160408
8th
April 2016
Shabbat
Shalom dear friends. How are you this week? I hope you are feeling well. I know that your
weather is probably very different to ours at the moment, especially if you
live in North America. An Israeli girlfriend went to visit her son this week
and found herself freezing in minus 3 degrees Celcius!!! Today Jerusalem is
spectacular and the weather even better, a balmy 26 degrees, just perfect.
In the
same way as I cannot control the weather I have absolutely no control over a
biased media, wayward politicians or fanatical killers whose aim in life is to
kill me – I don't have control but I will never sit back and accept it either.
I
would not go as far as the Hungarian Prime Minister in his speech about
enforced acceptance of immigrants but I do understand why he is speaking as he
does about losing Hungarian identity. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/153c48885179c7ae?projector=1
Take
note of this exceptional documentary which includes footage of Hillel Neuer, the director of UN
Watch. Please watch this short preview of the final movie Beyond Paranoia – The
New Anti-Semitism
We
have listened to the horrific story of Ex-Pat Brit Kay Wilson who found her way
back to relative sanity after watching her friend being hacked to death in a
machete attack and surviving herself despite awful wounds – hearing the words
Allah Uakbar ringing in her bloody ears. They were just walking in the hills!
Kay found her way by telling her story over and over again throughout the world
to Standwithus groups. Her speaking didn't stop the nightmares but it was
cathartic in many ways. Your government, together with many others, gives aid
to the Palestinian Authority which in turn pays those who acted in just a
barbaric and cruel manner toward her. If you are a British citizen please sign
this Click this link to sign the petition
"Stop spending a fixed 0.7 per cent slice of our national wealth on
Foreign Aid" https://petition.parliament.
If you are not a British citizen….. start your own petition!!!
One story you can tell is that of a 5 year old Syrian girl who
had the misfortune of getting caught between rival factions in Syria, was
brought to Israel and treated. During her stay in Rambam Hospital the doctors
discovered she had cancer, needed bone
marrow transplant and the IDF managed to smuggle a relative who was a match out
of Syria to save her life. http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-doctors-spies-rally-to-save-5-year-old-syrian-girl/
Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, is an exceptional
man. His rise to the leadership of the Church of England was clear,
even as a young man, and his ability to see beyond the church is exceptional.
It was Lord Carey who encouraged Canon Andrew White to come as his Emissary to
the Middle East, thus for Andrew and I to have many adventures together! Lord
Carey is a man who truly understands the Middle East, as few others, and has
taken on the issue of anti-Semitism, both within and without the church. I am
proud to say that Lord Carey reads my Shabbat Shalom letters and when invited
to speak on Anti-semitism today at the Simon Weisenthal annual event he asked
my counsel. Of course it was totally unnecessary since he is both eloquent and
erudite, but I was flattered. Here is his speech, well worth reading. http://www.wiesenthal.com/
I told you that I went to see the Israel National Library and
Archives at the Hebrew University last week but forgot to give you a link
to Sharon marks Altshul's site which shows you in enormous detail the
treasures, ancient Jewish treasures, that we had the privilege to see. http://rjstreets.com/2015/01/
Jay
and Meridel Rawlings
came to visit and reminded me that about 10 years ago they interviewed Zvi
about Jerusalem. It really is an excellent piece of journalism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The
British Government decided to pull funding for an anti-Israel
"charity" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
We love
guests,
especially when they believe me when I say "Please, don't warn us, just
pop in"! That is exactly what Elisabeth and George Gelb did. I
should say that they didn't fly in from Western Canada specifically to see us,
they are here for a month, but they did pop in despite warnings of a chaotic
house as we come toward Pesach…………. And my washing machine broke down, apparently
died, which left a total soggy mess.
We
originally met when George was the "upstairs neighbor" of my sister
Eddie in Toronto, before he sold off his amazing dental practice and went off
to live in Yellowknife – but I digress for a change!!! From the second they came in the door my
husband fell in love with them! We sat together and talked, listened and
learned. They were riveted by Zvi's knowledge of history, not just Israeli but
world history, and we loved hearing about how to bring "Yiddischkeit"
and Israel Advocacy to Yellowknife (in the Northern Territories where there are
a surprising number of workers from Arab countries) and to Vancouver Island
where they now live. It was such a joy to hear people who didn't whine and bemoan
their inability to act – it was so refreshing to hear them describe their
activities and successes. I am thrilled that they are here for a month – Zvi has
already arranged our meetings for the next month!!!
Talking
of meetings
(was that a good segway?) We had a Board meeting of IMPACT-SE (www.impact-se.org) and what the coming year
holds with our new Director Marcus Sheff and Chairperson Helene Eisemberg
Bornstein. The organization will take the deep research into tolerance in
education and use it to inform. The report on Islamic Schools in North
America has already been sent to Congress and the House of Commons and
hopefully will be published widely very soon. http://www.impact-se.org/research/northamerica/index.html
Israel
before Pesach
(Passover) has a strange atmosphere. Maybe I should rephrase that – the air in
Israel has a strangely acidic redolence, of bleach, cleaning fluids and of
course furniture spray. The abrasive sound emerging from virtually every home
is that of scrubbing , floors, walls, cupboards and of course ovens. Manicurists
bemoan their bad luck as rough and reddened hands come for a rescue treatment!
Yes, folks – it's the true spring cleaning season……PESACH. I am so proud of my
fridge – not a single drop of old yoghurt to be found!! My oven smiles back at
me and the hob is whiter than it has been for a year. Yes I know that I have
another , what, 10 days, but if it is all immaculate then it only needs a quick
wipe over at the last minute!!! Best of all, I can see my reflection in the
silver candelabras!!
Our
biggest bane is that the Passover dishes (11 boxes) are a full three flights of
stairs below us (no lift) in the machsan or store room. I have a feeling that
since I cannot lift etc, I may just decide to bring up the bare bones and use
disposable crockery and cutlery. One can buy such lovely things these days and
it can all be recycled. Our current Seder night count is just 23 but who knows,
one can always find room for more. My Mummy had a philosophy, when we had
festival meals she always had a full place setting or two on the sideboard.
Why? Because if we had last minute guests she could quietly make room and put
them place setting on the table without making anyone feel awkward.
Tonight
our Shabbat Dinner will be a quiet one! Zvi and I together, just us, alone and
although it is odd, I love it. I love Zvi's Kiddush (blessing) over the wine,
then the Challah, his voice, his incredible Bass-Baritone ringing out loud and
clear with the inherited memory of thousands of years. As we sit at our table,
facing Jerusalem, framed with the riot of bright scarlet blossom, I am
confident that life is good. We have a phenomenal country and a feisty, proud
people which reaches out to those less fortunate. We just need the world to recognize
our beauty when they do not even recognize our existence.
To
anyone who is not feeling 100% today, I wish you well. To our dear friend Andrew
White, please go and get your treatment, but we may have some incredible
news for you pertaining to your MS. Doing research right now.
Shabbat
Shalom dear friends. Remember the power of one and please, remember my motto
IF THE
MEDIA DOES NOT INFORM YOU, YOU MUST INFORM THE MEDIA
Music
music music!!!
This is such a wonderful and uplifting muciscal experience at the Shalem
college – at the beginning you think it is just another performance – stay till
the end and be as amazed as the audience!! https://www.youtube.com/embed/94PNOPxHbH4
We are
all so different, yet all the same. The Friday night song all over the world,
our welcome to the bride of Shabbat is called Lecha Dodi. Here you hear the Abayudea
Jews of Uganda singing just as we do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKFGk2XNWME&nohtml5=False
Shabbat
Shalom
Sheila
No comments:
Post a Comment