SHARE:  
Join Our Email List
December 2016 - The Lurie Language monthly newsletter, where Jewish culture and Romance Languages intersect!
Beth's picks:

$11 million Jewish center to be built in Paris in 2017! 

Despite record emigration from France by French Jews, the European Center for Judaism is scheduled to open in 2017 in Northern Paris. This new center will include a synagogue, exposition space, and more, and will provide a bit of hope in an extremely tense time for the Jews of France. We will give updates on this new and important Jewish center closer to the opening date.

Marcel Marceau:  

I was lucky enough to see him perform when I was a child in New York, and I was mesmerized! Universally acclaimed as the world's greatest mime, Marceau is the  son of a kosher butcher, and was born Marcel Mangel in Strasbourg, France to a Jewish family. Marceau's interest in the art of mime began at an early age. In 1944, Marcel's father was captured and deported to Auschwitz, where he was killed. Marcel's mother survived. The first time Marceau used mime was after France was invaded, in order to keep Jewish children quiet when he helped them escape to neutral Switzerland.

Family Travel: Le Marais, Paris

Paris' most famous Jewish neighborhood is in the Marais and has been home to Jews on and off since the thirteenth century. Le Marais  is a vibrant and cosmopolitan district where Jewish shops and residences exist side by side with art galleries, boutiques, and fine restaurants. 

 Up and down Rue des Rosiers,  between   Rue Mahler and Rue Hospitalieres-St-Gervais, as well as on the streets off rue des Rosiers, you will find Jewish restaurants, bookshops, boulangeries and cha rcuteries along with synagogues and shtiebels (small prayer rooms - oratoire in French). 

Museum of Jewish Art and History. (71 Rue de Temple), Metro: Hotel de Ville. Musee de l'art et d'Histoire du Judaism, www.mahj.org.  Opened to
much publicity in December 1998, the museum is dedicated to the celebration of Jewish life in the extensive picture exhibits and collection of ritual objects. Do not miss this museum!

Beth's Marais restaurant pick:

Best falafel in the Marais: L'As du Fallafel. Expect long lines!

Music

Une Bougie de Hanoucca

A beautiful Hanukkah song to the tune of Ma'oz Tzur:       
        
 Une bougie de Hanoucca 
 Deux bougies tu allumeras
Trois bougies vont t'eclairer
Quatre bougies la liberté
Cinq bougies, une lumiere
Six bougies sauvait notre univers
Sept bougies et sans retard ( 2x)
Huit bougies bientot mashiach

Leonard Cohen 

Music legend Leonard Cohen passed away on 11/7/16. Born into a  Jewish family in Montreal, Canada, Cohen was descended from a long line of rabbis and Talmudic scholars. Cohen was an observant Jew 
who was interviewed in 1974 on this subject, "I've never disguised the fact that I'm Jewish and in any crisis in Israel I would be there. I am committed to the survival of the Jewish people." A year earlier, he had performed for Israeli soldiers during the Yom Kippur War.  You can listen to "La Manic," one of his songs in French, 

Film The Jews (Ils Sont Partout)

A modern take on what it is like to be a Jew in
France today. Told from the perspective of a neurotic Jewish man, actor Yvan Attal, who speaks to his therapist about his obsession with what it means to be Jewish in France. There are some funny scenes with Charlotte Gainsbourg, who laments that her ex-husband is not a wealthy Jew. 


Trivia Challenge of the Month:

Which famous French Jewish actress had a delicious cookie named after her, and what is so special about these cookies?



Recipes of the Month

Palets de pommes de terre (potato pancakes)  are the quintessential French latkes, also known as pommes dauphines. You can  season them with applesauce or even sugar. 

Algerian donuts are a popular Hanukkah treat in France. Made with just a few simple ingredients, they are delicious and easy to make! You can learn how to make them  here. 
ANSWER: The "Divine" Sarah Bernhardt was an  important  Jewish  actress of the 19th and early 20th century. You can learn how to bake Sarah Bernhardt cookies here.

STAY CONNECTED: