Secret Jewish Paris Tour
Secret Jewish Paris
Jewish Paris does not end at the Marais. This tour follows the lesser-known map: the 9th arrondissement synagogues, faubourg courtyards, memorial plaques and the neighborhoods where Jewish Paris actually lives today.
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What we will see
- The Grande Synagogue de la Victoire and the 9th arrondissement
- Courtyards and passages the guidebooks miss
- Memorial plaques and the schools: history at street level
- The Sephardic Paris of the 1960s and today
- A route adapted to your interests and walking pace
The tour
Most visitors see the Marais and believe they have seen Jewish Paris. But the real map is wider: the grand synagogues of the 9th arrondissement, the workshops of the faubourgs, the memorial plaques on school walls, the neighborhoods where the community actually lives and shops today.
This is the tour where my own path matters most. Hebrew-speaking, in Paris for over twenty years, I offer an art historian's eye on Jewish Paris: the questions visitors from abroad actually ask, answered at street level.
The route adapts to you: more history, more architecture, more contemporary life. We build the emphasis together, and the group is never more than six.
The tour, step by step
Meeting in the 9th arrondissement
We meet at a métro exit near the Grande Synagogue de la Victoire; the exact spot comes with your booking. This is a three-hour walk with a route that adapts to you.
The Grande Synagogue de la Victoire
The largest synagogue in France, built under the Second Empire: what the architecture says about the Jews of Paris in 1874, their confidence and their place in the Republic. Seen from the street; a visit inside depends on opening days.
The 9th, a Jewish arrondissement
The synagogue of rue Buffault and the Sephardic story, the streets around rue Richer and rue Cadet where the community shops and eats today, and the kosher addresses I use myself.
Workshops, passages and the faubourgs
Where the tailors, furriers and cap-makers worked: the passages and courtyards of the old faubourgs, and the lives of the immigrants who filled them between the wars.
Names on the walls
The memorial plaques on school façades, read slowly and in context: who the children were, what the neighbourhood did and did not do. Never a game, always part of the story.
Jewish Paris today
We end in a living neighbourhood, with the questions visitors actually ask: who lives here now, how the community has changed since the 1960s, and where the story goes next.
Who this tour is for
- Travellers who have already walked the Marais and want the rest of the map
- Lovers of architecture: the 9th has the grandest synagogues in Paris
- Visitors with family history in the faubourgs: tell me the street and the trade
- Observant travellers: the whole route is outdoors and works on a Friday or a Sunday
What is included
- Three hours of private guiding, your group only
- A route adapted to your interests: more history, more architecture, or more contemporary life
- My kosher addresses in the 9th and beyond, with their displayed certification
- The Young Explorer kit for every child
Not included
- Entry to synagogues, when a visit inside is possible
- Meals, drinks and public transport
Practical details
- Distance: about 3 km, with a short métro or bus ride if the route calls for it
- Days: Sunday to Friday, never on Saturday or Jewish holidays
- Weather: rain or shine; passages offer shelter
- Accessibility: pavements and a few steps; tell me about mobility needs when booking
- Languages: English, French or Hebrew, other languages on request
Questions about this tour
Do we go inside the Grande Synagogue de la Victoire?
When it is open to visitors, yes, and I tell you in advance. Otherwise we read the building from the street, which already says a great deal.
How is this different from the Marais tour?
The Marais is the historic quarter; this tour is the Jewish Paris of the 19th and 20th centuries and of today, in the 9th and the faubourgs. Many guests do both, on two days.
Can you include my family's street?
Often, yes. Send me the address or the trade when you book and I will see how it fits the route.
Is three hours too long for children?
For children under eight, the Marais tour is shorter and easier. From about ten, this one works well, with the activity kit.
From travellers on this tour
“Our third trip to Paris, and Orlie still showed us places we had never heard of. The 9th arrondissement synagogues are breathtaking.”
“This is the tour for people who think they know Paris. We walked, we talked, we understood.”
Free guide
Going to Paris for Shabbat?
Get “How to Spend Shabbat in Paris”: synagogues by neighborhood, Friday dinner options, month-by-month candle-lighting times, and what is open on Saturday. A practical PDF you’ll keep on your phone.