180601
1st
June, 2018
Shabbat
Shalom everyone. Hope you are well. Lots of good news this week and a short
report on a day that hit the world headlines despite the large number of real
wars going on in our region and further.
I
woke this morning to a familiar yet rather unique sound. Do you remember
the old "Rag and Bone" men who took their horse and cart to collect
old clothes and housewares? Well in Israel it is different – firstly they use
small trucks, secondly they are mostly Israeli Arabs and thirdly- they call out
in Yiddish "Alte Zaken" – which means old things!!! It is so
incongruous yet so very Israeli. It is one of my favourite of many incongruities
in this fabulous country!
So,
you want to know all about what happened in the South of Israel this week, and I
will try to explain. First and foremost, understand that there is not a wall on
the border with Gaza, it is a fence and not a very strong one at that; Gaza is
a stone's throw (literally) from the towns and villages of Southern Israel; Despite
the rhetoric of "occupation" – yet the disengagement from Gaza was 13
years ago, leaving them the agricultural infrastructure which they promptly
burned, since when they have constantly instigated terrorist activity against
us. That's just a reminder of the
historical background. Now for the recent conflagration – Iran understood that
its power struggle in Syria was not going well and that the United States was
not giving in to their demands thus decided to use their proxies to attack
Israel and steal the limelight or take the attention of the world in a different
direction. Who is the obvious target? Israel! Who are the proxies? Hamas and
Islamic Jihad. Who are the targets? The farmers, villages, towns and kibbutzim
in the border. Over 120 rockets and mortars were launched at Israel which
involved at least 25 "Red Alerts" sending the civilians racing for
cover. One landed in a kindergarten playground just before the children arrived
and the calm reaction of a headmistress? "Kindergartens are the safest
place for the children because they are all made of bomb-proof material"
Of course she is right but it is so sad that little children need a bomb proof
building! 24 hours of non-stop attacks and Hamas called a halt, which of course
means that they were in control. Why call a halt? Because had it gone on any
longer Israel would have garnered sympathy from the media whereas this way Hamas
got its publicity without damaging its sympathy base. Now do you understand?
No, neither do I!
Roseanne
Barr
– where do I begin? I find her crass and I always hated her programme and her
Tweet was in terrible taste, I have no intention of repeating it now, but the
reaction was so over the top that I am suspicious of the motives. Jimmy Kimmel,
the Baldwins, Joy Behar, Kathy Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Maher – all are
still working even after Kathy Griffin showed a beheaded American President in
a supposed satirical skit!!! Why Roseanne? I leave that to your own judgement. Actually,
after the Starbucks scandal in which Howard Shultz, a great philanthropist and
supporter of the Democratic Party was vilified in the media Rabbi Jeremy
Rosen wrote this wonderful piece on the misinterpretation of racism and its
consequences http://jeremyrosen.com/2018/05/starbucks-and-racism-why-woke-is-not.html
What do
you know about Israel? Well although this was admittedly created for Israel's
68th birthday I love this youtube of Israel's many qualities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3wmT2wH690
Faith
Goldy is Canadian.
I know very little about her except that my friend Jean Evans sent me a clip of
hers and I was both surprised and pleased at the result. This clip is about
breaking the myths about Israel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlHu5nbKEC0
OK –
another question. How much do you know about Maccabi World Union? Everyone
knows that they hold the Jewish Olympics every four years but what else do you
know? Did you know that Maccabi Youth is conceivably the largest Jewish Youth
Movement in the world? Maccabi is inclusive rather than exclusive. For me, every time we go to Kfar Maccabiah,
in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, I get to meet old friends from all over the world,
incidentally Eva Bensky you were missed, next time please come with Leo-Dan. For
Zvi it is much more serious as he takes part in the policy and planning
meetings. Friday night with Rabbi Carlos Tapiero and a wonderful group
of young singers got everyone singing along and doing folk dancing after an
excellent Shabbat meal and the interactions of people from diverse cultures in
this social setting familiar to everyone is very special. At the huge party
there on Monday night Einat Saruf was the star performer, she has a special
knack of singing all the familiar songs and getting everyone to join in. As usual
she recognised Zvi from previous events and got him to take a mike and sing
with her! It was extra special because we all knew that within a few days we
would all meet up again at the wedding of Maccabi CEO Eyal Tiberger and Ettie's
daughter Orit. Until you have been to an Israeli wedding you haven't lived! Not
only incredible food before the food (really I am not joking) with time to
enjoy meeting old friends, but the sheer joy of the ceremony then the ebullient
dancing of first Israeli songs with everyone jumping to "Moshiach"
and "Ani Ma'amin" graduating into popular music and time for the
youngsters to have fun with all kinds of funny noses, hats and sparkly things.
As one would expect the food inside was also amazing! We drove back to
Jerusalem happy but tired arriving on the dot of midnight. What never fails to
amaze me is that the roads are almost as busy at midnight as they are during
the day!!!
Also
on Monday I went to my friend Susan's and at the invitation of Joy Goldman I
spoke to the most adorable and fascinating group of people I have met in a long
time. The talk was in a special community, purported to be for what in Israel
is called "ha gil ha shlishi" the third age, in other words for
retired people who still have a great deal of life left in them. If you wish
there are courses in just about everything all day long!! Anyway I was not
nervous, strange for me, and the moment I saw the crowd I understood why.
Firstly I saw my lovely friend Sylvia Wallis who moved to Protea Hills
recently and then after a short introduction by Joy, with Susan sitting next to
me for confidence, I started to explain why the talk was called "The Power
of One". Who I was and how I got started on my writing path. As the
questions began another co-hasbarist, Stuart Palmer, joined me at the
microphone to reinforce what I said. Everything went swimmingly and I was
really having fun, then it happened! I had asked everyone how long they were in
Israel and why they came here when Sylvia Dombey spoke up. Sylvia is a
wonderful lady of 90+, bright as a button, who made Aliya a short few years ago,
as she said "My house needed painting and I couldn't be bothered, so I
decided to come and live in Israel"! I was so delighted by her story and
her sheer joy at being in Israel that it really made my day!!!
We meet
many people, every day ordinary folk and those who think themselves at a higher
level - I am so impressed by the humility of Kathleen and Earl Cox.
Their intentions are pure, on the edge of altruistic, and they have never let
us down either as friends or in their love of Israel. They remember who helped
them get started and have remained steadfast for the last 15 years or more
despite great success. In fact I told Earl the true story of the day I took him
to interview Ehud Olmert about the upcoming disengagement from Gaza……… I went
in to Ehud first and told him to use the phrase Pikuach nefesh when talking
about the disengagement. Pikuach nefesh means to save a soul – in Judaism one
is allowed to break any rules, even Shabbat, to save another human being. Ehud
did and Earl had a story!! Earl and Kathleen have gone on to great broadcasting
success and I am very proud of them.
On Thursday
Rachie and I met up with Daniella and Justin Selig and their children for
a delightful lunch. That was when we heard about their daughter Mimi's
incredible feat of raising 3,000 pounds for Zichron Menachem, a
beautiful organisation which makes wigs for children with cancer and takes them
on holidays and trips. Not only that but she grew her hair so that she could
come to Jerusalem and donate it. Mimi – your grandparents would be so proud of
you! What an amazing 10 year old.
I have
a feeling that my beautiful grandson Zachary in London, an avid Chelsea
supporter, will be coming to Israel more often since the owner of Chelsea, Roman
Abramovitz, made Aliya this week. Britain's loss is our gain!!! https://m.jpost.com/Israel-
Zvi is
in the middle of a meeting in the other room and then of course he will go out
to Kiriat Anavim for his parliament, (they no longer meet at the petrol station),
and I must go and get Talia and Ayala from school so that I can simultaneously
take them home and see Rachel, Yosef and Igal too. Everyone is in the final
throes of preparations for Talia's Bat Mitzva……… secrets about dresses and
surprises abound and Rachel has made the most incredible Piñata I have ever
seen. It is a ball gown piñata!!!
I know
that you know about the panorama of Jerusalem on the way home but I rarely talk
about the view from the girls school. It is a view of the ever growing Ramallah,
creeping, or racing, closer and closer to the fence. Beautiful houses, one can
see the huge, modern shopping mall and Ramallah is spreading in all directions.
If we are supposedly committing genocide, exactly who is living in these newly
built houses?
My
salads are made, the table set, the candles ready for lighting…………..So let's
think about music.
So
often we take what we have in this world for granted. We forget from whence we
came and how we got here. Yonatan Raza'el is a classical musician who
writes beautiful music to Biblical texts. This is definitely one of my
favourites. Katonti - I am humbled
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQZCAMznc3U
As a
child I would say this prayer every morning as Mummy woke me from my sleep. Modeh
Ani – I Give Thanks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lPK6V3Y6YQ
Finally,
also a song of thanks Matanot Ktanot – Small Gifts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwanFyGQtLQ
I wish
each and every one of you a sweet Shabbat, time to be quiet with oneself, a
time of calm and contemplation and of giving thanks for the wonders of every
day.
Shabbat
Shalom with love from Jerusalem
Sheila
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