Heroes, hannah and Music

21stApril, 2023 ShabbatShalom and Eid Mubarakhttp://www.theviewfrommyveranda.info/heroes-poets-and-music/  Iwoke up this morning, opened my newspaper and found a strange folded piece of finecardboard. I unfolded, opened and found that it was a metre-long copy of theIsraeli Declaration of Independence! A beautiful and stark reminder of exactlywhy we are here and what is expected of us. Weare in that strange week whereby an entire country goes from deep sadness, todeep mourning then instantly taking a huge leap into sheer joy and celebration.From mourning those who perished in the Holocaust, to mourning our young liveslost fighting to establish then defend our country. Ceremonies abound anddespite tensions between the various sectors of our society, we will dance,sing and celebrate our amazing democracy in a flurry of parties, barbeques andpicnics. Hopefullyfor just one day, perhaps two, politics can be put aside. I was amazed to discover that 147,000Holocaust Survivorslive in Israel, 462 of them over the incredible age of 100. 521 are newimmigrants from Ukraine.The major debate, currently, is whether politicians shouldappear at the military cemeteries on Memorial Day, Yom haZikaron, when thefamilies of soldiers buried there over the years go to visit the graves. For theparents, siblings, grandparents of those who fell in battle, it is a shared dayof private mourning, not a time for political speeches and certainly not a timefor disruption. Although in the past Ministers joined the mourners, in the pastthey themselves had served in the IDF and it was a shared experience, which isnot necessarily so this time. All I pray is that on Tuesday their grief will behonoured. Thedemonstrations against the Judicial Reform continue, quietly, with dignity,although patience is running low. Only time will tell. Nahalalis a Moshav.A Moshav, as opposed to a Kibbutz, is an agricultural village of private homeswho share agricultural equipment but live individual lives, or that was theoriginal intention, but today Moshavim have become highly prized places to live.The name Nahalal is mentioned in the Bible as home to the tribe of Zebulun, andit is situated in the beautiful Jezreel Valley. Designed in a circle with roadsforming spokes, like a wheel, Nahalal today has only 1,200 residents, but manywho rose to or were born into, fame, Ruth Westheimer (Dr Ruth) lived there andgraves in the cemetery hold the epitaphs of the famous, in particular of theDayan family. Shmuel, Moshe, Ruth, Yael and Assi Dayan and today their highlytalented cousin Yonatan Geffen will be buried alongside them, alongside hisdear friend Meir Shalev who passed away last week. Yonatan Geffen, songwriter,story teller and Meir Shalev, author and storyteller, were both loved for theirtalent and their principles. HannahSzenesis not buried in Nahalal, she is buried in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl,but she lived there for a short time after emigrating to the nascent JewishState from Budapest. Hannah Szenes, famous as a poet and of course for parachutinginto………… She joined the British Auxiliary Air Force where she trained as aparachutist and ultimately was sent by the Yishuv on a mission into Yugoslaviawith two others. She was caught, tried for treason and executed. Most of usknow that part of her story, but there is more, much more. Zviand I went for a delightful lunch at Mickey and Shlomit Keren’s home, togetherwith a few of Zvi’s old friends, from “back in the day”. In an effort to steerthe conversation away from politics I told everyone about a fascinating exerciseZvi’s choir had performed. Each person had to tell a secret, something none ofthe other people knew about them, no matter how long or well they knew eachother. At first reticent everyone opened up. Then it was the turn of Prof.Gabby Barkay, who as you may well know, is the archaeologist who returnedand sifted the earth excavated and thrown away from under the Temple Mount. Asusual I digress, but this is important. Gabby told us (with more than a littleurging from Zvi and I) that it was his mother, Rachel Bresslauer, who inBudapest, had been Hannah Szenes’ Hebrew teacher, was the woman who encouragedZionism and convinced the young Hannah to emigrate to Palestina.  Not just a story, Gabby has all thedocumentation of his Mother’s work, of Hannah Szenes’ emigration papers and ofletters written between his mother and Hannah. Incredibly, the others did know,only Zvi and I. It is time someone took on the Herculean task of going throughthe masses of historical documents that are in cartons in Gabby’s formerapartment. Any volunteers? Analystsin Middle Eastern Affairs have emphasised that the rocket attacks last week werenot causus belli as suggested by the media but rather a few rogue Hamas gangsdefying the orders of the governing entities in both Lebanon and Gaza! When youlive in this neighborhood you have to be prepared, and we are! In the meantime,we are developing new allies and during the last government Azerbaijan grewcloser and we have full diplomatic relations and this week those talks led tothe opening of a new Embassy in Turkmenistan, just 17 kilometres from theborder with Iran! Asa nation we love to complain, sometimes with very good reason, yet always comingtogether for tragedies and celebrations. This is a special country a fantasticplace to live, a truly free democracy where every faith is represented andprotected. As I said we moan and of course journalists tend to emphasise theproblems but ignore the positive. Yaakov Katz, former editor of the JerusalemPost  decided to right that wrong. Heputs everything into perspective https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-739845     Iwas thrilled to receive this from the lovely Gaby Hirsch, who became a dearfriend during the preparations and creation of Dr. Dan’s Room in Shalva. Thisis a fabulous success story of dreams come true. Ellie Goldstein livesin Ilford, Essex in the UK. Ellie has Down’s Syndrome but it has never stoppedher dreaming or fulfilling her dream to become a fashion model. Not only on thefront cover of Vogue, she has represented Gucci, Adidas and Victoria’s Secretto name a few. This has to be the most important front cover ever, showing thatbeauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Well done Ellie!https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/ellie-goldstein-british-vogue-interview OnMonday Rachel and I headed off to Tel Aviv, thoroughly excited in the knowledgethat we were going to meet one of our very favourite people, Poodle! Of course,Poodle is not her real name but I only discovered that her real name is Alex avery short while ago! Poodle, along with Paddy (Justin) were Daniel’s closestfriends in Carmel College. Anyway, we were to meet at a small Italianrestaurant on Dizengoff Street and as Rachel, Ayala and I neared the restaurantwe saw dozens of memorial candles at the side of the road, memorial candles forOr Eshkar the young man killed in the recent terror attack. After paying ourrespects we met with Poodle, ate and then walked to the beachfront. Rachel andPoodle talking all the way and Ayala and I having our own privategrand-daughter, cool Safta talks. We discovered all sorts of tiny alleyways andskinny roads as we wandered back to find the car! Twodays later and Zvi collected Talia and two girlfriends from school and theycame to our place to interview Saba Zvi for a school project (all 16 yearsold). They asked him predominantly about his father, Kalman, and his lifebefore and after emigrating to the nascent state and his involvement in thefounding of the State of Israel. It was fascinating! One recorded Zvi whileanother wrote with great speed and all three listened to him in rapt attention.All while munching on pizza and edamame! The38th World Jewish Congress special meetings opened on Wednesday inJerusalem, and Zvi was in attendance. The World Zionist Organisation specialmeetings cover many essential and even controversial subjects. If you want tokeep up with them just go to https://www.wzo.org.il/page/english/press/en Lastnight we were invited to a housewarming of a dear friends Aliza and Yossi, for “couscousand wine”! You cannot imagine the cornucopia of phenomenal dishes that she andher husband laid out, to say nothing of the constant array of meats on thebarbeque! The food literally didn’t stop. Every conceivable kind of salad and roastedvegetables; liver pate, egg pate, avocado pate all in little pastry cups andall that was just hors d’oeuvres! The star of the evening was the hand made couscouswith wonderful vegetables cooked in a tasty soup. Their new apartment isbeautiful in a brand new neighborhood next to Nes Ziona, and their hospitalityunmatched. It was such a delight. Whichbrings us back to Shabbat! Apparently the latest food fad in Israel is cholent on aThursday! Yes really! I knew about Kubeh soup on Friday but cholent of Thursdayis a new one on me! Cholent is a stew like concoction which Eastern EuropeanJewish families would make on Friday, cook overnight in the oven to be eatenfor Shabbat lunch. Seriously heavy, with meat beans, potatoes and vegetables, Iwonder if it will last into the searing hot days of summer!  Shabbatis central to life in Israel. Obviously there are those for whom it is a day ofprayer and family, others who use the only day without work to take the familyout into nature and hike, others use the opportunity to gather family andfriends at home and then people like us who love to go for long walks and countthe flowers and birds.  YonatanGeffen z”lwas, as I said, a lyricist. Together with musician David Broza he wrote thebeautiful song, Yihye Tov, “It will be alright”, that oh so Israeli expression.Here David Broza sings https://youtu.be/qtI7h5A9eEQ  Let’s pray that it really will be “Yihye Tov” Tohonour Ellie Goldstein, Shalva and all the beautiful children who stand up totheir challenges and those who see the beauty within and help them reach theirpotential, Yaakov Shwekey and “I Can Be” https://youtu.be/C3nF2KHmQ60   "I see something good in you". Abeautiful, introspective song, music composed by Sara Samuels, daughter ofKalman and Malki Samuels, founders of Shalva, Sara’s smile lights up the videoevery so often, and produced by the band themselves with lyrics by Anael, oneof the two singers, both blind, who front the Shalva Band, and documents eachmember's personal journey with disability, some obvious some unseen. https://fb.watch/k1ZeR-sc0f/  Time to gather my thoughts and prepare for Shabbat! Ihope to go to see Rachel today and sit in her kitchen, as she plies me withfreshly baked challah and good old Yorkshire Tea! It’s funny how childrenbecome the provider of memories of wonderful hot challah just as I used to bakelittle challah rolls for them as they came in from school on a Friday, hot fromthe oven and dripping with butter! Rachel’s challahs are the absolute best,soft and tasty, and the best part is she always bakes extra for sick friends.We haven’t decided if we will be home tonight or with one of Zvi’s boys, butwhatever happens we will not starve, nor will they! Please, I beg of you, don’t see the demonstrations as abreakdown of Israeli democracy, because, to the contrary, it is proof of thestrength of Israeli democracy. It is clearly time for rethinking, forremembering exactly what is written on the Declaration of Independence https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/about/pages/declaration.aspx We wish our amazing friend Kimball(Kim) Taylor a safejourney to Israel for the Keren Hayesod meeting and hopefully a few days withus! Our week will be a busy one, but I’ll tell you all about it next week! Shabbat Shalom. With much love from our home to yours,from the view from our veranda overlooking Jerusalem. Sheila -- If the media does not inform us we must inform the mediaMy Website http://www.theviewfrommyveranda.info/Facebook      Sheila Silver Raviv Involvement   http://www.impact-se.org/