F Train to Paris

In which a Jewish family from Brooklyn moves to Paris, France for two years of work, school, and adventures.

I'm working on two articles about our life in Paris, both for Jewish publications, and therefore I find myself thinking a lot about the Jewish aspect of our Paris life. While it's true that there's a feeling--a climate, a mood--of uneasiness and maybe even fear about being Jewish in Paris, the bottom line is that it does not affect our daily lives. It's true, on one hand, that we are not obviously Jewish. The boys don't walk around wearing kippot, for example. (Even if they were inclined to do so, the rabbis here advise Jewish men not to these days.) But we haven't experienced any anti-Semitism ourselves.

On the other hand, it isn't easy to lead a Jewish life here, at least for us. Our lives are out of sync with the school schedule, a problem that was much worse this year than last because all the holidays in the fall fell on weekdays, while last year they were mainly on weekends. And so many of the things that are enjoyable in the context of a community become much less fun when you're doing them on your own.

We do belong to a shul--Adath Shalom, the one and only Conservative synagogue in Paris--but we don't go nearly as regularly as we do back home, where we are Shabbat regulars. We have learned this about ourselves: what motivates us to go to shul every week is the chance to see our friends. In Brooklyn, we get up every Saturday morning and get ready for shul. Each of us is equally interested in getting there and catching up with our buddies. Here, the older boys don't want to go at all, because they don't have any friends there. Besides the language issue, the fact is there are virtually no kids at shul, because French public schools are open on Saturday mornings. E. doesn't mind going as much, because he has made a couple of friends. There are generally a few kids his age, including the rabbi's daughter, and he's happy to play with whoever is around.

I really wasn't intending to get into this tonight; what I meant to write about was what I've been cooking lately, and what each of us has been reading. But this is what came out when I started typing, so I guess I'll post it. Anyone reading this who wants to know more about this subject, please post a comment and I'll follow up on this topic another time.

posted by: pariskleinmans at 18:17 | link | comments (1) |

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