Mechel Reisz

Mechel Reisz (died April 24, 2013, age 98) was a pioneer of Hassidism in Paris, France in the second half of the 20th century. Born in Hungary, he settled in France after World War II.

In the Parisian orthodox Jewish community, Mechel Reisz had a special place and role. He was known as a Shohet and as a Baal Tefilah. His name is associated with the Pletzl and with the Rue des Rosiers, in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. Reb Mechel and all in the Jewish community know to whom it refers.

He officiated as a hazzan at the celebrated historical Agoudas Hakehilos synagogue (in the Le Marais quarter), referred to as the Pavee synagogue, and at the Synagogue Adath Israel, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Listening to the prayers of Mechel Reisz on the Shabbat and the Jewish High Holy Days is to witness fervor and emotion (Devekut).

Ruth Blau (1978), the second wife of Amram Blau of Neturei Karta in her memoirs, without spelling his name, thus describes Mechel Reisz: " Several hassidim living in the neighborhood (Pletzl) arrived at the end of the meal, alone or accompanied by their children. The room where one finds Reb Itzikel [(Moshe Yitzchok Gewirtzman, 1882-1976, Pshevorsk (Hasidic dynasty))] is overpopulated and flooded with light. On the table the candles of Shabbat sparkle. Between the dishes and after the meal, the men sing the hassidic melodies. Among the voices those of the Rebbe and of the Chazzan(officiant) and Shohet'' (ritual sacrificer) of the neighborhood [i.e. Mechel Reisz], a very pious Romanian Jew who has just left Mea Shearim to settle in Paris with his family. His strong and warm voice, admirably modulated, rises above the others. On the faces one reads the joie de vivre of the Shabbat and to be there around the holy Rebbe. Everything seems transformed: the beings and the things. The dark corridor, the stairs with worm-eaten steps, the dilapidation of this building with its cracked walls, nothing exist anymore. This room illuminated for the Shabbat, it's the oasis in the midst of the desert, the brilliant point in the midst of the ugliness of the world, of the gloom of the exile."''

Mechel Reisz was the first contemporary hassid to be seen in the streets of the capital with a Shtreimel and with a Bekeshe. He identified himself to the sight of all as a hassid. It is said that one day, he walked in the street in his festive garments, the one and only dressed like that in Paris. When he perceived that someone behind him observed him strangely, unaccustomed to such a sight, he turned around and declared brightly: «You never saw a Frenchman?»

He was known internationally. In the hassidic and Haredi circles, Mechel Reisz is synonymous with Paris. It's the only address for many.