Sukkah Built for Ryder Cup Fans

By Mordechai Lightstone – Chabad.org

Thousands of golf fans are set to visit Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in suburban Paris for the Ryder Cup, the biennial tournament between European and American teams, and Chabad will be there to greet them, lulavs in hand.

Chabad emissaries Rabbi Mendel and Shterna Nisenbaum have been preparing to welcome Jewish visitors among the influx of some 8,000 guests in the idyllic planned community some 40 miles south of Paris.

“People have been asking us about prayers, kosher and everything else,” says the rabbi, “and were very gratified to learn about what we have prepared for them.”

Since tournament aligns with the week of Sukkot, the Nisenbaums have put together a full array of Jewish services for visitors. Four rabbinical students will come to town to help Jews fulfil the mitzvahs of eating in a sukkah, shaking the lulav and etrog, and taking part in other holiday observances.

In addition to kosher meals for hotel rooms, there will be a public sukkah with refreshments. They even plan on bringing down a “sukkah mobile, to make the mitzvah even more accessible.

The sudden influx of tourists is one that Nissenbaum finds fitting for what he views as essentially a “start-up” community.

Part of a slew of suburban communities developed post-war, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines was one of the few to not have an established Jewish community.

“When we first moved here 12 years ago,” said the rabbi, “there was no synagogue, no Jewish classes. This was where people moved when they wanted to get far away from the Jewish community.”

Since then the community has blossomed, with holiday events such as Simchat Torah drawing as many as 400 to 500 people.

“That’s what we do here,” says Nisenbaum. “Make Jewish experiences for everybody.”