A Paris butcher offers a lesson in interfaith ties

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Philippe Zribi, far left, jokes with butchers Mostafa Makhoukh, center, and Abdel Haq at Boucherie de l’Argonne butcher’s store in Paris. Religion News Service photo by Elizabeth Bryant

Elizabeth Bryant | February 4, 2016

PARIS (RNS) On Fridays, the Boucherie de l’Argonne closes early. Its Muslim workers head to afternoon prayers. The Jews prepare for Shabbat — a practical accommodation for staff sharing similar roots and cultural references.

“We work well together,” says Philippe Zribi, a Tunisian-born Jew whose family runs the butcher’s store that employs eight people: three Jews, three Muslims and two Catholics.

In a city still recovering from last year’s deadly extremist terror attacks, where national news is dotted with reports of anti-Semitism, the store tucked next to an abandoned railroad track offers a more positive face of interfaith relations.

With an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Jews living in the 19th arrondissement, the district is home to one of the largest Jewish neighborhoods in Europe, according to local Deputy Mayor Mahor Chiche. It also includes a sizable Muslim population that mostly hails from North and sub-Saharan Africa.

http://www.religionnews.com/2016/02/04/paris-butcher-offers-lesson-interfaith-ties/