Abstract
Some 550,000 Jews live in France ; it is the largest group in Europe. Before 1939 the most religiously orientated Jews were mainly immigrants from Eastern Europe. They were the most numerous amongst the victims of the Nazis.
This inquiry was semi-directive and preliminary to further research ; it was conducted on a sample of 65 adults, 11 % of whom practised their faith regularly and 38 % were non- believers. Some amongst the practising group wished to emigrate to Israel because of the difficulty of observing weekly their traditional religious practices. The feast of the Passover, on the other hand, was observed to some extent by the non- practising Jews, and behavior amongst the intermediate group was very varied.
In her conclusions, the author demonstrates the difficulty of maintaining Jewish religious practices in the diaspora and in a secularized society. Abandonment of religious practice, however, does not indicate in any way the loss of Jewish identity.