Marseille Synagogue to Be Converted into Mosque; Many Jews Desert Synagogue Due to Security Risk

A Marseille synagogue will be converted into a mosque as the Jewish population in the southern French city continues to dwindle, and many Jews refuse to attend religious services because they find the area to be a security risk, the Algemeiner website reports today (April 28, 2016).

The Muslim organization Al Badr Association purchased Or Thora synagogue and will reopen the religious site as a mosque this summer -- hoping to cater to the overflow from the organization's other mosque, filled to beyond capacity with a growing number of worshipers.

The Or Thora synagogue -- which was sold for $400,000 -- sometimes had no more than 10 worshipers at once, although it has a capacity of 250. In contrast, Al Badr's mosque is often so full that congregants have no choice but to pray outside the complex on Friday, Islam's holiest day of worship.

Elie Berrebi, the director of Marseille's Central Jewish Consistoire -- a body governing Jewish congregations -- said many of the Jewish residents in Marseille are moving out of the city because of rising anti-Semitism in the area. He added that more than 80 percent of Marseille's Jews have stopped attending central synagogues, since the areas around religious sites are viewed as a high security risk.