The Ugly, The Bad and the Good

25th August, 2023 Shabbat Shalom! http://www.theviewfrommyveranda.info/the-ugly-the-bad-and-the-good/ I decided to call this week’s missive The Ugly, The Badand The Good because some bad and ugly things happened this week but by leavingthe good until last, I can tell you about all the wonderful things thathappened both here in Israel and to me personally! The Ugly, which has itscompensations, is that finally one of the ugliest characters to appear on theinternational Jewish scene for many years, has been sentenced in Australia. Theadditional ugly is that there were those within her own community (sect) who attemptedto prevent her extradition to Australia, where her crimes were committed, fortrial. Of course, I refer to Malka Leifer who hid behind her pious façade tosexually abuse her students. It took three brave young women, sisters Nicole,Dassy and Ellie, to reveal the horrors they had suffered, in a community whichunfortunately hides its sexual offenders under a cloak of secrecy. The AustralianCourt sentenced Leifer to 15 years imprisonment. The Bad, I am almost too ashamedto write about it, involved a very tiny minority, but still far too many, ofthose who harass Christian priests in the Old City of Jerusalem. Bad,disgusting behaviour which must be punished fully. These men, and it is men,are on a par with the Hilltop Youth who harass and harm Arab villagers.Admittedly it is not violent so far, but it disgusts me and deserves the titleof BAD. On a similar theme but not in the same category, hundredsof Christian pilgrims came to Israel to celebrate the Feast of theTransfiguration at the Basilica or the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. The fireservice prevented the overcrowding of the church last year and when theyrealised that the number of pilgrims was dangerous they cancelled the service.It is a shame that the arrangements went ahead and the cancellation was at thelast moment but I believe that enthusiasm overtook logic in such a smallBasilica. I feel bad for the pilgrims but perhaps next year there should be adecision that rather than a mass pilgrimage, they should be split into smallergroups. The subsequent bad publicity was sad. There is a new decision by the Interior Ministryconcerning visas for visiting clergy since the International Christian Embassyin Jerusalem is not considered a religious institution. Since it was set upwhen virtually all other countries removed their Embassies from Jerusalem, toall intents and purposes claiming Jerusalem was not the Capital of Israel, Evangelicalsformed the International Christian Embassy and as a frequent visitor to theirhome, I can honestly say that while it is Christian, Judaism is treated withthe utmost respect. There were two horrific terror attacks in what theWestern Media calls the occupied Palestinian Territory, aka the West Bank oralternatively Yehuda and Shomron. A father and son went to the car wash in theArab village of Huwara, where many Israelis go to shop and visit. As they satwatching their car being washed, a car drew up beside Shai and Aviad Negerkerand sprayed them with bullets, killing both of them.  Kindergarten teacher Batsheva Negri and her 12year old daughter were grateful to neighbour Aryeh Gottlieb for the offer of alift to Kiriat Arba. As they drove BatSheva was killed in a terror attack in frontof the child and Aryeh badly wounded.  Thekilling is not confined to killing Jews however. Sadly no less than, indeedmore than 150 internecine killings have taken place by Israeli Arabs of IsraeliArabs. It is a terrifying situation. I can’t decide upon which category this falls in but itis said that Putin not only has a long memory but never forgives those who goagainst him. Today an aeroplane carrying Yevgeny Pregozhin fell out of the sky,killing all on board. The reason and the method were obvious. High time we moved on to The GOODI'm fascinated by genetics and for variousreasons several members of the family have done genetic testing. We doeverything in Israel in Hadassah hospital and when we sent our information toan expert in the UK, they were amazed to find that the Israeli genetic researchis way ahead even that of the top hospital genetics departments in the UnitedKingdom. Today it is all too easy to blame theultra-Orthodox for anything and everything, but not Rabbi Avraham MordechaiGottleib. Rabbi Gottleib is an exceptional man and a great scholar and Ihope you have the patience to listen to one of his short lectures on why weshould not hate, but rather that we should love, to be too busy inself-improvement to criticise others, that Judaism, the Kabbalah teaches us so.I have listened to several of his talks and this one has an Englishtranslation. https://youtu.be/AIR1TOH6v98?si=uFEWfRKEtGr_IpJm   On a similar theme, you may be surprised to meetSergeant-Major Avishag Shiran Malka, mother of two, a Haredi womanserving in the Border Guards (Mishmar haGvul) a combat position. Avishag wearsa full uniform, with a long skirt to honour her religious beliefs, it in no wayhampers her ability to perform her duty. Although there are many religious menin the Border Guards, Avishag is, so far, is the only Haredi woman. Israeli windsurfers in the iQFoil of the Sailing World Championships in the Netherlands,took both Gold and Silver in their category! ShaharTibi won the title of the World Windsurfing Champion and Katy Spichkov finishedsecond as her runner-up in the competition. Yet another sport in which Israelisreach excellence! On Wednesday we had the great honour of beinginvited to a wedding, a very special wedding. Jacqueline and David Sackwild’sgrandson Eli, who is serving in the Golani Brigade of the IDF as a lone soldierfrom the UK, married his Israeli sweetheart, Avigail who is serving in theIsraeli police. The interesting part is that both are deeply observant Jews whoserve and love Israel without compunction. The seating for the service and thedinner were separate men and women, which certainly didn’t prevent greatjubilation, but for me, the highlight was when all of Eli’s army friends, hisbuddies, of every persuasion and origin, wearing just T-shirts and jeans, stoodat the end of the runway leading to the wedding canopy and cheered loudly “AMEN”at the end of each blessing and then ran under the canopy to hug the couple!Young women who serve with Avigail came in their best bib and tucker, scantilydressed but utterly accepted. As we left the dinner Zvi and I saw all thebackpacks, ready for their return to base and I must admit our hearts swelledwith pride. A special thank you to Jacqueline and David for allowing us to betheir family for the night. Zvi is back from his sojourn in Austria withhis boys and their families. He had a truly amazing time and my crazy 78 yearold husband climbed mountains, literally, 19 story stairs up waterfalls,averaged 10 kilometres a day and came home happy and without any washing forme! It’s great to have him home again although my short, neat and tidy break isshattered! Before his arrival I had a special visit froman adored cousin and his special wife. Ian and Sue Lipman came to lunch. Actually,they didn’t come to lunch they came to see our new apartment but of course Imade lunch. They arrived at the Hemed Junction on the extremely comfortable busfrom Tel Aviv and I popped out and collected them, it’s just five minutes fromhome. They usually take the train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as do most of ourfriends, but we are 10 kilometres before Jerusalem and the bus worked outbeautifully. We talked about our families, about the closeness I always hadwith Ian’s mother and father, Jean and Stuart, and his younger brother Bobby,all sadly passed away. We spoke about how he used to dangle all three of mychildren on his arms, when they were very young admittedly! Sue is such alovely warm human being and I had the best possible time with them. I then tookthem to Ben Gurion Airport so that they could get the train to Tel Aviv andhave a quick hug with the returning traveller as he left exit 03 with hissuitcase….Zvi! As you most certainly noticed, I have avoidedthe political situation in Israel. Firstly, because most of you have quiteenough with the political situation in your own countries and partly because,we are nearing the High Holy days and have entered a time of self-awareness, ofmindfulness of looking into our collective souls leading to self-improvement,to a collective self-improvement, in essence, following the example of RabbiAvraham Mordechai Gottleib. Of coursed I follow the proclivities of thisgovernment, which are in direct opposition to the teachings of Gottleib, Ifollow and oppose but I repeat, Israel is so much more than a few racist, violentpoliticians and we will get through this, and soon. Despite the current leadersthis is a wonderful free society which shows itself in the weeklydemonstrations. We have a few glitches here and there but in general we arestill that shining example, that light unto nations, that we have always been.We still love to go out “shpatzeering” strolling in the streets, enjoying thecooler evening air; stopping for coffee, going out for delicious food, meeting infriend’s homes, chatting to strangers, all done with our children. Me, I lovesitting out on our veranda, watching the sun go down and feeling the eveningbreeze begin to cool the air, one of the great joys of life in the JerusalemHills. I love to see Jerusalem on the horizon, turning pink as the sun goesdown. I love to count the baby fruits on the lemon, lime, orange and kumquattrees, to watch the tiny sunbirds suck the nectar from the hibiscus, the settingsun reflected on their iridescent black feathers……. In other words, I getthrough the political scene by appreciating every moment of sanity. The first song today has the unlikely unitingof the voices of Aviv Geffen and Avraham Fried in a beautiful song entitle “Inthe Time of Drought” https://youtu.be/069WNgtAsJ4?si=yKNc90x-iaQMFrYY The Shabbat table has the reputation of beingall about food – be it chicken soup and kneidlach or chraimeh – but the prayers,the songs are exquisite. Avraham Fried again, but with all his nephews singingsome of the wonderful songs. https://youtu.be/T63JsVsDJWY?si=Lf304M5aVCO9aqwP There is one thing we tend to forget, thatdespite the politicians, the poverty, the wars that are a constant, this is amiraculous world. It’s all about people, you and me, how we look at ourselvesand each other. We can’t control what happens outside ourselves, just how welook at our wonderful world https://youtu.be/VqhCQZaH4Vs?si=p4slQi8YMQ42d31T Tonight we will spend Shabbat dinner withAmiad, Noga, Ella and Yonatan, always a joyous occasion, but first I will go tosee Rachel and family, just because it lifts my heart to be with them. I wantto give a shout out to my wonderful grand-daughter Olivia in London whosurpassed all of our high expectations in getting her GCSE results… so proud. That’s all Folks! I wish you a good Shabbes, aShabbat Shalom, a peaceful Sabbath from Jerusalem, the most beautiful city inthe world. With loveSheila -- 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/