28th August, 2026 Shabbat Shalom! How are you? I hope that you are well. I have a strange question for you or perhaps it isn’t so strange. When was the last time you sat down and had a quiet, honest conversation with someone whose political or religious beliefs were completely different from your own? Not…

21st of August, 2026 8th of Elul 5786 Shabbat Shalom from sunny Jerusalem! Yes I’m back from equally sunny London. I really wanted to write to you last week but unfortunately nobody’s computer is working. I really must get myself a laptop or Android tablet so that I can type and write to you when…

7th August 2026 Shabbat Shalom, dear friends. As we wish one another Shalom, peace, let’s join Yarden Bibas in remembering the seventh birthday his son Ariel which should have celebrated this week. Instead, we remember that wonderful, cheeky red-headed little boy, his mother, Shiri, and baby brother, Kfir, after being taken hostage on 7th October…

31st July 2026 Shabbat Shalom to you one and all. I wish you a peaceful weekend The “settlements” have been in the news a great deal this week, even more than usual. One would think that Israel is the only country in the world with disputed borders, yet once again the media has chosen to…

23rd July 2026 9th of Av, Tisha b’Av Shabbat Shalom dear friends. We are back! Today is Tisha B’Av, a day of fasting and remembrance. For thousands of years, Jews have mourned the tragedies that have befallen our people — from the destruction of the First and Second Temples to the expulsions, persecutions and ultimately…

8th July 2026 Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Bazeh — We are one people, bound by a shared responsibility for one another. I owe the amazing Maccabeans from three countries an apology. When I heard that Australia, Britain and Canada were not sending their usual huge youth delegations to this year’s Maccabiah Games, I assumed they…

2nd July 2026 17th Tammuz 5786 1,000th day since October 7th 2023 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I wish you a “Gut Shabbes”. When I asked AI how to say Shabbat Shalom in various languages, trying to reinvent myself as a polyglot, it told me very firmly that wherever you are you still say “Shabbat Shalom”…

26th June 2026 11th Tammuz 5786 993 days since 7th October 2023 Shabbat Shalom!  I’m back! I missed writing to you last week but we had a wonderful time discovering the City of Baku in Azerbaijan. More of that later. “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste…

Soviet Jewry story June 2026 More than fifty years have passed since a handful of determined students in Jerusalem helped ignite a movement that would eventually change Jewish history. Today, when so many of the heroes of that struggle remain uncelebrated, it is worth remembering how it all began. For younger readers, it is difficult…

12th June 2026 27th Sivan 5786 Shabbat Shalom! I hope this missive finds you well. Today I don’t want to write about events but rather about what the vast majority of Israelis feel after the Haredi riots against conscription and the extremist settlers who claim Biblical lands as an excuse to be vile bullies. There…