200408   8th April, 2020     In Hebrew this festival is called the Festival of Freedom, Chag ha Herut. Strange really that this year we spend the Freedom Festival in seclusion! On the other hand the seclusion, while imposed, doesn’t prevent us from celebrating as our ancestors did.   This week also leads up…

4th April 2020   Good morning, Shabbat Shalom, a Blessed Holy Week, almost Ramadan Kareem   As a Jew, each morning I thank the Almighty for giving me back my soul with a very simple prayer. Some say this prayer as soon as they wake, some say it once they have washed their hands, but…

27th March. 2020   Good Shabbes, Shabbat Shalom and remember, you don’t need a place of worship to pray. Sometimes the prayers that come from your heart, in your own fashion, are those that ease one’s pain and confusion.   Chaos, Coalition, Corona and Confusion (and Cabbages!) seem to be the only possible “headlines” for…

20th March 2020   Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I hope you are abiding by the rules or as I call it “Activity in the Shadow of the Crown”   Tell me something, how many Presidents decide to calm all the worried children in his country by reading them children’s stories? Ours does. Our amazing, wonderful…

Friday the 13th!!   Shabbat Shalom everyone. I know, it feels as if we are part players in some horror movie, but as long as we don’t star in it then we will get through it. For some reason my brain is in loop singing “Atishoo Atishoo, we all fall down”   I have a…

6th March 2020   To start this missive with the usual jovial Shabbat Shalom, Good Shabbes may seem somewhat over optimistic, but actually it really isn’t. Despite the politicians and “the virus” several very positive things have happened this week. I think I’ll start with the good news and then depress you and then put…

28th February 2020   Good Shabbes, Shabbat Shalom!   The only good thing about the Corona virus is that nobody is talking about Bibi!!   Did you know the reason we say “Bless you” when someone sneezes? In the Middle Ages, during the Great Plague, if someone sneezed then they were blessed becaue chances are…

21st February 2020   Shabbat Shalom! I hope this missive finds you well and not too confused by the avalanche of words we are subjected to from left and right. In fact, I think I made up an appropriate quote for the current campaigns Leadership is not easy, empty eloquence Leadership is the ability to…

200214 14th February 2020   Good Shabbes, Shabbat Shalom and Happy Valentine’s Day. I know that last one doesn’t exactly fit in with the first two greetings since Saint Valentine was an anti-Semite supreme, but on the other hand I support any day that is devoted to love.   Yes, I’m back, relatively mobile and…

23rd January 2020   It isn’t Shabbat yet but I will wish you Shabbat Shalom anyway. In fact I wish you “Shalva” which means serenity, a calm state of mind.   75 years ago Soviet soldiers liberated the last remaining prisoners of Auschwitz, surely the epitome of evil, the most foul of human behaviour of…