Seder 1!

---

The seder on Monday night was wonderful. The apartment was absolutely beautiful. Claudia had told me not to bring anything, but I am glad I sprung for the flowers because they were quite appreciative. I walked in and was greeted in the very French manner with kisses, and greeted by their golden retriever, Orion! Mme M was surprised by the size of my Jewish star necklace and asked me if I was not afraid. I assured her I am not. I have not had a single anti-semitic experience here, contrary to what I had heard. Although I would probably still wear the necklace, because I am proud of who I am, and I am not going to live in fear, refusing to expressing myself because of something that might happen.

Most of the family had not yet arrived. I sat with Claudia and her grandmother to eat an apéritif and chat. There was hummus, something vaguely ratatouille like with eggplant, and a cabbage slaw to eat with little round matzahs. There was also something made from fish eggs, hard and crunchy and salty, not caviar. I drank Israeli mango juice and was told to try Anisette, otherwise known as alcohol that tastes like or pizzeles, but not sweet. I had not even known such a thing existed. It was interesting, but I think I would have preferred it mixed with something sweet, like fruit juice.

Mme M explained to me that while their last name is « Ashkenaze », her side of the family is « Sepharade » and the more religious side of the family, so the traditions might be different from what I was used to. This was fine by me, because I am always up for experiencing things in new ways.

Claudia's aunt, uncle, and cousin Marion arrived, and a guy who I believe may have been Marion's boyfriend, named Raphael. He spoke French differently, which I found out was an accent from the south of France.

Everyone finally sat down for the seder at 9:30 PM! The "kid's" end of the table was made up of 20-25 year olds, Claudia, her brother Stefan, Marion, Raphael and myself. This was nice, and definitely different from family meals chez moi! For the four cups of wine, we used cute little shot glasses adorned with !לחיימ (L'Chaim - To life!) which was fine by me because too much wine makes me very sleepy.

The Haggadah was mostly read by Claudia's uncle, who, it turns out is the brother of the Rabbi at the synagogue in my quartier! Everyone sang the four questions in Hebrew, and I read the translation in French. We also all sang Dayenu, but a little differently than I was used to. Another difference was the carrying of the seder plate around the table, and first passing it over everyone's head, then touching it on everyone's head. At first I didn't understand what was happening, and I ducked, haha.

They also don't make Hillel sandwiches (matzah, horseradish, and charoset), but rather wrap a piece of matzah inside a lettuce leaf and dip that in charoset, which was made from plums rather than the apples I am used to. The final big differences were the pouring of water and wine into a bowl for each of the ten plagues rather than the Ashkenazi tradition of dipping one's pinky finger into wine and dripping it onto his plate for each plague. The other is taking various items from the seder plate and shaking them in one's left hand while saying or chanting their names in Hebrew. I was interested to see what the following night would hold, as the synagogue itself was a mix of Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions.

At 11 PM, dinner was finally served. Instead of gefilte fish, we had some sort of round salmon on a bed of greens with vinaigrette. Instead of matzah ball soup, we had a stew of meat (lamb I believe) and many vegetables. Le plat principal (main course) was veal and lamb with potatoes and green beans, and some other type of meat with apricots and plums. It was all very delicious. Dessert was raspberry sorbet over rose petal jam. That was definitely something I had never tried before, and while the texture was odd, it was good!

By the time everyone was leaving, it was already 12:30. Claudia's aunt and uncle kindly offered to drive me home, and Mme M gave me some matzah for the week! Everyone was very nice and lovely, and I had a great time. I am going to call Claudia up to thank her again, and ask if there is a day she would like to grab a café after class. Waking up was certainly difficult Tuesday morning, but I did make it to class!

---