19th July 2024 286 days of captivity in Gaza for 120 Israelis Shabbat Shalom! I hope you are well. In the early hours of this morning there was a drone attack on Tel Aviv by Houthis from Yemen some 2,303 kms away. One man died and there were several injuries. The Houthis may be known…

Lies, Damned Lies and Qataris? 12th July, 2024 279th of October 6th day of the month of Tammuz Shabbat Shalom! Did you know that Joseph, son of Jacob, he of the multi-coloured dreamcoat, was both born and died on this day? The 6th day of Tammuz nearly 2,000 years BCE? It is also the anniversary…

5th of July, 2024 Shabbat Shalom, Rosh Hodesh Tammuz Tov (Rosh Hodesh means a new month, as we go into the month of Tammuz) and of course, have a good weekend. Where to start? Elections all over the place, some good results, some worrying and an awful lot of mud slinging. In the UK the…

28th June 2024 266 Days since the 7th of October Shabbat Shalom dear lovely people, Shabbat Shalom On a personal level this has been a wonderful week with our friend Martin Lindenfeld. We have been to, travelled to, been with and laughed, but always there in the background, and sometimes in the foreground, think about…

21st June 2024 Shabbat Shalom, Happy Midsummer’s Day “The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” Selwyn Duke Just wondering How would the USA, UK, France, indeed any country you wish to quote, react, if over a thousand rockets and missiles were launched at civilian sites, by…

13th June, 2024 Shabbat Shalom! I hope this letter finds you well. On Monday, I sent myself an email message so that I would remember to tell you about the hundreds of Iranian rockets that were launched by Hezb-Allah, 950 missiles 146 drones. That was Monday. Over the beautiful harvest festival of Shevuot, the festival…

7th of June 2024 Shabbat Shalom! A belated Jerusalem Day, the miracle of the 6 Day War, an early Shevuot  and a belated Whitsun “If I forget thee oh Jerusalem” 57 years ago, we beat 5 Arab countries who attacked this tiny nation simultaneously. We did it in 6 days and to quote Ephraim Kishon…

31st May, 2024 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. The world is full of surprises, of “firsts” and the USA is no exception. For the first time in American history a President of the United States has been convicted in a criminal trial. The jury determined that he falsified documents and acted in violation of the law…

Friday 24th of May 2024 16th Iyar Shabbat Shalom. Hardly a Shabbat of sweetness and calm for those of us who saw the short and terrifying video of the capture of the young Israeli women and the savagery of Hamas toward them. I forced myself to watch, but behind my horror at what I saw…

17th May 2024 Day 224 of October Shabbat Shalom dear friends. This has been a week that left me so exhausted, and for so many reasons, that I just hope I’m able to talk to you with some sense of reason.  A war is going on around us, the policies of our current government mean…