25th
December 2020
Shabbat
Shalom to all and a special wish for a blessed Christmas Day to all my
Christian friends.
"Peace
on earth and goodwill to all men" What a beautiful wish, one which we should
wish for every day of our lives. Can you imagine how wonderful life would be if
we could let those words out of our mouths and into our hearts?
The
Christmas tree in Nazareth is spectacular this year, a thousand coloured lights
shining in a perfect triangle pointing up to heaven; Bethlehem Road in Talpiot
has the usual decorations, sparkling and welcoming on the short road to the
City of Bethlehem, even though visitors to both places are very limited.
Watching both on television is something of an anti-climax but it's the best we
can do during this very strange period of our lives.
I'm
going to write a short summary of events in Israel, because I hope you are all,
whatever your religion, enjoying the prospect of a beautiful day.
We
are going into our third closure, lockdown, quarantine, curfew, sequestration
– whatever the word or description is means that so many people will be lonely
and without work or the money to feed their families that it makes this
Christmas a difficult one. Hotels and restaurants that have stocked up for the
holiday season are left with food that will go to waste unless donated to the
poor. The Covid-19 situation has been mismanaged the world over, with a tsunami
of repercussions that nobody could fortell. The world order has changed and it
is basically up to us to ensure that it changes for the better.
Prime
Minister Netanyahu has
been on a vaccine hunt for many months now, cajoling and coaxing the major drug
companies to ensure that Israel received the maximum number of vaccines, and he
succeeded. Israel tops the world chart of inoculations per capita. Quite an
achievement. The Health Funds really got their act together and created large
inoculation stations. Zvi had his first vaccine this week (I'm on the 28th)
and the efficiency was truly magnificent. The vaccination station was in the
Pais Basketball Arena, just near us. Plenty of parking, a huge reception hall
with well spaced chairs for the pre- and post-vaccination waiting. First he registered,
showing his ID card and was given a number; we sat and waited, an LED sign
showing the numbers and a voice calling each number proved that the patients
were called at a surprisingly fast rate. There were 10 stations with a nurse and
a volunteer checking that the right person came for their jab and that they had
no recent medical problems which could interfere with the inoculation. We then
sat for the obligatory and usual 15 minutes to make sure there were no sudden
surprises and went home! It really was amazingly efficient.
That
efficiency has resulted in Israel being top of the world chart for inoculations
per capita – next in line is the UK then the USA.
Yet
another repeat situation that has overtaken the country is……you guessed it….another
round of elections, our fourth in two years! The party map is changing by the
minute with defections and new parties being formed. In may cases it is out
with the old and in with the new. The entire process is too complicated to bore
you on Christmas Day and for those masochists among us here is a timeline from
Gil Hoffman https://www.jpost.com/israel-elections/election-timeline-all-the-important-dates-until-the-election-and-beyond-653046
and an analysis of the economic repercussions
from Joshua Schuman https://www.jpost.com/israel-elections/israel-pays-economic-price-for-fourth-election-in-two-years-653149
All
passengers arriving from the UK this week have been taken to compulsory
isolation in various hotels in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem after the discovery of
the "UK Variant" Covid-19. The entire operation was horribly botched
since there was no forewarning and the passengers had none of their requisites
for an overnight stay let alone a 10 day stay. Of course, in the day of the
cellphone video proof of their situation became obvious. The army did its best
to rectify the situation since none of the hotels were prepared, no staff
because there were no guests and – oy a balagan! I was, however, very proud of the
"Brits Living in Israel" Facebook group led by Anton Delin who
immediately jumped into action and provided everything needed to the
"incarcerated" Brits. I would not fly anywhere right now but many think
differently even though 4 passengers were found to have the new variant.
Just
to make things worse,
an even more potent variation has appeared from South Africa. The Israeli
Cabinet made the decision that all countries are considered red and all
arrivals have to go into a 10 day isolation, mostly in Corona Hotels, until
they test negative.
That's
enough doom and gloom
although the truth be told there was one terrible incident when a beautiful,
joyful, mother of 6, Esther Horgen
z"l, went running through the countryside near
her home, as she did virtually every day, and was brutally murdered in a
terrorist attack. Our amazing IDF has virtually halted all terrorist activity
and I know that a single murder in over a month is not impressive to anyone living
in the West, but this is different, this perpetrator had been taught hatred on
a daily basis in his school, hatred of Jews, hatred of Israelis irrespective of
their beliefs.
Observant
Jews will not be celebrating today since it is a minor fast mourning a major
event. The 10th day of the month of Tevet remembers the siege of
Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar which ultimately led to the destruction
of King Solomon's First Temple and the conquest of the Kingdom of Judah. Fascinating
to think that if that had not been the case the constant battles over Judea and
Samaria might never have happened. I know "if only" has never helped
anyone but it links nicely with Bethlehem, Jesus and Judea and of course the
claim that Judea and Samaria are not Jewish at all.
Back
to Christmas
and a story that fits everyone, everyone who loves a happy ending. My children
grew up on a wonderful television and book series called Ivor the Engine,
written and narrated by Oliver Postgate. It was set in Wales and held the
children enraptured by the soft Welsh accent, Jones the Steam, Idrys the Dragon
and the sheer beauty of the stories. Daniel Postgate, the late Oliver Postgate's
son, happens to be my nephew and here he reads "Bluebell's Christmas
Mission" https://youtu.be/0eKEpzrbgZg
This
morning I woke to a glorious sunny morning, after two days of blessed rain. The
panorama before me glistened in the sun, the pinky white Jerusalem stone
showing its true beauty after nature's laundry had washed the Saharan dust of
last week.
Wouldn't
it be wonderful
if "goodwill to all men" could be our motto for the coming year?
Tikkun Olam is exactly that – to leave this world a better place than we found
it. Just imagine if those harsh words that were on the tip of your tongue were
swallowed instead of being spat out? Tikkun Olam is not giving to charity, it
is not instead of our prayers and it isn't something to replace our identity,
Tikkun Olam is to be proactive, to make our street, town, city, country a
better place for those who are unable to help themselves. After all, a country
is judged on how it provides for the weakest sectors of its society.
This
week's Torah reading
teaches us about tolerance and forgiveness as we reach the climax of the story
of Joseph. After Benjamin finally travels to Egypt and stands before the great
Joseph, Joseph finally reveals who he is to his younger brother. His first
question is after his father's welfare and then, when Benjamin asks if his brother
is angry Joseph tells him "No, everything has a purpose and G-d wanted me
here so that I could save my people in a time of famine and distress" As
we know the story ends well and Joseph is able to hug his father etc, but think
about what he said and its depth of meaning. He didn't eat himself up in hatred
of his brothers or thoughts of revenge, who had, after all, thrown him into a
pit and sold him to Egyptians out of jealousy since he was his father's
favourite, he recognised that nothing happens in a vacuum, every situation, no
matter how seemingly hopeless, can be turned into Tikkun Olam.
Here's
a happy Shabbat song
and it's in English! Remember to be proud of who you are and your age old
traditions, irrespective of how you pray. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_L_1wuOqLQ
Imagine
a Jewish immigrant,
Irving Berlin, writing the greatest Christmas song ever written! Sounds crazy
but it's true and I love it! Here Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra sing White
Christmas. May your days be merry and bright! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMl4Pls41qI
People
often ask me "What do you really want from this world" or "What
do you pray for Israel and for the world"? It expressed in this song The
Prayer. Simple and pure for us all to be kind and tolerant of others…………
can you imagine how beautiful it would be? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYJCYr1I-Sk
I wish
you well, however you pray, whatever your identity, whoever you love, wherever
you are.
I wish
you a Shabbat Shalom and much love from Jerusalem where it all starts for us
all. This beautiful city that I am proud to call home.
Sheila
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