150123 23rd January 2015 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. Wednesday mornings terror attack in Tel Aviv was carried out by one young Palestinian whose mind was poisoned by Hamas and local religious leaders. He got on to a commuter bus and within seconds stabbed the driver, who fought back. Finding resistance he ran to the back of…

150116 16th January 2015 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I hope and pray you are feeling safe this week, safe to go to your schools and synagogues without fear and without needing police protection. I am not Charlie. I have never insulted Mohammed, never drawn a picture of him nor am I ever going to, and…

150108 8th January 2015 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. This week the long arm of radical Islam tried to silence the pens of a highly irreverent French satirical magazine. Charlie Hebdo was beyond irreverent, it was incisive and often cruel in its cartoons of all religions, giving no quarter irrespective of the leanings of its victims. The purpose of…

150101 The first of January 2015! Happy 2015! The world went crazy with firework displays – each city trying to beat the others. Sydney tends to win but then when you have a firework stand like the Harbour Bridge it must be difficult to lose!!!! Actually it isn’t such a celebratory day for traditional Jews because…

141219 19th December 2014 Shabbat Shalom, Happy Chanuka. I hope all my Christian readers are counting on their Advent Calendars – only 6 days to go!!!! The news this week has been terrifying and confusing. The dreadful and dramatic hostage situation in the very heart of Sydney, Australia caught the attention of the worlds media and…

141211 11th December 2014 Shabbat Shalom dear Friends What a week! The news was not always good but my goodness it came in fast and furious. The United States reported severe torture of security prisoners by the CIA and security forces, then managed to divert attention by blaming Israeli standards and reports!!! They then further diverted…

141204 4th December 2014 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. Two days ago, a 16 year old calmly walked into a Rami Levy supermarket in Mishor Adumim, walked past the guard, pushing a trolley, like all the other customers, took out a knife and began to stab customers leaving the store. He succeeded in injuring two middle aged ladies,…

141128 28th November 2014 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. Jerusalem is a bit lonely this week since my wonderful husband is in Mexico, San Diego and Miami………………. things are just not the same! This quote by  Canon Andrew White sums up his heroic attempts at Tikkun Olam and our feelings when defending Israel instead of lauding her achievements.…

141121 21st November 2014 Dear Friends Shabbat Shalom to you all from Jerusalem, the most beautiful city in the world Today I will try to write only positive notes because even after the horror and deep sadness of the events earlier in the week, some goodness came about. Firstly thousands of Jews and Christians attended the funeral…

141118 18th November, 2014 I wish to G-d I did not have to write this letter but write it I will because you need to know. This morning in the religious neighborhood of Har Nof, Jerusalem, at 07:01, men were saying their morning prayers, prayer shawls about their shoulders and phylacteries on their foreheads as…