2nd of October, 2026
20th Tishrei 5787
Shabbat Shalom, Chag Succot Sameach, Blessed
Feast of Tabernacles and Simchat Torah
There’s a new saying going around:
If you want to fly safely, take four Israelis
with you, especially a plumber!
I warn you that this will not be a short
missive, so much has happened, so make yourself comfortable and I’ll begin.
The drama of the Flydubai flight to Ben Gurion began with almost certain tragedy
and ended with an enormous sense of pride in the courage and resourcefulness of
its Israeli passengers. A little girl, in the toilet near the cockpit, heard a
terrible commotion and told her mother, who alerted the cabin. What followed
was almost unimaginable. Captain Smit Machchhar had been stabbed by his
Omani co-pilot but, despite his injuries, somehow managed to unlock the cockpit
door, allowing passengers to get inside and overpower the attacker who intended
Jihad, killing all the passengers on the flight.
Four Israelis then sprang into action. Yaniv Hayun barged into the cockpit, saw that
the copilot was destroying the controls and he pulled him out of his chair, the
other Israelis controlled him and Yaniv pulled back on the controls as the
aircraft plunged 15,000 feet. Asaf Rajwan and Tzvika Mans helped
restrain and tie up the attacker using a headphone cord, while Dr Shota
Musayev, a dentist, treated the badly wounded captain and stopped the
bleeding and administered CPR. When Yaniv,( a plumber by trade) was later asked
how he knew what to do, how to stop the plane plummeting to the ground, his
answer was wonderfully Israeli: “Because I watch Mayday (aka Airport
Security) doesn’t everyone?”
Captain Smit Machchhar, the Indian pilot, sent a squawk 7700 indicating Mayday then 7500 for
hijacking, before losing consciousness and once things were under control one
pilot of the spare crew took to the controls, turned the plane around and
headed towards Saudi Arabia, giving essential time to bring the situation under
control. Captain Smit is now recovering in hospital in Tabuk and, frankly,
deserves a medal. Despite extensive damage to the plane they landed safely in
Saudi Arabia amid fears that there might be an explosive device on board. The
passengers were understandably terrified, but were reportedly treated with
great kindness by the Saudi ground staff, who provided food, drinks and medical
assistance. Eventually they made their way home on another Flydubai flight
since the Saudi authorities did not want to set a precedent of allowing El Al to
send a rescue plane. An extraordinary story, four very brave Israelis, and a
remarkable captain who refused to give up when 182 lives depended on him. What
an incredible story and one with a miraculous ending, something we certainly
need these days.
President Herzog has recommended the
Presidential Medal of Civilian Valour for the four Israelis who helped save the
Flydubai flight
Another extraordinary story, this time a much happier one, took place in Jerusalem
on Sunday night. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem held its annual
Feast of Tabernacles celebration, with 1,500 people from 70 countries. The ICEJ
family now stretches across 170 nations, many of whom pray regularly for
Israel.
The Fijian Ambassador, Jesoni Vitusagavulu, gave a lovely speech before the
Fijian Christian Choir filled the hall with that wonderful South Pacific
harmony. I loved watching the Ambassador, he simply couldn’t take his eyes off
his choir! He told us that Papua New Guinea and Fiji have established embassies
in Jerusalem, with Samoa joining them soon. It brought back memories of the
days when Israel’s seven-a-side rugby team seemed to consist largely of Fijian
UNIFIL soldiers!
The ICEJ has been part of our lives for many years. Tim King was one of its
founders, and we have watched his daughter Anna grow from a gorgeous
flame-haired baby, photographic model, IDF officer who received honorary
citizenship for her service, into a wonderful mother of three. Dr. Juergen
Buhler, the heart and soul of the ICEJ today, came to Israel to study chemistry
at the Technion 30 years ago and never left! These are Christians who support
Israel because of their faith, not missionaries, as some mistakenly believe,
and their friendship means a great deal. On the night of the Festival, they
committed to $2million for the rehabilitation of Kibbutz Nir Oz, destroyed by
the Hamas marauders.
On the 7th of October 2026, Dr Mike Evans and the Jerusalem Prayer Team, together
with the Friends of Zion Heritage Centre, will hold a 24-hour Global Prayer
Event from the Southern Wall of the Old City, Jerusalem, with Christians from
around the world gathering to remember those murdered, pray for the grieving
families and hostages, and stand against antisemitism.
On Wednesday, 3 years since the day that changed us all, the independent National
Memorial Ceremony, organised by the families and the grassroots movement Kumu which
means Arise, will take place in Yarkon Park, Tel Aviv. Simultaneously the Nova survivors
and families hold a ceremony at Re’im the site of the Nova Festival. It matters
to me that these are ceremonies organised by the people, by families, survivors
and friends, not by the government. We will remember those who were
slaughtered, the hostages and the heroes of that terrible day, and we will
grieve for lives stolen and families shattered. But Kumu - Arise says something
much more, we are still here. We grieve, we remember, we honour, and we
survive. We still have nightmares remembering the cruel videos of hostages,
beaten, held underground, humiliated, but rise again we must like the Phoenix
that Israel is.
88-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz, a former hostage whose husband was murdered in Hamas
captivity spoke out this week. Her anger is palpable. In an interview she
rejected the claim that Netanyahu brought the hostages home, calling it “one
big lie”: “Miriam Adelson bought us with the $100 million she gave Trump and
told him to bring the hostages back”. Whether one agrees with her or not, after
what this extraordinary woman endured, her words deserve to be heard.
I still don’t know how to measure the effect that
the 7th of October has had on all of us as Israelis. 3 years have
passed since that Simchat Torah when joy turned into unimaginable pain, the
slaughter of more than 1,200 people and the taking of 251 hostages, Jews, Arabs
and Christians. What makes my anger even harder to bear is the knowledge that
those whose job was to protect us failed so catastrophically. Our army,
intelligence services and political leadership left us with “choser onim” helplessness,
and, even worse, the knowledge that so many had been so arrogant, and certain
they were right that they didn’t heed the warnings. How could they have been so
blind? How could they have failed us so completely? The war that followed has
only deepened the pain.
We have lost too many young lives, lost trust in those who lead us and, heartbreakingly,
seen the worst of human behaviour emerge among our own people. The Hilltop
Youth who attack Palestinians make me furious. Judaism taught me better than
that. Violence does not become righteous because the person committing it wears
a kippah, and terrorism does not become acceptable simply because it comes from
our own side.
So, we mourn but arise, something we see in everyday life. We love to go to
restaurants; we travel; in a determined effort to catch the last days of summer
the announcement that the public parks and nature hikes are full seems a daily
event; whatever you think, and beyond all logic, this is a country of joy and hope.
Perhaps the clearest indicator of our personality is that when there is a new
building project, by law they have to plant trees along the new roadsides!
Flowering trees, jacarandas in all they glory are popular but within a couple
of years they provide shade and greenery.
Did I say restaurants? So this week we went to Kfar Saba to see Yossi and
Rachel then to Nattie and Yolli and finally our Argentinian friend Julio Jarak who
we brought back to our place. He came to the ICEJ event with us and afterwards
we realised that it was 22:00 and we hadn’t eaten since an early lunch. Where
does one take someone who has been to Israel dozens of times? To Sima the most
Jerusalem restaurant in the world. We couldn’t find parking on the road because
everything was teeming, as happens within the vicinity of Mahane Yehuda!!!
Finally, parked and wending our way through the throng of people enjoying an
evening out and young people heading for the bars and music of Mahane Yehuda at
night, we arrived at Sima, on Agrippas Street. Of course, within 30 seconds our
lovely waitress, Haya, was our friend and advised us what to eat “Ma’orav
Yerushalmi for the boys and pargiot for me” What’s Ma’orav Yerushalmi I hear
you ask. Well, that’s a story in itself but I’ll make it short. The original
owner of Sima used to serve his food but at the end of the day he was left with
the giblets, innards and onions, so rather than waste it, he cut it up and
grilled it with lots of oriental spices and put it in a pita! Over the years it
has become the signature dish of Mahane Yehuda and Jerusalem!!
On Wednesday we went to a lunchtime concert at
the home of our friends the Friedmans. When I say concert it actually meant lots
of songs from way back when and jokes from the same period. Brothers Haim and Uzi
Essner are infinitely talented, musically wonderful and really funny,
interacting with their audience of a certain age. We are old friends since Haim
played at our wedding 30 years ago! We then went for lunch at Motzeleh and Zvi
tried Lachoch (Yemenite bread) for the first time. It took a Welsh Israeli to
introduce him to Yemenite food!!
Tonight we have the family for both of Zvi’s boy’s
birthdays, it’s only 14 of us but that’s fine. For a change I ordered a huge platter
of sushi to add to the soup and “gevetch” or ratatouille, minted potatoes and
salmon skewers, I am not capable of just ordering in!!
On Sunday we are back in Mahane Yehuda for a
tour followed by dinner with Zvi’s choir. I know several people who will be
jealous of that one!
Today, Zvi is off to his parliament and I hope
to go to Rachel, perhaps the children will be there! We are getting very close
to Yosef and Tsofia’s wedding, it’s becoming very exciting! We are all so
thrilled that friends are calling to say that they are coming from far and wide,
so special on every level.
And so to music, I hope you are still with
me!!
Daniel Wais lost both his parents on that
ghastly day, killed in cold blood by Hamas. He decided to enter the Israeli competition
to choose the Eurovision singer and this is the song he chose – his father’s
favourite. Ani Gitara – I am a guitar. I am happy to tell you that although he
didn’t represent us, he has gone on to a sparkling career. https://youtu.be/Kz249YwQTV4?si=3vFGtPb2RGmTB39q
I know you love Koolulam and I have never given
you this one before! Researchers at the
University of Buffalo conducted research into Koolulam and collective
effervescence and human flourishing. People of all faiths from all over the USA
came together to sing “Let’s Get Loud” https://youtu.be/pxd_u4J6ZqI?si=CPzTiKpOK1k-yJXI
I love Omer Adam, probably the most popular
Israeli singer at the moment. He got married just a few weeks ago and we all
wished him and his bride well. This song “Yom Shishi” or Friday, is so Israeli!
He sings about his plans (or not) for each day of the week but Friday, Friday
leads him to Shabbat. It’s bounce, it’s fun and I have no doubt that you, like
me, will dance about and clap your hands at the refrain. https://youtu.be/yI73P4c6vlQ?si=kukKYN5tnSE9ymzh
Dear friends, wherever you are, we are finding
it difficult to understand the world right now but remember, we can control and
enjoy OUR world, the one of so much love and human kindness. We can create an
island of warmth, of family and friends that can overcome the cruel world
outside. As I light the candles this evening, watching Jerusalem turning gold
in the sunset in the distance, I will think of you as I say the prayer "Blessed
are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His
commandments, and commanded us to kindle the light of the holy Shabbat."
Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I’d love to hear
from you, I know you always mean to do so but this time, do it, I love it when
you do.
With love
Sheila
