27th January, 2023 Shabbat Shalom dear friends, The great educator Janusz Korczak who saved so many children from the Nazi death machine, said “The one concerned with days, plants wheat; with years, plants trees; with generations, educates people.”  Today is World Holocaust Remembrance Day a day to remember the Shoah, the millions killed in a…

13th of January 2023 Shabbat Shalom! Talking of Shabbat, the latest believable news from the British Royals concerns the Coronation of King Charles III. The Coronation will be held on Saturday, 6th of May and among the invitees is one Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi of Britain and the Commonwealth. Nothing special in that after…

6th January 2023 Shabbat Shalom and a Holy Christmas to the Orthodox Church Did you notice the date? Do you remember the date? January 6th 2021 heralded the storming of the Capitol in Washington which some said was the precursor to the end of United States democracy as we know it. Well that proved to…

30th December 2022 Shabbat Shalom dear friends, Shabbat Shalom and a happy new year! Tomorrow night the Gregorian calendar tells us that even though it feels as if 2022 just began we are already into 2023! A new year and hopefully a better one. Israel has a new government. Both the outgoing and the incoming…

23rd December 2022 Shabbat Shalom, Happy Chanukah and almost a Merry Christmas! It is hard to believe that 2022 is almost over, can it really be 12 months since the beginning of the year? Time seems to race and the world around us to become more frenetic by the minute! To slow down our racing…

16th December 2022 22 Kislev 5783 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. Almost Chanuka and the 19th day of Advent “Jews are the canary in the coal mine. When Jews feel compelled to leave, the light of freedom is being extinguished” Gosh that sounds so dramatic, even melodramatic, except that it has proven sadly true. Being Welsh,…

9th December 2022 Shabbat Shalom! How are you? What’s going on in your part of the world? Is it quiet enough that you actually get to talk about the weather? Have you been following the World Cup? The World Cup is being held in Qatar, which in itself is both strange but hopeful; strange that…

1st December, 2022 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. For the first time in 23 years I don’t know how to begin this week’s missive. In fact, I don’t know how to approach this week’s missive, because it is not in my nature to criticize Israel’s potential government, even when I disapprove of their policies, but this…

25th November, 2022 Shabbat Shalom! I hope that all my American friends had many things to be Thankful for yesterday. Even if in many ways Thanksgiving has lost its original meaning, the idea of giving thanks for what we have when on the other 364 days of the year we tend to complain, is, or…

18th November 2022 Hello! Shabbat Shalom! Hope you are well. Can I begin with a question? Why on earth does the USA feel that they have to investigate the death of  one specific journalist when at least 45 journalists have died in war or revolution situations this year? Could it be because it involves the…