26th December 2023
Happy Boxing Day!
Do you remember the word “miluimnikim? The reservists who
volunteer to serve in the IDF and have been an essential part of the troops
fighting a tough battle in Gaza, a fight to remove the oppressive, cruel, actually
diabolical regime of Hamas? Well, let me explain something, each of these
heroes has a family, they left businesses, studies, law offices, medical
practices, restaurants, in fact just about every type of work, they just dropped
everything without a selfish thought in their heads, because they knew that
their fight was just. They had to stop the strong possibility of October 7th
becoming a regular occurrence. For many of them they left their families
without a breadwinner, their businesses are failing and the war must continue
until Hamas is wiped out. I felt the need for you to understand that this is
not an army of regular soldiers fighting a battle overseas, this is a citizen’s
army of people, men and women, who know that the enemy is on our doorstep.
Their sacrifice is ultimate and some have not been home in the 80 days of
fighting, or maybe popped home for a few hours before returning to the field.
When I write that this is a people’s army, I mean a real people’s
army. Men and women from every walk of life, irrespective of professor or
street cleaner, come together in a mixed unit. That is particularly true of
tank units, but also of the soldiers in the field, those who risk and lose
their lives every minute of every day. The IDF is the greatest social leveller
imaginable and the relationships formed during their army service remain
throughout their lives. The number of serious injuries is frightening, but they
all get the absolute support of the people, the IDF and the social services for
the rest of their lives. When this cruel
war is over, it will be fascinating to see if their political differences,
those that created a frightening split in our society, will return or dissipate
in the rubble of Gaza.
A few minutes ago I received a message from a dear friend that her
son in law is in Soroka Hospital, the hospital that received the bulk of the
injured. He is in critical condition with head injuries and the family is
around his bed, praying and supporting.
Yesterday Zvi and I had lunch with old friends, Stanley and
Charmaine Roth and Harold and Rebecca Finger who are here from far off Sydney,
Australia with a Keren Hayesod Mission; the third couple to complete our table
were Inbal and Marcus Sheff. Marcus is the CEO of Impact-se (https://www.impact-se.org/ ) of which I
am the proud Chairperson of the Board and yesterday, we were all fascinated
listeners as Marcus answered Stanley’s questions, explaining the critical importance
of Impact and school education so clearly shown to us recently. After October 7th,
the correlation between hate education and terrorism has become an important
subject in the international forum and Impact’s success in changing the school
curriculum of many countries, such as the Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia,
even Qatar, replacing hate with tolerance has come to the forefront in many
countries. Impact-se has all the necessary reports, showing a clear correlation
between school textbooks and violent hatred and our next project is to produce
a viable alternative to the UNWRA/ Palestinian Authority/Hamas curriculum. I
was so proud of Marcus but even more so of the Roths and Fingers who never fail
to support Israel in every way possible.
We were deeply distressed to hear of the increase in anti-Semitic
incidents and lack of sympathy for the horrors of October 7th. It
was unimaginable that such things would happen in Australia, but they are – but
then these incidents are happening all over the world and as I listened to
Charmaine and Rebecca’s distress, repeated by Canadian, American and British
Jews, I feared for the future of so many communities. Perhaps he deepest hurt
comes from the women’s organisations that care not a jot about the vile and
violent rapes of Israeli women by Hamas.
It is far from being a Jewish problem. I was sad to see that several
stores on London’s Oxford Street closed their doors, dimmed their Christmas lights
as the pro-Palestinian rally chose to ruin London’s Christmas. It made me sad
and mad since apparently to be pro-Palestinian means sucking the joy out of
everything. Actually that self acclaimed, ”quintessential, queer, English Jew” Stephen Fry, the oh so brilliant Stephen Fry,
decided to record a somewhat regal Christmas message declaring his dismay at
the changes in the country that welcomed his grandparents, but in a wonderfully
eloquent, regally British manner. https://youtu.be/G7uUGJhiehM?si=FruX59zRdkiEBBrK
Colonel Richard Kemp is also very British, a veteran of Afghanistan
and a firm and constant defender of the IDF which he has described as the most
moral army in the world. Here he writes about the influence of Hamas. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-779122
Orange County, Florida, may just as well have started burning books
as they purged nearly 700 books from their school libraries. They deemed Saul
Bellow’s Herzog and Rebecca Walker’s Black, White and Jewish as unsuitable since
they are deemed offensive for public and school libraries. In other words, any
reference to Jewish life.
Issa Anis Kassisiah has a very important role in Jerusalem – he is
the Jerusalem Santa and instead of Rudolph he rides a camel! For many years now
Issa brings a smile and lots of joy to children and adults like in the city. Indeed,
Issa, a Jerusalem Christian, is the only certified Santa in town! He studied at
the Charles W. Howard Santa School in Michigan and each year he opens his house,
which is filled with every imaginable Christmas favour, a sleigh, Sata’s
workshop, chocolates, candy canes and of course Santa’s workshop, all open to
the public. Normally he has about 25,000 visitors but this year perhaps 10,000.
Dr Zohar Raviv (no relation) talks about October 7th
that it must not be yet another horrific event in our Jewish timeline of
victimhood. Jewish living is the identity not defensive by nature but of the
ever living people L’Haim! https://youtu.be/mfDZDprdxjU?si=edjhfca2j9bapkFN
Omer Adam is a highly successful Israeli singer and a total mensch.
When reservists go home for a few hours, their home could well be a long bus
ride from base, cutting short their time with their family. Omer Adam decided
that his contribution to the IDF would be to pay for taxis to take soldiers
back to base. His incredibly generous thought has already cost him nearly 2
million shekels but has brought few precious
extra moments to those who put their lives on the line for us.
I have returned to knitting! It is actually very calming, an essential
aspect when watching the 24/7 news, hearing the names of the fallen soldiers,
understanding the number of families that have lost their fathers and of course
seeing that orange warning that pops up telling us which towns are under red
alert. So you see, knitting is a good thing, especially since I am knitting
warm hats for soldiers to wear under their helmets since it gets very cold at
night, both in the North and the South. Until now I haven’t joined one of the
social knitting groups because I love the emotional attachment as to who gets
the hats and so far they have all gone to the children of friends. It started
with Tomer and Sheli whose hats await their visit home from the north; my
neighbour’s son has been home just three days out of the 80 days of this war;
Hannah and Danny’s son came home for a few hours and he got one too, they all
got special portable cellphone chargers from Zvi, to share with their unit. As
a “reward” we received a video of Hannah’s son walking in the door and his
children running to him in excitement. Whatever we do is not enough to thank
them for their devotion and bravery.
Shalva, the concept, the fact and the place all represent hope;
hope for change and making the best of what we are given, turning fear into
joy. Here the Shalva Band sings for evacuees, returnees and the families of hostages,
indeed for all of us. This is a song normally sung at the entry of Shabbat but
the words ring true any day of the year and express hope for the coming year. Shalom
Aleichem, Peace be with you https://youtu.be/EBoMYQu8sDo?si=8x9M1Wc5yF5Emgi2
Four years ago Koolulam was in Kibbutz Be’eri and recorded this
beautiful song. Nobody could predict how appropriate it was to be as Be’eri was
destroyed on October 7th “One
Day” https://youtu.be/EuHwoz8K3tM?si=y4IhqXNUQQ8QuH1O
I wish you a peaceful, loving Tuesday, until we meet again for the
Shabbat Shalom missive
Sheila
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