Muslim association buys Marseille synagogue, plans to make it into mosque

A synagogue in Marseille is sold to a Muslim association that is planning to turn it into a mosque.

The Or Thora synagogue on Saint Dominique Street was sold a few months ago for approximately $400,000 to the Al Badr Association ahead of its reopening in the summer, the local daily La Provence reports.

The switch reflects a demographic shift in which, over the past 16 years, tens of thousands of Marseille Jews have left its once heavily Jewish center for the city’s more affluent suburbs, the paper says.

Saint Dominique Street already has one mosque operated by the Al Badr Association, according to La Provence, but the group is looking for another one because it is so crowded that Muslim worshipers pray on the sidewalk on Fridays. Meanwhile, Or Thora, which has a capacity of 250, sometimes has as few as 10 worshipers.

— JTA