The view from my veranda

2018

The Good, The Bad and 426 days

5th December 2024 Shabbat Shalom and yes, it’s already December!  Did you begin your Advent Calendar? Have you thought about Chanuka which is around the corner and the sufganiyot (special Doughnuts) are already in the shops although today they don’t resemble the simple jam doughnuts we all remember! They are very fancy with all kinds…

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Modeh Ani – Gratitude

29th of November, 2024 420th of October Kaf Tet b’November Shabbat Shalom dear friends and of course Happy Thanksgiving. It is strange but I feel that each and every one of you is a personal friend. You have held me up when life became difficult and I share my deepest feelings with you, my greatest…

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The Law is an Ass

22nd of November 2024 21st Heshvan 5785 Shabbat shalom to you, wherever you may be in this upside down world. Prepare yourselves for a long missive! Charles Dickens wrote “The Law is an Ass” in Oliver Twist, meaning that the law, when applied too rigidly or too flexibly, can be blind to the realities on…

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Limping Toward the Light

Friday, 15th of November 2024 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. Shabbat Shalom in a world that is becoming more and more unstable, more and more violent, yet we are hopeful, always optimistic that it will turn back into the world we always loved. I’m back by the way!! Thanks to the care of Zvi, Rachel and…

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Dementors and Heroes

1st November, 2024 Shabbat Shalom. Hope that you had an interesting, even fun, Halloween, or to call it by its real name, All Hallows Eve. I am a fan of J K Rowling, indeed I have been a fan ever since my eldest son Daniel z”l gave me the first book as a present many…

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Simchat Torah 2024

25th October 2024 23rd of Tishrei, 5785 Shabbat Shalom! Did you know that you save my sanity. Each time that I write to you, share my emotions, try to explain how it feels to be an Israeli during the toughest time in recent history, each word helps to put things into perspective and when you write…

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Shabbat, Succot and Sinwar

18th of October 2024 Shabbat Shalom, Succot Sameach, A Holy Tabernacles, Moadim le Simcha which if translated loosely means “reasons for joy” which is the greeting for the middle days of a festival, and of course, finally, a reason for relief if not joy, the man who planned and executed October 7th 2023 has met…

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Kippurim

10th October, 2024 This week I wish you a good year, Shabbat Shalom, kind thoughts and a Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) of contemplation and accepting responsibility for our own mistakes. When my children were small, I was a Cheder (Sunday school) teacher in the beautiful Reading Synagogue. Reading, Berkshire that is. It wasn’t an…

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Blitzkrieg

2nd October 2024 I wish you a Shana Tova, a good year, but first let me tell you about last night. It was, without doubt, a blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg, a swift and violent military offensive with intensive aerial bombardment and this time it didn’t come from Lebanon, Gaza, Syria or Yemen, it came directly from Teheran.…

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356

27th of September 2024 Shabbat shalom to everyone, each and every one of you. Perhaps the greeting Shalom has deeper meaning now than almost any time in our history. I thought about writing a tirade about the farce playing out in the current session of the United Nations, but it has become boring, not worth…

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