MLK, Succot and Tabernacles

 

25^th September 2026

14^th Tishrei, 5787

 

Shabbat Shalom, Succot Sameach, a Holy Tabernacles.

 

As we saw from the quote from Josephus last week, there is nothing new under the sun. A very wise man, much more recently, summed up our situation and our needs in words that sound as though he foresaw the world we live in today. This quote from the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us that those who rely on rigid, conventional diplomacy will rarely find the solutions that are truly needed. Dr King was a wise man and a true Christian, whose principles were rooted in Christian teaching and in a deep understanding of the world around him.

 

"This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. Our planet teeters on the brink of annihilation; dangerous passions of pride, hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; and men do reverence before false gods of nationalism and materialism. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority."

 

Yom Kippur was fascinating for “only in Israel” reasons. Here on our estate, we had one kind of prayer service, down the road in the ancient synagogue there was another, and further up the hill I know of at least three more; all Jewish, all observing the same Day of Atonement, but each with its own style, music and traditions. We drove up to our synagogue on the hill and then walked home. There is no traffic on Yom Kippur, so the world and his family came out to promenade along the empty main road of Mevasseret. Children of every age were whizzing around on bicycles, scooters and anything else with wheels, clearly delighted that, for once, the roads belonged to them. We bumped into wonderful friends, including Danny Adeno Abebe and his beautiful dog. Danny wrote a fascinating book about his journey from Gondar in Ethiopia to becoming a major journalist in Israel, so naturally we stopped for a chat and a hug. Walking down our steep, winding road with our lovely downstairs neighbours was another experience altogether. Without cars rushing past us, we could actually walk, talk and catch up properly, stopping every few minutes whenever we met someone else we knew. By the time we reached home, our supposedly quiet walk had turned into a very sociable Yom Kippur promenade!

 

As Yom Kippur ends, even before eating, the first sections of the Succah (Tabernacle) are built. Alongside the aromas of food to end the fast, the air is filled with the tap tap tapping of the hammers building the Succah. Perhaps the tradition of starting the Succah immediately came from the belief that we always need to have something to look forward to.

 

Yesterday, nighttime here in Israel but daytime in New York the hate machine was working at its hardest. Whether you love him or dislike him, Benjamin Netanyahu was in the United Nations representing Israel. The inane demonstration of so many countries in leaving the plenum showing undeserved contempt, not for Bibi but for us, for Israelis, for the very fact that we exist. The fake news machine which is aggressive in expression, containing words with biased and violent emotions has won in the United Nations, along with Mandani. Again, irrespective of politics (difficult with the elections looming) Netanyahu is a brilliant speaker and yesterday was no exception. He spoke of the fake news machine, of Mandani, Hamas and commented on our technology which has changed the world; however, calling the Hilltop Youths non-representative hoodlums diminishes their evil intent and their effect on Israel’s reputation.

 

One person missing from our delegation is our Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter. The Leiter family lost their eldest son Moshe Yedidiya z”l in the period after the 7^th of October. Early yesterday a car ramming left their son Neriya critically injured as a Palestinian slammed his car into the group of soldiers standing. Neriya (meaning the candlelight of the Almighty) was rushed to Shaare Zedek Hospital, paramedics performing CPR in the ambulance and he immediately underwent multiple surgeries. Please pray for his recovery.

 

We are right in the middle of my least favourite period, wherever I have lived: elections. They bring out the worst in people; discussions become arguments, the right attacks the left and the left attacks the right and being somewhere in the middle doesn’t help either! Perhaps my British upbringing explains my dislike of extremes, but neither Zvi nor I want to support them. I want pragmatic politics: a party and a leader capable of bringing change without hatred, inflammatory rhetoric or careless words that damage Israel at home and abroad. Even if I cared deeply for Netanyahu, I could not accept the extremists around him or the damage their rhetoric has caused. There, I’ve said it, my true feelings before this election and my hope for change.

 

This week was busy for both of us, surprise surprise, but one event really stuck out. It was a lecture about Kfar Samir and the Atallah family, Christians who fled oppression by the Bedouin in Lebanon many years ago and created an agricultural village and a pottery. The grandfather of the current generation, Boutrus (Arabic for Peter) invited Jewish families who had survived the Shoah to live in the empty houses (after 1948) and when they had no money to buy food he would lend it to them without expecting return. The Atallah family and their daughter Katie, are still there but Haifa has encroached with an industrial area that surrounds them, but they thrive and the pottery has become sought after.  Many of the  families and descendants of those who received the Atalla family’s generosity spoke of their incredible kindness. The Attallas are now very wealthy and admired members of the Haifa community and their story has spread far and wide, yet again showing that generosity and kindness pay off in so many ways. https://haipo.co.il/en/item/303542

 

Yesterday I went to see Rachel and the children (not exactly children especially Yosef who is getting married in November!) After they gave me enough hugs, kisses and “I love yous” to keep me going until next time, Rachel and I decided to go and get some fruit for the Festival. Rachel suggested going to a place nearby, not a shop but rather a wholesaler. Being game for anything we set off to a place that wasn’t even on Waze, Rachel directing me. We went through Giv’on Hahadasha, a Jewish settlement (yes settlement can mean ordinary people) through the Arab village of Al Jib on the Biblical site of the village of Gibeon, into the middle of nowhere surrounded by vines heavy with fruit. Beginning to lose confidence in my daughter’s instincts I kept going and suddenly humongous hangars came into sight! At first we were thrilled to step into the A/C and then looking around us was a vast array of fruit and vegetables! One area had potatoes, both normal and even peeled in a specially temperature controlled area; the other end had herbs in an equally controlled temperature. I leapt upon the huge, firm and perfect onions, both plain and the purple ones I love. Even though we had everything we needed at home, we bought more! We even managed to meet Rachel’s lovely friend Kim who was delighted at the bargain fruit too! The best part of the adventure was the reasonable bill at the end.

 

Sunday is going to be a bit insane but then life without a bit of insanity is boring! I have my chair Tai Chi in the morning and in the evening we have two events. One is the opening of a major art exhibition by our neighbour Pamela Silver https://www.pamelasilver.com/ which is to be held in the exquisite Brigham Young University Campus, which has the most incredible panorama of the Old City, and the second is the International Christian Embassy’s Tabernacles event which is simply stupendous and reminds all 3,000 attendees that you don’t have to be Jewish to love Israel!

 

What about tonight? Well, we have some lovely friends coming over to celebrate Succot. We don’t actually have a succah this year so we decorate the dining room which opens completely onto the veranda, pushing the doors back to full opening allowing the glorious breeze of the Jerusalem Hills into the room. To make time to talk to you today, I already prepared most of the salads and the set the table yesterday, just a few things to go. Zvi has gone off to meet his parliament friends, but not in the Botanical Gardens, in the home of Prof Shimon Shitreet who invites them each year to his Succah. I say his home and succah but actually I should include his wife Miri.

 

I think that’s it, except of course for the music. I am very excited that you love the music I find.

 

Let’s start with a fun song called Livin’ in a Booth by the Fountainheads! https://youtu.be/oXx5Wp3GcSE?si=W5JdcvWY-KGw2gfv

 

If you ever wondered what are the traditions and requirements of Succot, this quirky song explains it all. The Lulav (4 species), Etrog (Citron), sleeping in the Succah, Everything!! https://youtu.be/gODQ0pgR64Y?si=Zc2cSPh9P3Eim6vy

My final choice has a very deep meaning for all Israelis, indeed, for good people everywhere. Vehi Sheamda literally means “He who stood by us.” It is a Passover song, but its words carry a strength that reaches far beyond the Seder table:” in every generation enemies rise against us, determined to destroy us, and the Almighty ensures we survive”. Generation after generation, they come and go and we are still here. Israel itself is the living proof of those words: proof that we are a people, that we endured. Daniel Weiss lost both his parents on Simchat Torah on the 7th of October 2023, when Hamas entered their kibbutz and slaughtered his parents. The words speak of generations who faced those who wanted to destroy them. That is why Vehi Sheamda is such a powerful choice. It is not simply a song about survival. It is a declaration: they tried to destroy us, but we the Almighty stood for us and we survived.  https://youtu.be/fY1wgTq9SRM?si=jpDA3ymi_IZOMIIA

 

I want to end with a very important message. I watched Hen Mazzig face off Norman Finkelstien on Piers Morgan. Finkelstein was morose and bitter, denying his heritage as the son of Survivors, an Israel denier and Hen Mazzig, a gentle, honest, proud Jew and proud Israeli succeeding in the debate because he held his head high. The message is clear no matter what your religion; hold your head high, be proud of who you are and the Norman Finkelstein’s of this world will lose their impetus.

 

Shabbat Shalom everyone. I can’t wait until our dinner begins and our guests are amazed by the fabulous kiddush by Zvi. I have heard it for 36 years and it still makes me so proud.

 

Sending much love from our veranda and that unequalled view of Jerusalem on the horizon

Sheila

 

 

Josephus, Kippurim and a Great Restaurant

 

18^th September, 2026

7^th of Tishrei 5787

ז׳ בְּתִשְׁרֵי תשפ״ז

 

The Jewish year in Hebrew is תשפ״ז (in Hebrew letters are also numbers so it is 5787) and if we use the initials can mean Golden Year. Let’s pray that comes to fruition.

 

Shabbat Shalom, Shana Tova (a good New Year) Hatima Tova (May you be enscribed in the Good Book) and finally and most important of all I wish you a better year, a kinder year, one in which we spend more time listening than posturing. As my Mother taught us “God gave you two ears and one mouth, remember to use them in that proportion”

 

We are getting closer to Yom haKippurim, aka Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the day in which we are supposed to recognise all our sins, and the sins of those around us near and far, and promise to change, to repent, to make amends, to expiate, because human conflict should not be perpetual. It is so much more than a confession, it is a promise to change. I was thinking about the mutually destructive internecine battle of words and political rhetoric that is destroying our peaceful existence and my thoughts went back thousands of years to the words of the only written source of the time of the Romans and the destruction of the Second Temple through “Sinat Hinam”, unwarranted hatred.  

 

Flavius Josephus was born Yosef ben Mattityahu in 36 BCE.  Josephus was a Roman/Jewish historian and military leader. He was born in Jerusalem, which was then then part of the Roman province of Judea, to a father of priestly descent (Cohen) and a mother who claimed Hasmonean royal ancestry. Josephus holds the first and the only place among the native authors of Judaea. He recorded  “The Jewish War”

 

“A three-cornered faction fight in Jerusalem as one party split into two. We should not be far wrong if we described this like a maddened beast driven by lack of other food to devour its own flesh. It was as if to oblige the Romans they were destroying all that the city had laid up against a siege. They flung themselves at each other’s throats, and almost all the grain- enough to support them through many years of siege – went up in flames. Unhappy city! What have you suffered from the Romans compared with this?” It sounds so familiar, scarily so.

 

Just 135 years after Josephus death came the ill fated Bar Kochba revolution, the Romans won crushing victory. As a result they changed the name of Judea to Syria Palaestina, which became Palestine, and so the mistaken identity of this tiny sliver of land began.

 

NAZA the new Gaza film by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, won the Special Jury Prize at Venice and received a standing ovation of at least 25 minutes.  I am furious. If you want applause, prizes, Oscars or Golden Globes, particularly in Europe, making a film portraying Israel as uniquely monstrous is a very good place to start. NAZA presents many disturbing testimonies from Israeli military “insiders”, however, this is a documentary of accusations without any evidence, verification, confirmation, validation, corroboration, substantiation, nothing, nada, to back up their claims. Ironically the film brought a horrified reaction from Israelis but is ignored by the rest of the world.  The former hostages want to investigate the supposed movie-makers.

 

On an utterly different note, last night Zvi and I finally used a very special birthday present a dinner at the Rooftop restaurant overlooking the Old City. It was elegant and rather special, not only because of the delicious food, but because of the wonderful professionalism of the staff and, of course, that phenomenal view. Our waitress was very special and I promised to write about her. Shirel, meaning song of God, is a student of Mechanical Engineering here in Jerusalem and as is the tradition of Israeli students, she is working in a restaurant, but what a restaurant! The dinner was a gift from Zvi’s musical friends for his 80th birthday. It only took us 18 months to actually get around to using it!

 

We parked under Mamilla Shopping Mall and, as we emerged from the lift, we seemed to enter a completely different world. Suddenly we were surrounded by thousands of predominantly young people, observant and secular, all making their way towards the Kotel for Selichot — the special prayers asking for forgiveness before Yom Kippur. The singing and dancing had already begun, and the atmosphere was absolutely infectious. Selichot can be said in a synagogue or even at home, and different Jewish traditions observe them for different lengths of time — Eastern communities often begin much earlier, while Ashkenazi communities traditionally begin shortly before Rosh Hashanah.

 

Trying not to be trampled by the enthusiasm of the younger generation as they surged towards the Old City, we stood there smiling and taking it all in. From an elegant rooftop dinner to a sea of singing, dancing young people heading to the Kotel, it was quite a Jerusalem evening — and a very special one.

 

These last few days are particularly meaningful in the Jewish calendar. We are in the Days of Repentance, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and tonight we light the Shabbat candles to bring light to a very important day, Shabbat Shuva — the Sabbath of Return. In the middle of all the prayers and traditions, we are simply being given a moment to stop, look back at the year that has passed and think about where we might have gone wrong, and where we might do better. Shuva means “return”: a return to ourselves, to the people we love, to what really matters, and perhaps to the values we sometimes lose sight of in the hectic schedules of everyday life. It is not about being perfect; none of us is. It is about recognising our mistakes, asking forgiveness where we need to, forgiving others where we can, and trying to begin the new year with a slightly kinder and better version of ourselves.

 

As Yom Kippur approaches, just two days away, I’ve been looking back over the past year, at what I’ve written, said and done, and perhaps most importantly, at what I should have said or done and didn’t. The prayers of Yom Kippur ask us to atone for the past, but also to prepare ourselves for the future. Although Yom Kippur is uniquely Jewish, the ideas of repentance, forgiveness and making a fresh start are ones that Christians, and people of many other faiths, can share.

 

So, if I have hurt or offended you, disappointed you or simply let you down in some way, I am truly sorry. None of us gets everything right, and I certainly don’t. Our friendships mean far too much to me not to say mechilah, please forgive me.

 

As we enter this most solemn of days, I wish you and your families a meaningful Yom Kippur, good health, love, kindness and peace — and the strength to begin again wherever it is needed.

 

Some of the most beautiful music is sung on the eve of Yom Kippur. Here Lt Colonel Shai Abrahamson the IDF Chief Cantor, sings Kol Nidre, the prayer that signifies the commencement of the Yom Kippur prayers.

https://youtu.be/Qj5rouyKZ9Y?si=4_ghHx4DhfrT0Wgt

 

Avinu Malkeinu, My Father my King, Cantor Azi Schwartz sings the prayer that is central to the service. The haunting music and words beseeching forgiveness are profound. “Hear our voice Oh Lord, with pity, and compassion and accept our prayer”

https://youtu.be/0a3mSHSjW30?si=AszEC15KhZ0qTBJT

 

Yaakov Shwekey sings a blessing for the young soldiers of the IDF. This was a concert in 2013, little did we know what our soldiers, young and old, would suffer during and after the massacre of 2023. The Shabbat of darkness and cruelty, the 7^th of October, 2023. We must all beg for their forgiveness, especially our leaders but also the leaders of the IDF, Shabak and Mossad, for not recognising our enemy. They were warned. The words of this song ring true"He who blessed our ancestors, our holy ancestors, may He bless the soldiers of Israel, the soldiers of Israel."

https://youtu.be/suKZK8O_x2s?si=vb9RgCppj1xV9N1_

 

Just as I finished writing it happened, the skies opened and the brilliant, cleansing rain fell. Perhaps it will wash away our sins, give us a clean start…. and thoughts of a new beginning as our elections near.

 

I wish you a beautiful weekend in which you love and are loved. Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem and the wet and glistening View from Our Veranda

Sheila

 

 

Shana Tova Niv

 

10^th of September 2026

28^th of Elul, 5786

25 years from 11^th September, 2001

One day before 5787

 

Shabbat Shalom and a peaceful and sweet Rosh Hashana.

 

I was going to write a simple New Year message, but you know me, nothing turns out the way I planned it! Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the first day of Tishrei which is actually the seventh  month, which means that my random musings are an inherited Jewish issue!! Anyway, until yesterday evening and a young man named Niv, you were going to get a short note and I was going off to continue my cooking, table setting and general preparations for the 20 people coming to us for the Friday night/ first night Rosh Hashana meal. Niv simply blew my mind away, causing deep emotions to surface and admiration beyond all expectations, a surge of empathy, pride and respect. A deep understanding the behind politics and the general cacophony of criticism, there are real heroes on our doorstep. That is my Rosh Hashana message. Forget the cacophony, live with the pride.

 

So last evening the Bet Halochey hOr, literally translated meaning "House of the Warriors of Light." The wellness centre at the heart of our estate, held a Rosh Hashana Fair full of goodies. A few of us chose to go to the auditorium to hear a talk by a young man named Niv, a young man with a magical smile which clearly hid enormous tragedy. Niv stood on the stage alone and behind him, on the screen, were the words, you can’t see it on me, can you? With before and after photos. Niv suffers from severe PTSD,

 

When Niv was about to enlist, he could have used both his mother’s influence and his own brightness to go to a top intelligence unit but he chose to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the Engineering Unit. Not just the Engineers, but a special unit call “Yahalom”. Yahalom meaning Diamond; short for Special Operations Engineering Unit is the elite special operations unit of the Israel Defense Forces the unit specialises in complex, high-risk engineering and covert combat. He arrived at the site of the devastation of October 7^th and into Gaza where he worked virtually non-stop, refusing to rest until his job was done, until late November 2024 when his body simply collapsed. Why on earth would I tell you this story when all you want is to prepare your chicken soup and kneidlach and think sweet thoughts? Because Niv represents so much of what we are.

 

Yesterday, as he stood on the stage, speaking quietly and naturally, he told us about the retreats in Panama. Without a structured transition, that gap between war and peace can become dangerous. In uncontained environments, the search for quiet can slide into disconnection, and the absence of boundaries can lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms, including substance use, isolation, and emotional collapse. He showed us photographs of surfing, swimming exercise and fun, but spoke about the psychological support programmes. He and some friends began a programme of their own, an “ozen kashevet” a listening ear for others who suffer PTSD.

 

As I heard him speak, I felt that this is a story I recognised, but from where? Then the penny dropped; my granddaughter Talia had volunteered in such a place when she was in Panama this summer! I called her immediately and she asked for a photo of Niv and yes, she had met him and heard him speak when she was at the retreat in Panama.

 

Niv’s story is the one you will never hear on CNN, BBC, or read in the Guardian or NYT but it is a story of heroism beyond politics, of loyalty beyond necessity and the story that isn’t told unless you really listen. Niv and friends created a Website called HATITUDE and they created hats (HATitude) and Tshirts. Niv is one of the models! https://hatitude.co.il/en

 

Perhaps one of the most hopeful things happening in our part of the world is the work of IMPACT-se. Work that gives hope for change in 5787. With enormous gratitude to our CEO, Marcus Sheff, and his remarkable team, we have not simply exposed intolerance in education; we have worked to change it. Through our educational programmes, tens of thousands of children in Judea and Samaria and Gaza have been introduced to ideas of tolerance, coexistence and respect for others, with the help of Professor Mohammed Dajani Daoud. 93,500 Arab school students in East Jerusalem are learning through this revised curriculum. Ultimately, real change begins in the classroom, with the next generation. https://impact-se.org/

 

My wish for you, dear friends, is that this will be a year of kindness, wellness, love, gentleness to others and to ourselves; and the strength to believe in ourselves, irrespective of which direction we pray in, what language our blessings, what colour our skin, how we dress, rich and poor alike. Perhaps to think of the bravery of Niv, who through his pain thinks only of helping others to stand on their feet and reach out to others.

 

The aromas of chicken soup, roast beef, various meats and treats fill the air, each apartment bringing its culinary traditions with it. The table will be set soon, the red, juicy pomegranate seeds in their little dishes, the apple and honey beside each plate, the blessings will be recited over the sweet challah, the wine and a multitude of symbols which have blended from the various countries and absorbed traditions of our dispersion.

 

The Maccabeats sing a song which encapsulates the meaning of these Holy Days. https://youtu.be/pn9QgBNgl1w?si=u19JgFEKRuTbib_U

 

Bob Dylan, not only poet, songster but in many ways a prophet, sings of how the “Times are aChangin’” https://youtu.be/90WD_ats6eE?si=n52mdwaP6PADgday

 

From Boys town in Jerusalem which gives boys from disadvantaged backgrounds in Israel with the education, support, and love they need to build a brighter future. A truly happy song about peace…. May the one who creates peace on high bring peace to us and to all Israel. And we say: Amen.. https://youtu.be/cPMjE5sToQg?si=36ezV8LDwikNx6T9

 

Thank you for listening to my musings over the years. Please God in 5787 I will have only good news to report on “The View From My Veranda”

Sending you all, each and every one of you is precious to me, much love from Jerusalem. Shana Tova!!

Sheila

 

 

 

 

From Twain to Penitence

 

4^th of September 2026

22^nd of Elul 5786

 

Good morning! Shabbat Shalom! How are you? I’d love to hear from you so that I don’t need to worry about you…

 

Mark Twain, like Winston Churchill, wrote many things, mostly very positive, about the Jews. This one is fascinating.

“He has made a marvellous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

 

I want to tackle a very positive question about perception and truth, sometimes diametrically opposed. Perception can be very misleading, because the way we see life in general and politics in particular, depends entirely on the information we receive. For instance, the suggestion that Israel is an apartheid state, something oft repeated by people who have never actually been here, is a complete fallacy, or am I also adding to the disinformation? Let me take you into an Israeli hospital, where Jewish, Arab, Muslim and Christian doctors, nurses and patients work and are treated alongside one another every single day; to a law court where lawyers of every ilk, ethnic background, argue in one language, Hebrew; to the Supreme Court where an Arab Moslem is one to that rare group and finally, which Arab countries have Jews in their parliament? because we do! We argue, we disagree, sometimes get angry with each other like any family, but we also live together and share a thriving, exciting and wonderfully diverse country. Perhaps it is time the world came and saw that Israel and changed perception based on truth.

 

Another misconception based on misinformation is that all Arab/Palestinians are terrorists. Not only is that untrue, but Impact-se has made huge inroads into re-educating young students in East Jerusalem. The Impact of Impact-se’s work is exceptional. ”Eight years ago, IMPACT-se quietly undertook what many believed was an impossible task: a reformed curriculum for East Jerusalem schools that removed Palestinian textbook incitement, antisemitism, and glorification of violence, replacing it with tolerance, education about Jews, and recognition of Israel. “The real-world impact of this initiative has been extraordinary.

The program was implemented carefully and discreetly, in partnership with the Jerusalem Education Administration, a joint Jerusalem municipality-Israel governmental body responsible for operating Jerusalem’s public education system. Although strongly opposed by the Palestinian Authority and condemned by the Arab League on two occasions, today, approximately 93,500 Arab school students in East Jerusalem are learning through this revised curriculum.”  https://impact-se.org/

 

From the hope of re-education (thus changed perceptions) to a man who has always been a potential leader of the Palestinians from behind. He may just bring a glimmer of hope to Gaza. Mohammed Dahlan, the former Fatah leader who broke away from Abbas, is reorganising his Democratic Reform Bloc and seeking a larger role in Gaza ahead of the Palestinian legislative elections. Dahlan is educated, pragmatic and, during years in prison, learned to speak fluent Hebrew; he was involved in the negotiations for the Oslo peace process. Perhaps, after so many years of the same old, destructive, leadership, a different voice is exactly what is needed.

 

Another misconception is that Turkey is a stabilising element in the Middle East! Two consecutive headlines on the front page of one newspaper say that Huckabee hopes that Turkey can be as stabilising force and the other says that the Israeli Navy is acting to deter Turkish maritime aggression. How on earth are we supposed to know what's the truth when the same newspaper carries both headlines on their front page? Erdogan is taking Turkey to the brink of war with all its neighbours

 

Are you worried about your children/grandchildren’s education? 3 million children started school in Israel yesterday; including our grandchildren! The big question, is whether they're being taught or whether they're being educated. It's a question the parents all over the world are asking. Teachers are just not the powerful influencers on our children’s lives that they once were. Should they be paid more or are the teaching colleges not doing the job?

 

One direct diplomatic and military result of our changing relationship with Turkey is our much warmer relationship with Greece. Relations were once extremely poor, particularly under Andreas Papandreou in the 1980s. In fact, Greece helped evacuate Arafat and the PLO from Beirut in 1982 and Tripoli in 1983. How times change! As our relationship with Turkey has deteriorated, our ties with Greece have gone in the opposite direction. This week Israel and Greece signed the phenomenal $3.5 billion “Achilles Shield” defence agreement, for a multi-layered Greek air-defence system using Israeli technology. I find it quite extraordinary to think that a country that once helped Arafat leave Beirut is now turning to Israel to help protect itself. History really does have a funny way of turning full circle.

 

Rosh Hashana, literally the head of the year, is coming around again. Strange because it feels as though it was here last week!! Thousands gather each evening at the Kotel (Western Wall) for Selichot, Penitential Prayers, specific and heart wrenching prayers to clean one’s soul of former sins. The Sefarad (Spanish) tradition demands one whole month of atonement whereas Ashkenazi tradition demands just a week. This total period lasts for 40 days which directly mirror the 40 days that Moses spent on Mount Sinai pleading for God's forgiveness after the sin of the Golden Calf, a period that also ended on Yom Kippur. Fascinatingly, the same words are repeated every day. My prayer, every year, is that the penitential prayers are not simply repeated by rote but that hearts are opened, repentance is real and the schisms in society are healed. It is true that we may be a contentious people, but we are also a loving people.

 

Elections never bring out the best in people and these particular elections have already brought out the less attractive side of the contenders. I don’t like extremes. I have never liked extremes and I particularly dislike extremes in politics. We need a party with a leader who is just that, a leader. I don’t care if his English is perfect, there are translators; I care that he/she will lead us down a secure path, without rhetoric, with policies that first and foremost draw us together and heal the wounds of the last too many years; policies to find a solution to the question of Haredi conscription;  policies to stop our constant warring factions; to find a solution to the wars on our borders; stopping the wasteful, extravagant, profligate overspending due to scopophobia and paranoia of our leaders and feeding the desperate situation of housing, food and education.

 

The supermarkets are overflowing with people shopping for Rosh Hashana, and prices are already creeping up. It is tempting to blame the retailers, but this time there is a much sadder story behind it. Israel’s remarkable agricultural water system has been hit by micro-algae, believed to have come from the Nile Delta, blocking the water our farmers desperately need. After everything they did to bring their farms back to life following the war, they are now watching their crops wither and die. It is heartbreaking and of course, that shortage reaches our pockets, really tough for families already struggling. Our drinking water is completely safe and potable however; this is a problem affecting agricultural water, not the water coming from our taps.

 

Actually, I love shopping before the festivals because the cornucopia, the vast selection of local produce is phenomenal! Not the shortage of tomatoes etc. but the mangos, big as footballs, pineapples, watermelons, cantaloupes, peaches, nectarines, grapes, kiwis……I could go on and on and there are pots of pomegranate seeds ready separated – those bright scarlet pomegranate seeds that represent everything good for the future on the Rosh Hashana table.

 

I hope to get to Rachel today, although I admit I’m a bit rushed, but just sitting around her table, listening to their incredibly fast speech in a mixture of English and Hebrew, and generally absorbing family that it is worth stopping everything and going. This afternoon our village has a street party! Lots of games for the children, food trucks, storytelling, generally lightening the mood and preparing us for a great Shabbat and Rosh Hashana. Zvi has gone off to his parliament in the Botanical Gardens where the main topic of conversation will be the upcoming elections. Tonight we are just the two of us, a rarely quiet Friday Night and then tomorrow evening we are going downstairs to our wonderful neighbours where they have invited friends to hear Zvi recount the story of the birth of the battle for Soviet Jewry.

 

I think we have covered almost everything, but I also know that your favourite part is the relaxation of great music!

Our first song is not only lively and fun but it is also highly appropriate. BaShana HaBa'a (Hebrew: בשנה הבאה, "Next Year") is a 1970 Israeli song with music by Nurit Hirsch and lyrics by Ehud Manor. “Wait and see how good it will be next year”  https://youtu.be/wb0Y8DSa3oU?si=eT5FwkTOguHPofhG

 

To ensure a sweet new year we not only eat those pomegranate seeds but the meal begins with the blessing over wine, then challah then we have an apple slice dipped in honey to ensure a sweet year. Actually, my family always dipped our Challah (bread) in honey too so our family had a wonderfully sweet year! https://youtu.be/FlcxEDy-lr0?si=4iupHbsGzd5hNrSc

 

Now to something entirely different.

Koolulam and the people of Be’eri, the kibbutz that suffered so desperately on October 7^th, 2023. Listen to the words, read them, understand the mentality of people, our people and the determination to survive and thrive. https://youtu.be/hptZdP_hulY?si=KAylWdz_zGNdddHL

 

Perhaps I should go back to the beginning of this letter and Mark Twain’s words. We will survive, we have survived worse, but this time it is not in jus tone country, not in just one continent and it is not really the simple folk who are the danger, it is the supposedly intellectual upper echelon who are the most gullible to the hate machine. Let’s change it! Stand tall. Be who you are, whatever your race or belief. Don’t bend you head in fear.

 

As you already know, it’s hard for me to leave you! One last word, honestly, but an important one. I feel more and more the importance it is to know the stories of our parents and grandparents, not only the stories of the Shoah, but what came before it, because this hatred did not suddenly begin in 1939. I had interviewed Zvi’s parents but was sadly lacking in knowledge about my own parents. I discovered so much about my own father through conversations with my siblings, especially my eldest sister Eddie. I learned that this quiet, remarkable man had escaped the pogroms of Poland and, while only a child, had crossed Europe alone in search of safety in Britain. Had we not talked about his life, his extraordinary story might have disappeared with him. We owe it to the generations who came before us, and to those who come after to keep their stories alive.

 

That’s it, honestly! I wish you a beautiful weekend with time to look at the beauty around us all, even in the middle of the city, but most beautiful of all “The View From Our Veranda” Thank you for being my friends for so long.

 

With much love from Jerusalem, from Israel but most of all from our home to yours

Sheila

 

 

 

Answers, Aliyah and Arguments

 

28^th August, 2026

 

Shabbat Shalom! How are you? I hope that you are well.

 

I have a strange question for you or perhaps it isn't so strange. When was the last time you sat down and had a quiet, honest conversation with someone whose political or religious beliefs were completely different from your own? Not an argument, not an attempt to change their mind, but simply a conversation in which you both listened. I honestly believe that until we can do that, disagree, listen, laugh, perhaps even learn something, and still walk away respecting one another, we are losing something very precious.

 

Here in Israel, we are getting closer and closer to the elections, and sadly the campaigns seem to be becoming more aggressive and less informative as we go along. I know it may sound terribly boring, but I want to hear the manifestos. What does each party actually intend doing? How will they improve Israel's image abroad? What will they do about the young hilltop bullies — indeed, terrorists — within our own society? How will they resolve the Haredi enlistment issue, which is tearing our society apart and, in my view, denigrating some of the very Jewish values we should be defending? What are their plans for improving our education system, and for teaching teachers how to educate rather than simply teach? How will they tackle violence within Arab society? These are the questions I want our politicians and potential politicians to answer. Instead, all we seem to hear is what is wrong with everyone else — and far too much of it is simply fake news. Finally, and maybe most importantly, we, the people who live and breathe here, want an official enquiry into the events that led up to the 7^th of October, 2023 and the subsequent war.

 

What concerns me more than anything else, as Zvi just pointed out, is the fact that none of the 7 conflicts in our region, yes 7 not only ours, have not reached a solution, in fact a solution is not in sight. The Trump, Netanyahu coalition has not borne fruit.

 

Hamas is recovering and perhaps even thriving, despite everything we have tried to achieve in a war that has already cost us far too many young lives. Young soldiers leave home, kiss their babies goodbye, not knowing whether they will return — and, if they do, whether they will come home as the same people who left. And now it has started again: kites being flown from Gaza over the very kibbutzim that suffered horrors beyond description. The Board of Peace has banned such actions, but we know where this can lead. First the kites, then the incendiary kites and balloons. We have been here before. We know exactly how it ended. We want a government for whom the priority is ending the constant round of wars, both without and within.

 

And then there is Marwan Barghouti, leader of the Tanzim terror movement, who was sentenced by an Israeli court on June 6, 2004, to five cumulative life sentences plus 40 additional years in prison for his role in deadly attacks during the Second Intifada. He is now being presented by some in Hollywood as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela a political prisoner who should be released to become the successor to Mahmoud Abbas. Mark Ruffalo is among those calling for his release. The comparison is extraordinary. Barghouti was not imprisoned for expressing an opinion; he was convicted for his role in organising attacks in which 5 people were murdered including my son-in-law’s aunt. To turn him into a romantic symbol of peace, without understanding the history, the terrorism or the reasons for his imprisonment, demonstrates just how little some of his most enthusiastic Western admirers understand about Israel and the conflict. Or is it more ominous?

 

That provides a rather poignant segue. The situation in North America is becoming increasingly distressing, with antisemitism and antisemitic attacks making many Jews feel less secure and less comfortable simply being who they are. Yet out of that sad situation we see something wonderfully positive: the decision by so many to make Israel their home. More than 1,100 North Americans have already begun the process of making Aliyah this month, and around 2,200 are expected to do so over the summer, arriving on nearly 100 group flights or completing the process from within Israel. It is both sobering and uplifting — and, for us Israelis, there is something extraordinarily joyful about welcoming people who have decided that they want to come home.

 

One of Zvi’s earliest memories was standing, holding his Mother’s hand, of a ship just off the coast of Tel Aviv. This week, when the ship the Altalena was found some 500 metres deep and 20 kilometres off the coast, so close to where it was sunk the memory came rushing back. The story is one of political confusion, ideological rifts and factionalism. Does that sound familiar? Anyway the story is fascinating. The Altalena Affair was a violent June 1948 confrontation between the newly formed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Irgun (IZL), a right wing Jewish paramilitary group, just weeks after Israel declared independence. The Altalena was a cargo ship purchased by the Irgun. It arrived in Israel carrying over 900 Jewish immigrants and a massive cache of weapons purchased by Ben Zion Netanyahu. Ben-Gurion demanded all weapons be handed to the state to establish a single national army. Someone shot at soldiers on the beach, angering Ben Gurion. As a result, on Ben-Gurion's orders, the IDF fired one warning shell at the ship, unintentionally setting it on fire and forcing those on board to swim ashore. 16 Irgun fighters and 3 IDF soldiers were killed. Civil War Averted: Despite the bloodshed, Begin ordered his men not to fire back in full force, famously declaring "there will be no civil war." The event cemented Ben-Gurion's principle of "one state, one army," successfully dissolving independent militias into the IDF. Simultaneously, Ben Gurion dissolved both the Hagana and Palmach (left and right) absorbing them into the IDF.

 

Talk about factionalism, Member of Knesset Zvi Sukkot decided to smash memorials to shahids in the PA. The IDF confirmed that it had diverted troops from standard operational duties to guard Sukkot and his aides on what he called a 'memorial tour' in several villages in Areas A and B in the West Bank. That troops were diverted from regular duty and that this idiot doesn’t understand the repercussions of pictures and videos of him with a huge mallet distress beyond belief.

 

Former hostages are doing their best to live normal lives; they find solace in their families or in telling their stories, among them, one very special young woman who’s tortured hand became a symbol recognised around the world. She came home after 471 days of captivity, after she was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7th.  Yesterday, in Tel Aviv, Emily Damari married the love of her life, Danielle Amit. The headlines read “From Captivity to Chuppah” Mazal Tov Emily and Danielle. PG her nightmares will finally end.

 

As always there is so much good news that never reaches you! This week in sport was spectacular for us. Israel won 3 medals in European Judo Championships, including gold for Raz Hershko. In Artistic Gymnastics: Artium Dolgopyat, an Olympic medallist, is The European Champion for the 3^rd time in the Floor Exercise. Our marathon team won gold at the European Athletics Championships. Shahar Tibi won gold in the women's iQFoil category at the Sailing World Championships in the Netherlands. Rotem Gafinovitz won gold in the cycling 19–34 Time Trial at the Gran Fondo World Championships in Japan. Ella Bar Lev won the world title and gold medal in the under 48 kg category at the World Cadets Judo Championships in Ecuador.  Once the world laughed at the supposed fact that we are not a sporting people. Ha!!!

 

I love Nas Daily! Nuseir Yassin, known professionally as Nas Daily, is an Israeli-Palestinian vlogger, entrepreneur and media personality. He started by travelling the world but came home and began creating positive reports from Israel. I particularly enjoyed this report from his home town of Arabe, near Nazareth where almost all of the residents’ study medicine in some form! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DBw--ovFqPA

 

Steve Ornstein reports a great deal more than my weekly newsletters on Substack! This report is especially important because it concerns a new and important medical discovery that affects us all. Technion researchers have uncovered a hidden mechanism that enables bacteria to rapidly develop antibiotic resistance; disrupting this mechanism could improve the effectiveness of antibiotic treatments. The dangers of antibiotic overuse have become increasingly clear in recent decades. Excessive use accelerates the evolution of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, raising the alarming prospect of infections that no longer respond to existing drugs and pose a serious threat to public health.

 

This has been a busy but delightful week, starting on Sunday when I went to my Club (Moadon) for those who speak Yiddish my AK club; Zvi went to all his rehearsals this week, from light music to liturgical; only two parliaments this week because one was cancelled. On Shabbat friends are coming for lunch, which is my favourite activity. When I finish writing to you I will take Zvi to his parliament in the Botanical Gardens and then take the road to Givat Zeev, to Rachel and hope that the children (they really aren’t children any more) will be there to tell me of the exciting week. Yosef of his and Tsofia’s wedding plans and his new job, Talia of starting to study in the Hebrew University and Ayala beginning her Sherut Leumi (National Service) in the Foreign Ministry. Talking to my grandchildren is such a joy! It’s irrelevant if they are mine or Zvi’s we love them.

 

I haven’t set the table yet, far more important to see Rachel and the children, but I will come home and begin the Shabbat preparations. As always I haven’t decided on the menu, but will create food as I go along! My thoughts are with the people of Nepal and Tibet and the horrific floods that killed so many people and left even more homeless. It takes my thoughts to how fragile life is and how precious every moment. Time spent in anger is time lost and we do not know how much time we have. I don’t say that as a pessimist but rather as an optimist who loves to love and hates to fight. As I stand in the kitchen I will remember those who left us and those who are with us, I will think of the sweet memories and as I get older I am thrilled that the hard-earned wrinkles on my face are laughter lines, there are none between my brows!

 

I wish you a Shabbat Shalom as I look over at the outline of Jerusalem against a blue sky.

 

With love

Sheila

 

 

 

London and Jerusalem

 

21^st of August, 2026

8^th of Elul 5786

 

Shabbat Shalom from sunny Jerusalem! Yes I’m back from equally sunny London. I really wanted to write to you last week but unfortunately nobody’s computer is working. I really must get myself a laptop or Android tablet so that I can type and write to you when I am away

 

Walking through central London with our family, I kept wondering where this supposed invasion of hijabs was. I certainly didn't see it. What I saw was a wonderfully clean, busy and friendly city, full of people going about their daily lives. From shop assistants to people sitting beside us in the parks, everyone we met was warm and welcoming, and not once did we encounter the antipathy towards Israel that we have been told is everywhere. In fact, the staff at our hotel were talking enthusiastically about coming to Israel to see the country for themselves. Perhaps there is a difference between what we are told about London and what ordinary people actually think. I’m not suggesting that there is not a problem with anti-Israel extremists, but not more than anywhere else.

 

Most importantly, however, this was a family visit, and wherever we went we had something far more precious than sightseeing: real time together. I see my UK grandchildren, Sammy, Liv and Zac, only twice a year, and my New York grandchildren, Joshua and Callie, just once a year, so every moment together is precious. My sister Doreen travelled all the way from Wales while Claire went to CST to receive important materials for her and Steve’s work for the community and I loved my time with my friend Valerie (we grew our children together), Judith and old friend and star of TV, stage and cinema Rudolph Walker. Stephanie and Gideon were exceptional hosts, somehow making room for all of us, while my grandson Zac became the family's unofficial Uber, patiently driving everyone wherever they needed to go. With Sheli travelling with me and so much of the family gathered around us, it was the kind of time that doesn't need an itinerary. We talked, laughed, ate, wandered and simply enjoyed being together. Those are the memories I brought home with me.

 

We went to see Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, a production I had been looking forward to after seeing the film many years ago. Nothing prepared me for the difference between the two. What was suggested through innuendo in the film was presented here with extraordinarily overt sexuality, and several scenes made my skin crawl. The gorilla scene, disturbing enough in itself, was made even more uncomfortable by the way the antisemitic implications were presented and by the nervous laughter from parts of the audience when the love song ended with “She’s a Jew”. The performances were brilliant, but I left deeply disturbed by what I had watched. When we met outside afterwards, our family talked about the production and discovered that we had all reacted in much the same way. Then something happened that restored a little of my faith in people. I noticed two young women taking photographs and offered to take one of them together. We started talking and discovered that their feelings were exactly the same as ours. Neither was Jewish, but one had visited Dachau only weeks earlier and both were involved with the Holocaust Trust. They reminded me that however disturbing what we see on a stage may be, there are still young people who recognise hatred for what it is. I left feeling that perhaps the human race is not quite as lost as it sometimes appears.

 

Shelley and I are so lucky that we made it home before the supposed strike in Ben Gurion airport! Today was even more chaotic than our trip. We arrived back in Israel an exhausting 5 hours late and leaving the baggage claims area to go out of the airport was like everyone leaving a pop concert in Wembley Stadium simultaneously, with luggage! Insane!!! Yesterday it really happened, the non-strike caused absolute chaos with people needing to fly without their luggage, those who actually got away after waiting 4 hours to find out if they were flying at all. The crazy thing is that Transportation Minister Miri Regev took the PM to see how amazingly the airport worked before heading off for yet another visit to Morocco with her entire staff!!

 

The Israeli election campaign has barely begun and already some of the far right seem to have abandoned any sense of proportion. There is a legitimate debate to be had about the death penalty for terrorists, although I do not support it; reasonable people can disagree, and the legislation has already passed the current Knesset. But celebrating executions, proposing viewing booths for the families of terror victims and circulating videos of gallows being built is not responsible leadership. It is political theatre at its ugliest. AI has certainly changed facts into fake. As for my vote, I know exactly what I am looking for: facts rather than slogans, a reasonable and inclusive list, and people who genuinely serve the country rather than their own political interests. Too far right, too far left, or those who do not support the extraordinary country they have been elected to serve will not get my vote — or Zvi's.

 

On the international front, Erdogan's determination to recreate the glory of the Ottoman Empire is becoming increasingly evident in Syria. Many hoped that the fall of Assad might open the door to a new understanding with Israel. Instead, Turkey seems determined to stand in the way. Erdogan's folie de grandeur is winning through once again.

 

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation project was buried in the sands of Gaza, and now another Israeli concept appears to be heading toward the same fate: the network of local militias Israel established and cultivated as a counterweight to Hamas has failed. We have short memories if we forget that Hamas was created and encouraged in order to replace Fatah in Gaza, the idea of Benjamin Netanyahu. As a result, Hamas slaughtered all and any Fatah supporters. Disarmament doesn't work if we remember that the October 7th attack used rifles and guns, hatchets and bare hands.

 

The latest Impact-se report on Saudi schoolbooks is outstanding. Our work in the entire area is showing a desire to improve their learning, reduce the previous extremist teachings, the whole purpose of the work of Impact-se under the lead of our CEO Marcus Sheff. I’m so proud of the staff, Directorship and my position of Chair. This has been an exceptional year in which Indonesia has changed its school books to be more inclusive, greater tolerance with our guidance, that’s 60 million schoolchildren! Back to Saudi Arabia. Here’s the report https://impact-se.org/publication/review-of-saudi-textbooks-2024-2026/

 

Galei Zahal, aka Galgalatz, Israel's army radio station, is far more than a military broadcasting station. For decades it has been a hugely influential source of news, information and music, and has helped launch the careers of many of Israel's leading broadcasters. It became, however, a serious bee in this government's bonnet, and the decision was taken to close it down. The Supreme Court has now reversed that decision, warning that it appeared to have been driven by "the dissatisfaction of the decision-makers with the fact that the broadcasts, in their view, contradicted their positions." Quite apart from politics, surely this comes down to a very simple question: what happened to freedom of the press?

 

Last night we went to a Yehoram Gaon concert at the Mevasseret Amphitheatre, and once again we were amazed by the power of his voice not bad for a man of 87! Yehoram, the legendary Israeli singer, actor and radio personality, still has a weekly programme on Galei Zahal, which perhaps explains why the station has been such an important launching pad for so many of Israel's stars, including those who continue to appear on it today.

 

He began the evening by thanking the miluimnikim and their wives in the audience for their service, and then launched into the songs we all know and love. One particularly magical moment came when he introduced a little girl, perhaps six years old, whose special request to her mother had been to sing with Yehoram Gaon. He placed her on a high chair beside him and, without a hint of self-consciousness, she sang along with him. At the end of the two-hour performance, the audience, which had sung every word with him throughout, demanded one more song. The musicians and backing singers stood at the front of the stage and sang Al Kol Eleh with the audience joining in. That introduction was not for Al Kol Eleh but rather for another wonderfully Israeli song “Shalom Lach Eretz Nehederet” Hello Wonderful Country. https://youtu.be/__oEmwpEmTc?si=BgnNAf7BbeYxitbr

 

Another exceptional man Zvi and I have known for over 30 years is Dr Mike Evans. Together with his son Michael, he created the Friends of Zion (FOZ) Museum in Jerusalem, celebrating Israel and the contribution of Christians who have stood beside her. Mike had a dream for this year: bringing 1,800 Christian leaders to Jerusalem for a summit on 7th October. Mike created a song, wrote the lyrics and asked Zvi and his exceptional musical director Ronit Banit, to help bring together the voices from every continent and create something very special, reaching hundreds of millions people. Prepare yourselves for a beautiful, emotional experience! If you like it, as I do, please send it on.

https://youtu.be/Az9n4X5w72o?si=RVOu6Ug85EW_3sAw

 

Arik Einstein, the late great Israeli singer/songwriter creates an impression of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as he sings his song “Ani ve Ata” You and Me. You and me we will change the world. You never know, after all, as I always say, it only takes one, one person, to start a revolution of truth and honesty, THE POWER OF ONE. Ani ve Ata. https://youtu.be/iOv9wSI8Qe4?si=rGq_2TXVWXK2a8rv

 

As beautiful as it was last Friday night with all my family around the table at Gideon and Stephanie’s home, to light the candles with everyone around me, to hear Gideon’s clear and confident voice singing the kiddush, the blessing over the wine, as my grandchildren mouthed the words along with him, but it is also so good to come home, to hear Zvi sing the kiddush with the same words as every Jew around the world stands before the Shabbat Table.

 

Zvi will miss his parliament today and I won’t go to Rachel to hear all the latest news of my Israeli grandchildren because we are going to Tel Aviv to see Zvi’s boys and their families instead. They came home from Greece in time before the travel chaos! I’m rather disappointed that Zvi managed perfectly well without me! He was very busy with his various choirs and of course his interest in the Jerusalem Dance Troupe, Hora Yerushalyim at the Efron Centre. Most other organisations are on summer break.

 

As I look over our beautiful veranda, that breathtaking view of Jerusalem on the horizon, I wish you a Shabbat Shalom, with love from Jerusalem.

 

Sheila