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

Silver birch trees

My dear Friends

Silver birch trees have been a theme in my life ever since 1999, when we planted a silver birch tree in my landlady's garden in Cambridge, to commemorate the birth of The Little Sisters of Joy. When I moved over the river in 2003, I planted a birch the following year in my garden. .Sadly I had to remove it last year, as it grew too big for its surroundings, but I feel the spirit of the tree is still there.

The Native Canadians revere the silver birch and used the bark to make their canoes.And the Canadians sing of 'the land of the beaver and the birch.'  Strangely enough, there is an avenue of birches alongside the Criminology Faculty in the University of Toronto, and the the University here in Cambridge, England have planted an avenue of birches beside the Criminology Faculty here.

They stand near the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern studies, where I did my degree in Hebrew (taking some classes in Arabic as well) and from time to time I go and sit there, taking shelter in the shade of these beautiful trees. It is easy to dream of Peace here and for me these mysterious trees, also revered in Russia, where my grandparents came from, are a symbol of Peace.

'I will hear what God has to say-a voice that speaks of Peace. Peace for His people and His friends and for those who turn to Him in their hearts.' Psalm 85

All we can do at the moment, with the terrible events going on in the world, is stand back and pray, or think of Peace.

Shalom, Salaam
Gila  

Crossing the bridge

Very dear Friends

You have heard me speak of the Regent Hotel many times. This morning I left home and was going to have a scrambled egg across the street from the hotel, which is near the big Church, but I decided to go to my favourite place for their nice breakfast after all.

And how glad I was that I did! I spotted what I thought were two Americans(the lady was speaking with a transatlantic accent) and then she turned to me and said they were Canadians! So I crossed the short distance and threw my arms round her in a bear hug-being from Canada she didn't mind at all.

Not only were they from Canada, but they were from London Ontario, near Cambridge Ontario-the first place I went to in eastern Canada and just before I discovered Toronto itself. We had a long talk, her daughter arrived-she is a teacher of religion near Cambridge-and the parents said they would come to the book launch in Toronto next September and bring a friend who is a Catholic Priest!

As my new book is about the continuation of my journey in the Church and my attempts to found a religious community this is a wonderful thing. But I am happy that the book also contains small cameos of some of my closest friends, some still walking with me and some elsewhere now.

It is a great privilege to produce a book. And to have control every step of the way. I have worked closely with Victoire Press in Bar hill, near Cambridge and Tony, the Director and Bobbie in the studio who has worked on all the flow of the text, the cover and the photos have been absolutely amazing, yielding to my every whim! the cover will eventually go on my website.

www.ourchurch.com/member/s/sistersofjoy

I am trying to take some rest before the presses finally roll and we have beautiful weather here in Cambridge. Tomorrow I am off to Ely for some real recreation and to go to a service of the hymns of Sue Gilmaurray, who sang with me last November in Robinson college.

Until the next time
Shabbat shalom
Gila

Lucy Cavendish College

My dear Friends

In 1992 I had the privilege of graduating in Hebrew from the University of Cambridge. It took me four years and was hard work but worth it in the end.

Cambridge is a collegiate system and the college which had accepted me was Lucy Cavendish, a small college fro mature women students which had been founded only thirty years previously. This choice of college was to prove a bonus and a blessing for many reasons.

I was thirty seven when I started studying again-Lucy takes women from age 21 until you are in your nineties! So I felt completely supported and surrounded by like-minded women from all different backgrounds. My fellow students were studying law, Chinese, Japanese and many other subjects.

I was blessed with two Directors of Studies-the late Carmen Blacker, whose subject was Japanese and Michael Loewe, a scholar in Chinese from a distinguished Jewish background.

It is the sense of community which is exceptional in Lucy Cavendish. Going to lunch is a very pleasant experience and you can meet all kinds of people. I still go there after all these years, and occasionally go to formal hall and take a guest.

Dr Renfrew was appointed as my personal tutor in the early days and she is still a friend and a mentor. Lucy is the kind of place where you make friends for life.

On the date of the publication of my new book Where the Woods meet the Water , the continuation of my life story and covering the years between 1999 and 2009, I am giving a little launch. What better place than Lucy Cavendish? I will sing and speak in the old dining hall to a gathering of friends.

The place will remind me of many happy memories and hopefully inspire me. I am happily working towards this day, in a few months time.

Talk to you soon, have a great summer
Shalom from Gila

The Sabbath

My dear Friends

Lovely to talk to you again. Today in my childhood I would have celebrated the Sabbath-a day in the Jewish calendar of complete rest. We were taken as children to the synagogue, where we prayed and sang and as a child , very small ,my father would tuck in me in to his box, where only the men were, to be beside him in the liturgy which I loved.

My father was asked to participate a lot and sing the portion of the prophets which followed the reading of the Law or Torah.

After the lovely service, we went home and a nice lunch-usually chicken soup, and rested for the rest of the day. My mother and I were rather unusual. in that we listened to the radio in different rooms and compared notes.

It is a day for listening to the voice of the Creator in a special way and to be together as a family, so round the table for afternoon tea we had friends and visitors.

The Regent Hotel

My dear Friends

I would like to share with you a little haven I have in this busy city of Cambridge. It is a small family hotel, right in the centre and is run by an Italian family from the South of Italy. They are very welcoming and friendly and there is always a very warm reception. I often go there to chill out, have some breakfast and maybe talk to the residents.

There is also a little computer that i can use if I need to check the internet.

Recently the place has been refurbished and there are lovely green chairs, with new blue wallpaper.The owner, Mrs P likes to come and have a chat with me.

Over Easter, which we celebrated joyfully here  in Cambridge, I popped in while I was near to the Church. One of the pluses about the hotel is that is near to the Church of Our lady and the English Martyrs.

This was my home Parish when I first became a Catholic. It was only ten years ago that I moved over to the other side of town and now I go to the Parish of St Laurence.
I have many friends, old and new and some of them go to Church with me.

Hoping you had a joyful and blessed Easter, wherever you were.

We are now into eastertide, a very joyful five weeks, leading up to the wonderful Feast of Pentecost, which corresponds to the Feast of Shavuot in the Jewish religion.

All the very best
Shalom as ever
Gila

 

Visit to the Synagogue

My dear Friends

Yesterday, on the Jewish Sabbath,or Shabbat as it is called, I had a beautiful experience. I had been invited to BethShalom Reform Synagogue, where I was going to pick up two prayer books I had ordered from one of their members.

Beth Shalom Synagogue is not new to me  as I had been a member of the congregation between 1986 and 1988. I took some of their services and it was during this period that I learned to chant in Hebrew from the Torah scroll-my teacher was the late Louis Berkman, formerly cantor of Belsize Synagogue in London. This was indeed a great privilege.

Yesterday's service was on the eve of the Festival of Purim, commemorating the time when Queen Esther saved the Jews from their enemies in Persia and it is a delightful feast for adults and children alike. Yesterday's actual reading from the Torah was rather complex, being from the Book of Leviticus and its injunctions on sacrifices-I was particularly interested in the Peace offerings, which were strictly laid down.

As I was standing and singing and gazing at the beautiful Torah scrolls, a thought struck me. As this community do not yet have their own building, the 'mobile' Ark containing the scrolls resembled that of the ark of the covenant which was carried round in the desert. How appropriate for me, during Lent, to be there, amongst my Jewish people! For I have always envisaged Len as my own journey through the desert with the Israelites, as in days of old.

The cantor sang well and I heard many new tunes that i had not heard on a previous visit. I resolved to come again before too long.

Happy and joyful journey through the desert!
Shalom from Gila.

Towards Lent

My very dear Friends

It is hard to believe that we are approaching Lent once again. It seems that it was only yesterday that we celebrated Advent, Christmas and the New Year. and with snow on the ground still in so many places (not in Cambridge however) that we have just had the first official day of Spring.

Spring-that is the real meaning of Lent and many of the religious poets commemorated and celebrated it in beautiful poetry. Like George Herbert, for example, one of my favourite 17th century poets. He wrote a wonderful poem called 'Easter Wings' which I first came across the night after I was baptized into the Catholic Church at Easter 1989.

This is why Lent and Easter 2014 have such a special meaning for me, as it is my 25th anniversary of being a Catholic. It has been a momentous 25 years, with many ups and downs, twists and turns along the way. but I have never regretted it and have been told  that my Orthodox Jewish upbringing was my best formation for my new life.I have tried my best to bring everything that was meaningful  from the Jewish religion into the last 25 years and have attempted to build bridges between Jews and Christians through music, encounter and Friendship as best I could.

It has been my privilege to have been given the grace to found, with the help of a friend, an organization dedicated to that aim, The Little Sisters of JOY and this has been, and will continue to be, the focus of everything I do.My life as a Catholic Christian gives me the structure and above all, the sacramental life, to follow in the steps of Jesus and to do his work.

I am blessed with a huge variety of friends from every religion and culture whose love and support nourishes me and empowers me.

And you!
A blessed and joyful Lent
Shalom from Gila 

Patron Saint of thunderstorms

My dear Friends

I had intended to write this little piece last Monday on the Feast of Saint Scholastica. Who is this Saint, you my well ask? She is not as obscure as you might think.

Her brother was Saint Benedict, who was one of the Founders of the monastic life. She was very fond of her brother and one day went to visit him in the monastery. She was really enjoying his company but after a while he said he had to leave her to go back to his monastic cell (the word used for someone's private room.) Sister Scholastica prayed very hard and soon afterwards there was a massive thunderstorm, followed by torrential rain, much as there is over many parts of the country at the moment.

Saint Benedict had no choice but to go on talking to his dear sister for a night and a day and that is why she is chosen by the Church to take this role. Let us hope that in some mysterious way she will use her gifts to help appease the terrible storms that beset us now and that the Master of the elements will hear our plea.

I was privilege in Cambridge to know a nun called Sister Scholastica. She was a teacher all her life and, being retired and reaching the age of 75, she said to God that she was bored. Apparently there was a divine reply and she was told to learn Hebrew-which is where i came in. Scholastica was a wonderful scholar on her own, but she would invite me to the convent every Wednesday at 5pm, we would have a session on Hebrew until 6pm, when there would be Mass and a nice supper with the other Sisters after wards. Then my dear friend would take my arm and we would go for a short walk in the garden.

Her prayers were very powerful and she died in November 1995, in the same week that I was in israel and Yitzchak Rabin was shot down at a Peace rally.

I miss her still but for sure she is watching over me.

Shabbat shalom, peaceful Sabbath
Gila  

Gathering at the Regent Hotel

My dear Friends

Just to report that my little gathering at the Regent hotel here in the heart of Cambridge went really well. Eleven people gathered to celebrate 15 years of The Little Sisters of Joy, now a Foundation of Prayer, Peace and Reconciliation, which takes many forms;  Concerts of Peace and Reconciliation in various lovely halls, usually in and around the university of Cambridge, the occasional lectures and much more besides. In any one day I can meet up to half a dozen new and very diverse people.

Getting back to last Saturday, the eleven people came from different Christian traditions,which was fitting especially on that day as it was the beginning of The Week of prayer for Christian Unity.Traditions represented were Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Russian Orthodox and even American Orthodox!

Our newly refurbished surroundings added to the JOY of being together and chatting over some food and drink. I gave a brief overview as to what happened in the Project in the past year and what is planned for the year to come, including singing with my guitar at a service in Grantchester Parish Church. where 3 Anglican Parishes will come together for their annual celebration-a great privilege for me!

A holiday beckons and I can now tell you that i have planned a short holiday in the 'wild and wooly West' of Ireland. (That is how someone described it to me when i said I was going quite a way beyond Galway city.) My final destination is to an Abbey in Connemara, but I am flying to a shrine in County Mayo first, to give thanks for my 25 years in the Catholic Church.

My flight is booked for the second half on May and i will prepare to put my little pussycat in his holiday home in a village near Cambridge, where he is well cared for while I am away.

Until the next time!

Shalom from Gila

Music at Queens

My dear Friends

Life has been quite hectic since we kicked off into the New year. My main project as you know this year is the publication of my second little memoir, Where the Woods the Water.

I was feeling a bit frazzled, having just come from the University library and the Graduate Centre and was passing Queens College in Silver Street. I popped in and over the mathematical bridge and into the court with the huge walnut tree. This is where tihe Chapel is and as I entered I heard the sound of the organ playing.

I could see a young man perched below the huge pipes, playing with great gusto. I sat down down in the middle of this really beautiful space and listened. After he had stopped playing the first piece, I clapped and shouted what a joy it was to hear such wonderful music. I think he was pleased to have me there, as he told me he was practising for an organ recital at 1.15 today. I explained I would be unable to go as i was holding a gathering of Friends in the Regent Hotel, but that i would love to listen to more.

Qutie a selection of music followed; Bach, some French music-quite delicious-some loud and soem quiet. This short interlude in my life really soothed my soul.

There is a variety of organists playing in this lunchtime series and I hope to go to something in the future.

Have a great weekend, a report about my meeting will the next blog entry
Shalom from Gila

A very happy and healthy new year to all my Friends

My dear Friends

In 1989 I was in Amsterdam for my first real Christmas and New year with two very close friends I had met in Israel in the summer of that year-Liesbeth and Chava. I remember that I was in Chava's mother's house in New Year's Eve. People lit bonfires in the street and my friend was playing the piano. As the bells of midnight struck, I could actually feel the year 'turning' and another close friend back in england came very strongly into my mind.

This will be my third New year in 2013. The first was the Jewish new Year for Trees, on which The Little Sisters of Joy commemorates its anniversary-2014 will be its 15th birthday. A gathering of friends met in (yes you know its my favourite hotel) the Regent Hotel in Cambridge, among them Methodists and Catholics, who were meeting each other for the first time. I gave a little speech about the progress of the Project and we all had tea and cakes and chatted happily. We will do it all over again this coming January, with a few different people this time, with hopefully a lady from the American Orthodox Church.

Then there was my trip to Toronto in June, highly successful and quite emotional for me for as you know I really love the place and hope to return many times in the future. A visit is already planned for September 2015, when my friend Sarah will accompany me and I will show her the beauties of the city, before she goes travelling. And I have a little event in store at that time, which i will reveal to you nearer the time.

In September I celebrated the Jewish new Year, Rosh Hashanah with two dear Friends, Marcellus and Ivona, who celebrated their wedding just two weeks ago. W e were joined by a Russian friend and her daughter and the food and the good will flowed!

Let us hope and pray that this beautiful and creative period will flow into 2014, that Where the Woods meet the Water will be published as planned on 19th october 2014 and that i can keep on singing! No time for a Concert this coming year i fear, but Sue is keen to do another one and lets hope for Spring 2015.

I don't mind planning if I feel it is God'w work-anyhow i was brought up to it as I am the proud daughter of a Jewish businesman!

Every blessing, health and happiness
Go safely wherever you go
Love and shalom
Gila

Happy birthday Gila

My dear Friends

Yesterday i celebrated one of the best birthdays I have ever had. To begin with I discovered, being 62, that i had spent exactly half of my life, thirty one years,in Cambridge. when i came here in 1982 I did not know even one person, but my life changed took off and changed forever when i started on a course at what is now Anglia Ruskin University and what was then known fondly as the Tech.

I think I have grown and matured as a human being in those thirty one years. You may recall that I was unhappy in my twenties and although exciting revolutions were going on around me in the sixties and early seventies, it was a rasher dark period in my life.One good thing though-the music. It was then I learnt to sing and play the guitar in a way that was to carry me through the res of my life and form the basis of the Concerts for Peace and Reconciliation that I have been doing for the last eleven years.

I received many cards from old and new friends yesterday and was showered with affection.I started the day with prayers with the Methodists in Wesley, as I usually do on a Wednesday morning. at coffee in a cafe afterwards, Angela the minister's wife, bought me hot chocolate with a huge amount of cream, which was a great start to all the eating I was to do. for this was quickly followed by a wonderful lunch in the double Tree hotel by the river, where my Canadian friend and i watched the mist turn into lunchtime sunshine. We ate and talked of many things, including Canada, which as you know is my spiritual home.

Later in the Regent Hotel my friends there gave me a beautiful card with some very touching words and a bottle of my favorite tipple-brandy, and very special stuff it was too.

2014 beckons and there are many things to look forward to. Top priority is getting my second little memoir into the light. I thank the Lord for all he has brought and ask him for the strength to continue.

May you all be truly blessed at this holy and special season.
Shalom from Gila

Quiet time

My dear Friends

It has been quite a hectic year. Some major things have been accomplished; I got another newsletter to The Friends of The Little Sisters of Joy out and 700 letters went out to 23 countries. The Royal mail in the UK had just been privatised, but let's hope that most of them got to their destination, and i certainly got some good feedback from some of you, who enjoyed my tale of my time in Toronto. Another trip is planned for September 2015!

This time a friend wants to come with me and I may be going for a special event-will tell you all in due course. but how I long to return although i guess it's getting cold out there by now.

I am spending Christams day very quietly with an old friend I met at a local church lunch. Her name is Mary and she lived in China as a teacher for over thirty years. She has a lovely engaging personality and I look forward to being with her on that special day. Neither of us cooks very well so there will be no turkey, just cold chicken and all the trimmings, with of course mince pies to follow.

Speaking of turkey, we used to have that on Christmas day in my childhood. Nothing unusual you may say, but if you remember we were a Jewish family who don't normally celebrate the birth of Christ. However, my parents were married on Christmas Day in 1929 and so we used to have the turkey to celebrate their anniversary.

My mother used to say that there was a lot of snow on her wedding day and that she had to be carried into the Synagogue. Garnethill Synagogue, which my great grandfatther helped to found, is a listed building and used for services in the Glasgow Jewish community to this day.I visited it exactly a year ago when you may remember that I went to Glasgow to see my family and friends.

Will finish now, keep well and warm and enjoy your quiet days, as i will

Shalom, peace and Blessing
Gila