Livre d'Or

Hm, I see what you mean, though from everything I've heard they're attracting reputable klezmer musicians, at least, so there is some good art going on among the tack.

I do think that by creating fake shops they are asking people to participate in the culture, not just watch it, though; the tourists will go into the former ghetto, and buy things from the storekeepers in their cute ethnic costumes, and have the kind of fun that one has at historical reenactment events.

I'm sort of leaving the religion angle out of this, really, though of course it's not a complete dichotomy between "culture" and "religion". Klezmer is largely a secular thing, even if it came out of a religious context. I don't think that the problem is that the festival is encouraging people to take part in pretend religious rituals.