Every year at home, at the sundown of Yom Kippur, the break fast ritual is an evening filled with family, friends, and bagels. After the fast, our families and neighborhood look forward to being together and eating traditional Jewish cuisine. Being abroad, in Paris, France, weI decided that it was important to ensure that we had a place to go on Yom Kippur to be with the Jewish community. When talking to other Jewish international students about where they would go for Yom Kippur, we realized that we were all in need of the same thing- a community to break the fast with!
We decided that if we all could not find a place to go, then we must host a break fast ourselves. We reached out to many international students and friends that we knew from Northwestern and Sciences Po. These students were very happy about the prospect of being with Jewish people for Yom Kippur and looked forward to having a place to break the fast.
A group of us schlepped across Montparnasse for food to prepare our break fast meal for our guests! Being in Paris, Philadelphia cream cheese was hard to come by but surprisingly the lox at Monoprix, France's popular supermarket chain, was cheaper than Costco. The cheese came from a fromagerie and, our pastries, though not ruggelach, came from a boulangerie. And although our break fast was not traditional, our Parisian style cuisine would be a delicious way to end the fast.
Our break fast was a hit. We had French cheese and baguettes, challah, bagels, shmears and lox, and even hummus. Our guests came from across the world, as well. We hosted students that came from countries including Israel, Scotland, France and the United States and all of us celebrated together in our little Paris apartment. Coming together as Jewish international students from different places to recognize the holiday, when some otherwise would not have engaged fully in Yom Kippur, was a testament to the unique way in which Jewish culture transcends languages and borders, connecting us with a shared identity.
Emery and Jacqueline are both Juniors at Northwestern University, studying abroad in Paris, France. The event and connections were made possible by the Delegation of Jewish American Students.
