The view from my veranda

2021

Fears, Friction and Forecasts – 2022

31st December, 2021 That’s the last time I write 2021 unless I’m talking about the past – and no, I’m not going the make a list of what happened over the last year, nor a list of “the most effective people” of that year, because the real movers and shakers of this world are the…

Read More

Merry Christmas and Shabbat Shalom

24th of December 2021 Shabbat Shalom and a blessed Christmas to everyone. In our strange, surreal circumstances brought about by a virulent virus I think all of us have lost touch of time passing. Yes it is almost the end of 2021 and our hopes are for a kinder 2022, one in which we can…

Read More

Changes, Christmas, Covid and Education

17th December 2021 Shabbat Shalom everyone! Just one week to Christmas and the Old City of Jerusalem, especially the Christian Quarter, and Nazareth are ablaze with coloured lights and Christmas trees! The main road to Bethlehem, actually called Hebron Road, has Christmas decorations and lighting and the general feeling is one of hope that the…

Read More

Discipline, Diversity and Diplomacy

19th November 2021 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I hope this missive finds you well and that your country is coming out the other side of this horrible pandemic. “Discipline your son while there is hope, but do not set your heart on his destruction” The deep wisdom of this quote from Proverbs has implications that…

Read More

Waste, Wonders and Women

12th November 2021 Shabbat Shalom! Did you notice today’s date? Should I say that if you are not American, did you notice today’s date…. 12/11/21. Don’t ask me why I like it, I love numbers, dates and times which “rhyme”, which is really strange for someone who is as far from a mathematician as possible!…

Read More

Budget, Bullies and Ecology

4th of November 2021 Shabbat Shalom! How are you? I hope you are well and that the cooler, kinder weather is making life so much easier. The trees are turning to a million shades of red and orange and yellow and………… autumn. Today’s date makes me sad. The fourth of November 1995 was the day…

Read More

Rabin, Russia and Education

211028 28th October 2021 Shabbat Shalom! Hopefully a Shabbat without too many ghosties, Ghoulies and things that go bump in the night as All Hallows Eve becomes an international celebration of the noble Pumpkin!! Israel has survived many trials and tribulations since her birth but none so traumatic as the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzchak…

Read More

Signs, Omens and Welcome Home

22nd October 2021 Shabbat Shalom! I’m home after a truly magnificent 10 days in New York City – but more of that later. English speakers in Israel spend every journey along the roads and highways of Israel in a state of permanent “cringe” at the spelling of the road signs and names of towns and…

Read More

Up, Up and Away

211008 8th October 2021 Shabbat Shalom! I will not be writing my Shabbat Shalom next week because I am going to New York with Rachel for Joshua’s Bar Mitzva! I am so excited. We are only going for one week and will be very caught up with family, so please don’t be upset that we…

Read More

Acharei ha Chagim – After the Festivals

1st of October 2021 Shabbat Shalom, Blessed Tabernacles There is an expression in Israel used by anyone who wants to put things off, in other words to procrastinate, “Acharei ha Chagim” which means after the Festivals meaning the festivals of the month of Tishrei. Basically that means they will never really get to the task…

Read More