22nd July 2022
Shabbat
Shalom everyone, especially all the participants of the 22nd Maccabiah!
Last
week I promised you the video of the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah, always
spectacular and particularly so this year. Since I don't expect you to sit through
the hour and a half of the original ceremony here is a short version – the highlights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The
first Maccabiah in 1932 was a direct response of the refusal of the
International Olympic Committee to allow Jews to take part in the Olympics as a
separate entity. In 1928 Yosef Yekutieli presented his Jewish
Olympics proposal to Menachem Ussishkin, the Chairman of the executive
committee of the JNF.
This required the approval of the British Mandate and in the autumn of 1931 the
British High Commissioner Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, who expressed great admiration for Zionist
Palestine as well as the Jewish sports movement in general, approved the Maccabiah. The 1st Maccabiah opened on March
28, 1932. The Games were nicknamed "White Horse Olympics"
because Tel Aviv's Mayor Meir Dizengoff led a parade honouring the participants
in the first Maccabiah Games by riding a white horse through the city streets.
During the first Maccabiah 390 sportsmen took part from 18 countries.
This Maccabiah Games hosts approximately
10,000 athletes, from 80 countries, competing in 47 sports categories.
Meeting
and greeting old friends, watching the most deserving receive awards, was very
special. The most disturbing part of Maccabi World Union events is that the men
are so tall! Can you imagine watching Zvi, all 1:97 of him, looking regular height
when he talked to friends! Usually when I look for him in a crowd it's easy,
but in this crowd he disappeared into a sea of tall people!
This
is a truly wonderful meeting place for Jewish youngsters from all over the
world, especially those who live in tiny communities. In the olden days
everyone thought that to be Jewish you had to be short, pasty faced, studious
and as far from sport as possible should see the wonderful sportsmen of today.
Incidentally, this is where Mark Spitz began his career.
Criticism
of the Biden visit to Saudi Arabia as unnecessary or unwise is unfair. Firstly one
does not make peace with ones friends but rather with one's enemies, but in
fact, despite popular opinion, Saudi Arabia is not an enemy. One needs to know
what happens under the surface not simply accept populist media. For instance,
Saudi Arabia and Israel have been in "under the radar" talks for over
20 years that I know of and they approached Impact-se to improve the tolerance
in their education https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-710756
I'm
tired of the reports of Israeli "occupation". While doing research
into countries that have undergone partition in Wikipedia, I found many over
recent years, all of which had simple explanations, only one mentioned
occupation, guess which? There was an addendum that the proposed partition of Mandate
Palestine floundered and the land was occupies by Israel, Egypt and
TransJordan. What are the other countries? India and Pakistan, later into
Pakistan and Bangladesh; Punjab, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Cyprus, Serbia and
Sudan into Moslem North Sudan and Christian South Sudan – and that is just in
the last 80 years. Yet again we are
singled out and it isn't difficult to understand the underlying truth of this
uncomfortable choice on the part of the world, both media and politicians. In
the words of Tevye the Milkman "Lord I know we are the chosen people, but
for once can't you choose someone else"?
If
I may, I want to return to the subject of Saudi Arabia. If you stand on the
beach in Eilat and look along the coast on a clear day, just 18 kilometres away
is Saudi Arabia! Did you know that there is a Rabbi there? A Rabbi who has a community and is fully
accepted by the Royal Family? His name is Rabbi Yaacov Herzog, an American
Israeli. One can buy kosher food in Saudi Arabia and 4.4% of the population of Saudi
Arabia is Christian although neither Jews nor Christians can become citizens as
long as they do not proselytise (on threat of death) they can live in relative
freedom. I still remember when, about 15 or so years ago I found the visa
application website for Saudi Arabia which banned Jewish application. Things
are changing throughout the MENA region and the glue is fear and hatred of
Iran.
Israeli
journalist Gil Tamari went to Saudi Arabia to report on the Biden visit and
chose to go to Mecca, despite big signs saying non-Moslems are not allowed and
took several selfies in places that are banned. Luckily he was not arrested but
his stupidity has caused a tsunami of criticism here in Israel.
Defence
Minister of Israel Benny, Benjamin Gantz, was interviewed at the Aspen Security
Forum and he impressed me as always. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9Sg-rWMZ2s&t=2s
We
won a bronze medal in the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon!
Lunah Chemtai Salpeter a marathon runner, originally came
to Israel in 2009 to care for the children of her country’s ambassador and
eventually married running coach Dan Salpeter. To see her smiling face as she
wrapped herself in the Israeli flag brought us so much pride. A very special
lady. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonah_Chemtai_Salpeter
This week, mostly
due to the Maccabi events, we have been on the road to Tel Aviv almost every
day. One very special event, nothing to do with the Maccabiah, held by a very
special couple took us to Papagio in the Herzliya marina. Barry and Cristine
Slawsky with their gorgeous son James (Haim Elimelech) invited their close
friends for a farewell dinner as they and their lovely friends Melissa and
Paul, return to their native Canada. Barry is not a Luddite although he is
probably the closest thing to it without the negative implications! Barry
creates wonderful itineraries for travel, keeps the necessary phone numbers and
hotel addresses all on what we call Barry's iPad, a wad of tiny notes,
carefully stuffed into his pocket. Incredibly it really works! Barry is conceivably
the kindest, most generous quirky man on the planet! The food was amazing, the
company delightful and the journey back to Motza easy.
The next morning, at
the crack of dawn, well not really it was 07:30, Sari Singer got on the number
480 bus to Jerusalem, getting off at the Hemed Interchange. At exactly 08:00 I
left Motza toward Hemed and found Sari already standing at the bus stop, waving
happily! We came home for a few minutes so that she could see where we live,
then headed off for Shalva where the lovely Alex gave us the tour, culminating
in Dr. Dan's Room. It's really difficult to express the sheer joy of Shalva,
the butterflies mobile above one's head as you walk into the huge lobby, the
incredibly beautiful expressions painted on the walls, the joy of the children.
It was admittedly quiet because most of the activities take place afternoons,
but Sari, who knew Daniel, was so thrilled by the studio, as I knew she would
be. I was so happy she was there I forgot to take photos! We had a snack in the
restaurant then headed back home, but both decided on a detour. Where to? You
guessed, to see my Rachel! Rachel and Sari just love each other and although it
was out of the way, it was such a joy to sit in Rachel's kitchen with the
wonderful aromas of her cooking before heading home where Sari and I talked of
memories and Zvi explained the history of where we live.
The President's Avenue
of trees right underneath our veranda, the pill box which once protected the
road to Jerusalem, right beneath our building, the original Sanitorium of the
Histadrut, the Israeli Union, and the original "yishuv" or settlement
of Motza, establish in 1870 in the Jerusalem Hills with a synagogue built on the ruins of a
Crusader structure. All within a few
minutes of our home – that's life in Israel, everything is new but the land
itself has the history of thousands of years. The excavations of Tel Motza have
revealed a huge temple and settlement dating from the 9th century
BCE.
A few hours before
we passed through Ramot on our way to Givat Ze'ev, a stabbing attack took place
on a bus from Givat Ze'ev to Jerusalem, right next to the shopping mall in
Ramot. The bus driver was injured and the terrorist was stopped by a passer by.
Incredibly both will be treated with equal medical attention in Israel. The
attacker told the police that he just wanted to die but suicide was not an
option in Islam so he decided to be a Jihadi.
The last Tel Aviv
trip was the Award Ceremony of Yakir Maccabi for those who have devoted their
lives to Maccabi Hearing the names called out, both of the recipients and the
presenters, and their curriculum vitae of inspiring young people, bringing
young people to Israel and encouraging youngsters with special needs to enter
sport was inspiring, these are good people who deserve every congratulations.
I'm not going to start giving you names but those I specially loved know
exactly who you are!!!
And so to Shabbat. As
I have explained, each Shabbat we read a parasha, a portion, of the Torah. This
Shabbat we read about Pinchas who is Aaron's grandson and therefore my ancestor
– really! Since my family, as Cohanim - priests, descends from Aaron until
today, if I had time I could trace my family back to Moses' brother! Anyway
back to Pinchas which explains how Aaron's grandson was granted the covenant of
the priesthood and goes on to describe how the 601,730 men between the ages of
20 and 60 should be divided into tribes according to male descendants. However
one gentleman by the names of Tzelafchad had five daughters and no sons and by
the new regulations they would not be eligible to inherit their portion of land
so when he passed away they petitioned Moses who incorporated them onto the
laws of inheritance. Moses then empowered Joshua to succeed him to lead the
Children of Israel into the Land of Israel. Fascinating and intricate, well
worth reading.
After that
explanation only one song is suitable to start our trilogy of music!
Joshua Fit the
Battle of Jericho which contains the names of several men in my family!
You may talk about the men of Gideon
You may talk about the men of Saul
But there's none like the good old Joshua
At the battle of Jericho
The late great
Mahalia Jackson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHFGRI51yDg
When Israeli poet
and lyricist, Naomi Shemer heard the Beatles song Let It Be she loved the
message and she wrote Lu Yehi in Hebrew. Sung by Chava Alberstein you will see
photos of young people in the IDF and our prayer for them is that in the future
our enemies will accept our existence and these youngsters can go to
university, get jobs and have families like all the other young people in the
world – Lu Yehi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfMoeK6UVB0
Al kol eleh, also
known as Of the Honey and the Sting is Sari Singer's favourite song! So here it
is with all my love to Sari and to all of you. Remember that ife is both bitter
and sweet and it's up to us to find the sweet and keep it in our hearts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkbRGsLrt2I The words are exceptional, lyrics such as
only Noami Shemer could write and I suggest you read them as you hear the
music. http://hebrewsongs.com/song-alkoleleh-bikel.htm
And so dear friends,
that's it for this week. I wish you a glorious weekend, a truly beautiful Shabbat.
After all, having planned the menu, our guests cannot come to us tomorrow, so
Zvi and I will relax, see our lovely neighbours and enjoy Shabbat just the two
of us!
With love from
beautiful Jerusalem.
Sheila
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