Les débuts de l'Union libérale israélite (1895-1939). Le pari de moderniser le judaïsme français

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The ULI, created in 1895 by the Jewish bourgeoisie of Paris who wished to renew French Judaism through modernization, was at first encouraged by the chief rabbi Zadoc Kahn of the Central Consistory, who allowed this group to meet and later organize prayers in French on Sundays at the synagogue on rue de la Victoire. The ULI was deprived of this privilege when Zadoc Kahn died at the end of 1905, and had to find a separate place of worship in 1907 : thus established the synagogue on the rue Copernic, led by Rabbi Louis-Germain Lévy. At first, the ULI did not affiliate with the “Union des associations cultuelles” (the successor of the Central Consistory, which kept its previous name in current language), and gradually relaxed the religious practices customary in France. In 1924, however, a new change occurred, as well as an agreement with the Consistory of Paris. From this date on, the ULI belonged to the Jewish community of Paris, introduced prayers in Hebrew and the celebration of Shabbat in its religious practices, and ceased allowing mixed-marriages and conversions without circumcision. In the period leading up to the Second World War, the ULI created a Progressive Youth organization, a magazine and a scout movement. Moreover, the ULI joined the World Union for Progressive Judaism. During the thirties, the noachid Aimé Pallière was a successful preacher at Copernic, and this gave birth to a dissension between the rationalist trend of Louis-Germain Lévy and the tendencies to mystical effusiveness and orthodoxy expressed by Aimé Pallière. However, the conflict came to a sudden end at the outbreak of the Second World War.