A city whose Torah glory was long in the past and had become a mussar byword for decadence, finds itself once again on the Torah map

The scene in the Paris docklands last month could have been anywhere across the Torah world. In the massive former industrial space regenerated to serve the entertainment industry, singers rehearsed and microphones were adjusted for roshei yeshivah.

Underway were the last preparations for the signature blend of Torah inspiration and musical extravaganza with which Dirshu marks events like the global siyum of the three-year Mishnah Berurah cycle.

Accents apart — and a certain resonance that comes from being only miles from where Baalei HaTosafos such as Rabbeinu Yechiel of Paris lived — the identikit venue could have been anywhere from South Africa to New Jersey.

And yet, as Mir Rosh Yeshivah Rav Yitzchak Ezrachi finished his keynote address with a signature roar of “Only Torah!” and a cross section of Paris Jews erupted in singing, the event had a unique subtext.

That’s because a French revolution is underway. A city whose Torah glory was long in the past and had become a mussar byword for decadence, finds itself once again on the Torah map.

Exhibit A in that metamorphosis is Dirshu itself. Like ubiquitous consumer brands that signal a country’s socio-economic status, the presence of hundreds of shiurim from the ground-breaking Torah organization is a sure sign that today’s French Jewish community is changing rapidly.

The traditional Jews and fine Parisian living of yesteryear are still there, but these have been joined by multiple yeshivos and kollelim. As the community moves east and west from the inner-city neighborhoods to the suburbs, a parallel process of spiritual upgrade is taking place as well.

Viewed from America or Israel, the almost half-million-strong community lives in fear, as the specter of terror attacks sends masses stampeding for the exit.

That perception is mostly caricature. In reality, the country’s Jewish community is evolving to cope with the security realities, and a quiet Torah revolution is well underway.