Shevuot, Pentecost and Ramadan

25thMay 20235thSivan 5783 ShabbatShalom, Shevuot Sameach, Blessed Pentecost and Whitsun http://www.theviewfrommyveranda.info/shevuot-pentecost-and-ramadan/ Shevuotis abeautiful festival, the spring harvest and so much more. We wear white clothes,pray all night and tell the story of Ruth, the wonderful daughter in law ofNaomi. It’s a very special story of love, loyalty, devotion, hard work andeconomics…. Yes economics! Naomi, wonderful woman and mother of sons, lived ina strange land and her sons died, leaving her alone, or so she thought until her favourite daughter in law reassured her that she would go with her no matterwhere that may be. Ruth also chose to follow Naomi’s Jewish faith. Ruth is theprecedent in Judaism for every woman who chooses to convert to this complex wayof life – at least, in those days it wasn’t complex but more and moreconstrictions are placed upon us and on converts. In fact, when a womanconverts to Judaism, traditionally she receives the Hebrew name Ruth and istreated with the utmost respect, or that’s what is supposed to happen! Fora change I digress.The beauty of the story of Ruth, the purity of the harvest, white clothes andprayer, have become too complex. As time goes on it has become more difficultto convert which is such a shame, after all anyone who wants to become a Jew inthese tough times should be welcomed with open arms! What about those economicsyou mentioned, I hear you ask! Well, when Ruth and Naomi finally arrive in theland of Moab and landowner Boaz, and Ruth “gleans” in his fields, it wasn’tlove at first sight on the part of Boaz, although apparently Ruth was astunning beauty, it was all about gaining the rights to the field, but I didn’twant to spoil your picture of a dutiful daughter in law picking the remainingwheat, left on the ground after the harvest so that she could make bread tofeed Naomi. InJudaism, the festival of Shevuot takes place after the 49 days of the countingof the Omer, originally the counting of sheaves of wheat as offerings for theperiod after Passover; in Christianity Pentecost is celebrated on the 50thday after Easter. For both religions the 49 days include a time of restraintfrom celebration or eating unessential foods; in Christianity it is called lent,in fact, in Islam it is called Ramadan, as I have always said, we have muchmore in common than we do what separates us. Ihave to mention some aspects of politics, both here and abroad, then I’ll tellyou about our incredible week. Themuch disputed State Budget for 2023-2024 passed the Knesset in the early hours ofthis morning in its second and third reading. The budget and the accompanyingEconomic Arrangements Law were passed by 64 - 55 against. The dispute coversthe 14 billion shekels of special allocations for the needs of the coalitionparty members. In other words, the needs of the country with rising taxationand mortgages was not addressed. As a very loyal Israeli I am not happy withmyself for the feelings I have toward this government, but I feel that thenormative citizens have been hijacked for the determined effort to stay inpower. MahmoudAbbas,President of a non-existent country that the world recognises, stood before theUnited Nations and declared that there are no Jewish ties to the Temple Mountand that Israel “dug and dug under Al Aqsa and couldn’t find any proof”. Well, inthe name of truth it must be said that we didn’t dig, Raaed Salah dug out underAl Aqsa almost causing a collapse of the ancient walls, almost a hundredtruckloads, and we found thousands of relics of the time of the Temple! In factthe very first coin uncovered at the Sifting Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount_Sifting_Project was from the time of the rebellionagainst the Romans and bore the words “For the Freedom of Zion”, Zion being thename for the Temple Mount. Perhaps the most disgusting of comparisons made beforethe plenum was when he compared Israeli information to the repeated lies ofGoebbels. Talkingof liesor implied untruths, Christiane Amanpour apologised for her disgusting descriptionof the terror attack which killed three members of Rabbi Leo Dee’s family as a “shootout”.Her apology was not accepted by Rabbi Dee since it was obviously forced andProf Alan Dershowitz is taking on the lawsuit against CNN and Amanpour pro-bono.CNN and Amanpour have, over the years tried to create an impression of moralequivalence between terrorists and the IDF, or terrorists and people who livein Judea and Samaria. It is high time this case is brought.  JerusalemDay,the celebration of the reunification of Jerusalem after 19 years of Jordanianrule, went relatively peacefully. As I am sure you already know, there was muchdiscussion as to whether the Flag Parade should go through the Moslem Quarterof the Old City, or limit itself to the Jewish, Armenian and ChristianQuarters. The decision was taken to go in through the Damascus Gate and theParade went forward without almost no incidents. I say almost because some ofthe people in the parade behaved in a manner that shamed the nation, attacking anArab woman in their path. One such incident was one too many and theperpetrators have been arrested. I hope they will go to prison. Jerusalem Day beganas a celebration of victory which is very different to an “in your face becausewe won” parade. Just as VE Day is celebrated in the UK so we celebrate inIsrael.  LastFriday night dinnerwas very special because rather than feeding the multitudes we were just four,our lovely guests Raquel Birman and David Finkelstein who have seen Israel fromall sides, determined to learn and see all they could since their last visitsome years ago. Their joy at all they saw and all they found was infectious andtheir love of this little country obvious in every word and description. Theiradventures in the Old City, their visits to many sites, sights and museums inthe new as they absorbed Zvi’s narration. I told you about the Herzl Museum andYad Vashem but there is so much more! They went to the Israel Museum, to theArchaeological and Judaica tours; to the many exhibitions around the Kotel, notjust a Wall! This week they went up north with our friend Eva as their guideand now they are back in Tel Aviv where they will visit the Tel Aviv Museum,the Palmach museum and so much more. Tonight they will come with us to ourlovely friends the Blums where we will enjoy the company of some of ourfavourite people in Israel! OnMonday I was back in Shalva, my happy place. This time it wasn’t for a tour or awander, it was for the most glorious event imaginable! FestiShalva! Shalva doesn’tlook at the disabilities of the 1,000 children who are daily in their care,they look at the possibilities. The children sang, danced and had a ball. Myfavourite moment was when, at the end of their performance one child said “Idreamed I could fly” and two of the volunteers lifted her over a cloud!Actually I also loved when a group of girls, including Halleli Superstar, dressedin sparkly blue and white, danced and then there was the scene where the Shalvaboys who are in the IDF had their own flag parade and then………. Actually everyscene and every child was my favourite! There is something so special aboutthat place, something joyous. Last night was the Channel 13 TV’s “Erev Truma”an all star night of donations to Shalva. https://www.shalva.org/Israeli stars of stage, film and the pop world appeared and of course beautifulclips of the children of Shalva. It was incredible. Wehad nothing planned for Tuesday then it happened, a phone call from Sadi Becerento say he wanted to come and see us. We were absolutely delighted! Sadi, wholives in Istanbul, is a wonderful friend though Maccabi World Union -a trulymagnificent organisation which builds friendships between people, especiallyyoung people, from every corner of the earth through a common love of sport inthe “Jewish Olympics”; some 8,000 athletes every four years. Anyway, back toSadi. He was so happy to sit out on the “famous” veranda for lunch and justchat and reminisce. That’s what happens with real friends. Talkingof Maccabi, Zvi and I were thrilled to hear that Michael Siegel is thenew World Chairman of Maccabi World Union – a brilliant choice. CongratulationsMichael! Thatbrings us to Wednesday and another delightful meeting with old friends, butthis time in my favourite restaurant, Naya, right around the corner in Beit Nekufa.I can’t honestly remember when we met Harry and Nancy Bloomfield but I’m veryglad that we did! Nancy and I always find what to talk about and she is aterrific listener and I just enjoy Harry’s company. This time they brought afriend with them, an absolutely delightful lady who lives in Italy but isoriginally from Spain. Inma Cavallucci really impressed me with her warmth andintelligence. Harry and Nancy, like us, meet good people along the way and loveto bring them home. Inma is a Catholic and has enjoyed visiting just aboutevery Christian site in this amazing City. I have a strong feeling she will beback soon! So,tonight we celebrate Shevuot with the Blums and then tomorrow evening we have alovely group of people at our Shabbat/Shevuot dinner table. For many reasons,some feasible some created (there is no mention of it in the Bible) we eat dairyproducts over Shevuot. One explanation is that this is a harvest festival,another, which I learned as a child, is that we received the words of God from MountSinai, including the dietary laws and since they were not yet clear, we do noteat meat. Sounds perfectly logical if unproven! Anyway, back to tomorrow night.Our guests of honour will be the Bevilles, Keith and Deidre, all the way from Melbourne,Australia, Irit and Yitzik Lev who spent very happy years in Australia asemissaries and Dr’s Ora and Avner Rosengarten, dear friends, Ora and Zvi singtogether in one of Zvi’s choirs. The meal will be very “halavi’ or in Yiddishit’s called “Milchik”, in other words, dairy. We will start with blintzes, notthe sweet ones, with a mushroom and mangold (swiss chard or spinach beet)creamy filling, followed by vichyssoise, a new recipe for me by the wonderful,late, British chef and personality Marry Berry. It includes celeriac which Ilove. Then on to Rachel’s recipe for spicy fish together with cauliflower, broccoliand roasted sweet potato, plus the usual salads of course. For dessert, applecrumble and ice cream. I think they will be happy. Sendinglove to all the beautiful Australians who gave Marcus Sheff, CEO of Impact-se,such a warm welcome. I’m thrilled that he agrees with my assessment of theAustralian Jewish community! Good on yer! Talkingof happy, let’s enjoy some great music. “Tenli yad” Give me your hand, an appeal, a prayer, for help to follow a new path https://youtu.be/SVm0bVmLChA  “Rakb’Yisrael” only in Israel – is a fun song in which we poke fun at ourselves. Ilove it! https://youtu.be/i-7EvfJje88 Jerusalem,you are my mother, my bride, my sister. Shlomi Shabat sings a song toJerusalem, the eternal Capital of Israel, of the Jewish people. Jerusalem theHoly City to all three monotheistic religions and the Jewish homeland. https://youtu.be/_kQCTlFuCqQ SoI wish you a beautiful festival, be it Pentecost or Shevuot and a Shabbatfilled with joy Withmuch love from JerusalemSheila  -- If the media does not inform us we must inform the mediaMy Website http://www.theviewfrommyveranda.info/Facebook      Sheila Silver Raviv Involvement   http://www.impact-se.org/