiers, the main street of the old Jewish quarter, in the heart of the French capital.
Brisk sales of lulavim, etrogim and besamim were reported Sunday evening in the quarter, as Jews prepared for the joyous Sukkot holiday that follows this week’s somber observance of Yom Kippur.
The lulav, a green bouquet of willow, palm and myrtle branches, and the etrog, a lemon-like fruit, are used in the synagogue service during Sukkot. Besamim are fragrant spices sniffed at the conclusion of Jewish holidays.
On the sidewalks of the narrow street, Lubavitch Hasidim were calling the attention of passers-by to the perfection of their lulavim. Complete Sukkot sets — lulav, etrog and spices — were selling for 80 francs, or about $13.
Outside one of the Kosher butcher shops, two exhausted shochets (ritual slaughterers) wore long white aprons stained from head to toe with blood. They stood smoking amid the piled up crates of squawking chickens.
By 7 in the evening, the bakeries were still churning out golden loaves of challah for their customers.
Said an old timer: “This takes me back 40 years ago, when the only language you could hear was Yiddish.”
But times have changed on the Rue des Rosiers. The once mostly-Ashkenazic population is gone, replaced by Sephardic Jews who emigrated to France from North Africa. They too are giving way to a new population, including blacks from the French Antilles.
But for wide-eyed visitors, who tried in vain to fan away the overpowering aroma of poultry, the Rue des Rosiers is still, for now, a haven for Jewish tradition.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
