Answers, Aliyah and Arguments

 

28^th August, 2026

 

Shabbat Shalom! How are you? I hope that you are well.

 

I have a strange question for you or perhaps it isn't so strange. When was the last time you sat down and had a quiet, honest conversation with someone whose political or religious beliefs were completely different from your own? Not an argument, not an attempt to change their mind, but simply a conversation in which you both listened. I honestly believe that until we can do that, disagree, listen, laugh, perhaps even learn something, and still walk away respecting one another, we are losing something very precious.

 

Here in Israel, we are getting closer and closer to the elections, and sadly the campaigns seem to be becoming more aggressive and less informative as we go along. I know it may sound terribly boring, but I want to hear the manifestos. What does each party actually intend doing? How will they improve Israel's image abroad? What will they do about the young hilltop bullies — indeed, terrorists — within our own society? How will they resolve the Haredi enlistment issue, which is tearing our society apart and, in my view, denigrating some of the very Jewish values we should be defending? What are their plans for improving our education system, and for teaching teachers how to educate rather than simply teach? How will they tackle violence within Arab society? These are the questions I want our politicians and potential politicians to answer. Instead, all we seem to hear is what is wrong with everyone else — and far too much of it is simply fake news. Finally, and maybe most importantly, we, the people who live and breathe here, want an official enquiry into the events that led up to the 7^th of October, 2023 and the subsequent war.

 

What concerns me more than anything else, as Zvi just pointed out, is the fact that none of the 7 conflicts in our region, yes 7 not only ours, have not reached a solution, in fact a solution is not in sight. The Trump, Netanyahu coalition has not borne fruit.

 

Hamas is recovering and perhaps even thriving, despite everything we have tried to achieve in a war that has already cost us far too many young lives. Young soldiers leave home, kiss their babies goodbye, not knowing whether they will return — and, if they do, whether they will come home as the same people who left. And now it has started again: kites being flown from Gaza over the very kibbutzim that suffered horrors beyond description. The Board of Peace has banned such actions, but we know where this can lead. First the kites, then the incendiary kites and balloons. We have been here before. We know exactly how it ended. We want a government for whom the priority is ending the constant round of wars, both without and within.

 

And then there is Marwan Barghouti, leader of the Tanzim terror movement, who was sentenced by an Israeli court on June 6, 2004, to five cumulative life sentences plus 40 additional years in prison for his role in deadly attacks during the Second Intifada. He is now being presented by some in Hollywood as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela a political prisoner who should be released to become the successor to Mahmoud Abbas. Mark Ruffalo is among those calling for his release. The comparison is extraordinary. Barghouti was not imprisoned for expressing an opinion; he was convicted for his role in organising attacks in which 5 people were murdered including my son-in-law’s aunt. To turn him into a romantic symbol of peace, without understanding the history, the terrorism or the reasons for his imprisonment, demonstrates just how little some of his most enthusiastic Western admirers understand about Israel and the conflict. Or is it more ominous?

 

That provides a rather poignant segue. The situation in North America is becoming increasingly distressing, with antisemitism and antisemitic attacks making many Jews feel less secure and less comfortable simply being who they are. Yet out of that sad situation we see something wonderfully positive: the decision by so many to make Israel their home. More than 1,100 North Americans have already begun the process of making Aliyah this month, and around 2,200 are expected to do so over the summer, arriving on nearly 100 group flights or completing the process from within Israel. It is both sobering and uplifting — and, for us Israelis, there is something extraordinarily joyful about welcoming people who have decided that they want to come home.

 

One of Zvi’s earliest memories was standing, holding his Mother’s hand, of a ship just off the coast of Tel Aviv. This week, when the ship the Altalena was found some 500 metres deep and 20 kilometres off the coast, so close to where it was sunk the memory came rushing back. The story is one of political confusion, ideological rifts and factionalism. Does that sound familiar? Anyway the story is fascinating. The Altalena Affair was a violent June 1948 confrontation between the newly formed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Irgun (IZL), a right wing Jewish paramilitary group, just weeks after Israel declared independence. The Altalena was a cargo ship purchased by the Irgun. It arrived in Israel carrying over 900 Jewish immigrants and a massive cache of weapons purchased by Ben Zion Netanyahu. Ben-Gurion demanded all weapons be handed to the state to establish a single national army. Someone shot at soldiers on the beach, angering Ben Gurion. As a result, on Ben-Gurion's orders, the IDF fired one warning shell at the ship, unintentionally setting it on fire and forcing those on board to swim ashore. 16 Irgun fighters and 3 IDF soldiers were killed. Civil War Averted: Despite the bloodshed, Begin ordered his men not to fire back in full force, famously declaring "there will be no civil war." The event cemented Ben-Gurion's principle of "one state, one army," successfully dissolving independent militias into the IDF. Simultaneously, Ben Gurion dissolved both the Hagana and Palmach (left and right) absorbing them into the IDF.

 

Talk about factionalism, Member of Knesset Zvi Sukkot decided to smash memorials to shahids in the PA. The IDF confirmed that it had diverted troops from standard operational duties to guard Sukkot and his aides on what he called a 'memorial tour' in several villages in Areas A and B in the West Bank. That troops were diverted from regular duty and that this idiot doesn’t understand the repercussions of pictures and videos of him with a huge mallet distress beyond belief.

 

Former hostages are doing their best to live normal lives; they find solace in their families or in telling their stories, among them, one very special young woman who’s tortured hand became a symbol recognised around the world. She came home after 471 days of captivity, after she was taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7th.  Yesterday, in Tel Aviv, Emily Damari married the love of her life, Danielle Amit. The headlines read “From Captivity to Chuppah” Mazal Tov Emily and Danielle. PG her nightmares will finally end.

 

As always there is so much good news that never reaches you! This week in sport was spectacular for us. Israel won 3 medals in European Judo Championships, including gold for Raz Hershko. In Artistic Gymnastics: Artium Dolgopyat, an Olympic medallist, is The European Champion for the 3^rd time in the Floor Exercise. Our marathon team won gold at the European Athletics Championships. Shahar Tibi won gold in the women's iQFoil category at the Sailing World Championships in the Netherlands. Rotem Gafinovitz won gold in the cycling 19–34 Time Trial at the Gran Fondo World Championships in Japan. Ella Bar Lev won the world title and gold medal in the under 48 kg category at the World Cadets Judo Championships in Ecuador.  Once the world laughed at the supposed fact that we are not a sporting people. Ha!!!

 

I love Nas Daily! Nuseir Yassin, known professionally as Nas Daily, is an Israeli-Palestinian vlogger, entrepreneur and media personality. He started by travelling the world but came home and began creating positive reports from Israel. I particularly enjoyed this report from his home town of Arabe, near Nazareth where almost all of the residents’ study medicine in some form! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DBw--ovFqPA

 

Steve Ornstein reports a great deal more than my weekly newsletters on Substack! This report is especially important because it concerns a new and important medical discovery that affects us all. Technion researchers have uncovered a hidden mechanism that enables bacteria to rapidly develop antibiotic resistance; disrupting this mechanism could improve the effectiveness of antibiotic treatments. The dangers of antibiotic overuse have become increasingly clear in recent decades. Excessive use accelerates the evolution of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, raising the alarming prospect of infections that no longer respond to existing drugs and pose a serious threat to public health.

 

This has been a busy but delightful week, starting on Sunday when I went to my Club (Moadon) for those who speak Yiddish my AK club; Zvi went to all his rehearsals this week, from light music to liturgical; only two parliaments this week because one was cancelled. On Shabbat friends are coming for lunch, which is my favourite activity. When I finish writing to you I will take Zvi to his parliament in the Botanical Gardens and then take the road to Givat Zeev, to Rachel and hope that the children (they really aren’t children any more) will be there to tell me of the exciting week. Yosef of his and Tsofia’s wedding plans and his new job, Talia of starting to study in the Hebrew University and Ayala beginning her Sherut Leumi (National Service) in the Foreign Ministry. Talking to my grandchildren is such a joy! It’s irrelevant if they are mine or Zvi’s we love them.

 

I haven’t set the table yet, far more important to see Rachel and the children, but I will come home and begin the Shabbat preparations. As always I haven’t decided on the menu, but will create food as I go along! My thoughts are with the people of Nepal and Tibet and the horrific floods that killed so many people and left even more homeless. It takes my thoughts to how fragile life is and how precious every moment. Time spent in anger is time lost and we do not know how much time we have. I don’t say that as a pessimist but rather as an optimist who loves to love and hates to fight. As I stand in the kitchen I will remember those who left us and those who are with us, I will think of the sweet memories and as I get older I am thrilled that the hard-earned wrinkles on my face are laughter lines, there are none between my brows!

 

I wish you a Shabbat Shalom as I look over at the outline of Jerusalem against a blue sky.

 

With love

Sheila

 

 

 

London and Jerusalem

 

21^st of August, 2026

8^th of Elul 5786

 

Shabbat Shalom from sunny Jerusalem! Yes I’m back from equally sunny London. I really wanted to write to you last week but unfortunately nobody’s computer is working. I really must get myself a laptop or Android tablet so that I can type and write to you when I am away

 

Walking through central London with our family, I kept wondering where this supposed invasion of hijabs was. I certainly didn't see it. What I saw was a wonderfully clean, busy and friendly city, full of people going about their daily lives. From shop assistants to people sitting beside us in the parks, everyone we met was warm and welcoming, and not once did we encounter the antipathy towards Israel that we have been told is everywhere. In fact, the staff at our hotel were talking enthusiastically about coming to Israel to see the country for themselves. Perhaps there is a difference between what we are told about London and what ordinary people actually think. I’m not suggesting that there is not a problem with anti-Israel extremists, but not more than anywhere else.

 

Most importantly, however, this was a family visit, and wherever we went we had something far more precious than sightseeing: real time together. I see my UK grandchildren, Sammy, Liv and Zac, only twice a year, and my New York grandchildren, Joshua and Callie, just once a year, so every moment together is precious. My sister Doreen travelled all the way from Wales while Claire went to CST to receive important materials for her and Steve’s work for the community and I loved my time with my friend Valerie (we grew our children together), Judith and old friend and star of TV, stage and cinema Rudolph Walker. Stephanie and Gideon were exceptional hosts, somehow making room for all of us, while my grandson Zac became the family's unofficial Uber, patiently driving everyone wherever they needed to go. With Sheli travelling with me and so much of the family gathered around us, it was the kind of time that doesn't need an itinerary. We talked, laughed, ate, wandered and simply enjoyed being together. Those are the memories I brought home with me.

 

We went to see Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, a production I had been looking forward to after seeing the film many years ago. Nothing prepared me for the difference between the two. What was suggested through innuendo in the film was presented here with extraordinarily overt sexuality, and several scenes made my skin crawl. The gorilla scene, disturbing enough in itself, was made even more uncomfortable by the way the antisemitic implications were presented and by the nervous laughter from parts of the audience when the love song ended with “She’s a Jew”. The performances were brilliant, but I left deeply disturbed by what I had watched. When we met outside afterwards, our family talked about the production and discovered that we had all reacted in much the same way. Then something happened that restored a little of my faith in people. I noticed two young women taking photographs and offered to take one of them together. We started talking and discovered that their feelings were exactly the same as ours. Neither was Jewish, but one had visited Dachau only weeks earlier and both were involved with the Holocaust Trust. They reminded me that however disturbing what we see on a stage may be, there are still young people who recognise hatred for what it is. I left feeling that perhaps the human race is not quite as lost as it sometimes appears.

 

Shelley and I are so lucky that we made it home before the supposed strike in Ben Gurion airport! Today was even more chaotic than our trip. We arrived back in Israel an exhausting 5 hours late and leaving the baggage claims area to go out of the airport was like everyone leaving a pop concert in Wembley Stadium simultaneously, with luggage! Insane!!! Yesterday it really happened, the non-strike caused absolute chaos with people needing to fly without their luggage, those who actually got away after waiting 4 hours to find out if they were flying at all. The crazy thing is that Transportation Minister Miri Regev took the PM to see how amazingly the airport worked before heading off for yet another visit to Morocco with her entire staff!!

 

The Israeli election campaign has barely begun and already some of the far right seem to have abandoned any sense of proportion. There is a legitimate debate to be had about the death penalty for terrorists, although I do not support it; reasonable people can disagree, and the legislation has already passed the current Knesset. But celebrating executions, proposing viewing booths for the families of terror victims and circulating videos of gallows being built is not responsible leadership. It is political theatre at its ugliest. AI has certainly changed facts into fake. As for my vote, I know exactly what I am looking for: facts rather than slogans, a reasonable and inclusive list, and people who genuinely serve the country rather than their own political interests. Too far right, too far left, or those who do not support the extraordinary country they have been elected to serve will not get my vote — or Zvi's.

 

On the international front, Erdogan's determination to recreate the glory of the Ottoman Empire is becoming increasingly evident in Syria. Many hoped that the fall of Assad might open the door to a new understanding with Israel. Instead, Turkey seems determined to stand in the way. Erdogan's folie de grandeur is winning through once again.

 

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation project was buried in the sands of Gaza, and now another Israeli concept appears to be heading toward the same fate: the network of local militias Israel established and cultivated as a counterweight to Hamas has failed. We have short memories if we forget that Hamas was created and encouraged in order to replace Fatah in Gaza, the idea of Benjamin Netanyahu. As a result, Hamas slaughtered all and any Fatah supporters. Disarmament doesn't work if we remember that the October 7th attack used rifles and guns, hatchets and bare hands.

 

The latest Impact-se report on Saudi schoolbooks is outstanding. Our work in the entire area is showing a desire to improve their learning, reduce the previous extremist teachings, the whole purpose of the work of Impact-se under the lead of our CEO Marcus Sheff. I’m so proud of the staff, Directorship and my position of Chair. This has been an exceptional year in which Indonesia has changed its school books to be more inclusive, greater tolerance with our guidance, that’s 60 million schoolchildren! Back to Saudi Arabia. Here’s the report https://impact-se.org/publication/review-of-saudi-textbooks-2024-2026/

 

Galei Zahal, aka Galgalatz, Israel's army radio station, is far more than a military broadcasting station. For decades it has been a hugely influential source of news, information and music, and has helped launch the careers of many of Israel's leading broadcasters. It became, however, a serious bee in this government's bonnet, and the decision was taken to close it down. The Supreme Court has now reversed that decision, warning that it appeared to have been driven by "the dissatisfaction of the decision-makers with the fact that the broadcasts, in their view, contradicted their positions." Quite apart from politics, surely this comes down to a very simple question: what happened to freedom of the press?

 

Last night we went to a Yehoram Gaon concert at the Mevasseret Amphitheatre, and once again we were amazed by the power of his voice not bad for a man of 87! Yehoram, the legendary Israeli singer, actor and radio personality, still has a weekly programme on Galei Zahal, which perhaps explains why the station has been such an important launching pad for so many of Israel's stars, including those who continue to appear on it today.

 

He began the evening by thanking the miluimnikim and their wives in the audience for their service, and then launched into the songs we all know and love. One particularly magical moment came when he introduced a little girl, perhaps six years old, whose special request to her mother had been to sing with Yehoram Gaon. He placed her on a high chair beside him and, without a hint of self-consciousness, she sang along with him. At the end of the two-hour performance, the audience, which had sung every word with him throughout, demanded one more song. The musicians and backing singers stood at the front of the stage and sang Al Kol Eleh with the audience joining in. That introduction was not for Al Kol Eleh but rather for another wonderfully Israeli song “Shalom Lach Eretz Nehederet” Hello Wonderful Country. https://youtu.be/__oEmwpEmTc?si=BgnNAf7BbeYxitbr

 

Another exceptional man Zvi and I have known for over 30 years is Dr Mike Evans. Together with his son Michael, he created the Friends of Zion (FOZ) Museum in Jerusalem, celebrating Israel and the contribution of Christians who have stood beside her. Mike had a dream for this year: bringing 1,800 Christian leaders to Jerusalem for a summit on 7th October. Mike created a song, wrote the lyrics and asked Zvi and his exceptional musical director Ronit Banit, to help bring together the voices from every continent and create something very special, reaching hundreds of millions people. Prepare yourselves for a beautiful, emotional experience! If you like it, as I do, please send it on.

https://youtu.be/Az9n4X5w72o?si=RVOu6Ug85EW_3sAw

 

Arik Einstein, the late great Israeli singer/songwriter creates an impression of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza as he sings his song “Ani ve Ata” You and Me. You and me we will change the world. You never know, after all, as I always say, it only takes one, one person, to start a revolution of truth and honesty, THE POWER OF ONE. Ani ve Ata. https://youtu.be/iOv9wSI8Qe4?si=rGq_2TXVWXK2a8rv

 

As beautiful as it was last Friday night with all my family around the table at Gideon and Stephanie’s home, to light the candles with everyone around me, to hear Gideon’s clear and confident voice singing the kiddush, the blessing over the wine, as my grandchildren mouthed the words along with him, but it is also so good to come home, to hear Zvi sing the kiddush with the same words as every Jew around the world stands before the Shabbat Table.

 

Zvi will miss his parliament today and I won’t go to Rachel to hear all the latest news of my Israeli grandchildren because we are going to Tel Aviv to see Zvi’s boys and their families instead. They came home from Greece in time before the travel chaos! I’m rather disappointed that Zvi managed perfectly well without me! He was very busy with his various choirs and of course his interest in the Jerusalem Dance Troupe, Hora Yerushalyim at the Efron Centre. Most other organisations are on summer break.

 

As I look over our beautiful veranda, that breathtaking view of Jerusalem on the horizon, I wish you a Shabbat Shalom, with love from Jerusalem.

 

Sheila

 

A recipe for peace

 

7^th August 2026

 

 

Shabbat Shalom, dear friends. As we wish one another Shalom, peace, let’s join Yarden Bibas in remembering the seventh birthday his son Ariel which should have celebrated this week. Instead, we remember that wonderful, cheeky red-headed little boy, his mother, Shiri, and baby brother, Kfir, after being taken hostage on 7th October 2023 and murdered by his captors. May we never forget the Bibas family, nor any of those whose lives were stolen through hatred.

 

I was horrified to read this week that antisemitism has become what one report describes as a "normalised and systemic feature of campus life" at Canadian universities. According to the newly released Campus Antisemitism and Student Experiences (CASE) report, commissioned by the Canadian Government, an astonishing 96% of Jewish students said they had either experienced or witnessed at least one antisemitic incident during the past year. Sadly, although I have given you the Canadian example, it is the experience of Jewish students all over the world. How did we reach the point where young Jews go to university to learn, yet instead find themselves having to defend who they are?

 

One of the saddest sights on Israeli television today is seeing young soldiers interviewed with their faces hidden behind balaclavas. Not because they are engaged in secret operations, but because they fear being identified when travelling abroad. Only recently, a young Israeli who had completed his military service was reportedly attacked while on holiday in Greece after being recognised by a group of pro-Palestinian “activists”. Imagine that for a moment. Young men and women who served their country now feel compelled to hide their faces, not from terrorists, but from those who seek them out simply because they wore the uniform of the IDF.

 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appears deeply offended that Israel defines itself as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Yet I have heard no similar criticism from him of other countries that define themselves by religion, where citizenship, public life or family law are shaped by religious identity. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Mauritania and the Maldives allow citizenship to Muslims only. Liberia, by contrast, has long maintained constitutional provisions restricting citizenship to those of "Negro descent." The double standard is difficult to ignore. Israel is repeatedly singled out simply because it is the Jewish state, while countries that define themselves by religion or ethnicity rarely provoke the same level of outrage. Ironically, Mayor Mamdani himself is the son of a Muslim father and a Hindu mother—a marriage that would face significant legal and religious obstacles in the countries listed above, yet it is Israel that attracts his particular condemnation.

 

The grandparents of Theodore Herzl, the man whose dream became a Jewish State, were brought to Israel from Serbia and re-interred on Mount Herzl, bringing the last remains of the Herzl family home to rest.

 

Dr Mike Evans is an exceptional man. His determined love of Israel and the Jewish people is legendary. He is a prolific author on the subject and has now proven himself as a fine poet too. I’m not going to tell you his secret but an incredible music video is on its way. Mike, with his son Michael, created the Friends of Zion Museum which details the closeness of Christians to this little country. This week he published an article in the Jerusalem Post and these words caught my eye:- “I will never forget sitting with Mother Teresa. During our conversation she shared the truth that has stayed with me for decades. She said, “You cannot love Jesus without loving the Jewish people because Jesus was Jewish”.

These words were not political. They were biblical. They reflected an understanding that Christianity did not replace Judaism; rather Christianity was born from God's covenant relationship with the Jewish people. Jesus was born a Jew, lived as a Jew, worshipped in the Temple, celebrated the biblical feasts, and fulfilled the promises God gave through the prophets of Israel.” That simple conversation captures the heart of Christian Zionism. Mike, who Zvi and I have known for 30 years, lifted my spirits in this otherwise cruel world.

 

I have to tell you a short Mike Evans story. In 2002 he asked us if he could come with us to see Kinneret Chaya who was home from the rehabilitation centre for the first weekend since the terror attack which changed her life. We all went together with Martin Lindenfeld and Mike uttered these words which Kinneret Chaya lives by until today “Turn your scars into stars and bitter into better” Words we can all live by Mike.

 

One piece of genuinely encouraging news comes from IMPACT-se, the educational research organisation I am proud to serve as Chair of the Board. Its latest review of Saudi Arabia's school textbooks reveals that, after years of steady reform encouraged by Impact-se’s activities, antisemitic content has now been removed from the curriculum and attitudes towards Israel continue to moderate. At a time when hatred has intensified across much of the region, this is a reminder that education can still build bridges and that real change is possible.

 

Maybe there is a recipe for peace after all. At the “Cooking Peace” culinary camp here in Israel, Jewish and Arab teenagers from across Israel spent their time cooking, laughing, listening to music and discovering they had far more in common than they had imagined. Sometimes the shortest journey between two people begins with sharing a meal rather than sharing an argument.

 

Zvi’s week has been full of rehearsals for various concerts with his two choirs, but one event made me smile and burst with pride. Zvi was presented with the Pioneers Award in Yad Ben Zvi, Jerusalem. The award, which I hinted at last week, is for his pioneering the world battle to free Soviet Jewry, amongst many other achievements including establishing Keren Hayesod Young Leadership around the world. Well deserved recognition for a lifetime of work for the Jewish community worldwide and establishing strong ties with the Christians for Israel.

 

I loved the fact that a very few close friends and our neighbours Yael and Naftali came to the ceremony.

 

Here I paraphrase the weekly explanation of the Torah reading by my friend and mentor Rabbi Jeremy Rosen. His words are of ultimate importance to our understanding of life’s moral code. “This week’s Torah reading starts off with the themes of Blessing and Curse. In Hebrew bracha and klala. It has always bothered me that the Torah talks repeatedly as if some malignant force is punishing us, or that some benevolent force is rewarding us. Growing up in a Christian world which proclaims love even if it has not always lived up to that ideal, we Jews were often accused of being overly concerned with laws. Moses is indeed descried as the lawgiver, as if the obligation to love is not constantly reiterated in the Torah, which introduced the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Consider the line in the 10 commandments that we repeated a couple of weeks ago, that talks about visiting the sins of the fathers onto their sons. It is describing the impact that one generation can have on the next. For better and for worse. Life is made-up of consequences, which affect our children. And the way we educate them and set examples. Instead of punishing or rewarding, we are being asked to remember the impact one generation can have on the next for better or worse. It is up to us. Instead of thinking of God as a superhero dishing out rewards or punishing us for our errors, we should rather think of the mystical force behind the universe, our relation to it and our responsibility for the consequences of our actions.”

 

I haven’t been particularly busy this week. Well, we were 14 for Friday night dinner, and apart from my oven baked salmon, roast potatoes, plain rice and various salads I created the simplest dish imaginable which everyone loved. Sea Bream fillets and put my own charred peppers on top! That’s it apart from salt and pepper! I managed to see friends but generally at home which I love. I picked the apples from our little apple tree and gave half of the crop to our upstairs neighbours because each week, after the 7^th of October, Yoram used to drive south to help pick crops and bring me some of the rewards.

 

On Monday I will be back on an aeroplane, this time with our grand-daughter Shelly. I am flying to London to meet up with all my non-Israeli grandchildren, all 5 of them and of course my son Gideon and daughters in law Stephanie and Karen. Hopefully I will also get to see 2 of my 3 siblings who will come to London. Shelly, whose parents made Aliya just one year after I did, is an incredible companion and I really want her to meet all the family. I wanted to write from London but Stephanie explained that their computer is more of a statue than a useable means of communication!

 

So now we can move on to music and I promise to choose carefully.

 

I dedicate this song to Yarden Bibas who returned from his tortured captivity by Hamas to discover that his wife and babies had been slaughtered in captivity. Mishehu – Someone. https://youtu.be/BcjLIACFiXM?si=8Yyc_U_JajB5Ix8z

 

The late Matti Caspi sang from the heart but also sang about life in Israel This song is about warm summer evenings https://youtu.be/PNOn-7m-O24?si=p9_XR08BFO_FBOKY

 

I know how much you love Koolulam as do I! In this song they have outdone themselves. Honouring eight brave and exceptional women who have proven their exceptional bravery in many spheres are honoured in this song. I wish you could understand their names and achievements but their pictures tell their stories. A perfect way to end this missive. https://youtu.be/pB8LhGTvI5c?si=H5Qst1wjmCnaXoV5

 

I wish you all a Shabbat Shalom. I will miss you but I am so thrilled to see my grandchildren from both NYC and London.

With love from Jerusalem

Sheila