Chava and Liesbeth

My dear Friends

The last few weeks have been hectic, what with the concert and all. Shortly, after Easter, I will be taking a little break in one of my favourite cities in the world-Amsterdam.

Let's go back to 1989, three months after I became a Christian and my sixth trip to Israel. I had enrolled on an international summer programme in Jerusalem, on Mount Scopus, in the Hebrew University. The summer programme was to learn Modern Hebrew and it was for all levels, from beginners to advanced students.

In my first week I met Chava, a Jewish Dutch girl in my class. I thought she was a fine person, and she introduced me to her friend, Liesbeth, a Christian also from Amsterdam, where I had never been before. They were in their 20's and single-now they are in their 40's and married with children!

The encounter between us was very moving ( a sign of grace as Liesbeth said) and the bond between the three of us has grown steadily over the years. I visited Amsterdam later that year, in fact had my first Christmas there since I entered the Church at Easter 1989.

More later

Shalom from

Sister Gila

Lent 2012

My dear Friends
My concert took place on Shrove tuesday(see previous entry.) I took this as quite auspicious, because, as i am sure you know, Shrove tuesday preceeds Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent.

Lent is the Old word for Spring and, despite the winds of the last day, there has been the hint of a change of season. So it is with Lent-we change gear, go on an internal journey and head for the Promised land. This mirrors to an extent the journey of the children of Israel in the desert, where there were many tests and trials but also some oases, and a tremendous outpouring of grace, especially when the Torah was given to them on Mount Sinai.

Moses came face to face with God in the burning bush and we must open ourselves up in the same way at this special time of the year.Like Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, we must be prepared to yield to the Divine Will and relinquish some part of ourselves in order to gain a fuller sense of our integrity. We must attempt to bring about the Kingdom of God, clothing the naked and feeding the hungry and pursuing a course of righteousness. There are many injustices in the world and we must do what we can, in our lives and in our prayer, to combat them.

Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael and we must ask the Almighty to bring Peace and Reconcilation in the Middle East. May He give us the patience to wait for Him to bring this about in His own and good time.

I wish you a joyful Lent and a beautiful Spring
Your sister Gila

Concert for Peace and Reconciliation

My dear Friends
I am happy to tell you that I gave another Concert for Peace and Reconciliation last Tuesday evening. The venue was somewhere i had sung exactly three years ago-the Lee Hall in Wolfson College in Cambridge. It is a lovely hall, and during the day you can see how it bordered by an English garden on one side and a Chinese one on the other, to reflect its Chinese benefactor.

I sang my usual mix of traditional folk songs from America and Scotland-John Riley(about a girl being reunited with her long lost lover) and the Skye Boat Song, about the daring escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie on the island of Skye. What was so beautiful was that all the audience, about thirty of them, joined in the music. This has a special meaning, as the communal singing is like a prayer which in some mystical and mysterious way rises up and contributes to the healing of the world, or Tikkun Haolam, as the Rabbis called it.

I included in the first half a cycle of Sabbath songs, all traditional and which I remembered from my childhood. They sart with the song to the ministering angels that the mother sings as she lights the Sabbath candles, as a homage to the angels which accompany the father as he comes home from the Synagogue. They continue with the melody of repentance and the tree of life, as the Torah is returned to the ark in the Synagogue. Continuing with the Grace after meals sung by Russain and Polish Jews all over the world, I concluded with Elijah the prophet and the herald of the Messiah, a sparse and haunting tune fitting to the close of the Sabbath, marked by the appearance of three stars in the sky.

In the second half, I think the highlight was the beautiful anti-war song, Last night I had the strangest dream, written by Ed McCurdy, who preceeded Dylan and Baez and others as the father of modern folk.

There was a mixed audience of Jews and Christians and other friends, with possibly some Muslim students from the college. At the end my old friend Mrs G requested Hava nagila and so the concert finished on an upbeat note!

Shalom from Gila

Happy birthday

My dear Friends
We have just celebrated 13 years since the foundation of The little Sisters of Joy. The original concept was of a Catholic women's community of Prayer, Peace and Reconciliation. Also to be a community of praise. The name has stayed the same but, following on from the starting of an Association of Friends, in 2004 it evolved into an international foundation, with the same aims of Prayer, peace and Reconcilation.

The Friends comprise nearly 700 in 22 countries, including 3 Arab ones, Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. Most of the Associates live in the UK but the Newsletters, published twice a year, travel as far as Australia and South Africa.

Yesterday in the Regent family hotel in Cambridge we were only six but we celebrated in style with good food and conversation. 2 of our Jewish Associates were with us and we covered many things.In my Jewish primary school on this Feast i would bring in as many different kinds of fruits as possible.

One of my mentors, who died a few years ago, but feels still very much with us celebrated this Feast in his childhood, and wanted me to keep the anniversary on this date. His name was Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, and i had the privilege of meeting him in Paris in 1999, when he was the Archbishop. He was a Jewish Christian like me and gave me some good advice when the Project was just beginning.

I also owe a great debt to the late Risa Domb,my modern Hebrew teacher at university and who told me to never be afraid of confrontation to get to resolution. That there would be difficulties and hostility along the way but that it had to be done.

At the moment there is much JOY for which I am very grateful.

With all good wishes
Gila

Mazel tov

My dear Friends

I wish you a peaceful and happy New year, with lots of good things. There are two events to look forward to in the history of The Little Sisters of Joy early this year. The first, on february 5th,is a gathering to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the founding of the project. As you may remember, the founding took place in December 1998, in Provence, where i was staying with The Sisters of Pomeyrol, a small and lively Protestant group of nuns.

There, in the silence of the beautiful countryside, I felt God calling me to start a new religious community. Some years later I started an Association of Friends, and in 2004 it evolved into its present state as an international Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation. Now there are over 600 Friends in 22 countries, of all religions and cultures.

So, we will gather, about thirteen of us in the Regent hotel in Cambridge, a samll family hotel overlooking Parkers Piece, at one end of which is the large and imposing Catholic Church. Let us hope that we will be able to do this for many more years to come.

Then, on shrove tuesday 21st February, I will give another Concert for Peace and Reconciliation, singing my usual mix of Jewish music, songs of the 60's and traditional folk. Three years ago I gave a concert at this lovley venue, the Lee Hall in Wolfson College. During the day you c an see an english garden on one side of the hall and a Chinese one on the other. I am publicising the concert to a wide range of people and let us hope for a good turnout. It is sso special when the audience sings with me and our common prayer, I am sure, has a very healing effect.

More later

Shalom

Sister Gila

The light in the world

My dear Friends
Now that I have got over the excitement of my sixtieth birthday I can concentrate on the real plot, which is the Light coming into the world. In pagan times they lit bonfires and celebrated the light to alleviate the darkness.

In 160 B.C. in Palestine the Greeks, under the emperor Antiochus, overran the Jewish Temple and desecrated it. A small band of zealots, called the Maccabees, under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, fought against the Greeks and won and went to rededicate the Temple. They found that the light above the Ark, supposed to burn permanently, had been extinguished. They searched around for some oil and found only enough to burn for a short while. But God made a miracle and the oil lasted for eight days, long enough for them to get replenishments. Hence the Feast of Dedication, Chanukah, when the Jewish people light candles for eight days, to commemorate the power of God and the miracle of the light.

140 or so years later, Jesus was born. In John's Gospel we don't have the narrative of His birth, as in the Gospel of Luke, but we have an extended mystical description of the Light coming into the world. This is the Christ, the Logos, who was with the Father before time and space began. Not only was everything made through Him, but He came into the world so that He could be the Light and life of men and women. It is a Light that the darkness cannot extinguish or overpower, and, more, a Light that the darkness cannot (according to the original Greek) even comprehend.

I met a young German woman at university who was an atheist. We became friends and she told me that she had an African boyfriend. She once travelled with him to Africa. They arrived at night and she was struck by the darkness of the Veldt, the huge rural expanse of the African landscape. They were taken into a room, where there was nothing but a matress on the floor.

Then someone lit a candle. She told me that that was the closest to a religious experience she had ever had.

Every blessing for Christmas, may the Light shine on you.
Health and happiness in the new year.
Shalom from
Sister Gila

Till 120 Years

My dear Friends
I am halfway there! In the Jewish tradition and also the Arabic tradition when you have a birthday you say to the person 'Till 120 years!'. This presumably refers to the figures in the Bible who were purported to have lived that long, Moses being the most famous amongst them.

My own mother, God rest her beloved soul, lasted, and in good shape too, to 97 years. My friend Eva's mother mde it till 102 and we know that in the Caucasian mountains people live until 160. I have always thougth it was due to a combination of vodka and honey, both of which I take by the way.

Getting back to my 60th birhtday, which I celebrated yesterday on the 3rd Sunday of Advent, so it was even more special, in the Korean tradition 60 is the most important age of all. I am not sure why. I think of life as a play, with successive ages or decades as different acts in the play. Now surely 60 is coming up to the curtain on the final act, whether the act lasts one year or thirty seven as in my mother's case. I have a feeling that these years may be the most fulfilling of my life. and so far I have had an interesting and adventurous life.

I have only one unfulfilled ambition, apart from seeing my friends again in Amsterdam. That is to go the Metropolitan Opera in New York. I listen to it on the radio, and enjoy the intervals, when a very friendly lady gives credit to everyone from the Producer down to the cleaner. I love the Americans and their country and the fact that they are so egalitarian. So I have collared a close Polish friend of mine and virtually extraced a promise from her that we will 'do' New York together sometime in the coming years.

I celebrated my birthday by starting on Saturday with a group of diverse friends, food and drink. Yesterday I went to Mass, where grace was poured out and I felt overwhelmed by the love of it all. In the afternoon more friends came round, and also in the evening.

I have a friend who celebrated her 60th birthday for the whole year. So watch this space!

Love and shalom
Sister Gila