In 2010, following the centenary celebrations of the Vincennes – Saint-Mandé synagogue, a book written by Dominique Jarrassé, with the participation of Elie Zajac, was published as a tribute to this beautiful synagogue and its fraternal spirit.

Laurent Lafont, mayor of Vincennes, and Patrick Baudouin, mayor of Saint-Mandé, wrote moving texts at the beginning of the book, recalling the golden age of synagogues, their evolution over time and, above all, the spirit of the French Republic to which the local Jewish community and its shared values have borne witness for a century.

The preface is written by Bruno Blum, president of the Ashkenazi synagogue, and Dov Houri, president of the Sephardic synagogue. “Not so surprising, given the spirit of the Vincennes – Saint-Mandé synagogue, which for decades has brought together Jews from both the former Ashkenazi communities of Alsace-Lorraine, Eastern Europe and those of North Africa. The synagogue has several prayer rooms, each of which respects a particular rite, and above all shares an open and generous perception of Judaism.

In 1872, a census showed that there were 108 Jews in Vincennes and 84 in Saint-Mandé. To these were added a handful of Jews from Montreuil, forming the first Jewish community in Vincennes – Saint-Mandé. Before they had a synagogue, they prayed in an oratory created by Rabbi Maurice Zeitlin and located at 21 avenue Gambetta in Saint-Mandé.

Arthur Willard, born in Ingwiller in 1873, was the first rabbi to be appointed head of the Saint-Mandé community in 1902. A plot of land was purchased for the construction of the synagogue , with donations from the faithful and the help of the Consistoire. The land on which the synagogue was built was donated by the great patron Daniel Iffla, known as Osiris.

Born in Bordeaux in 1825, Osiris came from a modest family. He moved to Paris to work in finance, where he enjoyed great success. In the 1860s, he decided to devote himself fully to philanthropy, patronage and art. In this spirit of generosity and patriotism, he helped build the Buffault synagogue in Paris, as well as an operating room for women at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, a serotherapy institute in Nancy and a soup boat in Bordeaux to feed the poor. Osiris also ensured that the Pasteur Institute would be his universal legatee.

It was not until 5 September 1907 that the Vincennes – Saint-Mandé synagogue, designed by architect Victor Tondu, was officially inaugurated. The mosaic pavement in front of the bimah bears the inscription ‘Tishri 5668’, in reference to the Jewish new year that saw the inauguration of the synagogue. This was also the year in which Osiris died, in February 1927. In his speech, Chief Rabbi Dreyfus paid tribute to the patron of the arts. He recalled his patriotism, his commitment and his generosity.

The rite practised in the synagogue at the time was Alsatian, in keeping with the fact that many of the Jews living in Saint-Mandé and Vincennes were originally from Alsace. Between the wars, many Jewish families from Eastern Europe settled in the area, mainly from Poland, Russia, Romania and Hungary. This enabled the communities in the eastern suburbs of Paris to grow. Montreuil and Bagnolet in particular. It is estimated that nearly 1,000 Jews were living in Vincennes in 1936. At that time, Russo-Polish Jews made up around a third of the Jews living in Vincennes. As a sign of this demographic change, in 1938 Wolf Gordon became President of the Community. A shoemaker in Russia and even the Tsar’s bootmaker, he had arrived in France in 1906, following the pogroms.

German troops entered Vincennes on 14 June 1940. Of the 874 deportees from Montreuil, Bagnolet and Vincennes, only 27 survived the Shoah. Many of these victims were children, as the commemorative plaques erected much later would remind us.

In the aftermath of the war, the Jewish community of Vincennes – Saint-Mandé gradually rebuilt itself. Not least thanks to the arrival of Jews from North Africa in the 1950s. This influx accelerated following Algeria’s independence. By the end of 1962, 150 families had settled in Vincennes. In 1959, the Marouani brothers brought together the first faithful who arrived in a small room adjoining the Ashkenazi synagogue. Around forty people attended the services, which were led by brothers Alain and Michel Chetboun.

Joseph Guez took over the leadership of the community. The Ashkenazim and the Vincennes town council were very active in helping these new arrivals. In 1967, for example, when Jules Schick was informed of the financial problems involved in Joseph Guez’s attempt to organise a holiday camp for recently arrived Sephardic children, he immediately covered the necessary costs.

This very fraternal spirit was also put into practice in another way when, in 1965, the ‘Hatikvah’ youth association was created, uniting Ashkenazim and Sephardim.

As the number of worshippers grew, the Sephardic building was extended in 1965, again in 1975 and again in 1982. Numerous projects were studied with a view to building a viable Sephardic synagogue right next to the Ashkenazi synagogue.

In 2000, architect Jacques Emsallem applied for permission to extend the synagogue. When planning permission was granted, an opportunity arose to purchase the Bardoux warehouses opposite the synagogue. The purchase of these premises turned out to be less expensive than a major architectural modification to the synagogue, and represented a gain in surface area. The community therefore bought the premises and carried out less extensive work on the synagogue. Prayers were held in the room while the synagogue is being refurbished, and the room later became a community centre. Its representatives Paul Fitoussi and Léo Touitou were very involved in this project.

On 7 January 2015, the Charlie Hebdo staff and policemen protecting them fell victim to a terrorist attack. The next day, a policewoman was also murdered by a terrorist in Montrouge. On 9 January, that same terrorist killed four Jews held hostage in the Hypercacher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes.

In 2025, the two rabbis of the Ashkenazi and Sephardic synagogues are Joseph Assayag and Hay Krief respectively. The various minhagim, prayer tunes and traditions are explained and shared in the same fraternal spirit. These are two very lively communities, where shabbats, festivals and numerous religious and cultural activities are organised on a regular basis. The Ashkenazi synagogue in Vincennes-Saint-Mandé is currently the only one in the outskirts of Paris to follow this rite.

A dozen other small places of worship also exist in Vincennes-Saint-Mandé. And as Dominique Jarrassé and Elie Zajac point out in their book, these Jews from Alsace, Russia, Poland, Turkey and North Africa blend harmoniously as ‘tsarfatim’, French of Jewish faith.

This text was written with the help of Rabbi Joseph Assayag and Élie Lobel.