220610
10th
June 2022
Shabbat
Shalom! How are you? I hope this week has been kind to you.
Andrea
Bocelli
gave a performance in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night before an audience of over
20,000, and from what I hear, it was simply stupendous! Our lovely friends
Anita and Robert Simons were there and Anita waxed lyrical about the
performance as a whole, especially since Bocelli brought his children with him
and they sang alongside their father. Israeli soprano Shiri Maimon sang
alongside him her beautiful voice melding perfectly with his. Before the show,
Bocelli met with former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who at the
singers request gave him the priestly blessing for success. Bocelli visited
Jerusalem on Thursday, praying at both the Western Wall and the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre. I imagine that standing at the Kotel and feeling the ancient
stones, he was able to sense the history far more deeply than those of us who
are with sight.
A
friend wrote on Facebook that this week the number one movie is Top Gun; the
number one in the British charts is a song by Kate Bush and the USA is in a
proxy war with Russia and I responded that we are in 1984. I found so many
appropriate Orwell quotes that I was spoiled for choice. Appropriate to what?
Well, pick your democratic country and you will find a quote to describe the
current political chaos. We live in a dystopian world of untruths, doublespeak
and Newspeak. Here in Israel the determination of the Opposition to bring about
the downfall of the current government that they were willing to voter against
laws that they were morally bound to pass. Boris Johnson is failing; Joe Biden
weakening. The quote I chose is "The most effective way to destroy people
is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history" Make
of it as you will.
Today,
55 years ago,
we were in the middle of conceivably the shortest war in history, just 6 days,
yet the longest war in history because, sadly, we are still fighting it. As
Abba Eban said at the time "This is the first war in history which has
ended with the victors suing for peace and the vanquished calling for unconditional
surrender"
Ephraim
Kishon,
the Hungarian/Israeli satirist and author, wrote a prophetic book "So
Sorry We Won" fully understanding that we had lost the underdog position
for ever. Kishon's best-known
quotes include: “Israel is a country so tiny that there is no room to write its
name on the world map” and “It is a country where nobody expects miracles, but
everybody takes them for granted.” It is, of course, even today a country at
the center of the theatre of the absurd whereby we are demonised, vilified and stigmatised
by those with whom we share our core values.
After
just 19 years of Jordanian rule over the Old City, we could return to our
Holy sites. I still remember that day October
the 4th 1967 when I walked up towards the Western Wall with my father and
brother. It was the eve of Rosh Hashanah and finally we were able to go and
pray at the wall.It wasn't even remotely like the Kotel one visits today;
there was no plaza and there was rubble everywhere, only half of the current
section of the retaining wall of the Temple Mount could be seen, all had been
hidden as it was built upon, and we moved forward together to touch the ancient
stones. I can never recapture those moments, there was something raw and deeply
spiritual about the newly unearthed structure and of course there was, as yet,
no separation between men and women. For those who would argue that point I
have photos of that day. Today it is a
major tourist site with truly magnificent displays, exhibits, tunnels and
museums but for me it cannot recapture the raw beauty of 1967. https://thekotel.org/en/
As
I bring us back to today, despite the perfidious behaviour of most of our
former allies, the acceptance of sheer lies, nay calumny, by the supposed
beautiful people of the left, we have some excellent new allies, countries
whose leaders understand the Middle East and are ready to move forward and
learn from the only democracy in the Middle East. The Abraham Accords have
opened doors that we always thought were firmly slammed in our face and locked
with multiple keys, but just as they say that every leader needs an enemy to
prove his leadership, so we can disprove that old adage. It began with the
Emirates and through the desire to make enormous changes in the language used
in their schoolbooks many other nations in the MENA region are moving forward
beside Israel. Please please look at the www.impact-se.org reports on the
willingness for change expressed by many of the very countries that our
politicians (and theirs) called us enemies.
I promise you that it will make your day – especially when you read
about the response of the EU to the PA's refusal to take hate out of their
curriculum!
My
favourite quote of the week comes from the wonderful Hen Mazzig who spreads
Israel's word all over the world.
You
can love Israel without hating Palestinians
You
can love Palestinians without hating Israel
Sunday
was Shevuot, the Feast of Weeks,
On
Monday morning I met with my friend Rabbi David Greenberg and his group
at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem. I was thrilled when Rabbi David asked me to
speak to the group at breakfast before they left on their day's trip, and as we
sat around the tables outside the dining room, in the beautiful atrium of the
hotel I explained who I was then what I do (and Zvi of course although he was at
a different appointment) I then asked for questions. Those questions centred
around the question of hasbara – of Israel success or lack of it, in getting
our point of view, our stories, over to the mass media. My response was met
with disbelief as I explained how much information is disseminated and never
picked up. There are very few journalists who dare to go against the owners and
advertisers of the large media outlets. I was thrilled at the knowledge of many
of the group and especially one gentleman who was incredibly well informed. I
don't know his name, I know he is a physician at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Throughout the brief encounter I saw Arlette's smiling face supporting me –
thank you Sari, your friend is very special.
In
the afternoon Rachel suddenly appeared with Talia and Ayala which was great
fun. I always have a frozen roll of Talia's favourite home-made cookies in the
freezer, waiting to be sliced and baked while Ayala prefers……well anything that
I can bake or make in an instant!!
On
Tuesday Rachel and I met with Gaby and Alex at Shalva to discuss the July
opening of Dr Dan's Room, the Studio for Dance, Music and Drama in Shalva. I
cannot believe that after two years and Covid hold-ups, the Room is not only
ready but young people are already enjoying it. Volunteers from the Khan
Theatre and the Jerusalem Music Academy will ensure that the children have
every chance of taking their hard earned skills forward. With every day I know
that this is the most beautiful way to keep my exceptional son Daniel's memory
alive in a manner that he would have loved. The opening isn't the end of the
project, it is only the beginning and for me the Shalva Family has taken me in
with open arms and eased my grief with their love. https://give.shalva.org/daniel
In
the evening we met with Anita and Robert Simons, all the way from Sydney
Australia, for a delicious supper at Naya, in nearby Beit Nekufa. That place is
ridiculously busy. It was only after trying every possible time to book a table
for four that they finally managed to fit us in at the ridiculously early hour
of 18:30! It was wonderful to catch up with them and then we called in to show
them our new apartment before Zvi took them back to the King David.
Wednesday
was
a quiet day, a chance to catch our breath, it was also my sister Doreen's
birthday! I can tell you her age because none of you would believe it if you
saw her. At 84 she is still beautiful, slender, bright and busy!
Actually
Wednesday was not only birthday celebrations and a quiet day. Various forests
and woods surrounding our home on the final climb up to Jerusalem, were set
alight, arson, and I was tempted to say "We plant trees and they burn
trees" and a particularly left wing friend said that I shouldn't
generalise. Believe me I'm the last person to generalise. 99% of Palestinians
would never even think of burning trees and resultant danger to human life –
but the fact is that young Palestinians started the fires. How do I know?
Because each of the separate fires had several points of conflagration.
Yesterday I was in the German
Colony of Jerusalem. I love that area and every road tells a story. Apparently
it was where all the German Christian Pilgrims used to stay and many bought
homes. One visitor was Adolph Eichmann. Anyway when the British Mandate came in
all the old German names of the narrow, tree lined streets were changed so that
now the streets are called Josiah Wedgewood, Lloyd George, John Henry Patterson
(Commander of the Jewish Legion in WW1) and Wyndham Deedes (a Zionist British
General). The architecture is gorgeous and right in the middle of the main
street, Emek Refaim, is the Templar Cemetery. Well worth a wander!
Tonight
we
have a quiet Shabbat meal, perhaps we will invite a couple of neighbours for a
tipple and "pitsuchim" (nuts, crackers etc) after supper because it
promises to be a wonderful balmy night. The streets of central Tel Aviv came
alive, as of about 10 minutes ago. The Tel Aviv Gay parade has begun. It is a
festive parade with a serious purpose, not just a reason to dress outrageously
and dance in the street. Here the Gay parade is to put forward the rights of
Gay couples, the right to be recognised as a couple by law.
Tomorrow we are meeting our
lovely friends Judy and Michael Baum for Shabbat lunch. I love them! If you
haven't ready any of Michael's books you really should, they are rivetting and
you can learn a great deal about the archaeological digs here in Israel.
Especially The Third Tablet of the Holy Covenant and Aaron's Rod. Perhaps we
will go for a walk, Zvi and Michael talking local politics and Judy and I just
enjoying our walk.
The
first piece of music isn't singing, has nothing to do with music and isn't in
Israel but I guarantee you will love it! This is what I pray that Dr. Dan's
Room in Shalva will create – the chance to excel. Never think that just because
a child is born with Down's syndrome that they cannot be stars. https://youtu.be/MMucfdhnzMA
Shlomi
Shabbat is one of my favourite Israeli singers. This song, this tribute to
Jerusalem, is one of those rare songs that does this beautiful city justice. I
hope you love it as much as I do https://youtu.be/_kQCTlFuCqQ
We
are a tribe, a tribe of brothers and sisters no matter who we are or to whom or
what we pray. We are meant to pull together, to strive for the same goals and
not to be torn apart as our politicians (or some of them) would have. Eastern,
Western, Ashkenaz, Sefarad, Mizrachi, Ethiopian, Yemenite, Moroccan, Egyptian,
Anglo, Russian or Polish we are one. We are a Tribe of Brothers and Sisters https://youtu.be/HrcnYpZT6w4
With
love from Jerusalem,
Sheila
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