Breaking Up is Hard to Do? Restructuring French Jewry in Post-Separation France

In the 19th century, Judaism was one of the religions officially recognized and supported by the French state. When the law separating church and state in France went into effect in 1905, there was much concern expressed in the periodicals Archives israélites and Univers israélite over how this law would affect Jewish unity. This article explores the positions of the two periodicals and describes how, although the law of separation dismantled the official bodies representing Judaism in France (the consistories) and deprived the Jewish community of government funding, French Jewry effectively established a new centralized structure. Although a few independent communities emerged, this structure, with the national Union des Associations Cultuelles Israélites (now called the Union des Communautés Juives) at its core, is still regarded as the official representative of Judaism in France today.