4th of September 2026
22nd of Elul 5786
Good morning! Shabbat Shalom! How are you? I’d love to hear from
you so that I don’t need to worry about you…
Mark Twain, like Winston Churchill, wrote many things, mostly very positive,
about the Jews. This one is fascinating.
“He has made a marvellous fight in this world, in all the ages; and
has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be
excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the
planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the
Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other
peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out,
and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them
all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of
age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his
alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces
pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
I want to tackle a very positive question about perception and
truth, sometimes diametrically opposed. Perception can be very misleading,
because the way we see life in general and politics in particular, depends entirely
on the information we receive. For instance, the suggestion that Israel is an
apartheid state, something oft repeated by people who have never actually been
here, is a complete fallacy, or am I also adding to the disinformation? Let me
take you into an Israeli hospital, where Jewish, Arab, Muslim and Christian
doctors, nurses and patients work and are treated alongside one another every
single day; to a law court where lawyers of every ilk, ethnic background, argue
in one language, Hebrew; to the Supreme Court where an Arab Moslem is one to
that rare group and finally, which Arab countries have Jews in their parliament?
because we do! We argue, we disagree, sometimes get angry with each other like
any family, but we also live together and share a thriving, exciting and
wonderfully diverse country. Perhaps it is time the world came and saw that
Israel and changed perception based on truth.
Another misconception based on misinformation is that all Arab/Palestinians
are terrorists. Not only is that untrue, but Impact-se has made huge inroads
into re-educating young students in East Jerusalem. The Impact of Impact-se’s
work is exceptional. ”Eight years ago, IMPACT-se quietly undertook what many
believed was an impossible task: a reformed curriculum for East
Jerusalem schools that removed Palestinian textbook incitement,
antisemitism, and glorification of violence, replacing it with tolerance, education
about Jews, and recognition of Israel. “The real-world impact of this
initiative has been extraordinary.
The program was implemented carefully and discreetly, in
partnership with the Jerusalem Education Administration, a joint Jerusalem
municipality-Israel governmental body responsible for operating Jerusalem’s
public education system. Although strongly opposed by the Palestinian Authority
and condemned by the Arab League on two occasions, today,
approximately 93,500 Arab school students in East Jerusalem
are learning through this revised curriculum.”
https://impact-se.org/
From the hope of re-education (thus changed perceptions) to a man
who has always been a potential leader of the Palestinians from behind. He may
just bring a glimmer of hope to Gaza. Mohammed Dahlan, the former Fatah leader
who broke away from Abbas, is reorganising his Democratic Reform Bloc and
seeking a larger role in Gaza ahead of the Palestinian legislative elections.
Dahlan is educated, pragmatic and, during years in prison, learned to speak
fluent Hebrew; he was involved in the negotiations for the Oslo peace process.
Perhaps, after so many years of the same old, destructive, leadership, a
different voice is exactly what is needed.
Another misconception is that Turkey is a stabilising element in
the Middle East! Two consecutive headlines on the front page of one newspaper say
that Huckabee hopes that Turkey can be as stabilising force and the other says
that the Israeli Navy is acting to deter Turkish maritime aggression. How on earth
are we supposed to know what's the truth when the same newspaper carries both
headlines on their front page? Erdogan is taking Turkey to the brink of war
with all its neighbours
Are you worried about your children/grandchildren’s education? 3
million children started school in Israel yesterday; including our
grandchildren! The big question, is whether they're being taught or whether
they're being educated. It's a question the parents all over the world are
asking. Teachers are just not the powerful influencers on our children’s lives
that they once were. Should they be paid more or are the teaching colleges not
doing the job?
One direct diplomatic and military result of our changing
relationship with Turkey is our much warmer relationship with Greece. Relations
were once extremely poor, particularly under Andreas Papandreou in the 1980s.
In fact, Greece helped evacuate Arafat and the PLO from Beirut in 1982 and
Tripoli in 1983. How times change! As our relationship with Turkey has
deteriorated, our ties with Greece have gone in the opposite direction. This
week Israel and Greece signed the phenomenal $3.5 billion “Achilles Shield”
defence agreement, for a multi-layered Greek air-defence system using Israeli
technology. I find it quite extraordinary to think that a country that once
helped Arafat leave Beirut is now turning to Israel to help protect itself.
History really does have a funny way of turning full circle.
Rosh Hashana, literally the head of the year, is coming around
again. Strange because it feels as though it was here last week!! Thousands gather
each evening at the Kotel (Western Wall) for Selichot, Penitential Prayers,
specific and heart wrenching prayers to clean one’s soul of former sins. The
Sefarad (Spanish) tradition demands one whole month of atonement whereas
Ashkenazi tradition demands just a week. This total period lasts for 40 days
which directly mirror the 40 days that Moses spent on Mount Sinai pleading for
God's forgiveness after the sin of the Golden Calf, a period that also ended on
Yom Kippur. Fascinatingly, the same words are repeated every day. My prayer,
every year, is that the penitential prayers are not simply repeated by rote but
that hearts are opened, repentance is real and the schisms in society are
healed. It is true that we may be a contentious people, but we are also a loving
people.
Elections never bring out the best in people and these particular
elections have already brought out the less attractive side of the contenders.
I don’t like extremes. I have never liked extremes and I particularly dislike
extremes in politics. We need a party with a leader who is just that, a leader.
I don’t care if his English is perfect, there are translators; I care that
he/she will lead us down a secure path, without rhetoric, with policies that
first and foremost draw us together and heal the wounds of the last too many
years; policies to find a solution to the question of Haredi conscription; policies to stop our constant warring factions;
to find a solution to the wars on our borders; stopping the wasteful, extravagant,
profligate overspending due to scopophobia and paranoia of our leaders and
feeding the desperate situation of housing, food and education.
The supermarkets are overflowing with people shopping for Rosh
Hashana, and prices are already creeping up. It is tempting to blame the
retailers, but this time there is a much sadder story behind it. Israel’s
remarkable agricultural water system has been hit by micro-algae, believed to
have come from the Nile Delta, blocking the water our farmers desperately need.
After everything they did to bring their farms back to life following the war,
they are now watching their crops wither and die. It is heartbreaking and of
course, that shortage reaches our pockets, really tough for families already
struggling. Our drinking water is completely safe and potable however; this is
a problem affecting agricultural water, not the water coming from our taps.
Actually, I love shopping before the festivals because the cornucopia,
the vast selection of local produce is phenomenal! Not the shortage of tomatoes
etc. but the mangos, big as footballs, pineapples, watermelons, cantaloupes, peaches,
nectarines, grapes, kiwis……I could go on and on and there are pots of pomegranate
seeds ready separated – those bright scarlet pomegranate seeds that represent
everything good for the future on the Rosh Hashana table.
I hope to get to Rachel today, although I admit I’m a bit rushed,
but just sitting around her table, listening to their incredibly fast speech in
a mixture of English and Hebrew, and generally absorbing family that it is
worth stopping everything and going. This afternoon our village has a street
party! Lots of games for the children, food trucks, storytelling, generally
lightening the mood and preparing us for a great Shabbat and Rosh Hashana. Zvi
has gone off to his parliament in the Botanical Gardens where the main topic of
conversation will be the upcoming elections. Tonight we are just the two of us,
a rarely quiet Friday Night and then tomorrow evening we are going downstairs
to our wonderful neighbours where they have invited friends to hear Zvi recount
the story of the birth of the battle for Soviet Jewry.
I think we have covered almost everything, but I also know that
your favourite part is the relaxation of great music!
Our first song is not only lively and fun but it is also highly
appropriate. BaShana HaBa'a (Hebrew: בשנה הבאה, "Next Year") is a 1970 Israeli
song with music by Nurit Hirsch and lyrics by Ehud Manor. “Wait and see how
good it will be next year” https://youtu.be/wb0Y8DSa3oU?si=eT5FwkTOguHPofhG
To ensure a sweet new year we not only eat those pomegranate seeds
but the meal begins with the blessing over wine, then challah then we have an
apple slice dipped in honey to ensure a sweet year. Actually, my family always
dipped our Challah (bread) in honey too so our family had a wonderfully sweet
year! https://youtu.be/FlcxEDy-lr0?si=4iupHbsGzd5hNrSc
Now to something entirely different.
Koolulam and the people of Be’eri, the kibbutz that suffered so
desperately on October 7th, 2023. Listen to the words, read them,
understand the mentality of people, our people and the determination to survive
and thrive. https://youtu.be/hptZdP_hulY?si=KAylWdz_zGNdddHL
Perhaps I should go back to the beginning of this letter and Mark
Twain’s words. We will survive, we have survived worse, but this time it is not
in jus tone country, not in just one continent and it is not really the simple
folk who are the danger, it is the supposedly intellectual upper echelon who
are the most gullible to the hate machine. Let’s change it! Stand tall. Be who
you are, whatever your race or belief. Don’t bend you head in fear.
As you already know, it’s hard for me to leave you! One last word,
honestly, but an important one. I feel more and more the importance it is to
know the stories of our parents and grandparents, not only the stories of the
Shoah, but what came before it, because this hatred did not suddenly begin in
1939. I had interviewed Zvi’s parents but was sadly lacking in knowledge about
my own parents. I discovered so much about my own father through conversations
with my siblings, especially my eldest sister Eddie. I learned that this quiet,
remarkable man had escaped the pogroms of Poland and, while only a child, had
crossed Europe alone in search of safety in Britain. Had we not talked about
his life, his extraordinary story might have disappeared with him. We owe it to
the generations who came before us, and to those who come after to keep their
stories alive.
That’s it, honestly! I wish you a beautiful weekend with time to
look at the beauty around us all, even in the middle of the city, but most beautiful
of all “The View From Our Veranda” Thank you for being my friends for so long.
With much love from Jerusalem, from Israel but most of all from our
home to yours
Sheila
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