6th June 2025
86 weeks 6 days since the 7th of October 2023
Shabbat Shalom dear friends
After reading the story of Ruth over Shevuot (Pentecost)
my renowned lateral thinking took me in many directions, but they all met up
with one word, FAMILY. Ruth was married to Mahlon, one of the sons of Elimelech
and Naomi. Sadly, Mahlon and Elimelech died and Naomi decided to go back to her
home. We all know the obvious story of how Ruth chose to follow Naomi and adopt
her faith, but what was behind the story? First thought was the vexatious
difference between taking on the faith and family of Naomi then and the long
and drawn-out route to be accepted as a Jew today, but that is another issue. I’d
love to hear your opinion on that one. What drew Ruth to Naomi’s faith was the
sense of family. The very basis of Judaism is family. Be it lighting the
Shabbat candles together, eating and praying together, loving no matter what,
family.
Right now, in today’s world, families are split by religiosity,
by political views, by distance, by so many misunderstandings and it makes me
sad. We could simply ignore our current situation; not talk about religion,
politics and money like in the old days, or we can sit down and talk openly but
politely about what is on our hearts without denigrating the other. No matter
which page you turn in the Old Testament, it’s about family, not always
agreeing with each other, some where twins are ready to kill over their father’s
will, but family nonetheless. The New Testament begins and continues about
family, the Holy Family, and the entire religion of Christianity is based on
that family. Have we forgotten how to be family? I thank heaven that my family
is diverse but loving, but do we talk about our real thoughts? Probably not.
How on earth can anyone understand what is happening to us, as Israelis, right
now, but it is not by chance that Marc and Chantal Belzberg called their
organisation “One Family” because we all hurt, families of soldiers, families
of hostages whose pain I cannot begin to fathom, families of injured, families
of victims of terror, we are, must be One Family to survive.
Decisions made by our current government do not unite,
decisions to continue this war, decisions which do not bring our hostages home;
decisions to allow two sectors of our society to receive rights without
responsibility; decisions which create sectorial hatred; decisions which mean
that those who serve the country in Gaza, Syria or Lebanon (some reservists
have served 500+ days) while their young children barely recognise their
fathers, their wives cope alone, lost their businesses or jobs. To stop the
internecine hatred just one decision must be made by this lop sided government,
serve those who serve not those who receive.
Changing tack completely, did you know that most of the
Moslem terror related groups are banned in most of the Moslem countries. Try
shouting “Free free Palestine” in Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia and if you are
lucky you will be exiled but if not, well I’m sure I don’t need to go into
details. Sadly, the Western countries have not taken that route, while
accepting people from all over the world with open arms (mostly because they
wanted cheap labour) rather than stopping extremism at its core the European memory
of thought police created a situation whereby extremism was rampant. A famous
philosopher Alan Watts asked the important question as to whether that happened
because extremists were strong or because our societies are weak. What weakened
us? Good question. Perhaps it all comes back to lost family values.
The Houthis are not scared of the USA or the UK who made a
mediocre attempt at attacking their headquarters, by the way don’t be fooled
into thinking that it was to save Israel from the daily missiles; it was
predominantly to stop them from their piracy on the high seas and determination
to prevent passage through the Suez Canal which in turn caused devastating
damage to the Egyptian economy. Again I ask how a country that is so poor that
it cannot feed its population can afford supersonic missiles that travel 2,198
kilometres as the crow flies or in this case, the missile. That’s one expensive
missile.
Talking of feeding one’s population, the decision by
the Israeli government concerning Gaza has several sides. Firstly, what other
country in the world, in any wars, feeds the very people who are determined to
kill them? Secondly, yes, the decision was made to stop the aid going through,
but actually after the calculation was made that according to previous loads,
there should be a stockpile of 3-4 months of food. One can only pray that the
killing of anyone who gets between the caravans of food aid and Hamas will
stop. Someone must be able to ensure that the staple foodstuffs reach the
ordinary people without first going through Hamas who then sell the said
foodstuffs to the people at extortionate prices to fund their ever growing
renewed arsenal. I will bless anyone able to feed the ordinary people rather
than the fat-cats of Hamas.
I have an admission, although I honestly don’t trust Mahmoud Abbas,
he is infinitely better than anyone else to control Gaza and oust Hamas. After
all, Fatah was ousted in a killing spree by Hamas, Hamas which was funded by…………
OK, I’m not going there. As one exceptional friend said “You are the voice of
reason” so I try to walk the line but it can be a very uncomfortable. I am, by
nature, a truth teller and holding my tongue on the current government
decisions is probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my writings.
A precis of this week’s news since we are all sick of long drawn
out analyses!
Remember Greta Thornberg with her hysterical videos? Now she’s
on the "Gaza aid flotilla" sending out a May Day (still hysterical)
insisting that an Israeli drone was threatening the Madleen boat. Well, it was
a Greek Coast Guard drone! Greta, time to think before acting.
The missiles continue and I thank heaven, yet again, that
living in a new home means we have a safe room inside the apartment. Others are
not so lucky having to race across parks or down multiple stairs. This war of
Attrition is exhausting and aimed at ruining our economy. A shout out to Delta
Airlines who decided to not only return but to increase their flights and to
Air Dubai who haven’t stopped their flights throughout……. And my favourite, El
Al and the Israeli Low-Cost airlines. I have a feeling that Delta realised that
the lack of choice has made ever increasing profits for El Al!!!
Konstantin Kisin is a thinker and his analysis of
the current war in our region is fascinating, taking the situation and breaking
it down to the skeleton, First Principles Thinking, without emotive responses.
History did not start on October 7th. Fascinating. This is one to show your unconvinced
family members – if you dare. They probably won’t want to but who knows? https://youtu.be/O4m_EL9Dj2U?si=ZMByPF4jqxcNGn74
Popular thought in Israel is anti-Haredi, probably well
founded, but as I always say, one should never generalise. Shai Graucher,
inspired by his late father’s charity work, unites US donors and Israeli war
victims through lavish gifts, viral acts of kindness and a mission to showcase
Jewish unity amid tragedy. Probably best known for his truckloads of washing
machines and dryers for soldiers in the field so that they could wash their wet
and dirty uniforms in the couple of hours they came out of the battlefield. This
shy Haredi Rabbi has done much more. He has been assisting soldiers and terror
victims and their families since 2017. The current war sent his efforts into
overdrive. opened a fulltime kitchen preparing meals for soldiers and displaced
families; delivered thousands of care packages to displaced families and
families of soldiers; brought gifts to children wounded in the Hamas attacks
and children released from captivity in Gaza. So before we say all – Haredim,
Arabs, Christians, Jews, are anything – remember, never generalise.
Judi Weinstein Haggai z”l and Gadi Haggai z”l,
American/Israeli citizens, went for a morning walk in Kibbutz Nir Oz on the 7th
of October and never came back. Gadi was fatally injured and Judi’s call to Magen
David Adom told us that she was horribly injured. They were both shot by the
Mujahideen Brigades, who also kidnapped the Bibas family. Both Judi and Gadi
were kidnapped to Gaza. This week their bodies were found and identified by the
IDF and Shabak. They were given a Jewish burial in Israel.
How strange is the world? Support for "Palestine
and Gaza" by the Gay communities around the world is beyond my
comprehension. Yesterday Jerusalem warmly welcomed the Gay Parade to the centre
of the city. Freedom of expression is rarely abused here and despite certain
sectors objections the colourful and joyful parade took place in absolute
freedom. Apartheid my foot!!
So our Shevuot was spent in Tel Aviv, actually in the neighborhood
called Revivim, yes honestly the Ravivs live in Revivim! So we spent the
weekend with Ella and Yonatan while their parents went on a fantastic long
weekend in Greece to celebrate Noga’s 50th birthday. First of all
the children are so easy that I think they looked after us choosing games such
as Taki, Backgammon, draughts etc to amuse us! Their parents, Amiad and Noga,
however, achieved a long dreamt of dream and climbed Mount Olympus to the very
summit and took out an Israeli flag for their photo! I loved it and am so proud
of them.
I took advantage of being in Tel Aviv to have an impromptu coffee
with my lifelong friend Averil which is when I discovered that the delightful
coffee shop/patisserie is entirely gluten free, in fact sterile of any hint of
gluten flying in the air. Delicious breads, fabulous Danish pastries, cookies,
everything you could imagine. Of course I bought our lovely friend Sha’ela some
breads, already sliced for her breakfast toast!
Zvi is running an exhausting schedule of rehearsals, getting ready
for two concerts, one each for the two choirs which will be held within days of
each other. I am enjoying my creativity class and also my mind and movement
class, a combination of mindfulness and free movement to music, both of which
ease one’s anxieties and mend broken hearts.
Our “garden” is flourishing. The little apple tree has so many
apples that I fear for its laden branches. I have been fighting the spring
winds which threatened to break its slender trunk, but I think I have found a
solution. The kumquat tree shows signs of its first blossoms, promising its
usual exceptional crop, the tomato plants are beginning to flower and the acorn
squash plants are starting to creep across the floor. Quite apart from the obvious market gardener in
me I am thrilled by the flowers, oh my the flowers!
The war, our longest war, made me think of Paul McCartney. Yes I
know you are struggling to find the connection. Paul McCartney clearly knew his
history and wrote a song called Pipes of Peace inspired by the Christmas Truce,
1914 during World War One. The
song and its accompanying music video depict this historical event, showing
British and German soldiers fraternising and exchanging gifts. https://youtu.be/B3q4Up5ugTc?si=3d5SmKpP5_L0kikS
Shabbat shalom, just two words but joined together are a prayer for
peace. In fact most of our songs speak of
peace https://youtu.be/VCMBkxr2WSc?si=3LzEKo3UN5ArIb9R
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity. Such simple words with such deep meaning. United, Unity,
Together. Henei Ma Tov. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach who succeeded in bringing young
people together through joy! https://youtu.be/A6f0hFHB2fs?si=LJba3R1i5v2Phwiy
I wonder if I’ll have time to go down into the village to the Friday
morning Coffee-wagon? It has become a true meeting place for everyone in Motza.
In fact we have so many events, talks, shows, meetings that we are slowly
slowly getting to know each other. On Wednesday Rachel and I went to a truly
wonderful coffee shop that Zvi and I found on our way home. Motzeleh makes
everything fresh, no bought sauces, no bakery bread, everything made on the
spot. Their signature dishes are all Lachuch based (Yemenite pancake/pita) but
Rachel and I decided to take a chance and ordered shakshuka. I’m very fussy
about shakshuka but I virtually licked the plate it was all so fresh and
delicious. Anyway, what I wanted to say was that Motzeleh was full of locals,
either from our estate or the village. Community, family, togetherness. So important.
I wish you a beautiful Shabbat. Remember that family is not about
blood relations, it is about those who care about you and you them, irrespective
of outside connections, inner caring, the ability to help and be helped, to
give and receive in equal parts, to love and be loved.
Be well, be strong, be happy with who you are.
Sheila
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