5th December 2024
Shabbat Shalom and yes, it’s already December! Did you begin your Advent Calendar? Have you
thought about Chanuka which is around the corner and the sufganiyot (special
Doughnuts) are already in the shops although today they don’t resemble the
simple jam doughnuts we all remember! They are very fancy with all kinds of
toppings and liqueur fillings!!
This year has both flown by and yet every day we can only think of
the hostages who are still alive after 426 days of nightmare conditions and the
families who wait for them.
Let’s begin with the bad news to get it over with so we can go back
to being rational, normal people. There are many news items so I’ll try to make
them as short as possible.
Young Israeli Jewish thugs went into the Palestinian town of
Huwara and set fire to cars and homes
Not in my name, and not in the name of any rational Israeli. I
believe that they, who call themselves the Hilltop Youth, should be prosecuted
as any terrorist is prosecuted and punished accordingly.
As parishioners of Armagh's Saint Patrick's Cathedral
were receiving communion, dozens of pro-Palestinian activists silently marched
down the aisle demanding that Christian leaders condemn Israel’s “genocide” of
the Palestinian people.
Hafetz Al Assad was a cruel dictator, President of Syria, but
his cruelty is eclipsed by his son Bashar Al Assad who declared war on his own
people, a civil war since 2011,, using banned chemical weapons, the results
confirmed by the doctors of the Israeli border field hospital. He slaughtered
half a million of his own citizens. As foul as Assad is, those threatening a
coup d'etat are a hundred times worse. Terrorists all.
The Israeli branch of Amnesty International has
distanced itself from the International organisation after they claimed that
Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza without taking October 7th into
consideration or the fact that Israel did not declare war on Gazans and until
the very last minute had provided Gaza with food, water and electricity.
An American internet gaming company created a game
whereby Hamas terrorists murder Jews. Steam, a video game digital
distribution service, rendered the game titled “Fursan
al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” unavailable to users identified
as being in the United Kingdom following a request by the Counter-Terrorism
Internet Referral Unit. Unfortunately Canada has not followed suit.
As we near Christmas I am sad to report that Christians are
leaving Bethlehem because under Palestinian rule it is becoming jus ttoo hard
to be a Christian. Even more sad because at the last count Bethlehem was already
80% Moslem. Sadly, friends like Boutrus (Arabic for Peter) don't have the money
to go elsewhere. His life is hard because he is denied work as a Christian, his
son studied at university but they both take whatever decorating jobs, painting
houses, in Israeli Jerusalem.
The International Criminal Court's
governing body will launch an external investigation into its chief prosecutor
Karim Khan over alleged sexual misconduct, two sources familiar with the matter
said on Friday. Khan is called on in an internal document circulated to member
states to temporarily step down from his role at the world's permanent war
crimes court, based in The Hague, while an inquiry is ongoing.
World Central Kitchen has investigated and discovered
that at least one of their "workers" who was killed in an air strike
was found to be not only a member of Hamas, he was a member of the gang of
rapists, slaughterers, of Nir Oz. World Central Kitchen suspended their
operations in Gaza because they were horrified to find that one of their
workers was a terrorist, not because of the airstrike.
In my day the incredible humour of "Til Death Us Do
Part" (the British precursor of the American show "All in the Family)
and the character of Alf Garnett. Alf Garnett was an out and out racist,
insulted everyone equally and through his words we learned about racism. The
utterly irreverent humour of Monty Python which targetted everyone and
everything. Today both would be banned as non-woke. If we lose our ability to
laugh at ourselves we are lost.......strangely it is where woke and Islamic
leaders agree.
Then we have some much better news items.
I don’t know what the correct address is -
President or President-Elect Trump but anyway he has chosen Adam Boehler to be
in charge of the hostage negotiations. Boehler was involved in the negotiations
which led to the Abraham Accords and understands the region and its
complexities. He repeated Trump’s warning that if the Hostages are not released
soon there will be “Hell to Pay” for
those holding them.
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is
giving one million shekels toward rebuilding the destroyed homes in the north
of Israel. The Hezb-Allah missiles ploughed whole towns and villages to the
ground.
This week we celebrated the anniversary of the first Kindertransport
children’s arrival in Britain. Devastated parents, determined to save their
children’s lives, in Germany, Hungary and Austria put their young children on
to trains which left for the UK with just a label around their necks and a
small satchel containing their minimal belongings. Families met them the other
end, most of whom went on to adopt the children when their parents were lost in
the Holocaust. 10,000 children came to the UK and were saved. I had the honour
of knowing two such children who went on to influence the world. Hilda Cohen
and Eva Gibbor both of whom were adopted by wonderful families in Cardiff,
South Wales.
Just a quick Impact-se update. The lower
house of the Swiss Parliament, the National Council, voted yesterday to omit
all funding for UNRWA from the 2025 state budget, effectively approving an end
to Swiss aid for the agency. The vote was proposed by MP David Zuberbühler, a
close ally of IMPACT-se.
Friday and we look forward to a lovely weekend with many visitors.
Actually it began today when our downstairs neighbours popped up for a “cuppa”
and continues on Shabbat. Our incredible friend Kathleen and Earl Cox are here
after a long break and are coming to us on Saturday around 11:00 and ‘m very
excited about it. This visit is just to touch base with old friends but in our
phone conversation I was touched to hear that Earl is still producing information
clips about Israel which go out to Christian broadcasters all over the world. At
about 17:00 a group of friends are coming to us, a mixture of two different choirs,
and they are all contributing to teatime or as it is known in Hebrew “Ha Seudah
Ha Shlishit” or the Third Feast. I cannot promise them a feast but it will be
the traditional third meal of Shabbat. Then on Sunday Rebecca and Harold Finger
are coming, finally, to see our new (only 3 years) home! I love Rebecca and
Harold who at least twice a year make the journey from Sydney in far off “down-under”
Australia. Harold, together with his best buddy Stanley Roth, have been leaders
in the Sydney and Australian Jewish communities for many years since Zvi went
to Oz to create Keren Hayesod Young Leadership. They also support the work of
Impact-se.
Of course, Friday means that Zvi will be going to the coffee shop
in the Botanical Gardens for his main parliament where they will discuss what
is happening in our region and expressing their concern with this government. I
assume they will also discuss their feelings about both Biden and Trump. When I
describe this parliament, the Friday one, it is not just a group of men
spouting off their opinions, although it sometimes sounds like it, many of the
group are major journalists and several are former secret service people and
high ups in the police force.
The weather has definitely taken a turn toward winter. The rain has
stopped but there is a definite chill in the air which calls for a good soup, a
warming soup, the kind that calls for more like Oliver although a long way from
gruel. I quite fancy a leek and potato soup, not vichyssoise, just simple good
leek and potato soup. I’m always asked why I use leek in almost every recipe,
but the answer is obvious – I’m still a Welsh Girl. You can take the girl out
of Wales but never Wales out of the girl especially when it was Wales that gave
our Father haven when he arrived from the Polish pogroms. For the initiated,
the leek is one of two symbols of Wales, the other being the daffodil. On March
1st, St David’s Day, the girls would come to school with a daffodil
pinned to their uniform and the boys a leek, honestly!
It's definitely time for some good music.
Halleluyah sung by Gali Atari and Eden Ben Zaken.
Halleluya was our 1979 winning Eurovision song so many years ago now and has
become an essential part of any Israeli singsong. Gali Atari was in the
original group Milk and Honey and I can still remember our excitement when the
song won. Spain was running equal with Israel and we thought all was lost
because Spain was the last country to vote – and they gave us 10 point (out of
12) and we won!! https://youtu.be/Fy3Znz6Vztg?si=VeYizOAu_hb80Onl
Ana b’Koach is a mystical Kabbalistic prayer, and here
Omer Adam sings before an audience for the Hostage Shabbat. He asks his audience to
pray with him, to put their hands on each other’s shoulders, to be united in
their prayer to bring them home. Ana b’Koach - We beg you with Your strength -
is a medieval Jewish liturgical poem using the acronym of which is said to be a
42-letter name of the Almighty. So powerful. https://youtu.be/OQGLcV_NWds?si=-pc6cYH1-mdoI6aZ
I think about Idan Amedi frequently. A huge star in Israel
he not only served in the IDF in Gaza in a fighting unit, he was badly injured
and after his time in hospital announced that he needed quiet time, to please
leave him to recover. Thank heaven he is about to perform in concert, feeling
ready. This song has nothing and everything to do with the way he feels, but I
wanted to play one of his songs in recognition of a true mensch, a true hero. https://youtu.be/ExuCB1qsSD0?si=nA5CHtGTUoSOBikP
In fact many major international stars volunteered, were miluimnikim, including
most of Idan Amedi’s friends who are members of the cast of Fauda with him.
They say that we are closer to a hostage deal, gosh I hate that
description, these are people who have been held in dire conditions for 426
days, they are not Black Friday merchandise, call it negotiations toward
freedom, finally for those still alive and the bodies of those who are not so
that their families can bury them and get closure. I pray that it will be soon.
I wish you all Shabbat shalom, with love from Israel, that tiny dot,
so small that her name doesn’t even fit onto a map. Israel, that tiny Jewish
homeland whose success is so incredible that it caused unbearable jealousy in
her neighbours. We are strong, together.
With love
Sheila
I’m so glad I didn’t send this early this morning! If I had you
wouldn’t know that Rachel and my amazing grandson Yosef came to visit me as a
special surprise. Rachel is usually too busy with Shabbat preparations to come
to me. Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is that I am so proud of Yosef, my
grandson and absolutely thrilled that he not only talks to me about everything
but that my heart leaps that a nearly twenty year old still comes in for a hug
and says “I love you my Safta” Nothing like it in the whole world!
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