As Strasbourg has a large Jewish community, we decided to attend Friday night services at the "Synagogue de la Paix," the main synagogue inaugurated in 1958 to replace the Synagogue de Quai Kleber, inaugurated in 1898 and burnt and razed by the Nazis in 1940. We attended a Bar Mitzvah in the Sephardic congregation; although I was in the gallery above and couldn't see much, I enjoyed the different melodies being chanted.
We saw these Jewish stars in the pavement of a church near our hotel but never figured out why they were there.
In the Middle Ages, the Jewish community was centered in the Rue des Juifs, which we walked down on Saturday afternoon. A stone plaque indicates where the synagogue and mikvah were located.
This afternoon, we took a long walk to the Parc de la Seille, a lovely stretch of nature that follows the Seille river southeast of the city center. Inaugurated in 2002, the park connects the city center to the southern parts of Metz. As today was one of the warmest days this year, the park was filled with young children and their parents and grandparents. At the center of the park on a hill, is a sculpture donated by Fuji Industries as a sign of French-Japanese friendship.
In the Middle Ages, the Jewish community was centered in the Rue des Juifs, which we walked down on Saturday afternoon. A stone plaque indicates where the synagogue and mikvah were located.
