ABSTRACT
From 1950 to 1975 France was the foremost country of Jewish immigration after Israel. Since the end of the nineteenth century, French Jewry took in numerous Jewish immigrants, mostly of Eastern European origin. In the 1930s, these were joined by Jews from Germany and other countries of Central Europe. The French Jews also admired the vitality of the Jews of North Africa, the strength of their attachment to Jewish traditions. The massive emigration of North African Jews to France was the consequence of decolonization. From 1954 to 1959, some 75,000 Jews reached France from North Africa. The Jews of North Africa would bring in fresh blood to revitalize the life of French Jewry. In the 1960s, the community’s leaders feared accelerated assimilation with the break-up of families that had preserved cohesion and observance of Jewish tradition in North Africa. The revival of Jewish life in France is not confined to the community of North African origin.
