It’s a Small World

LouvreNotes from the Lampert Library

We don‘t realize how small the world is until we’ve left our familiar environment and entered another.

I’m visiting my daughter and her family in Lille, France. Though I’ve been here many times in the last fifteen years or so and much is familiar, I’m always struck by both the similarities and the differences.

I’m using Microsoft Word and typing on a Microsoft keyboard but my fingers keep hitting the wrong keys although I am not a good touch typist. On the French keyboard “a” is where “q” is on an American English keyboard. There are other differences, too, some of them an improvement over the American keyboard. You can imagine the gibberish thqt might result!

But, as I said, the world is so small, too. We ran out of breadcrumbs so we used leftover matzah meal. There was even a recipe for matzah quenelles ( matzah balls to most of us) on the box. No one liked the Manischewitz gefilte fish that Rebecca was able to find in the supermarket. So she saved it for me. They were right. Even the most devoted gefilte fish fan wouldn’t have liked this gefilte fish even with the best horseradish. But reading the French label and explanation was interesting.

Northern France is not on most American visitors’ itinerary, but the area is full of history, physical beauty, and many interesting and fun sites for any traveler. Northern France is also very close to Belgium and a couple of hours from England via the Eurostar. It’s a great location to explore France and northwest Europe without the big city getting in the way. There’s even a branch of the Louvre in Lens, a former mining center.

Synagogue in Lille, FranceJewish life is present if you look for it. Lille has an active synagogue run by Chabad. Its physical space is a beautiful building that has been standing for close to 150 years. It was repurposed by the Germans and used as a warehouse so escaped the fate of many synagogues and remained intact. Most of the surrounding smaller cities also had synagogues. However, World War II decimated the Jewish population and Lille is now the center of Jewish life. Activities here are not so different from those in the U.S. I’ve been to a Purim celebration and Rosh Hashanah and Shabbat services.

We’ll be exploring Strasbourg and Alsace-Lorraine for a few days. With its location on the German border and the historical seesawing of the territory back and forth between France and Germany, I expect to see some cultural differences between Lille in the north near Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine in the east.

deRosnay, Sarah's KeyAnton, Rashi's DaughtersCameron, The Fruit of Her Hands

The French-Jewish experience has been chronicled in many books, both non-fiction and fiction. The Nightingale, set during World War II, features a Jewish supporting character. Sarah’s Key is an unforgettable novel of World War II. Wiesel’s Rashi is a brief study of the famous Talmudist from Troyes; Anton’s trilogy Rashi’s Daughters gives the reader a glimpse of both French Jewish life and women’s roles in medieval France. The Fruit of Her Hands is set in many locations throughout thirteenth century Europe looking at Jewish life through the eyes of Shira, a famed rabbi’s wife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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