Bonjour a tous! I hope that all the Jews are enjoying their seders and all the non-Jews are enjoying eating leavened foods.
I had a VERY interesting and lovely experience last night; I went to a communal seder for the
Communauté Juive Libérale Grenoble-Dauphiné (if curious, here is their site: http://www.cjl-grenoble.fr/page/synagogue). I found the synagogue by happy chance when googling, and sent a curious email and before I knew it I was signed up--and waived the fee for attending the seder! They are pretty much the only "liberal" synagogue in Grenoble, and were basically equivalent to Reform back home. They are also, surprisingly, mostly Ashkenazi, whereas the other area synagogues are apparently more Sephardi.
The seder was mostly attended by older people, with a few families, and only one other person my age; I was told to sit at a table where "l'autre jeune" would be. And from the beginning, I felt very much at home, despite the language difference. It turns out Jews are pretty much the same in France; one of the conversations went like this:
"Did you hear, a new kosher restaurant opened up in Lyon!"
"No, no the one on Boulevard XXX? That's not kosher, its vegetarian."
"Isn't the owner Jewish?"
"Yes, he's the cousin of so-and-so, but the restaurant is open on Saturdays."
"Well, vegetarian is still something."
It felt like everything I was used to was there, just translated into French. And this also made me realize how good my French has gotten lately. First of all, I could really understand everything anyone said. Secondly, the BEST compliment ever was paid to me by a very nice lady who was kind of listening to a conversation; when I said something about bettering my French she interrupted with "Wait, you aren't French? But I didn't hear an accent. . . " Then when I talked a little more she said she heard it--BUT STILL! I am not obviously American any more!
The service was very well led; they brought in a cantor to do it and he did some lovely things. It was mostly in French, and the songs they sang I knew, even down to the same tunes. We even sang the order the same way we do back home, although at the end I did miss "Chad gadya", but one can't have everything. He also shared some interesting insights into the holiday. It was one of the first times this semester I felt like I wasn't totally in a foreign place, and I was very happy to be there, from the moment I walked in and smelt that first scent of haroset and maror.
The one damper on the lovely evening was the food. Naturally, when I think of Pesach I think of a big traditional meal that one can hardly move after, starting with hard boiled egg and followed with matzah ball soup, some sort of meat and about half a dozen sides. (Plus, chocolate covered matzah for dessert!) This meal was nice, but hardly Passover-worthy. We had a salad followed by fish and potatoes and green beans, with ice cream for dessert. The French all seemed to like it, but I really just wanted a hot bowl of soup. Ah, well. I know what request I will make when I get home this summer. Maman, take note.
The other nice thing was that at the beginning the president of the synagogue, with whom I had been corresponding, was welcoming the outsiders in to the community, saying how it was part of the mitzvah of Passover, and he welcomed me! At first I was a little embarassed to have everyone looking at me, but I think they were genuinely interested in hearing about why on earth an American Jew would be having a seder in Grenoble. Plus, two people came up to greet me; one was an expatriate American, and one was a Grenobloise who has lived for a long time in Norfolk, VA, and she also ended up giving me a ride home.
Naturally, there were also many French cultural elements that enter in to the event. I did la bise (kiss on both cheeks) so many times; I think I finally am becoming not awkward at it. I also learned a little bit of what it is like to be a Jew in France today; they talked about putting mezuzot on the inside of their front doors, and the importance of being "discreet". I wonder what they would think of my synagogue back home, with its large pro-Israel sign, or of the large kosher sections in ordinary supermarkets. We see ourselves as a minority in the US, but in France, especially outside of Paris, its even more so, and the importance of discretion is really underlined.
Anyways, I'm going to go try to go one "Chabbat" and see how it goes!
Love,
Miriam
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