1st December 2023
Shabbat Shalom to you and to all your family.
The extended ceasefire is over. It was due to
end at 07:00 this morning but before that hour rockets were fired at Israel and
the decision was taken for troops to re-enter Gaza. The hope of soldiers being
home for Shabbat was shattered along with the hope for further hostage
releases. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated on Friday morning that "Hamas
violated the agreement and additionally fired toward Israeli territory.
The IDF has renewed combat with the Hamas terrorist
organization in the Gaza Strip."
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was approached by a “woke”
woman asking if he will call for a cease fire in Gaza. “No I won’t because Hamas
has to be wiped out” watch this please. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0SG9t8tcGy/?igshid=NGEwZGU0MjU5Mw%3D%3D
Yesterday morning, Thursday, we woke to a telephone
call from Rachel. In Israel if someone calls at 07:40 you can be sure it isn’t
good news. I turned on the television news only to find that in addition to the
stories told by released hostages and the pain of the families of those still
in Gaza, there had been a terrorist attack. I checked back with Rachel as to
where she was and thank heaven she was nowhere near the site of the attack.
Two Jerusalem Arabs had driven their car beside the “trampiada”,
the main bus stop and hitchhiking spot as one leaves the main road of Jerusalem,
jumped out of their car with an M16 assault rifle and pistol and shot anyone
they could see at the bus stop. 3 people died instantly and several were
injured. succumbed to his wounds later. According to the security forces, both
men had become members of Hamas. They lived in Tsur Bacher, an Arab neighborhood
of Jerusalem, and were Israeli citizens. Hamas is a cancer, and I use that word
with great caution, not a cancer that can be cut out and treated but one that
has metastacised throughout the Palestinian society and slowly, slowly
throughout the world. It is ISIS. It is Al Qaeeda. It is a danger to all.
A tragic story has accompanied the attack. Yuval Castleman, a young
lawyer from Mevasseret, was driving into Jerusalem when he saw what was
happening. Without a second thought he jumped out of his car and ran across the
road, went down on one knee and shot the terrorists. As he stood up two
soldiers mistook him for a third terrorist and shot him. He shouted don’t
shoot, don’t shoot in Hebrew but they continued and he succumbed to his wounds.
Tragically today would have been his birthday.
The United States and Israel are talking of removing Hamas from
Gaza, but where would one send them? I have repeated over and over again the
simple fact that when the children of any society are taught to hate they will
grow up to kill. We must change the paradigm as Impact-se has already done in
so many of the countries in the MENA region. So far, the PA had objected to any
change to the extent that we are number one on their hate list, literally! Many
European countries are already withholding their aid to UNWRA and Palestinian
education until they allow us to change their curriculum.
As I’m sure you understand, we watch the releases of hostages
in rapt attention, looking for their expressions for the forced smiles, the pretence
of kindness by their captors and the relief on the faces of the Red Cross
workers as they are handed over. My last missive gave an account of the pain
and distress of returning children and yesterday, the first two of what should have
been many hostages gave a clear sense of what they had suffered. Two young
women, both so full of life when kidnapped, returned scared, terribly thin and
pale, unable to force an expression, not even of relief. One can only imagine
what Mia Schemm and Amit Soussana suffered. Among the further 6 hostages
released were Aisha and Bilal Zaidna, two of the three Bedouin siblings taken
on October 7th. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bk8hqyis6
Prof. Henry Kissinger, the legendary Secretary of State
and National Security Advisor under both Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, he of
the gravelly voice and strong German accent, passed away at the age of 100 on November
29th. Born in Furth in Germany he reached the heights of American
intellectual society, became an international figure on the issue of Middle
Eastern Affairs and was outspoken on Israel. A most controversial diplomat he
was both hawk and dove who was involved in the bombing of Cambodia yet part of
the end of the Vietnam War.
Everything that is sacred to Western society, especially
anything related to Christianity, tradition, Christmas the celebration of the
birth of a baby who was to create a faith with high moral standards proving
that Jews lived here 2,000 years ago, everything is subject to disorder. Why
the preamble? Everything sacred is being destroyed and contaminated by the
hatred elicited by the belief that Israel is the enemy and Hamas is the
underdog. Last evening the traditional lighting of the Christmas tree in
Rockefeller Center was disrupted by “Free Palestine” louts. https://youtu.be/_qhDOdU817s?
Rabbi Jeremy Rosen has lived in many parts of the
world, but for the last 30 years has lived in New York City where he thought it
would be safe to live as a Jew. He was aware of the anti-Semitic undercurrent
in the UK where it was not overt but present, but never expected to find it in
NYC. When he saw and heard the anti-Israel signs and the overt anti-Semitism it
hurt, as it has for so many Jews in that wonderful City. Please read his
writings on the subject. https://jeremyrosen.com/2023/11/elegy-for-new-york.html
Jeremy Rosen was my childhood friend, along with younger brother
Mickey z”l. As life went on, he became the beloved headmaster of my elder son
Daniel in Carmel College and four years ago he became our family’s support when
Daniel died in a tragic accident in Central Park. I cannot believe that four
years have passed, four years without my morning call as Daniel walked across
Central Park to his work as a paediatrician and teacher in Mount Sinai Hospital
and Uptown Pediatrics. Daniel was a very special person, brilliant, gentle,
funny, kind and everyone who met him fell under the magic of his special
personality. He engendered loyalty in his friends, a loyalty which he fully returned
and it is those amazing friends who keep his memory alive through their
continued love. His patients and their parents still talk about him, write
about him, express their love for him and in some small way it helps. As a
family we mourn but never dwell, he would have been very cross if we had. On
Saturday evening I will light a memorial candle to my son and on Sunday, I will
go to Shalva, to visit the studio for the performing arts, the music therapy room
that we created in Daniel’s name in that truly magnificent centre. https://give.shalva.org/daniel
This morning I was invited to friends in the village, a lovely
girly morning of new friends from our “Thought and Movement” class, comforting
each other at the constant salvo of psychological traumas from the evil
brilliance of Hamas. Friendship has become more and more important as a support
system. It was amazing. Great food, spinach shakshuka and gorgeous fresh
salads, in a marvellous house, beautiful patio overlooking the vineyards and reservoir
of Beit Zayit. The steps to get there were a challenge but so very well worth
it as we sat in the sun talking about what was important to each one of us, our
families. This evening we are invited to
more friends for Shabbat dinner. The need for friendly contact has become
essential to our wellbeing, to our ability to cope with a world that has gone
mad.
With the renewed fighting, yet again instigated by Hamas, we fear
for the lives of the remaining hostages but sadly, have been presented with no
alternative. The attempt at a pincer warfare with Hezb-Allah in the north and
Hamas in the South does not bode well for a quiet Shabbat but we will win, fear
not. The cost is high but we have no choice.
HaGivatron from Kibbutz Geva, probably the most famous of all Israeli
choirs, with a song about the Negev, that it is not the same Negev, but that
the sun will shine once again. Watch it through, it is amazing. https://youtu.be/JfTMfW6GGU0?si=uAIiA01WKoqGj7vq
Many have recorded Bring Them Home, each beautiful. This particular
rendition is by Shmuel Lemmer and his audience, each carrying the photograph of
a hostage, is made up of Holocaust Survivors.
https://youtu.be/1IiqIDCYZRs?si=Rlac2Vmtu7G1M1P3
I wish you a Shabbat Shalom, a weekend of quiet and thoughtfulness.
Be proud of who you are, of how you pray, of what you are part of, because only
then can we be sure of winning this battle for our way of life. With love and
appreciation of each and every one of you.
Sheila
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