170616
16th
June 2017
Shabbat
Shalom dear friends.
David
Grossman is Israeli.
He has often been described as the conscience of Israel through his writing and
his words. David Grossman is on the left of the political map but he loves
Israel and sadly gave the ultimate sacrifice of his son's life to the war
against those who would see Israel disappear from the face of the earth. He is
also a fine writer and this week won the most prestigious prize an author can
win other than the Nobel Prize – his latest book "A Horse Walked into a
Bar" won the Man Booker Prize for literature. It is a short novel
about a stand-up comedian, his grief, laughter and betrayal.
This
has been a tragic week for London. The tragedy was the result of negligence not
terrorism, but a tragedy beyond words nonetheless. A high rise building, full
of families, was refurbished by the local council, albeit an apparently
cosmetic job, but despite constant complaints from the residents, the fire
safety conditions were not improved. An exploding refrigerator on a lower floor
caused the building to be engulfed within minutes and the escape routes of
those inside were unclear and for many unavailable. I write about it not just
because my heart aches for the families of those who lost their lives but also
because it is a global disease – negligence to a devastating level. "Get
the job done so that it looks good but who cares about the real nitty gritty of
peoples lives" Our public officials are, in general and everywhere, not up
to scratch. http://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/15/europe/london-fire-grenfell-tower/index.html
After
the horrific terror attacks in London Mayor Sadiq Kahn has turned to
Israel for advice on how to deal with terrorism. A liberal Moslem and a caring
Mayor he recognises who, sadly, knows the most about dealing with fanatical
Islamic terrorism.
Yet
again politics and guns became an awful issue as a crazed Democrat spent time
planning how and when to shoot at Republicans playing baseball in a field next
to the Democrat field. James Hodgkinson was not just political, not just
a Democrat, he ranted and raved against President Trump and Republicans in
general while at a garage just a few days prior to his heinous act. While
admittedly there will always be unstable extremists, my question is how did he
legally buy a 7.62mm high powered rifle and a hand gun just days prior to the
attack? Didn't anyone either report the sale to the police or question his
purchase? In Israel one has to pass both psychological and general health tests
before the police will consider granting a private gun licence let alone
actually owning one. Soldiers are carefully trained and if they leave their gun
unattended, even for a minute, they are punished. A gun is not a toy, nor is it
everyone's private defence system; I was born in a country where even policemen
need a special licence to carry weapons and live in a country that has seen
enough violence from the outside to abhor internal violence. That is why
Jerusalem is 12 times safer than Seattle (of similar size). I pray that
Congressman, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who is in critical
condition, will return to full health.
The
Palestinian Authority President does not suffer opposition. Mr Abbas has
closed down several news sites for espousing policies in opposition to those of
the government. While far from surprised by his decision, I am amazed that the
hyper-alert worlds press and media remain silent. We know they over-react on
any subject concerning Israel but their silence on lack of freedom of movement
and speech in the PA – and many other Islamic countries – is bordering on
sycophancy. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4976532,00.html
Canon
Andrew White, Lola and Norman Cohen, Lola's Shortbread, scones and Andrew's
clotted cream were not the only reason Zvi and I went to Lola and Norman's for
Shabbat tea. The warmth and love that emanates from their home while listening
to an Anglican Canon discuss the week's Torah reading with a wonderfully clever
Jewish scholar who wrote a book called "The Torah on one Foot". https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Torah-One-Foot-Norman-Wilfred-Cohen/1500356476
Talking
of authors, books and freedom of speech – when is a book not a book but rather
a political pawn? Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, wrote a book while in
prison. The book, a memoir, went through the scrutiny of the military censors
and the result was given to his lawyers to take for printing. Despite the care
he took in having every word checked the "powers that be" decided he
had passed on secrets thus his prison sentence would not be shortened by one
third. We know that his book contains information that would be damaging to
those currently in power yet also know that it passed the military censor- I
ask you to come to your own conclusions.
On
Sunday morning I collected Rachel from her home and we went off for two days of
mother/daughter fun. We drove northward to Hadera, stopping on the way at
various sites, and arrived at our hotel. Hadera was not number one on our list
of "must see" Israeli cities but the promise of a brand new hotel and
access to so many beautiful tourist sites made our decision easy. We were
amazed! The level of building is phenomenal – beautiful high rise private
apartment blocks on the beach and inland are sprouting up at an enormous rate;
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa are just too expensive for most Israelis and the
north is a great alternative with wonderful public transport and roads to the
big cities.
The
beach in Hadera is amazing, the sunset phenomenal and we walked down across the
sands to a quaint and delicious restaurant on a cliff. Next morning we went
down to breakfast – an Israeli breakfast – and even by Israeli hotel standards
this was exceptional. Every conceivable variety of fruit and vegetable cut into
every type of salad or just natural; eggs scrambled, boiled, shakshuka or
freshly made omelettes; herrings of every flavour; smoked salmon; 6 different
freshly squeezed juices; cheesecake, croissants, pies and tarts; breads of
every type, colour, seed and grain; in fact everything one could dream of set
out in long lines of deliciousness. The famous full English breakfast dims into
oblivion in comparison!!!!!
After
breakfast we took our few belongings and headed off for Kibbutz Nahsholim
and the famous glass factory or Mizgaga. Baron Rothschild – known in Israel as
"Hanadiv" or the philanthropist, decided to build a bottle factory on
the white shores of Dov beach, or Tantura, to make bottles for his wineries in
Zichron Yaacov and Rishon le Zion. The beautiful factory was built and a young
scientist chosen to head the project, while bringing experts from France and
elsewhere. Sadly the sand proved useless and the glass of poor quality so the
factory was closed, the Baron continued importing bottles and the young
scientist went off to Tel Aviv to find his fortune – his name was Meir
Dizengoff, future Mayor of Tel Aviv. The Mizgaga has become a fine museum with artifacts
not only of the glassmaking factory but also of Napoleons navy when they
stopped on their journey to Jaffa after a crushing defeat in Akko. Well worth a
visit. https://www.mizgaga.com/copy-of
While
Rachel and I were away Zvi went to the inauguration of a KKL forest in the name
Lia and Ruben Merenfeld z"l by their children Susana, Yehudit,
Miriam and Isaac and their families. Zvi planted a tree together with Flory
Benalal to honour an amazing family and their strong ties to Israel.
On Tuesday
we met up again with the Shabbat Tea crowd! Fish and chips at the King David
has become a tradition and this time it was augmented by a delightful lady
called Sandra who is Canon Andrew's friend and helpmeet. It was a joy to watch
Sandra take in the history of the King David – so much more than a hotel. http://www.historichotelsthenandnow.com/kingdavidjerusalem.html
From
the dinner at the King David we continued to the Zappa theatre club and a
marvellous performance of "The Big Tisch" with Kobi Arielli
and Jacky Levy telling Jerusalem stories and veteran singer Moshe Lahav. It is
such a "Jerusalem" affair with wonderful stories of the way Jerusalem
was when they, and Zvi, were growing up.
On
Wednesday Zvi spoke to a group from Melbourne headed by his old friend Nathan
Schaeffer. As always they were enthralled by his knowledge and humour and a
second lecture is in the offing!!!
On
Thursday we had a special treat – my amazing grandson Yosef decided he wanted
to come and spend the day and sleep over. It was so much fun, we went to
Avraham and Ruti Levy's home where Avraham took us onto his roof and we saw
the full panorama of Jerusalem before us – from the walls of the Old City to
the spires of St Johns. Yosef had a ball when Saba Zvi took him Go-karting!! An
additional delight was when Tamara Gutverg, Zvi's relative from Mexico, came
for a quick lunch with us. Tamara is on a very special Taglit/Birthright Excel course
for young potential entrepreneurs. Sounds incredible http://taglitww.birthrightisrael.com/sites/excel/Pages/Default.aspx
This
morning Yosef and I went to the Israel Museum. We saw the amazing Judaica
pavilion then went to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition and the model of the
Temple period Jerusalem. It was so exciting to watch his curiosity and delight
and realise that Yosef is now big enough to take to the Museum.
So
that's it! I took Yosef home and the incredible aroma of Rachel's challot greeted
us; of course I left with a delicious booty of freshly baked challah………..
mmmmmm she is such a marvellous baker!
Before
we sing, I loved this video – I am that Jew. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjEXomjpXPU
Yaacov
Shwekey
has a habit of bringing me to tears with his beautiful voice and this is no dofferent. Mi Sheberach
Chayalei Yisrael, Bless the Israeli soldiers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suKZK8O_x2s
Have
you ever thought how many Israeli songs have the word Shalom – Peace – in them?
How many of our prayers? Shir le Shalom – song to peace – was ironically
the last song sung by Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin in his gravelly voice before he was assassinated
by an extremist Jew. So ironic because few had done more than General Rabin for
the security of our beautiful Israel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J-O5ff2F_8
I wish
you Shabbat Shalom. Let's pray for the day the world will wake up and those who
prevent peace will be silenced…………..
With
love from our beautiful city, from our veranda, a profusion of colour and joy,from
Jerusalem
Sheila.
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