The Jewish community in France goes as far back to the 4th century AD under the reign of Charlemagne to the present. At the moment, the Jewish population of France reaches 500.000 members. This is actually the third largest population in the world, after Israel and the United States.

Many of them are Sephardic and Mizrahi, that is, they came from northern mediterranean areas, especially from Morocco and Tunisia, after the II World War. Another Jewish group is also the ultra-orthodox Haredi group and a significant number of them who consider themselves secular.

Sources: the Jewish Virtual Library
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/France.html
and Esther Benbassa's The Jews of France.