JEWISH PARIS QUARTER
I always advised my non-Jewish friends to take this orientation tour with my daughter : Flora Goldenberg.
Flora Goldenberg not only is attached to her French Identity since she was young, but feels strongly that her Jewish French origins are very important too.
During her classic Jewish walking tour of Paris, more than the Jewish heritage of Paris, you will also learn about the French people, their history, the Art and the amazing French culture and food.
Thus, on Flora Goldenberg’s Jewish Tours of Paris, you will also grab the Jewish side of the story of France.
At the Sorbonne university, where she studied art and history, Flora Goldenberg noticed that the Jewish History is absent in the History of France.
Flora decided very young to join the Tour guide school and from the start, she began offering the Jewish walking tour of Paris. She learned quickly about the Jewish Heritage of the city because it seems to be her life passion.
Did you know that the famous and celebrated king, Saint Louis, was among the worst kings of France when it came to dealing with his Jewish subject ?
Did you know he ordered the burning of Talmud books in 1240 after an unfair trial that was called the “disputation of the Talmud ?
And did you know that Jews were officially kicked out of Paris in the 1300-s long before the famous expulsion of the Jews of Spain in 1492 ?
And did you discover the rich history of the Old Testament ( called the Taanakh by Jews ) in the many stained glass windows, statues, paintings, decorations of the famous French cathedrals ?( in many cases financed by the Jewish inhabitants before they were kicked out )
This is just a small part of what you learn by going on the Jewish tour with Flora.
How to contact Flora Goldenberg ?
Flora Goldenberg is the perfect choice for a Jewish Tour Guide in Paris and you should contact her by email, 2 weeks at least before your arrival.
Go to her website : Jewish-paris-tours.com to find all her services.
She will answer all your questions about trip preparation, but also about Shabbat, Seder in Paris and Synagogues prayers times …
She knows everything about the Jewish Quarter of Paris ! She can also make the calls for you to book a hotel or a restaurant or a ticket for an event in Paris.
1. Flora’s Life as a Jew in Paris
Flora Goldenberg is French, born in Paris, and has lived in Le Marais : the Jewish Quarter all her life. She is the grand-daughter of a Famous Jewish Figure in Paris : Joseph Goldenberg.
She went to school there and learned to play music, attended classes in Paris 3… So yes, you can say that she knows le Marais by heart.
If you need someone who lives the Jewish Parisian Life everyday and also an excellent dynamic young guide then Flora Goldenberg is your perfect choice !
Check her blog on instagram : https://www.instagram.com/jewish_quarter_paris
2. Flora Goldenberg is knowledgeable
She studied in the prestigious University of Sorbonnes Paris III.
In her own words, she can make you understand how the Jews arrived in Paris at the first time, and how they settled, how they prayed secretly during the Roman Times and where and how they struggled with the Paris city rules, the Romans, the French and finally the Germans.
3. Full spectrum of the Jewish history of France
Flora Goldenberg did not learn WWII only on text books or on TV. She works officially with the Shoah Memorial. She animated big events for the special guests and donors of the Shoah Foundation.
Like in my generation, her family transmitted to her real stories about WWII.
Some members of her family have been unfortunately extremely persecuted in Paris and in Amsterdam and some of them sadly deported …
Early 1900’s : Goldenberg arrived among the immigration of the Ashkenazi jews to Paris
Paris 1945 : When the Germans occupied the streets of Paris, they organized many jewish deportation to the Nazi death camps. Many of the Goldenbergs have been deported.
Joseph Goldenberg survived the waves of deportation by hiding. His sisters did not have the same luck. His borhters joined the French Resistance and helped the Aliied and especially american Forces trap the Nazi trains.
That’s why today , we can still find some members of the Goldenberg Family moved to Montreal, Los Angeles, Miami ..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldenberg
Oma Ilse, my grand mother, was born in September 1933 in Amsterdam, Holland.
Her parents Joanna Sarfaty and Jacobus Redelaar then had two other children, Erika and Walter.
Oma’s parents divorced in the very beginning of WW II, and the three young children remained with their mother, Joanna.
The two parents of Oma both remarried.
Oma’s father married a non- Jewish women, Ans Seinen in 1940.
Oma’s mother married a Jewish man, Barend Korper in 1941.
In early July 1942, Joanna, Oma’s mother was arrested and onJuly 15, 1942 she was deported in the very first transport that left Holland to Auschwitz.
In Auschwitz she perished on September 4, 1942, approximately 7 weeks after her arrival there.
After Joanna was arrested, the three small children, Oma Ilse, Erika and Walter moved in with their father and his new wife. Their father was not Jewish so they were safe for the time being.
Their stepfather, Barend Korper, went into hiding after his wife was arrested, but he was arrested towards the end of the war, in March 1944.
He was also send to Auschwitz, where he passed the gruesome selection and was put to forced labor.
Barend was shot in February 1945 during the death march.
In the last two years of the war, Oma Ilse and Erika were sent into hiding in the country side. They spent two years at a farm, with a kind family. Walter, Oma Ilse’s little brother, was blond with blue eyes, he remained with his non-Jewish father Jacobus and stepmother Ans in Amsterdam throughout the war.
After the war it became clear that all of Joanna’s family had been arrested and murdered: her bothers and sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins, her parents, her aunts and uncles. The only three members of the family that had survived were Oma Ilse, her little sister and little brother.
Oma Ilse never really recovered from this dramatic chapter in her life. She married young and had three children with my grandfather, Tom, but losing her mother so young in such a terrible way left psychological scars forever.
Nevertheless Oma Ilse built up a family, she had a successful career in social work and remained very active in different aspects of life.
Today she is 86, and has 7 grand children and 5 great-grand children !
In 2019, four “Stolpersteine” ( stumble stones in German ) were placed in front of the house where Oma Ilse lived in 1942 with her siblings, her mother, her step father and the parents of her mother .
A small ceremony was organized in the presence of the family of Oma Ilse.
4. The beauty of the Jewish Quarter in Paris
Le Marais has no secrets to Flora !
Since she was very young, Flora have been celebrating all the Jewish holidays with the nearby Jewish stores. They loved her light and fun personality and her curiosity. They spoiled like in every Jewish family with little gifts !
Now Flora is showing to the visitors from USA, Canada and Australia how pleasant is the Jewish Quarter of Paris : Le Marais !
5. How to book the Jewish Tour in Paris ?
It is very easy to book, to contact and to cancel a tour with Flora Goldenberg for the Jewish Quarter of Paris :
- Send an email to Flora Goldenberg and ask her you questions
- book the Louvre Jewish Tour after the Marais Tour
- If you want, you can share the price by joining a group tour
- If you are not Jewish, please tell Flora Goldenberg in advance so she can give you a lighter version of the tour .
- If you have Kids, ask for the Jewish Quest made for kids by Flora Goldenberg
Flora Goldenberg started as a tour guide in Paris very young
At the age of 18, Flora Goldenberg knew that her passion is her city, the history, the art, the beauty of Paris !
When she went to the university, she noticed that a part of her own history is forgot : The Jewish history, the success of the Jews in the French history, and also the struggle with the antisemitism is not very well understood. That’s when Flora trained on the Jewish tour, perfected the tour with her own personal history and her life in le Marais !
7. Flora and her Jewish Louvre Tour
Duration 3 hours
The tour is about the history of Israel in the Louvre : A visit of the Louvre from a curious angle.
Flora will explain the history of Israel while visiting the masterpieces of a classic Louvre tour.
You will discover the oldest ever mention of Israel, the fascinating story of the Crusader period, how and why the country was disputed by Syria and Egypt.
You will see Jerusalem through the eyes of many painters and many surprises will wait for you during this visit.
8. Flora’s Amazing Team :
Flora surrounded herself with an amazing complete team to ensure a high quality service to her clients.
Paris Chauffeur Service with Sam
Sam is made for the city tours of Paris. I worked many times with him and I can say that he is very polite, friendly, safe and has a good positive energy!
I highly recommended him for Paris transportation, Airport transfers, Paris Layover tour from Airport or even a small day trip to see Champagne or Normandy.
Louvre Guided Tour : Emma & Flora
Emma has an amazing skills set for a tour guide specialized in the Louvre Tour.
Emma is an official educator and researcher at various cultural organisations.
She works with the national museums in France, in Ireland and in the UK – including the Louvre, Orleans House Gallery and the Arts Service of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Both Flora and Emma, designed educational programs for a wide range of age groups and backgrounds.
If you need to do the Louvre tour with kids, I really reccomend that you hire Emma or Flora.
Jewish Tour guide in Paris :
Flora has trained Jewish Historians to do the Jewish tour of Paris as well.
She understands very well the need for a Jewish tour guide to explain the Jewish history and to keep her tours authentic.
Me personally, I always choose a Jewish Tour guide when I do a Jewish tour in a different city.
About the author : I am Léontine Cohen, I am Tour guide in Jerusalem, specialized in Jerusalem History and the the Old city.
I curate walking tours in Jerusalem, history and food tour, I also organize tours in Israel, in the desert, in Tel Aviv …
Today, I want to talk about the perfect match for a Jewish tour in Paris !
