JUSTICE - No. 65

43 Fall 2020 oseph Roubache was a great man with quite a remarkable career. He wore the lawyer's robe with honor. He was intelligent, humanist, pugnacious, faithful to his convictions, as well as to his friends. He lavished his own family with love and generosity. Joseph was born on January 27, 1935 in Mostaganem (Algeria). His father, a lawyer, was President of the Bar Association in Algeria. Joseph launched his professional career by being elected at the age of 24 as Secretary of the Paris Bar Association Conference, which is a Parisian competition examining eloquence. Dedicating his life to this prestigious role significantly contributed to his brilliant career. Many of the cases that he handled made headlines. These cases included the "Garantie Foncière" affair, the contaminated blood affair, and examining the responsibility of the SNCF (railway company) in the deportation of Jews from France during the Holocaust. Joseph experienced and learned about exclusion and antisemitism at a very young age. In adulthood, he did not confine himself only to his profession as a lawyer; he contributed to the defense of Judaism and the fight against antisemitism. In the fall of 1940, his father, a young barrister from Mostaganem, was stripped of his position and disbarred on account of his Jewish faith. Joseph was forbidden to attend school, in accordance with theVichy Laws. Those who knew Joseph were always struck by his brotherly love and ironic smile, by his sense of humor which made him immediately accessible to everyone. It was his way of “building bridges between human beings,”he used to say. After establishing the France-Israel Association of Jurists in 1967, shortly after the Six Day War, the Nobel Peace Prize Winner René Cassin asked him to create the International Association of Jewish Lawyers — AIJJ in French and IJL in English, which since 1970 and until today brings together jurists from about 30 countries. In 1980, following the Copernicus Street bombing in France, Joseph, together with Bernard Cahen and Alain J By Jacques Cohen andGérardAlgazi Joseph Roubache: AMan of Exceptional Merit Fraitag, formed the RAJF (Rassemblement des Avocats Juifs de France), the assembly of Jewish lawyers in France who are attached to Jewish values. He also contributed to the revocation of the UN General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism. Joseph Roubache led a fight in defense of the Jews of the USSR and organized conferences at the Paris Court of Appeal. In 1985, he organized an exhibition at the Grand Palais titled: “From the Bible to the present day, 3000 years of art — the Dead Sea Scrolls,“ an exhibition that included 1200 works of art and took visitors on a journey of Jewish, Christian and Muslim representations from their beginning. He contributed to the creation of the watchdog cell against antisemitic acts at the French Ministry of Justice. He arranged AIJJ accreditation to the Council of Europe. In 1992, he brought several high ranking French magistrates, Jews and non-Jews, to Israel. The most notable among them were the President of the Court of Cassation, Pierre Drai, and the President of the Paris Court of Appeal, Myriam Ezratty. Throughout his life, he organized numerous conferences on antisemitism. In June 2012, he was made Commander in the Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur, one of the highest French awards for civil and military merits. In June 2018, the Board of Directors of the French Committee of the AIJJ awarded him the title of Honorary President. Posthumously, he was awarded the René Cassin Human Rights Prize. Joseph is a model for us all today, and he will continue to be so for generations to come. Speaking of his life and always having the last word, he said: “I have always believed that life can only fully be accomplished if it goes beyond the strict family and professional framework to embrace a wider world.” n Jacques Cohen is President of the French Committee of AIJJ Lawyers at the Court of Paris. Gérard Algazi is Vice-President of the French Committee of AIJJ, Honorary Lawyer and former member of the Board of the Order.