First Impressions Of Paris (10 Hours In France)

good morning from Paris Charles de Gaal airport I landed here a couple minutes ago from the United States and I'm headed to Romania tonight but today I'm going to go out and explore the city [Music] so finally after a long taxi ride got into the city I'm standing here overlooking the river sen and apparently there's a Chabad house really close by and a very interesting Chabad house a synagogue that you've probably never seen anything like it before I can't wait to show you so this is Chabad on a boat welcome on the Chabad boat on the what we call here in French the boat Chabad so this is the outside um that we use very much during the summer days when it's sunny outside it's like a very pleasant place and I'll bring you to the inside of the book right now we'll uh we'll have a look okay let's go hello hi congratulations so Rabbi what is your name my name is Robin Mendy lashkar where are you from I'm from Paris originally okay you have a great English you don't sound French uh listen it works better it works good for some people I guess I spent some years in Yeshiva in America okay so I made my English a little better right and can you explain why you have a Chabad house on a boat okay so we came here on schliches about 10 years ago now we settled down in this area which is kind of a new area in Paris as we started living here we realized that it's actually an area full of students students come in the morning they'll leave at night and um and they spend their entire day in this area we realize that our job our work had to be done more with the students so we tried looking for a place finding a place in Paris probably will be small probably you know very very expensive and we had this idea what can you do in order to find a thing that will attract the students will be like a cool place and Barca we had this idea to buy a boat and to make it the Chabad house for students on campus and this is what uh Hashem happened so what happens here on this boat like what kind of facilities do you have okay so many things are happening here on this boat first of all it's an open place for them to come anytime they want from the morning till the night they could come settle down put their stuff and work under you know on their on what they have to work on and study talk meet new people we also have a kosher restaurant for them with very cheap prices for students they could come every single day very fresh good food cooked here on premises and we have also every night a different sheer different types of events for students now it's you know the hagima coming up coming up so very different cool types of events are organized for them to come to gather to meet new people and to have a good time and during two months of the year they're in June and July being that it's less of a student period this place has opened a kosher restaurant open for everyone here in the city and from around the world which is probably the only kosher restaurant on the boat and it's it opens up basically for everyone else that wants to enjoy this place that wants to have this a little bit of the taste of what it means to be sitting on the French on the on the Parisian River on the sand and to enjoy the the area the place so if you one day you come to Paris and it's June or July you're always welcome thank you Rabbi and do you ever move the boat where the boat is anchored here so the boot the boat can move it has a motor and it has everything required now being aware then we need to be found when someone needs us we don't really move right okay that's a good answer thank you very much you're welcome do you want to show me what's going on inside okay so now it's the first days of the year it's the classes are slowly slowly starting so students are slowly starting to come to enjoy this place follow me some students are probably admitting of getting their lunch all right so this is like the synagogue so there's this room here which is like the restaurant slash event space and then there's another room behind this room where there's a small synagogue as well [Music] foreign [Music] it's important to mention that France has one of the largest Jewish communities in the world there are over 600 Chabad rabbis here in France and there's also over a hundred kosher restaurants in Paris itself just left the boat Chabad and now I'm headed to the old Jewish District of Paris where there were many synagogues and many Jewish people lived let's head over there so we are now in the Marie District this is the old Jewish area where many many thousands of Jewish people used to live in Paris there are many kosher restaurants still here but not as many as there used to be now most of the Jewish people have moved over to a different area which we probably will not have time to visit today this place is called Falafel it's probably the most famous kosher restaurant in Paris and as you can see there are lines outside it's always very busy here [Music] thank you I am totally stuffed was a great meal there one thing to keep in mind is that not all the meat there is super kosher everything is kosher but not everything is glut not everything is super kosher so if you are someone who always tries to eat only super kosher make sure you go in there and ask for glut ask for khalaq the people behind the counter will know what you're talking about and they'll make sure that you get the right cuts of meat for your kosher specifications anyway let's head to the Eiffel Tower [Music] so this place right here is called the Trocadero I'm sure I'm butchering that but I think that's how the friends say it it's a platform or a plaza where the Eiffel Tower is visible probably the best view in the entire city of Paris and I've been here every single trip of mine to Paris I visited this place that's my son by the way he's here on the trip I'm not showing his face because I want to keep his privacy but he's chasing the birds thinking that somehow he's going to be able to pet them go get him so it's amazing that we're actually standing here myself dressed proudly as a Jew and my son as well you know not very long ago only a couple decades ago Adolf Hitler may he Rest In Pieces was uh right here he stood literally right here right on this Plaza when the Nazis invaded France and he came here to see the Eiffel Tower himself there are pictures of it and the fact that he stood here and in such a dark time and now we're here and thank God things are hopefully better and that we're able to be openly and proudly dressed as Jewish people to live our lives the way we see fit is an incredible thing to be thankful to God for another thing I should mention is that in France in the last few years there's been a lot of Jewish people who have been leaving Jewish people have been living here for generations and they've been leaving because of anti-Semitism and I must say that hey standing here today in the center of Paris dressed proudly as a Jew I have not seen or encountered any anti-Semitism I'm not saying that it doesn't exist I'm sure it does but I just haven't seen any of it today again I'm just visiting and people who live here say it's a problem but so far everything's been nice people have been friendly and we've been having a great time this is Paris this is a city that I love very much and hope to come back here soon for a longer period of time I'm on the famous Eiffel Tower Merry-Go-Round of Carousel I'm not doing it for myself I'm doing it for my son who's right next to me but I am having a good time thank you