As my friend and I sat in a Kosher Cafe in the heart of Paris this past summer, we looked around the room and noticed the large amount of Parisian Jews. Although they live in a society that is highly anti-Semitic, they continue to strongly observe their faith, their tradition and their Judaism. Furthermore, the inside of the cafe was decorated with various paintings and pictures; the ones pictured above stuck out to me the most. It presents four of the leading figures and founders of Israel, along with four prominent and halachically different Rabbis. From top left to top right, the first image shows a young Moshe Dayan, then David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, and Theodor Herzl. The second image (with text translated from Hebrew) shows Baba Sali, the Lubavitch Rebbe, Ben Ish Chai, and the Chafetz Chaim. As we left the cafe, I felt a renewed strength in Judaism and Israel because the images reminded me that although we each come from diverse backgrounds and ideologies, in our roots, we are really all one and the same.
Parisian Jewish art inspires pride
