Description
Recounts major highlights in the two centuries of French-Jewish history separating the French Revolution and the desecration of the cemetery at Carpentras in 1990. Utilizing an interpretive rather than a chronological method, analyzes the challenges to equality in a society in the process of modernization confronted by social and ideological conflicts. Contrasts the antisemitic reactions to the Dreyfus case and the Vichy regime with the wave of philosemitism following the cemetery desecration at Carpentras. Poses provocative questions regarding the identity of the elites who either oppose or support total integration. Introduces the problem in recent years of nationalist and populist elements hostile to integration; warns against the danger of resulting intolerance. Concludes that the future of French Jewry depends upon the reconciliation of two opposing ideas - the republican concept of uniformity, dating from the French Revolution, and the contemporary concept of multiculturalism.
