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DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlyMost club members "From guestwriters" do not have their own blog, but shall write under their own name as "Guestspeaker" on the Lifestyle magazine Stepping Toes.
Those who do have their own website can be looked at underneath:
Please do find those independent authors their recent postings on their own website:
Van de schrijvers die een eigen blog hebben kan u op hun site als laatste artikels vinden:
Over the past two weeks I have been trying to get some order again in my office and under a fierce tidying session have thrown all unnecessary papers out the door. This morning, as I sat at the breakfast table and watched the paper collection drive by, I suddenly remembered that I had put all […]
In de afgelopen 2 weken en heb ik geprobeerd weer orde in mijn bureau te krijgen en heb onder een hevige opruimingssessie alle onnodige papieren de deur uitgegooid. Deze ochtend toen ik aan de ontbijttafel zat en de papier ophaling voorbij zag rijden, dacht ik er plotseling aan dat ik al mijn diplomas en certicifaten […]
Britain is a rampantly competitive society. The story goes that Great Britain has evolved from an aristocratic dystopia built on slavery to a civilised democracy with a welfare state. Britain might be more accurately described as a proletarian nation overseen by a cosmopolitan elite. The Big Island is not the only one just looking at […]
JetPack raises a question where I am now putting down something that would belong in a private diary. But I have never maintained a diary. Now, at a more mature age, perhaps we get homesick for certain times or memories come to cloud the mind again.So here is a writing that could have been plucked […]
How has technology changed your job? Modern technology For sure, without modern technology, I would not be here already for a long time. For years I would have been under the sole, having become dust in the earth. After two near deaths, and three heart attacks, I have now once more the opportunity to revalidate […]
Men zou me best kunnen plaatsen onder de overgevoelige types. Al van kleins af was ik erg gevoelig en trok me veel te veel dingen aan. Zelfs als ik een film bekijk kunnen tranen over mijn wangen rollen. Heel wat zaken waar ik geen vat kan op hebben, raken me toch zodanig, dat ik er […]
One could best place me among the hypersensitive types. Since childhood, I was very sensitive and attracted far too many things. Even when I watch a film, tears can roll down my cheeks. A lot of things I can’t control nevertheless affect me to the extent that I sometimes get frustrated. On the other hand, […]
New from WCF Video “The Israel-Hamas War What should Christians think about it?” The October 7 terror attack in Israel and the war in Gaza now grip our world. What should Christians make of it? Torn between feelings of compassion and their beliefs, one small group recently met to discuss peace, faith, and hope. WATCH […]
Upcoming Events Próximos Eventos Join our webinar: “Education for Sustainable Development in Practice: Tips from Educators” (in English) Join our webinar on Education for Sustainable Development on Tuesday, 28 May at 5:00 PM CET (9:00 AM Costa Rica time). This event will bring together three educators from different educational contexts to share best practices on […]
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD bioethics Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute shuts its doors Michael Cook A powerhouse at Oxford generating controversial bioethical ideas has closed its doors. The Future of Humanity Institute, headed by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom, opened in 2005 and was wound up earlier this month. A valedictory message on the FHI website said […]
The World Medical Association has called for a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza. The resolution was initiated by the British Medical Association. Dr Lujain AlQodmani, the Kuwaiti president of the WMA, declared that: “WMA is demanding a bilateral, negotiated, and sustainable ceasefire in order to protect all civilians, secure the release and safe passage of all […]
In April President Biden had said he expected an attack on Israel from Iran “sooner than later” as Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel in a prelude to a feared Iranian revenge attack. Israel is braced for a potentially major escalation in its conflict with Iran after a US intelligence assessment warned that Tehran could […]
BBC, May 8, 2024 Event For the fifth time, Vladimir Putin took the long walk through the Grand Kremlin Palace to the St Andrew’s Throne Hall. There he took the oath of office and was sworn in as Russia’s president for a new six-year term. “We are a united and great people. Together we will […]
The Israeli military has established a new mountaineer unit tasked with carrying out operations across the country’s hostile borders with Lebanon and Syria amid worsening tensions over the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. “We are in a multi-front war—Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria, and Gaza, and also farther away,” IDF Chief of the General […]
The Times, January 24, 2024 Event Two cargo ships sailing close to the Gulf of Aden came under attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Wednesday night, the White House said — forcing the US navy to intervene as the Iran-backed militia intensified its maritime assault on commercial shipping. Houthi forces fired three anti-ship ballistic […]
The Independent, January 19, 2024 Event It is hard to escape the impression of a theatre of military conflict that is inexorably growing – to the east and the south, if not yet to the north and the west. And if you look backwards, rather than forwards, the Hamas massacres of Israelis on 7 October, and Israel’s all-out […]
VOA, January 12, 2024 Event Thursday’s retaliatory attacks by U.S. and British forces on Iranian-backed Houthis inside Yemen have prompted support and condemnation from the international community. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani “strongly slammed the military strikes by the U.S. and Britain,” in a statement, calling it “an arbitrary move” that “clearly breached Yemen’s […]
The Times, January 12, 2024 Event Explosions were heard across Yemen late on Thursday night as British and US forces launched strikes on Houthi targets, after the Iranian-backed group ignored warnings to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea. Rishi Sunak, who had authorised the military action hours earlier and briefed ministers in an emergency […]
Event Guardian, October 20, 2023 Joe Biden has drawn a direct, provocative link between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’s attack on Israel as he urged Americans not to walk away from their role as “a beacon to the world”. In only the second Oval Office address of his presidency, Biden said he would ask […]
Hamas launched a surprise attack Saturday morning unprecedented in its scope and deadly impact. The phrase “It’s chaos” was heard repeatedly, from newsreaders, from families and occasionally from people caught in the raids, whispering desperately into their phones. Event The Times of Israel, October 7, 2023 Hezbollah praises the massive Hamas operation against Israel, and […]
Roselis Von Sass (The Great Pyramid Reveals Its Secret) drawing inspiration from The Grail Message (In the Light of Truth) by Abdruschin
One can never reach true self-knowledge without having come to a knowledge of the world. We cannot come to a knowledge of the world without self-knowledge. Neither can we attain self-knowledge without a knowledge of the world. It is like the beating of a pendulum which must swing back and forth. […]
Led by the reading plan I’m using this year, I’ve just finished reading Judges. It’s a book that presents a number of challenges. It can help a little bit if we understand the structure. The first 16 chapters relate the history of this period. Then chapters 17-21 present two example incidents, both of which occurred […]
Christadelphian Scripture Study Service News NEW BOOK The world stands on the brink of the most momentous events in history: the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the establishment of God’s Kingdom here on earth. Those who have not yet made the commitment to follow Jesus – and even those who have – may […]
Reuters, May 6, 2024 Event Russia said on Monday May 6, it would practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what the Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has repeatedly warned of rising nuclear risks – […]
The Times, April 15, 2024 Event Russia’s navy has shipped thousands of tonnes of weaponry to Libya, using ties with a local warlord to create a bridgehead through which it can bolster its military presence in Africa. The vessel, escorted by a navy frigate, entered the port of Tobruk in eastern Libya on April 8 […]
The Times, April 9, 2024 Event President Putin has compared himself to Jesus Christ as he quoted the Bible to explain his divine mission schooling Russia’s youth in “traditional” values. The Russian president has frequently portrayed himself as a stalwart defender of the Christian faith against the “Satanic” West. But in a revealing insight into […]
Reuters, April 16, 2024 Event Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged all sides in the Middle East to refrain from action that would trigger a new confrontation which he warned would be fraught with catastrophic consequences for the region, the Kremlin said. Putin, who has forged much closer ties with the Islamic Republic since […]
Reuters, April 4, 2024 Event Russia and NATO are now in “direct confrontation”, the Kremlin said as the U.S.-led alliance marked its 75th anniversary on Thursday. NATO‘s successive waves of eastern enlargement are a fixation of President Vladimir Putin, who went to war in Ukraine two years ago with the stated aim of preventing the […]
The Times, February 23 , 2024 Event Israel wants operational freedom throughout Gaza “without a time limit” as part of its postwar plan for the territory, Binyamin Netanyahu has told his war cabinet. In his long-awaited “day after” plan outlining Israel’s post-war intentions for Gaza, the Israeli prime minister also called for a “demilitarised, deradicalised” […]
Jerusalem Post, February 19, 2024 Event Russia has invited Palestinian groups to Moscow, which could bring together Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and other terrorist groups*. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said over the weekend that Russia invited Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow at some point in late February, the latest Russian move to […]
Arab News, February 15, 2024 Event Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has spilled over into neighboring countries and sent shockwaves across the wider region, transforming Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen into battlefields in an escalating proxy war between the US and Iran. This mounting instability has wrought havoc on the economies of the […]
Elia wiens naam betekent ‘voor wie Jehovah God is’. In het Grieks en het Nieuwe Testament is de naam Elias. Hij was de grote profeet die door wonderen en tekenen geweldig ijverde voor de zaak van zijn Heer Jehovah Die hij aanzag als de Enige Ware God. Hij vertrouwde op de verhoring van zijn gebed en is een van de meest merkwaardige personen uit het Oude Testament.
“Want zie, Ik schep een nieuwe hemel en een nieuwe aarde; aan wat vroeger was, zal niet gedacht worden. ” De eerste keer dat wij de uitdrukking “nieuwe hemelen en een nieuwe aarde” in het Nieuwe Testament tegenkomen is in de tweede brief van de apostel Petrus, waar hij waarschuwt voor het vergaan van “de […]
Gemeenschappen hebben ruimtes nodig om te vertoeven. Als men gezinsleden heeft gaan die uitbreiden en zijn meerdere huizen nodig. Ook voor geloofsgemeenschappen is het zo dat die best uitbreiden en aldus nieuwe plekken vormen om samen te komen. In 2023 werden er enkele mensen in de ecclesia Brussel-Leuven voorbereid om ook tot onze gemeenschap toe […]
Een kijk op de alsmaar ouder wordende uiterlijke mens en een vernieuwd lichaam.
Het getuigenis van de apostelen De geschriften van het Nieuwe Testament laten geen ruimte voor het geloof dat niet God maar Christus de Schepper was. De apostel Johannes beschrijft in het boek Openbaring een hoogst symbolisch gezicht dat hij op het eiland Patmos had gezien. “Er stond een troon in de hemel en iemand was […]
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world? Looking at the world, being sad, noticing that so many people are misled by big institutions that claim to be the only right church, whilst they do not follow at all the Bible teachings, nor Christ his teachings and do […]
Bible prophecies do not deal only with the ancient past. They also accurately foretell events that are taking place in our day. But at the moment we focus at numerous prophecies preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures (commonly called the Old Testament) which long before the man was born told about events which would happen in his time and around him, his betrayal, humiliation, torture, execution, death, and burial. From those writings of the Old and New Testament nobody should have doubts who that man is who is called Immanuel, the son of man and Messiah, born out of the root of Jess in the tribe of king David.
In Scripture, all things are directed towards a man who was a servant of servants, in whom people should come to have faith. First we saw the connection with Eve and her seed, and in this article you may see the connection with Abraham.
Already in the Old Testament we find the focus on a son of man who is called the son of God, who shall be the most pure set apart (holy) servant of God who was been told about in the Garden of Eden, to be the one bruised.
Many Old Testament writers wrote about the prophet to come, about whom is spoke in the book of Moses and who shall be the special “Seed of a woman” given by God and who will bruise Satan’s head whilst his heel would be bruised with nails on the wooden stake.
Review Questions on Chapter Five Who became “fishers of men”? What accusation did the Jews bring against Jesus? How was Levi called and what happened? What illustrations does Jesus use? + Preceding Luke 5 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Luke 5:1-11 – Fishermen Follow Jesus Luke 5 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Luke 5:12-16 – Healing a […]
Luke 5:33-39 – The Old and the New || Matthew 9:15, 16;[1] Mark 2:19;[2] John 3:29[3] LK5:33 Now these said to Jesus: “The disciples of John fast often with prayers just as the Pharisees, but your disciples [only] eat and drink.” LK5:34 Jesus asked them: “Can you force the friends of the bridegroom to fast […]
Luke 5:27-32 – Tax-man Levi Called || Matthew 9:9-12;[1] Mark 2:13-17[2] LK5:27 Now later Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office. Jesus said to him: “Follow me.” LK5:28 So Levi rose, and leaving everything behind,[3] he followed Jesus. LK5:29 Then Levi arranged a great banquet for Jesus […]
Luke 5:17-26 – Who Can Forgive Sins? || Matthew 9:1-8;[1] Mark 2:1-12[2] LK5:17 Now it occurred during those days when Jesus was teaching some Pharisees and teachers of the Law were sitting around – for they had arrived from every village in Galilee and Judea, including Jerusalem – and YHWH’s power was with him to […]
Luke 5:12-16 – Healing a Leper and Then Privacy || Matthew 8:1-4;[1] Mark 1:40-45[2] LK5:12 Now it happened while Jesus was visiting one of the villages, look, there was a man full of leprosy.[3] When he saw Jesus he fell on his face before him and begged: “Master, if you are willing and able cleanse […]
Beth Snider on the Odd News Show writes about a mysterious large green stone discovered at the Temple complex in Hattusa, the capital of the ancient Hittite Empire, standing on a raised platform and measures 215 by 140 feet (65 by 42 metres). The Hattusa Green Stone is a roughly cubic block of nephrite standing […]
Did Lamech kill Cain? What happened to Cain in the Bible? In the Book of Genesis, we are told about Cain’s birth, his violent act of fratricide and his subsequent exile. We learn that he married and had descendants, but the Bible is strangely mute about his death. How did Cain die? If he did […]
Read Elie Wiesel’s essay on Cain and Abel in the Bible as it originally appeared in Bible Review, February 1998. First republished in BHD June 1, 2015. Cain and Abel: The first two brothers of the first family in history. The only brothers in the world. The saddest, the most tragic. Why do they hold […]
Op maandag 22 april zal onze broeder, Marcus Ampe ter operatie in het ziekenhuis Gasthuisberg te Leuven verblijven. Hierdoor zal hij in de ecclesiae van Brussel-Leuven, Anderlecht, Mons-Lille de avonddienst voor 14 Nisan niet kunnen voorgaan. Wij hopen dat onze leden in hun kleine kringen het vergaderen niet zullen nalaten en Jezus laatste avondmaal in […]
“In vain do they worship Me, teaching as teachings the commands of men.” (Matthew 15:9) SPECIALS SPECIALS SPECIALS SPECIALS Every 10 You Order You Will Get 5 Extra Free Copies. Greetings Supporters, If you are not aware of the existence of this book, it would do you service, to all those who sense something not […]
First of all to come to a good relationship with some one, one has to talk with that person and has to listen to what that person has to tell. God talks to the people by the way of His Word, presented to mankind by the many Bible translations, so that most people can read […]
The One Who created everything and Who gave His Word, did all He did with a purpose and out of love. The Bible teaches us that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Everything God does is motivated by love. Out of love created man in His image also with the intention to have a good relationship […]
In the previous writings we saw that the Divine Creator gave His Word to the world so that people could come to know Him. The Bible is a gift from God. It gives us information that we can’t find anywhere else. For example, it tells us that God created the heavens, the earth, and the […]
It is never too late to start the good habit of regularly reading the Bible, a Book of hope and comfort.
At the beginning of the new schoolyear there is a good reason from now on to invest each day in meeting with God.
Medinat Yisra’el in 2024 has a government that committed treason to Bnei Yisroel and jettisoned God’s rules and values.
The Guardian, May 11, 2024 Event The Israeli military has told residents of neighborhoods in central Rafah to evacuate, signaling a major expansion of its military operations in the city and threatening the displacement of hundreds of thousands more people. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt what it said […]
Financial Times, April 18, 2024 Event The US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Thursday that would have granted a Palestinian state full UN membership, killing a move proposed by Algeria. Twelve of the 15 members of the UN Security Council, including Russia, China and France, voted in favour of the measure. The UK […]
Over the last six months, the Israeli war against Hamas has escalated significantly. In May 2021, violence erupted between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in East Jerusalem, leading to a series of rocket attacks from Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip. This led to an 11-day conflict in which Israel launched a series […]
Israel News, February 29, 2024 Event The Iranian regime has given Hezbollah the go-ahead to launch a large-scale attack against Israel within certain parameters, fearing that Israel plans to attack Lebanon in the near future, the Arabic Post reported on Wednesday. The Lebanese terror militia and Israel have traded blows since Hezbollah began its daily attacks against […]
The Telegraph, April 19, 2024 Event The message sent by Israel’s limited military strike on Iran depends entirely on where you sit – and that “ambiguity” is very much intentional. The good news is that both sides appear to have stepped back from the brink. The bad news is that the ongoing fighting in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and […]
The Times, March 21, 2024 Event Binyamin Netanyahu has told senior US Republicans that Israel “won’t stop” its planned Rafah offensive, even if it lacks American support. The Israeli prime minister spoke to senators at a lunch in Washington via videolink, after earlier admitting “disagreements” with President Biden over the potential military operation in the […]
Daily Telegraph, February 23, 2024 Event A Hezbollah “military compound” in Lebanon has been hit by an Israeli strike amid ongoing cross-border fire as tensions intensify in the Middle East. Hezbollah claimed that two paramedics affiliated with the group and one of their fighters were killed in a “direct” attack on a civil defence centre […]
From older news, which should not have been missed: The Telegraph, January 29, 2024 Event Are we on the brink of a third world war? In the age of “peak apocalypse”, it is easy to laugh off such a question. After all, we already find ourselves on permanent pandemic-watch, are besieged daily by predictions of ecological […]
Israel World News, January 21, 2024 Event Israel is giving Hezbollah ten more days to move away from its border and then its military will significantly escalate its reactions to the terrorists’ rain of rockets on northern Israel, The Washington Post reported Friday. Although the end-of-January deadline isn’t absolute, according to officials cited by the paper, the Israelis […]
Bij de Parasja Nitsawiem 5782 kijken wij uit naar een sjana tova oemetoeka voor ons allen.
Dit jaar zijn er nog 2 sjabbatot tot Soekot en is er voor elke sjabbat een parasja en de sjabbat voorafgaande aan Rosj Hasjana lezen wij nu de de parasja Nitsawiem.
Verwonderlijk kreeg ik vandaag het bericht van WordPress dat ik tegen een jubileum mag aankijken. Gefeliciteerd met je jubileum bij WordPress.com! Je hebt je 5 jaar geleden geregistreerd op WordPress.com.Bedankt voor het gebruiken van onze service! Ga zo door met bloggen. Wat zijn die vijf jaren voorbij gevlogen. Voordat mijn pen al mijn gedachten kon […]
Kijkend naar de geschiedenis van het Joodse Volk in Oekraïne staan zij nu weer op het punt dat er vele doden onder hen kunnen vallen.
Met Rosj Hasjana denken wij aan de wondere scheppingsdaad van de Allerhoogste. Spijtig genoeg moeten wij toegeven dat de mensheid van die schepping een janboel heeft gemaakt.
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world? In Christendom there are lots of denominations but oh such a few, keep really to the biblical teachings. A lot of churches claim they are the only right church. In case they would follow all the teachings of Christ Jesus, […]
The apostle Paul wrote about the dispersion, the dispersed House of Israel. They had been “without covenant“, but Paul was sent out to recover them. So they were “grafted in again“ (Romans 11/23). Or, Grafted back in“. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been […]
Rob Mac wonders when the door to door will return? He wrote this a while back, and went sharing it again. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses hate the door to door ministry, although they won’t readily admit it. Many Jehovah’s Witnesses have developed ‘creative’ ways of counting their time doing this work, and many strategies for avoiding actually […]
Constantine wanted unity in his realm, and his call in 325 C.E. for a council of his bishops at Nicaea, located in the Eastern, Greek-speaking domain of his empire, across the Bosporus from the new city of Constantinople was in a certain way his goal to achieve some agreement by which many could live. Constantine […]
Superstition, misunderstanding and hatred caused the Christians trouble for many generations, and governmental repression they had to suffer occasionally, as a result of popular disturbances. No systematic effort was made by the imperial authorities to put an end to the movement until the reign of the Roman emperor (249–251) who fought the Gothic invasion of […]
Babies don’t come with instructions. It’s a learn-as-you go game. Trial and error along the way. Babies don’t come with instructions. Childhood scars and sweet memories Layered with guilt, regret and love. Babies don’t come with instructions. It’s a learn-as-you go game. Instruction Manual
God heeft de wereld van Zijn woord en Zijn profeten voorzien, maar niet altijd wensten de mensen van die leiders of profeten weten, waardoor er verscheidene groeperingen ontstonden die elk dachten of denken de juiste aanbiddingswijze te hebben.
Does one need proof to come to a certain belief? We can look at the signs in nature and find out what happened to certain people in the past, such as Noah and Paul. With the Book of Books, Allah has provided the world with His Interpretative Word.
Heeft men bewijzen nodig om tot een bepaald geloof te komen? Wij kunnen naar de tekenen in de natuur kijken en nagaan wat er in het verleden met bepaalde mensen, zoals Noach en Paulus is gebeurd. Met het Boek der boeken heeft Allah de wereld van Zijn Alzeggend Woord voorzien.
When we speak about “Faith” (iman) we look at acceptance of the Belief in the existence and oneness of God (Allah).and the existence of the Book of books of which God is the author, existing of five main parts, the Torah (revealed to Moses),,the Psalms (revealed to David).and the Writings of Kings and prophets as well as the Gospel (revealed to Jesus) with the writings of his apostles,
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This club of writers was initiated by Marcus Ampe founder of Lifestyle magazine Stepping Toes
Dr. Miller looking at Jews in France
About the Author Dr. Yvette Alt Miller
Yvette Alt Miller earned her B.A. at Harvard University. She completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Jewish Studies at Oxford University, and has a Ph.D. In International Relations from the London School of Economics. She lives with her family in Chicago, and has lectured internationally on Jewish topics. Her book Angels at the table: a Practical Guide to Celebrating Shabbat takes readers through the rituals of Shabbat and more, explaining the full beautiful spectrum of Jewish traditions with warmth and humor. It has been praised as “life-changing”, a modern classic, and used in classes and discussion groups around the world.
Jews and France: 11 Interesting Facts
As France headed to the polls, Dr. Miller presented some fascinating points about Jews and France through the ages on Aish.com
As France went to the polls in the first round of its presidential election, France’s 500,000-strong Jewish community was in the spotlight: two front-runners, Marine Le Pen and Jean Luc Melenchon, having been accused of making high-profile anti-Semitic comments.
Long before France’s unpredictable election, Jews have been making history in France. Here are 11 interesting facts about Jews and France through the ages.
Greatest Jewish Scholar
Rashi, acronym of Rabbi Shlomo Yitzḥaqi (born 1040, Troyes, Champagne—died July 13, 1105, Troyes), renowned medieval French commentator on the Bible and the Talmud (the authoritative Jewish compendium of law, lore, and commentary).
A modern translation of Rashi’s commentary on the Chumash, published by Artscroll
Rashi, as the great Medieval Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki is known, is the most widely consulted Jewish rabbi of all time. His commentaries on the Bible and Talmud are considered crucial to understanding these Jewish texts. Rashi’s explanations help us understand the Torah and at times, a knowledge of French can help us understand Rashi.
Monument in memory of Rashi in Troyes, France
That’s because this greatest of Jewish scholars had humble beginnings. Rashi lived in the northern French town of Troyes from 1040 to 1105. Out of a total population of 10,000, Troyes was also home to about 100 Jewish families. Jews travelled from far and wide to consult Rashi. Many of these visiting Jews lodged with nearby Christian families.
Troyes centre ville – capital of the department of Aube in north-central France
In some respects, Rashi was very French. He earned his living as a vintner (wine maker), and incorporated some French words in his commentaries. A typical example comes in Rashi’s discussion of the Torah’s description of the beautiful golden Ark that our ancestors were commanded to build, which stood in the Temple in Jerusalem. Its gold ornaments were joined together, or soulderix (soldered in Old French), Rashi explained (Rashi on Ex. 24:18).
Rashi’s sons-in-law and grandsons – who continued to live in northern France – became rabbis of nearly his towering stature, penning additional commentaries on the Torah and leading European Jewry. Their scholarship continues to define Jewish life to this day.
Talmud on Trial
In the year 1239, Paris was witness to a very strange trial; the Talmud was accused of insulting Christianity.
The Talmud was defended by the Chief Rabbi of Paris, Rabbi Yechiel ben Joseph, though there were restrictions on what Rabbi Yechiel could say. Leading the charge against the Talmud was Nicholas Donin, a Jewish convert to Christianity who seemingly harbored an intense hatred of his fellow Jews or, possibly, a desire to impress his new Christian co-religionists. He was encouraged to make fun of the Talmud, quoting its text out of context and distorting its meaning. Presiding over the trial was none other than the Queen Mother of France, Blanche of Castille, and several Archbishops.
After hearing the “evidence”, the Talmud was found guilty and condemned as “dangerous to Christianity”. Volumes of the Talmud were confiscated. In 1242, 24 cartloads of hand-written tractates of the Talmud, representing countless thousands of hours of work, were brought to a public square in central Paris and burned.
Medieval Crusades
In 1095, Pope Urban II called for a holy Crusade to conquer Jerusalem and wrest it from Muslim rule. (The temptation to launch a crusade might have been closer to home. Historians note that the harvest of 1095 was particularly bad in northern Europe; calling for a crusade was a way to distract the population and encourage them to plunder wealth in other lands.)
100,000 men signed up for the Crusade. (The term “crusade” refers to the French word for the crosses they sewed on their clothes.) Soon, their attention turned from conquering Jerusalem to attacking Jewish communities along their path. In three waves, spanning a hundred years, over ten thousand Jews were murdered in Europe and Israel. Frenzied demonization of and violence against Jews became a hallmark of the Crusader period.
France’s Jews were periodically expelled during this intense period of Jew-hatred, as well. In 1182, and again regularly in the 13th Century, Jews were forced to leave French cities, only to be let in again a few years later. In 1306, a more organized expulsion was decreed by France’s King Philip. Short of money after war with Flanders, King Philip decided to force French Jews to flee, and compound their property.
The decree was handed down on July 21, 1306, which was Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of mourning on which we mourn the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, as well as other calamitous events in Jewish history. The following day, July 22, 1306, 100,000 Jews were arrested. France’s Jews were ordered to leave the country within one month or face death. French Jews were allowed to leave only 12 sous (cents) apiece. Their property was confiscated, auctioned off, and all proceeds reverted to the French crown.
(King Philip’s decree was reversed by his son King Louis, but Jews continued to be banned from France and were ordered to leave in 1322 and 1394 again, before returning slowly over the subsequent years.)
French Chocolate’s Jewish Origins
Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, and the introduction of the Inquisition into Portugal in 1536, some Jews fled to the French town of Bayonne, near the Spanish-French border. There, they used their contacts with Jewish traders in the New World to import materials and know-how to process cocoa, a New World product which was just starting to take Europe by storm.
Dark Chocolate with Espelette pepper.
Bayonne Jews adapted cocoa recipes to European tastes, creating sweet versions of chocolate and using additives like milk, butter and nuts. Jews built the Bayonne area into a chocolate center, but their very success undid them: once local Christians learned how to make chocolates too, they petitioned local authorities to ban Jews from the chocolate industry.
Jews were only permitted to resume making chocolate in 1767 when a court annulled the decree. In 2013, the town of Bayonne formally recognized the contribution of Jews to the region’s famed chocolates. “Since we are the inheritors of the Jews’ savoir faire”, explained Jean-Michel Barate, head of Bayonne’s Chocolate Academy, “it was our duty to thank them….” and to right the historical wrong of overlooking the fact that it was Jewish refugees who created sweet chocolate confections as we know them today.
Equality
Palais des Papes – Avignon in south-eastern France in the department of Vaucluse on the left bank of the Rhône river
Although Jews were banned from France for many years after the 14th Century, by the 1700s about 40,000 Jews lived in France, particularly in Bordeaux and Avignon, which never formally expelled their Jewish inhabitants.
These 40,000 Jews became the first Jews in European history to gain full and equal rights with the French Revolution. The decision wasn’t easy: France’s new rulers deliberated for over two years about whether they should extend their new regime’s ideal of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” to Jews. When they did, in 1791, it was seemingly with some regret: “The Jews” explained a leading revolutionary, “conscious of the error of their ways, have felt the need for a fatherland; we have offered them ours.”
Napoleon’s “Sanhedrin”
The Emperor Napoleon styled himself “defender” of the Jews, noting that he had (unsuccessfully) tried to conquer the Land of Israel for France. Back home, even though Jews were nominally recognized as citizens, Napoleon harbored much of the intense anti-Jewish prejudice that was typical in France at the time.
Seeking to assure himself that Jews were indeed “Frenchmen”, Napoleon decided to invite Jews from throughout France to participate in what Napoleon called, with much pomp, a “National Assembly of Notables”. Napoleon deliberately scheduled the Assembly for a Saturday; the “notables” he invited turned up despite the assembly’s scheduling on Shabbat, and voted yes or no to a series of questions Napoleon had devised to ascertain whether Jews could indeed be French. The “notables” were asked whether Jews could engage in manual labor, whether they could marry Christian women, whether Jews would help defend France, etc.
Cover page to siddur used at the Grand Sanhedrin of Napoleon, 1807.
Not satisfied with his Assembly, Napoleon sent word to the governors of France to elect Jewish representatives to a new group, which Napoleon grandly named the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish court that governed Jewish conduct for hundreds of years. Like the Sanhedrin of old, this new “Sanhedrin” contained 71 members, was governed by a leader (picked by Napoleon) whom he gave the traditional Hebrew title Nasi, or “prince”, and was meant to issue new decrees for the Jewish people.
Napoleon’s “Sanhedrin” met in Paris with great pomp, and the puppets making up this group did indeed go along with many of Napoleon’s requested declarations. They declared that Jews serving in the French army were free of Jewish mitzvot, or commandments, and (echoing long-held prejudice against Jews, who’d long been forced into the money-lending business by European rulers) declared money-lending illegal for Jews. Even the stooges on Napoleon’s “Sanhedrin” drew the line at some of the Emperor’s requests, refusing to countenance mixed marriages, for instance.
Despite the assurances of this “Sanhedrin”, Napoleon went on to issue a host of infamous Jewish decrees, restricting Jewish rights to live in certain parts of France, suspending repayment of debts to Jews for ten years, and limiting Jews’ rights to go into some areas of business.
Official Names
Another legacy of Napoleon’s rule was an official list of approved names that could be given to babies born in France. Most of these were Christian saints’ names, though a number of Jewish names were included on the list, as well.
The list was abolished in 1993, though even in recent years French authorities have banned some names. In 2016, for instance, a French judge ruled against two parents who wanted to name their newborn Mohamed Merah, after the terrorist who murdered a rabbi and three children outside of a Jewish school in the French city of Toulouse in 2012.
The Dreyfus Affair
Jews were ostensibly equal French citizens, but the dramatic 1894 trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus exposed deep anti-Jewish hatred in France. After being arrested on manufactured charges of spying for Germany (Dreyfus was later exonerated; the real culprit had fled to England and some of Dreyfus’ fellow soldiers forged evidence against him), Dreyfus was publicly humiliated and sent to prison, while a mob of French men and women shouted “Death to Jews!”
Throughout Dreyfus’ trial, French Catholic authorities continued to stir up Jew-hatred. The intense bitterness made many in France conclude there was little future for Jews in France. Emile Zola, the non-Jewish great French author, wrote in 1896 “For some years I have been following with increasing surprise and disgust the campaign which some people are trying to carry on in France against the Jews. This seems to me monstrous….” Two years later, Zola wrote his famous open letter, beginning with J’accuse, or “I accuse”, directed against French President France Felix Faure, complaining about irregularities in Dreyfus’ trial. Zola was prosecuted and found guilty of libel and fled to England for a year to avoid imprisonment.
Another observer came to a similar conclusion during Dreyfus’ trial, realizing that Jews faced an uncertain future in France. Theodore Herzl was a young reporter for the Viennese newspaper the Neue Freie Presse, and he covered Dreyfus’ trial in Paris. He later wrote that the chants of “Death to Jews” shook him to the core, and helped him realize that only a Jewish state could provide security and safety for the world’s Jews. In 1897, Herzl organized a Zionist Congress in Zurich, where he called for the reestablishment of a Jewish country.
France and the Holocaust
With World War II looming, France became a destination for desperate Jewish refugees fleeing Germany and Eastern Europe. From a Jewish population of about 80,000 in 1900, by 1939 France’s Jewish population had swelled to 300,000 as Jews fled to France for safety.
Tragically, that safety proved illusory. After Germany invaded France, it divided the country into a northern, “occupied” zone, and a southern “free” zone which was allied with Nazi Germany. Both areas of France willingly participated in the deportation of Jews from France; in the nominally independent southern part of France, it was French policemen and authorities who helped implement Hitler’s so-called “final solution to the Jewish ‘problem’”. Over 70,000 French Jews were sent to concentration camps; only about 2,500 survived.
After the War, France’s devastated Jewish community was revived by an influx of Jews from former French colonies in North Africa. In the 1950s and 1960s nearly a quarter of a million Sephardi Jews moved to France from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
Resurgent Anti-Semitism
In recent years, tragically, the call “Death to Jews!” has once more rung out in the streets of Paris and elsewhere in France.
A string of horrific attacks has targeted Jews throughout France. In 2006, Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish man living in Paris, was lured into a trap by local Muslim hoodlums; he was tortured for a month in a public housing project in Paris before being murdered; it later emerged that his ordeal was an open secret in the neighborhood, but no one intervened. His mother later had Ilan buried in Israel, fearful, she explained, that if he was buried in France his grave would be desecrated by anti-Semites.
In 2012, in the central French city of Toulouse, a terrorist shot three children and a rabbi at point-blank range in front of a Jewish school. In 2014, a mob rampaging through the streets of Sarcelles, a Paris suburb, chanted “Death to Jews!”, burned Jewish-owned businesses, and surrounded a synagogue, baying for the murder of those Jews inside. For hours, scores of Jewish families cowered inside, fearing for their lives, until police finally managed to disperse the mob late that night. In 2015, terrorists murdered four hostages in a kosher synagogue in Paris. In 2017, two Jewish brothers were forced off the road in a heavily Muslim neighborhood near Paris and attacked by passers by; one of the brothers’ thumb was sawn off in the attack.
In fact, the number of anti-Jewish hate crimes is going up. In 2014, there were 423 reported hate crimes against Jews in France. In 2015, there were 851 reported anti-Jewish hate crimes.
In the face of rising hatred, more and more Jews are fleeing France. One 2016 poll found that fully 43% of French Jews are considering moving to the Jewish state. In 2014, a record-breaking 6,658 Jews moved to Israel from France. (By way of comparison, only 1,923 French Jews had moved to Israel in 2010, when the number of anti-Semitic crimes was lower.) In 2015, 7,469 French Jews moved to Israel.
France in Israel
Beach promenade of Netanya (Hebrew: נְתַנְיָה, lit., “gift of God”; Arabic: نتانيا) a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain.
As more French Jews move to the Jewish state, parts of Israel are gaining a distinctly French accent. In 2015, the Times of Israel noted that the Israeli seaside city of Netanya calls itself the “Israeli Riviera” and that in recent years, it has indeed come to resemble the famed French Riviera: “walking along its main pedestrian boulevard, one would be hard-pressed to tell it apart from its twin city of Nice” in France. French restaurants, French style – and French Jews – have given parts of Israel a very French feel.
One recent immigrant from France explained that the rising anti-Semitism in France sparked her family’s desire to move to Israel: “Here we get the feeling that we can protect ourselves. There we have the impression that we are on our own and if, God forbid, something happens we will have to manage.”
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Preceding articles
Kindertransport
Apocalyptic Extremism: No Longer a Laughing Matter
Seeds from the world creating division and separation from God
What to do in the Face of Global Anti-semitism
The Rise of Anti-Seminism
If you’re going to be a hater, make sure you’ve done your homework.
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Additional reading
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Further reading
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