17th April 2026 29th of Nissan 5786 Shabbat Shalom to one and all Tomorrow night we welcome the month of Iyar, a time that tradition associates with both natural and spiritual healing. It is said that the generation that left Egypt found healing during this month, a quiet reminder that recovery is a slow process…

10th April, 2025 Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat with a slight hope for shalom, slight but certainly more than for the last four Shabbatot. Passover and Easter have gone by and now it’s the Armenian Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. On Tuesday Israel will have a different siren, the true wailing siren of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust…

3rd April, 2026 16th of Nisan, 5786 Shabbat Shalom! Is it really Friday today? Between the missiles from Iran and the Houthis and the rockets from Hezb-Allah and then the joys of Seder Night and matza crumbs all over the apartment I forgot completely that I owed you a newsletter!! To all my Christian friends,…

27th March 2026 8 Nissan 5786 903 days since October 7th Shabbat Shalom dear friends, Shabbat Shalom and grateful thanks to everyone who has written, called, thought of us during this “campaign”. Why campaign and not war? Because if war is declared the “winner” is liable for compensation. Last week was Eid el Fitr, Nissan…

25th March 2026 901 days since the 7th of October Massacre Midweek Update Well, here I am once again making use of a quiet moment in the mamad, rather than getting on with my Pesach (Passover) spring cleaning, as Iranian missiles have a way of interrupting even the best laid plans of mice and men.…

20th March 2026 2nd of Nissan, 5786 Shabbat Shalom, Eid Mubarak and of course a huge Happy Birthday to my Zvi “In war, the Gordian Knot of diplomacy is often untied only by the steel of the sword.” The question is whether to slice it like Alexander the Great or to find a way of…

18th March 2026 Mid-week update The Canary in the coal mine – an early warning; before technology, a canary was taken into the coal mine as an early warning of coal gas which would kill miners. In case it has not yet dawned on people, this is not just our story, it is yours as…

13th March, 2026 24th of Adar, 5786 Shabbat Shalom to you, to every one of you! I’m back in every sense of the word!!!  “If I can turn one extremist fanatic into a moderate peacemaker, then I am satisfied that I have achieved my life goal.” Professor Mohammed Dajani Duoad. Last night, as it is…

20th February, 2026 Shabbat Shalom, Ramadan Kreem, I hope you had a good Shrove Tuesday and are prepared for Lent. As you know, I love to begin my missives with a wise quote, usually, Churchill, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain or GBS, but today I found the perfect quote for our times from Tolstoy. “The most…

13th February, 2026 Shabbat Shalom to each and every one and Ramadan Mubarak for Tuesday. I hope someone has ignored the fact that St Valentine was an antisemite and has chosen to be romantic! Friday 13th doesn’t worry me, 13 is good luck in Judaism. This week I had intended to give you the usual…