141015 15th October 2014 I don’t quite know which Chag to bless and what is happening when and how!!! I could just say Chag Sameach and cover the lot but then tradition tells us to say Moadim le Simcha – Happy News (or something close) and in Israel we celebrate just about all of the…

141010 10th October 2014 Shabbat Shalom and Chag Succot Sameach I was going to write all about Succot but decided it was pointless when it has already been written beautifully by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen. http://jeremyrosen.blogspot.co.il/ Another person who says things much better than I with perhaps a lot more courage and zeal is the feisty Pat Condell who hits…

141003 3rd October, 2014 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. Shabbat Shalom and “tsom kal”. Tsom Kal  is an expression which means easy fast. This evening Jews all over the world will eat a special meal before entering the fast of Yom Kippur. The purpose is not to starve oneself as some kind of punishment for a year of sins – the purpose of the…

Shana Tova -שנה טובה – Happy New Year – מזל ניו יאר – Feliz Año Nuevo – Bonne année – سنة جديدة سعيدة -С Новым годом – 新年好 – Glückliches neues Jahr – Buon anno – Godt Nytår -Gelukkig Nieuwjaar – Bonan Novjaron – Onnellista uutta vuotta – გილოცავთ ახალ წელს – Ευτυχισμένο το Νέο…

140919 19th September 2014 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I hope you are well. Many Jews fled Europe 70 years ago and chose the place farthest from the xenophobia which wiped out their families. They chose Australia which provided a haven of peace from the horrors they left behind. In the new world order even Australia is…

140912 12th September 2014 Shabbat Shalom dear friends I find it hard to absorb the fact that 13 years have passed since that diabolical moment when the world stood still in disbelief as one then two aeroplanes ploughed into the symbols of democracy, the Twin Towers in Manhattan then the Pentagon and more. I couldn’t…

140905 5th September 2014 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I hope you are well and not too worried about the fate of our world. This week we learned some diabolical truths. We learned that ISIS/Daish/Hamas/Islamic Jihad/Hezb-Allah are one and all believe that it is their right to decapitate Westerners. In their blood lust they create videos…

140829 29th August 2014 When we heard of the death of little Daniel Tragerman this week, his photograph everywhere, videos of a happy and funny little boy jumped back from the television screen and I, along with all Israelis, sat and  cried. Such beauty, such potential, wiped out in one moment of hatred his parents and siblings…

140822 22nd August 2014 Shabbat Shalom dear friends The fighting didn’t start again, it never stopped. Except for a few rare days the South of Israel, especially Sderot, has suffered rocket and missile attacks for 14 years. This week brought no surprises. Riots in  an American town after a policeman shot and killed a suspect…

140815 15th August 2014 Shabbat Shalom dear friends I had so many ideas for this weeks Shabbat Shalom. So many items of news, serious,frightening and even amusing, but it all became irrelevant when we received tragic news yesterday. A true light, a flame, the life of a beautiful woman was snuffed out in a moment…