Life, Death and Life again

Very dear Friends

Sorry it has been so long since I have written, but life has been very full indeed. Apart from the book launch of my new memoir, Where the Woods meet the Water, in October last year (google The Little Sisters of Joy website) I gave a concert on 7th March, returning to the gorgeous chapel in Robinson College here in Cambridge, where I have sung twice before.

I was blessed once again with around forty folk, most of whom had knot been to the concerts before. But oh how they sang! There was a contingent from Wesley Methodist church (I join them in prayer each Wednesday morning) and they are wonderful singers. I sang an eclectic mix of Scottish and American folk songs, on occasion unaccompanied, and songs of the 60's, although this time I included The Streets of London by Ralph McTell, which has lovely and moving words. Highlight apparently for the mixed audience was the Jewish music and I included both settings from the liturgy, folk songs and a wonderful melody from the Sabbath Eve, when the family is gathered round the table after the meal.

Called Tsur Mishelo, it has its roots in the Chassidic tradition, but was probably written by a non Jew in the 14th Century. It speaks of the absolute Providence of God, for which we must be grateful and has sacramental and messianic overtones.

Speaking of which, today is Good Friday (means Holy Friday) and also the Jewish Passover. I feel doubly blessed that I was brought up in one rich tradition and was able to carry it forward into the new one. without losing anything! Recently I went to Thompson's Lane Synagogue and enjoyed the beautiful Sabbath liturgy. I also met a fellow singer who is a Jewish lady from Aden in Yemen. Their Adeni Jewish community left in 1964.

But let us concentrate on the good things and there are many. We have 7 weeks of Eastertide after the Resurrection and together with the Jewish people after Passover will be waiting for our mutual Pentecosts. Resonating with the liturgical calendar is a wonderful way of ordering our lives and experiencing the JOY of just being human.

Chag sameach lepesach, happy Passover Feast
Happy Easter and beyond
Love and shalom
Gila

My friends and i at the Book Launch in Lucy Cavendish College 19 October 2014

These are some of the photos from the launch of Where the Woods Meet the Water

 

 

After the Launch

My very dear Friends

Last Sunday, the 19th of October, was a real milestone in my life.Forty of my friends, whom I have known over the last 32 years in Cambridge, gathered in the lovely Lucy Cavendish College to help me launch my new little book and the second part of my autobiography. It is called  Where the Woods meet the Water, which, as I told you in a previous blog entry, is the apparently real meaning of Toronto in one of the Native Canadians languages.

Canada has been in the news lately and I feel it is quite timely to publish a book which is dedicated to the cause of Peace and Reconciliation, a cause which I have devoted my life to, especially in the last fifteen years. All this and more in the book.

At the launch I talked about 6 or 7 periods in my life which have been important stepping stones along the way. For example the mystical experience which started the whole enterprise of The Little Sisters of Joy off. To illustrate this and other episodes, I sang from my repertoire of sixties, Jewish and folk song and encouraging the gathering to sing too-which they did , straight from the heart, together and with some lovely individual voices ringing out-it was very moving for me and I hope them too.

The first piece was Last night I had the strangest dream-composed by Ed McCurdy, the father of modern folk music and the forerunner of Bob Dylan and the like. Founding a community for Peace and Reconciliation seemed like a tall order and sometimes the road still seems hard-enough work to last me a lifetime and beyond.

The Hebrew pieces went down well and I talked about Risa Domb, my modern Hebrew teacher, who passed away in January 2007 and in whose memory I gave a Concert for Peace and Reconciliation in Robinson college, a venue I returned to last November and to which I hope to return to do another concert this coming Spring.

After the presentation, Lucy Cavendish served tea and coffee, we had the run of the garden, and I sold and signed my books!

Next time I will post some photos of the Book launch on the Blog.

Shalom from Gila

The book is available from me
margogila61@gmail.com

or now from Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge or in a couple of weeks time also from
Waterstones in Cambridge. Price £10

Where the Woods meet the Water

My dear Friends

Where the Woods meet the Water is the sequel to the first part of my autobiography, The Moving Swan, which was published in 2006. The title is the meaning of Toronto in one of the native Canadian languages. Toronto is a place which means a great deal to me-it was there that I made the final decision to come into the Catholic Church from the Jewish religion in which I had been brought up and which is lovingly described in The Moving Swan.

Where the Woods meet the Water is to be launched in Lucy Cavendish College in the University of Cambridge, where I studied Hebrew and a little Arabic from 1988 to 1992. The launch will take place on Sunday 19th October this year. The new book describes, in diary form, the unfolding of The Little Sisters of Joy, a Foundation for Prayer, Peace and Reconciliation, which I founded with the help of a friend on 7th March 1999 in Cambridge, UK.

Over the last 15 years my Associates and I have been building Bridges of Peace between Jews and Christians, Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians and Catholics, the Orthodox and Protestants. With the love of God at its heart, the Foundation recognises music and the other arts as very much part of that healing process. Over the last 11 years, I have given a series of Concerts for Peace and Reconciliation, sometimes with my fellow musicians, in College Chapels and other venues in Cambridge. As you know, I sing with my guitar songs of the 60's, Jewish music and traditional folk.

Where the Woods meet the Water also depicts my journeys through Europe and Canada, as I try to spread the message of Peace while meeting many diverse and interesting people. My three visits to Poland between 2001 and 2004 were particularly memorable. The book ends in 2009.

The book will be available from 20th October 2014 from Heffers Bookshop, Trinity Street, Cambridge, UK or by contacting me directly at

margogila61@gmail.com

The cost of the book is £10

The Moving Swan is available now from Amazon and other internet sites and Where the Woods meet the Water should be available on the internet sometime after the launch-unfortunately I can't say when.

Happy reading if you are interested!
Shalom from Gila

 

Book Launch

The beauty of Ramsgate in Kent

My dear Friends

Finally, after a long year of hard work, including getting my new little memoir ready, I went on a holiday.

You don't have to go far to enjoy yourself and get away and when I was I was a child my parents took me to the Synagogue in Ramsgate, which I never forgot. A great Italian gentleman, Sir Moses Montefiore, came to England in 1831 and settle din Ramsgate, on the South coast-famous for fish and smugglers! Sir Moses built an estate in the Italian style, with lovely grounds and an Italian greenhouse-my friend and I sat there surrounded by vines and concave Italian glass, on a hot summer's day. We could imagine the carriage with Queen Victoria coming up the driveway to visit her friend Sir Moses.

My guide, a local counsellor and very knowledgeable about his part of the world then drove me to Pegwell Bay, where St Augustine landed in about the 7th century to bring Christianity to the 'Angles' as the English were then known and to leave his mark over Kent and especially Canterbury, which I visited in 2011. Beside the bay is a huge cross, sculpted with beautiful figures, to mark where Augustine landed. When we arrived a local gentleman was leaning against it having his sandwiches.

Onto Sandwich and the home of the famous Earl and lunch in a very ancient pub, which reflects the history of the whole town. Unfortunately the market was just packing up for the day, but the adjacent Guildhall was impressive and so were the little shops. The Church of England has preserved two magnificent mediaeval churches and standing inside nearly took my breath away. Every where the gardens were full of flowers.

You know how much I just love talking to people;I met many locals especially in Ramsgate, where I discovered a small café perched on something known as the Kent Steps. Walking down every day from the guesthouse to the town was a joy, as I had to pass the sea-on this particular holiday I didn't go down to the sands, but contented myself with watching sea change colour at different times of day.I ate wonderful meals-salmon to ide for in a small and simple restaurant owned by Turkish Cypriots. Near the gardens overlooking the sea there was even a Tai restaurant recently opened and run by a young couple from Tailand.

In Broadstairs, where Charles Dickens lived, I had one or two interesting and unusual experiences, and returned from my holiday with the strong feeling that one day I would return.

Shalom, Peace and blessing
Gila