Tagine trouble

Goodness! My tagines got me into an altercation with the man who thinks he's the village squire and doesn't like" non Christian" foreigners living in a big detached house.

He complained my tagines were turning the village into "little India" (he'd convinced himself I'm Indian for whatever reason, probably because on Shabbat evening I wear a kaftan, which I'm guessing he confused with a sari).

It was the summer so I'd opened the kitchen windows and he didn't like the aromas.

He was embarrassed though, because I answered the phone and it was my father in law, so automatically said "bonjour".

"Even worse he muttered under his breath, "We've got bloody Indian- French in the village!".

Won him round eventually though (:

The slow exodus of French Jews

France has the largest Islamic population and Jewish population in Europe, Jews in France are mostly of Sephardic descent, because of Vichy and because France used to control most of north Africa and Syria and many of the Jews who lived there fled , when these colonies became independent. However, unlike the the Muslim community which was built up in France at the same time , Sephardic French Jews prospered and thrived in France, despite the latent antisemitism there. Indeed at one time France was Israel's closet ally, supplying fighter jets, arms and participating in collaborative nuclear research.

Until the past 10 or 20 years , which has suffered several antisemitic atrocities , alongside antisemitic "incidents" (eg 1980 synagogue bombings, the "gang of the barbarians" , 2012 massacre of French Jewish children, the murders of people this year at the kosher deli) and this is  shown a steady exodus of Jews from France to Israel, Britain and the parts of  French speaking Canada(my husband being one of them) . This year alone 6,000 French Jews have made alyiah to Israel (in the period 2009 to 2013 13,000 did so, to give an idea of the scale) .

Last  weeks terrorism in Paris had a Jewish connection. Via the Jewish news:

'The predominantly Sephardi Paris Jewish community is traditional and its young people more often spend Friday nights at home with their families, which may well have led to the few Jewish-related casualties in the carnage. One who died was Djamila Reibenberg, wife of Gregory Reibenberg, who was the majority share owner of the cafe La Belle Equipe, one of the targets for the gunmen. Another was a 22-year-old university student, Justine Moulin, shot dead at La Petit Camboge, also attacked by the terrorists. Ms Moulin was not Jewish but was the granddaughter of a well-known member of the Paris Masorti community, Professor David Ruzie. '

The article also says  :

The Bataclan, sold just two months ago by Jewish owners who had run it for 40 years, frequently hosted pro-Israel events and was well-known as a target for anti-Zionist radicals. The band that was playing on Friday night, the American group Eagles of Death Metal, played in Tel Aviv this summer in direct defiance of Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters who has called for a blanket cultural boycott of Israel. In the wake of Friday’s terror attacks the band has announced its intention to return to play in Israel as soon as possible.

So when Bibi says to French Jews "In my role as Prime Minister of Israel, I always say to Jews, wherever they may be, I say to them: Come to Israel and make Israel your home", he is simply reiterating the bloomin obvious.  I'm just wondering when this, that is overt unashamed  antisemitism as even here our synagogues and schools are like fortresses , or as an American Rabbi said to me and he was shocked at the difference to the US "like a penitentiary", will explode into Britain.

Adon Olam

Adon Olam:

This is a Sephardic hymn and my way of expressing my thoughts towards Friday's barbaric attack on the people of Paris , France and the French people :

Adon olam, asher malach,
b'terem kol y'tzir nivra.
L'et na'asah v'cheftzo kol,
azai melech sh'mo nikra.

V'acharey kichlot hakol,
l'vado yimloch nora.
V'hu haya, v'hu hoveh,
v'hu yih'yeh b'tifara.

V'hu echad, v'eyn sheni
l'hamshil lo, l'hachbira.
B'li reishit, b'li tachlit,
v'lo ha'oz v'hamisrah.

V'hu Eli, v'chai go'ali,
v'tzur chevli b'et tzarah.
V'hu nisi umanos li,
m'nat kosi b'yom ekra.

B'yado afkid ruchi
b'et ishan v'a'irah.
V'im ruchi g'viyati,
Adonai li v'lo ira.

Translation:
The Lord of the Universe who reigned
before anything was created.
When all was made by his will
He was acknowledged as King.

And when all shall end
He still all alone shall reign.
He was, He is,
and He shall be in glory.

And He is one, and there's no other,
to compare or join Him.
Without beginning, without end
and to Him belongs diminion and power.

And He is my G-d, my living G-d.
to Him I flee in time of grief,
and He is my miracle and my refuge,
who answers the day I shall call.

To Him I commit my spirit,
in the time of sleep and awakening,
even if my spirit leaves,
G-d is with me, I shall not fear.