7th December 2023 Shabbat Shalom and Chanukah Sameach. Tonight, we light the first candle of Chanukah, the commemoration of the victory over the evil of those who desecrated the Temple. We fought back, thanks to the bravery of a family who lived near Jerusalem and decided that they did not have to sit back and…

1st December 2023 Shabbat Shalom to you and to all your family. The extended ceasefire is over. It was due to end at 07:00 this morning but before that hour rockets were fired at Israel and the decision was taken for troops to re-enter Gaza. The hope of soldiers being home for Shabbat was shattered…

29th November 2023 Shalom dear friends. Shalom I hope you don’t think that I had abandoned you for the last few days, but the strange mixture of elation at the return of hostages, sadness for the families of those still in captivity and horror at the stories that are slowly coming out, stories of beating…

50 days 24th November, 2023 Shabbat Shalom. Let’s hope and pray that this Shabbat at least 13 hostages, the little children and tiny babies, will be sent home to Israel. The psychological games continue as Hamas reneged on yesterday’s release and changed it to 16:00 today, just before Shabbat. What is the hold up this…

22nd November 2023 Shalom dear friends. Last night a decision was made, a painful, almost impossible decision was made by the government to hold a conditional ceasefire and release of convicted terrorists in exchange for about 50 hostages, apparently women and children. It will be a gradual exchange, probably 10 hostages a day. A list…

6 Weeks 19th November 2023 Shevua Tov. Which means I wish you a good week, or most certainly a better week. First and foremost, I am relieved to tell you that the Zaka announcement that they took out 200 bodies was false and if I may say, irresponsible. In the official press conference, we were…

Day 42 17th November 2023 How on earth can I say Shabbat Shalom when the news came out yesterday that Zaka, the organisation that gathers the remains from disasters all over the world, took over 200 bodies retrieved by the IDF from Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, for identification. Despite the following article Zaka cannot…

5 weeks and 2 days and they are not home 13th November 2023 Tami Isaacs is a pastry chef, an outstanding pastry chef in London; Tami makes the best pastries, babkas, rugalach and Challot (apart from my Rachel of course). Today Tami put a post on Facebook, simple words that tell the full story “The…

Day 34 and they are still not home 9th November 2023 Shabbat Shalom Almost another Shabbat and 240 people of all ages from 8 months to 80 years, kidnapped and held hostage for 34 days. We cannot stop until they are all freed, irrespective of their nationality or religion. The thought of separating into Jews…

Day 32 Shalom dear friends. 32 days of 24/7 news and deep sense of guilt if we watch something else. So much has happened in the last two days that I feel guilty for not writing yesterday! Imagine; Israeli soldiers and tanks ensuring safe passage for Gazan citizens fleeing Gaza City to relative safety in…