21st  of November 2025 776 days and 3 families still await their loved ones to be returned home for burial The great philosopher and anti-war leader Bertrand Russell said “War was always a great evil, but in some particularly extreme circumstances, it may be the lesser of two evils.” Shabbat Shalom! I hope you are…

THUGS HEROES AND RAIN 14th of November, 2025 23rd Heshvan, 5786 Shabbat Shalom, I hope this missive finds you well. Guess what? It’s raining, it’s pouring and we are thrilled!  Our WhatsApp is flooded with photos of rainbows and the veranda is glistening, washed clean by the downpour! The air is fresh and the scent…

7th of November 2025 16th day of the Hebrew month of Heshvan Shabbat Shalom! I made a conscious decision today to ignore the ghastly news and write about the wonderful week that Zvi and I had, while quietly understanding that all is not rosy in our world, in fact, very far from it. Yes I…

31st of October 2025 755 days since the 7th of October 2023 9th of the Hebrew month of Heshvan 5786 Shabbat Shalom dear friends, lots to report, good bad and ugly, but, as always, with the sun shining on our lives You may well ask why I still put the number of days since the…

Shabbat Shalom, wishing you a peaceful weekend. Isaiah once envisioned a world redeemed — “And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4). Yet he also called out, “Enlarge the place of your…

17th of October 2025 25th of Tishrei 5786 Shabbat Shalom dear friends, Shabbat Shalom to all of those who spent even one day in Hamas captivity and came home and Shabbat Shalom to the families of those who did not survive the 741 days of Hamas torture. This weeks parasha reading is a providential foresight.…

18 Tishrei 5786 734 days, 7th October 2023 – 10th October 2025 Golda Meir, in 1973 after the Yom Kippur War said “Perhaps it is too early yet to say in the aftermath of the war for we are actually living and ceasefire in a war which is not yet ended” Shabbat Shalom dear friends. Perhaps the first…

6th October 2025 One more day and it is 2 anguished years I wish you a good Succot, or the feast of Tabernacles. What is a tabernacle? What is a Succah. Is it just another opportunity to hang decorations from the temporary roof, to shake a palm leaf and turn a citron? Perhaps, after the…

1st of October 2025 “Veyhi Erev, vayehi boker” The eve is as the day or morning which means that every day in Judaism begins on the eve before. Tomorrow is the 10th day of the month of Tishrei, 5786, Yom Kippur,  and tonight we recite the prayer of Kol Nidre which opens our communal heart…

26th of September 2025 4th of the Hebrew month of Tishrei 5786 720 days of the October 7th War Shabbat Shalom, Hatima Tova. I was thinking how many different greetings, blessings we have in Judaism. Shabbat Shalom  (I wish you a peaceful Sabbath), Chag Sameach (I wish you a happy or pleasant festival), Hatima Tova…