150116 After Charlie and the snow, Nigeria, Canon Andrew White

150116

16th January 2015

Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I hope and pray you are feeling safe this week, safe to go to your schools and synagogues without fear and without needing police protection.

I am not Charlie. I have never insulted Mohammed, never drawn a picture of him nor am I ever going to, and truthfully I found most of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons quite vile but then that is the job of a satirical magazine. Jews and Christians didn't come out very well in their magazine but we didn't go on a rampage of blood and gore to avenge the honour of our leaders. On my FB page I wrote Je suis Niger, je suis Syria, Je suis Bali, Je suis Sydney, Je suis Israel, Je suis Phillipines, Je suis Iraq, Je suis................ etc.

I am horrified that nearly 3,000 innocents were butchered by Boko Haram in Nigeria this week and the Western media barely mentioned it. Why, because they are innately racist and care only about those who look and think like them, Western Pinko Wets (to quote Margaret Thatcher). Many of the major media news outlets have created the situation we now find ourselves. Their clear lack of condemnation, indeed the condemnation of the victim in the Middle East has been carefully and methodically turned into the aggressor and the aggressor into the victim, a wily, consistent and arch plan by those who don't want to lose their Arab funding. If there are more terror attacks then BBC, CNN, France 24, to say nothing of the NY Times, Guardian and LA Times, need to take their portion of the blame for not having the courage to tell the truth.

Al Qaeeda took the momentum created by the Charlie Hebdo incident to carry out their plan to attack a Jewish School but when one of the terrorists had a car accident he killed the policewoman who stopped him and went to the nearby HyperCasher instead. It was not by chance because that was a very Jewish neighbourhood. Four people died in that attack, although one must say that the worker who saved the lives of others by pushing them into the cold storage was himself a Moslem, as were two out of three policement that were cruelly killed. 

It has been suggested by Francois Hollande, that Mr Netanyahu hijacked the events but when the four families asked to have their loved ones families buried in Jerusalem, how could he refuse? If anyone hijacked the solemnity of the march it was Mahmoud Abbas who grinned his way to the front of the marchers, without telling anyone that in the PA they celebrated the killings. 

The French Prime Minister on the other hand, spoke out that there was not enough outrage, mourning is fine, standing up for free speech is fine but outrage is sorely missing. http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/01/14/we-havent-shown-enough-outrage-french-pm-issues-blistering-denunication-of-antisemitism-video/

This is an open Letter to the French President by A Palestinian Journalist in Ramallah. The writer remains incognito for his own safety  http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5050/letter-president-france

Last night a massive terror attack was thwarted in Belgium - should we all say Je Suis Verviers http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30840160

The US Consulate in Jerusalem is a most unwelcoming place for Israelis and their most recent move is to replace their Israeli guards for Palestinians. It is against Israeli law to arm Palestinians but apparently the Consulate is above the law. http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-consulate-in-jerusalem-arming-palestinian-guards/

And to think we were worried about corruption in Israel when the ultimate corruption is in Argentina. President Christina Kirschner's Foreign Minister Hector Timmerman, who was saved by Israel during the rule of the colonels. A severe critic of Israel he then led the cover up of Iran's part in the terror attack on the AMIA in order to "make a geopolitical move closer to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to establish full economic ties" and to help alleviate "Argentina's energy crisis through a 'grain for oil' deal."  http://www.investigativeproject.org/4735/prosecutor-argentinian-president-plotted-to-cover  

Stephen Ryde's Letter from London Here is his latest fortnightly blog for the Jerusalem Post from the 11th January.  http://www.jpost.com/Blogs/The-Ordinary-Londoners-Letter-from-London/Letter-from-London-10th-January-2015-19-Tevet-5775-387747

Since we are talking of London, or of Britain I was distressed to read this article from the Telegraph newspaper. Somewhere between the Holocaust and 2015 it became OK to blame Jews again http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11345643/Paris-shootings-anti-Semitism-Its-OK-to-blame-Jews-again.html

This video made me happy. It is called I know which side I'm on - thanks Sally Safdie http://www.jspacenews.com/israeli-video-side/

On Monday I met with Sari Singer, my dear friend from Bedford, NY. Sari has been in the States for many, many years but her heart is and always will be in Israel. It was fun to see her with our grandchildren and to talk of Kinneret Chaya who will always bind us together. I love Sari.

Last Friday night's meal was deferred to Shabbat lunch. Jerusalem was cut off from the world by about 2 centimetres of snow!!! Actually I am very proud of the police who decided to close the main roads to Jerusalem, the roads are wide and excellent but Israelis do not have special tyres nor do they have the experience of snow driving. While the night and early morning proved lethal, roads covered with ice, the day warmed up and the sun came out and our guests arrived. Sadly Canon Andrew and Terry did not make it to the synagogue in the morning because I told him not to leave home until the ice melted so he prayed at home. They came to us which is all that mattered!! 

I made all his favourite foods and the very few friends who came to eat were entranced by him of course. We also had our lovely friend Prof. Gabby Barkai because a) he is fascinating and b) he helped Andrew and I enormously in the refurbishment of Ezekiels Tomb in Iraq. If I don't tell you that Harry and Nancy Bloomfield came back from Herzliya specially to come to us for lunch I would never be forgiven so now you know that they came together with Shauli and Rochele Lotan and Daniel and Jill Meron and of course Terry and Hanna. My only major gaffe was that although I made tsimmes, potato kugel, chicken soup and kneidelach that he loves, Andrew was very upset with me and refused to start the meal until I brought out his favourite - gefilte fish with chrane (horseradish sauce) - and the other men stood by him! I thought they were going to start chanting and making posters!!! Of course I found a trust jar of very good but ready-made gefilte fish and good humour returned to the table!!!

One visitor, a diplomat, told me something that horrified me. He said that he was in Washington when President Obama came into office and was staggered when friends in the American Foreign Service told him that the first White House directive to them was to remove the words "Islamic Fundamentalism" from their lexicon.

I had a wonderful birthday!!! The day began with Rachel, Yosef, Talia and Ayala singing and then with a phone call from Amman, Jordan and the really melodic tones of Canon Andrew White and Terry Jones singing Happy Birthday!!! The day continued filled with blessings and singing from the other grandchildren - Sammy, Olivia, Zachary, Amit, Ori, Gili, Joshua, Callie, Ella and I would be lying if I said that baby Yonatan sang because he is only 8 months old, but I am sure he smiled!

According to our tradition I went to lunch with my girlfriends, Betty, Dana and Frida, to the Botanical Gardens of course! When I arrived I managed to grab a table next to the lake, the beautiful gentle winter sun warming my body. The other three arrived and we ordered our amazing Oreganatto Salads and a delicious long focaccia served with fresh tehina and began to eat and chatter. Suddenly the chatter turned to chattering teeth as the sun went behind the most enormous cloud so we looked at one another and grabbed a table inside - looking out of the window at the lake instead!!!!! In the evening we went for dinner with our lovely friends Rosa and Bernardo Romanowsky and we raised the average age in the Sushi Bar by at least 200%!

I sometimes forget that most of you don't know what an amazingly entertaining city this is, quite apart from the museums, Biblical sites and antiquities. The best restaurants, fun clubs, great bars (yes even a number of Irish bars sporting Guinness) and a general nightlife of promenading. We, like all Israelis, love to go out and enjoy a good coffee, a great meal, be it a fine white-tablecloth restaurant or a felafel or schwarma on the street. We love life and our children come with us - babysitting is not a huge business in Israel because we take out children with us!!!!

I think that is the basis of the difference between us and our neighbours. It is the reason we have succeeded where they live in poverty. We love life, we honour life, we determinedly lead our children to be better than us, we push ourselves to be better than our forefathers and we are constantly busy with Tikkun Olam.

I wish you Shabbat Shalom from a cloudy Jerusalem where even the clouds are beautiful!

With love

Sheila 

By the way, Canon Andrew gave me an autographed copy of his book Older Younger Brother - The tragic treatment of the Jews by Christians. a fascinating read. http://frrme.org/product/older-younger-brother/

-- 

If the media does not inform us we must inform the media

Sheila's blog http://shabbatshalom-theviewfrommyveranda.blogspot.com/

Facebook      Sheila Silver Raviv
Involvement   http://www.impact-se.org/   http://www.yurishtern.org.il/eng/content.php?id=17

Shabbat Shalom,the Coalition, Ice City

130222

22^nd February 2013

Before wishing you Shabbat Shalom........... Happy Birthday Sammy Samsam!! Happy birthday wonderful eight year old.

Now Shabbat Shalom to you all, Shabbat Shalom and Purim Sameach. Remember that Purim is the story of a clever man with a brave and beautiful niece who together saved the Jewish people from a Persian tyrant. Worth thinking about.

I must start with a very sad story. Sad because it shows how one idiotic telephonist can ruin the good will of an amazing organisation and cause heartbreak and ill health. An Arab Israeli woman in Beit Safafa, right near our home, called Natali ambulance service because her husband was ill. The operator, after a period of waiting told her that they would not come out because Beit Safafa is an Arab neighbourhood. I am disgusted and angry, Beit Safafa is a good neighbourhood of Jerusalem not some crazy wild place! I wish I could find that lady and apologise to her. I am ashamed. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4347966,00.html

We still don't have a government and it seems to be getting further and further from actually happening. The PM brought in Tsippi Livni's “HaTnuah” offering her Peace Talks with the Palestinians. This horrified both Bennet and Lapid who have formed their own coalition, preferring to sit in opposition than agree to sit with Livni and Shas. Decision will hav eto be made by the PM or we are off to another round of elections and he would not win – Yair Lapids “Yesh Atid” and Bennet's “Jewish Home” would. Gosh it is frustrating!!

The Israeli press, obviously bored with the election/coalition saga has been concentrating on truly important matters – the PM's monthly ice-cream bill. Honestly! They make out as if it is just his family without any thought of the staff, security and guests!The only good thing about the idiotic story is that the ice-cream parlour right near the PM's home has tripled its business from the advertising!!!

After the Bulgarian investigation proved that Hezb-Allah was behind the Burgas bus bomb; the Cypriots have arrested others who were plotting attacks on Israelis. Despite this, and the strong advice of the USA and the UK, the Europeans still refuse to declare Hezb-Allah a terror organisation!

Underestimating threats is the greatest disease of the Western World. I don't know if it is arrogance or ignorance, but it is not good. When Iran threatens to wipe out its enemies – we negotiate. Now North Korea has threatened to "eliminate" South Korea - which barely hit the news and they forgot to report when North Korea threatened to "eliminate" the USA but no-one seems bothered. http://www.examiner.com/article/nkorea-threatens-final-destruction-aimed-at-south-korea

Nigeria, threatened by the Islamic extremists in its midst, decided to show that she is not willing to accept their form of terrorism. Their example should be followed http://www.thetimesofnigeria.com/TON/Article.aspx?id=3831

Because we are different to our neighbours, we upgraded Palestinian electricity lines for free!

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/HumanitarianAid/Palestinians/Israel_upgrades_electricity_lines_Gaza_3-Feb-2013.htm#.URK091dNqSN.twitter

You absolutely must read this article from Melanie Phillips. It describes the torture of defending liberty and freedom of press in "liberal" Europe http://www.melaniephillips.com/the-terminal-poison-of-the-european-liberal

This week saw many wonderful people who care about the Jewish world arriving in Jerusalem for the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency meetings. Both plenum speakers and individual committees made important decision and Zvi was involved in the meetings. For me it was a time to renew old friendships and to my delight I even had time to sit and talk with Leonard Cole who told me all about his latest bookhttp://www.jstandard.com/content/item/how_to_plan_for_a_disaster/25099 and with Yocki (Johanna) Arbib, the young World Chair of Keren Hayesod who I met an incredible 20 years ago and so many more. I get so excited when you tell me that you feel informed by my letters – it is so important to me.

One of the best aspects of old friends visiting is that we take the time to see museums. Our lovely friends Nattie and Yolli Zonzsein came to Jerusalem and we went to see the new Herod exhibition in the Israel Museum. The site of Herodian is just outside Jerusalem, in the West Bank. The site remained untouched and the artifacts hidden during both Jordanian and PA times. Israeli archaeologists have uncovered wonders , during years of meticulous work, discovering the burial site of Herod himself. What do the NY Times, LA Times et al say about this wonderful exhibit? That we “stole” the artifacts – Herod is now Palestinian according to the NY Times! The exhibit is phenomenal, the detailed explanations exceptional. Well worth seeing. Indeed it is so good that Zvi took David and Anthea Same from Melbourne to see it the very next day! We had fun and then all of us went to Zion ha Gadol for lunch http://www.imj.org.il/exhibitions/presentation/exhibit.asp?id=850

The next day we went to the opening of the new exhibits in the Mamilla Mall. Our wonderful friend Irit Levhas three gorgeous models on show – I think among her best. Sitting in Aroma coffee shop after the reception, together with friends of Irit and Itziks from Seattle who were amazed at the variety of both passers-by and diners. They couldn't believe that Jews of all types, Moslems, Christian priests, tourists and Israelis all melded together in the wonderful atmosphere of this open air Mall next to the Jaffa Gate! Yes, the Jerusalem Rainbow is the best people-watchers view!

As we were looking at Irit's statues some young men were taking a photo of it. Of course Zvi and I went to talk to them and ask them if they wanted to have a photo with the artist. Of course they said yes and we began to speak to them. They were from Beijin, were thrilled to visit Israel and amazed at how open and fun Jerusalem was. They intended going home with their photos to persuade everyone to come!!!

Yesterday evening was a triple joy!!! Our friends Danby and Marvin Meital invited us to go with them to the opening night of “Ir ha Kerach” or Ice City. It began with an incredible show with skating acrobats from China which delighted and then moved on to the central attraction and we froze! No I mean WE FROZE! We wore our huge down coats, two sweaters, hats gloves and scarves (and Ir haKerach handed out more coats to visitors) and entered a fairyland of ice. The Summer Palace, Dinosaurs, fish and creatures, a coloured labyrinth, a carriage, indeed so much the eye could barely absorb it all – and all made of ice. Phenomenal!http://www.gojerusalem.com/discover/item_13730/Ice-City-International-Ice-Festival-in-Jerusalem After that the tourism office took us to the premiere of a new show AH! JERUSALEM which is performed three times a week , in English, and tells the story of Israel in a truly amusing, wonderfully musical and entertaining show.http://www.timesofisrael.com/ah-a-jerusalem-premiere/

“The Voice” has overtaken the world and Israel is no exception. Two finalists are Lina Machul a young Arab girl from Akko (Acre) and Ataliyya a Black Hebrew from Dimona – see for yourself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn4_5Yd6ie8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F59p9_AJaM

I just took a break from you guys to go and visit my glorious grandchildren in Givat Zeev. I love getting them showered and dressed for Shabbat and hearing about their day. Their Mummy, my daughter Rachel, has created an epicurean festival as she prepares the food for Shabbat. I thought I was good at preparing a myriad of salads by my Rachel puts me to shame!! The children were gleaming and scrubbed – waiting for Shabbat as they helped their Mummy set the table, as their Mummy used to help me – tradition, tradition, tradition. It is who and what we are. I know I always wax lyrical about the view from Samuel's Tomb but...... oh I cannot resist it!!! This time of year the incredible sight is enhanced by puffs of pink and white blossom on every clear space as the wild almond trees, the shkediot, create pinks clouds among the white buildings of the landscape. This is the time that Jerusalem is waking up after winter – the shekdiot, the calaniot (bright red poppies) covering grassland and desert alike after the rains, rakefot (cyclamen peeping out from every rock, hanging on precariously to show off her beautiful pink flowers. So beautiful.

Today I am not cooking, thanks to Harold Finger who is here with his family to celebrate his 60^th birthday. We are very excited to be invited to join them in “Spoons” the wonderful home of Hila Solomon, in Yemin Moshe. Harold has taken the path from Young Leadership through to Jewish Australian leadership, taking his natural progression as his responsibility. Leadership demands responsibility and Harold accepts his with a smile. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR HAROLD.

The parking lot of the shopping mall is emptying, the shops closing, the shopkeepers and workers alike wending their weary way home. This has been a very busy week for them. Fancy dress costumes of every conceivable variety and baskets for “Mishloach Manot” the Purim gifts that one gives out to friends and workmates. Mishloach manot is not just sweeties and chocolates, it originates as a gift to those who did not have enough food to celebrate the festivities – and should also contain food of value- not just calorific value!!!

My best moment today was when I was leaving my grandchildren the little one, Ayala, came running towards me with my Mishloach Manot – “just because I wanted to give you something Safta, it's Purim”

Dear friends, Shabbat is drawing near and then Purim – we must remember that Purim is the story of a cruel Persian tyrant who wanted to kill all the Jews, but was outfoxed by a clever man and his incredibly brave young niece. We are still fighting Persian tyrants, they still want to kill us and now all we need is a good Mordechai and Esther plot!!!

Shabbat Shalom, sorry todays was a long letter but, hey, we did so many things this week!!!!

With love from Jerusalem, the most beautiful rainbow in the world