Bayonne and its old jewish portuguese community

Bayonne is a picturesque port city near the Spanish border, in Basque country. Here, in the 1500s, after the Expulsion from Spain and Portugal, Jews found a safe haven in the Saint Esprit quarter, where the imposing synagogue, built in the mid-19th century, stands. (...)

Bayonne has long had Jewish connections. Among the many contributions of the early Jewish settlers — called “the Portuguese” by the locals — was the introduction of the cocoa bean and chocolate manufacture, making Bayonne the chocolate capital of France. Today, of the 150 Jewish families who live in and around Bayonne, only 10 are direct descendants of the original Portuguese Jews who came nearly 500 years ago. (...)

The lively Friday night services were led by the young hazan and acting rabbi, Meir Kenafo, who also teaches 10 children in the Sunday school.
About two dozen men were at services Friday night and Saturday morning, in a grand building that can hold more than 200 worshipers. Next to a pillar to the left of the bima was a feature rarely seen in a synagogue: a small spiral wooden staircase leading to the pulpit box. But because it resembles a church furnishing, it is no longer used today.
As elsewhere in France, Bayonne’s Jewish community now comprises immigrants from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia — Jews who have energized Jewish life in France since their arrival in the 1960s. (...)

Bayonne has one kosher meat and grocery store that carries wines and Israeli products. It is run by Albert, a good-humored former Israeli known to everyone as “Bebert.” Besides assisting the hazan with the services, he helps prepare the Shabbat meals.
One of the men the Jewish community is most proud of is its native son Rene Cassin (1887-1976), the eminent French statesman, jurist, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering work in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the UN adopted in 1948. The family of the noted Prime Minister of France, Pierre Mendes-France, claim roots in their Sephardi ancestry to Bayonne. (...)

The Basques on both sides of the border helped Jews during World War II. Bayonne’s Basque Museum, devoted to the culture and arts of this ancient and fiercely independent people, hid the synagogue’s Torah scrolls from the Germans and returned them after liberation. In two of their rooms, the museum also displays Jewish religious items and documents pertaining to the history of Jews in Bayonne. (...)

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http://njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/100506/ltGet2KNow.html