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The view from my veranda

Musings of an Autumnal Friday

8th, November 2019   Good Shabbes, Shabbat Shalom! Hope this missive finds you well and not too disturbed by the state of our world.   I don’t normally discuss the politics of other countries, unless it directly affects Israel, but an article in the long established British community newspaper “The Jewish Chronicle” caught my eye.…

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Remembering Yitzhak Rabin – Current Viewpoint

Remembering Yitzhak Rabin by Sheila Raviv Jerusalem 4th November 2003 The first time I saw that shy, boyish expression, head leaning to one side, emphasising his lop-sided smile, was in the press photographs as he walked beside Moshe Dayan and Uzi Narkiss toward the Western Wall, the Kotel, during the Six Day War of 1967.…

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Tolerance or Tragedy, November 4th 1995

Dear friends, I wish you a good week, Shevua Tov.   Tolerance is the only way forward. Before you jump down my throat, I’m not advocating tolerating evil, but rather being tolerant toward the thoughts and beliefs of others – to accept the idea that just because people think differently doesn’t mean they are wrong.…

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Al Baghdadi, Turks, BOG, Australians and other friends

31st October, 2019   Happy Halloween, Shabbat Shalom – strange that the two wishes stand so well beside each other! The meaning of Halloween or All Hallows Eve, is pretty much lost today but Shabbat, yes Shabbat is still going strong.   All our guests have gone, the sheets washed and the beds remade for…

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Iran, Gantz, Visitors and Museums

25th October 2019   Shabbat Shalom everyone, I hope you are well.   I assume you have all read or heard the news that seems to have centred around the Kurds this week, despite the fact that the cruel civil war in Syria is 8 years old and half a million have died, or more…

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Succot, Syria, UN, Guests and fun

191017   17th October 2019   Shabbat Shalom, Moadim leSimcha, Happy Feast of Tabernacles!   I am so confused with all the days of Festivals that I am not sure what day it is, but then it must be Thursday because I have an urge to write to you, and Friday when I send it!…

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The new Ottoman Empire, Kippur and Succot

10th October 2019   Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I wish you a day of peace and reflection as Succot, Tabernacles, and the joy thereof is before us.   Yom Kippur is over and we have all made promises to be better people, kinder people, but the world goes on around us in its ever spinning…

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Knesset, Rosh Hashana and Old Friends

4th of October 2019   Good Shabbes, Shabbat Shalom, Shana Tova, Hatima Tova………. So many blessings but then one can never have too many!   I have to admit I wasn’t going to write to you today, I was going to wait until next week and Yom HaKippurim, but I have so much to tell…

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5780 and all that

27th September 2019 – 27th Ellul, 5779   Shabbat Shalom to one and all. I hope you are well and that the sun is shining on your day.   I’m going to write one short paragraph about Israeli politics and then we move on to that most meaningful of festivals, Rosh Hashana, the Head of…

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Elections and normal Jerusalem life

190919 19th September 2019   Shabbat Shalom! I hope you are well.   So, that was a waste of a couple of billion shekels wasn’t it? We could have built a new hospital with the money. Another election driving Israelis into apathy or a party political frenzy.  Of course Zvi and I voted, we take…

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