Bonjour! Bienvenue en France!

Rabeinu Tam Shul

As I hinted to in my last post, I went with three friends (well technically one co-worker, his roommate and my boss) to Troyes, France.  For all those who have been paying attention thus far, that is where the Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, was born and moved back to at the age of 25.  What better activity to do on a Sunday during the 9 days.

Memorial for Rabeinu Tam

The first stop on our journey was actually to Ramerupt, France where we went to a shul that had a memorial of Rabeinu Tam. Rabeinu Tam was born in Ramerupt and incidentally was the grandson of Rashi. Since we left at around 4:30 AM, we got to the shul in time to daven shacharit.  It was a small building and the man who is in charge saw us driving around and assumed that we were there to see the shul.  So he came out and opened it up for us.  Apparently his father was in charge of the shul and I think before that his grandfather.  (You all see where I'm going with this..) So back to the story.  We got in, daven'd, looked around and then were on our way.

Inside the "Rashi" Shul

We stopped at a random coffee shop along the way would definitely be described as a hick town - you know one of those places where everyone really does know your name.  (and they are always glad you came). Although not sure if they were glad that we came or not, but alas, we were there, buying some coffee (and tea for me).

French Poodle, In France

Following that small break we continued on our journey (with a short stop for brunch at a picnic bench that we found) to Troyes! Troyes was a bit larger then Ramerupt, but still had that same small town feel.  We found the shul that is called the Rashi Shul. It was not opened, but there was a phone number on the door.  After two attempts we convinced the owner and his son to come open the shul for us.  They showed us around and showed some very old sefarim that they have on display. We then received a map of the town and other "Rashi" spots.

Rashi Memorial

The people of Troyes don't know where Rashi is buried, but they have put up a memorial statue for him (as seen in the picture).  It's a huge round black and white object with the "reish", "shin" and "yud" carved out.

Street Where Rashi Supposedly Lived

We then went to another part of town to the actual street that Rashi suppodedly lived on.  As the four of us strolled the same roads that Rashi strolled, breathed the same air that Rashi breathed and learned the same torah that Rashi commented on we knew that although many things have changed from  his time, there were many things that have remained the same.

Our day in Troyes had come to an end and we were off again on the road for our four and a half hour journey back to Brussels.