Winding down to Toronto

My dear Friends

By this time next week I will be high in the sky and almost in Toronto! I feel calm and excited at the same time. I am blessed with a great place to stay amongst some real good friends who run an international guest house right in the middle of everything in the Annexe, a neighbourhood of artists, poets and musicians which has been described as 'the most vibrant in the whole of North America.'

On the first day I will chill out and maybe take a slow walk down Bloor Street, to just get myself re-oriented. Then have a bite to eat and watch the world go by-I am assuming that the weather will be warm! On the Sunday I hope to go to the Eaton Centre to buy myself a pair of trainers-the Catholic Cathedral is just nearby. It will be the Feast of Corpus Christi and Pope Francis has suggested that we all might like to gather in our respective places and countries and pray in adoration.

The rest that I know I am going to keep a secret and will let you know on my return. My programme will include relatives and friends and - oh - an ice cream every day!

Catch up with you about the 21st of June(if not before)-be well until then.

Shalom and more shalom
Your Friend Gila xx

Free as a bird

My dear Friends

Now that I have got past the stressful stuff, i am feeling quite calm in the run up to Canada. I celebrated the Feast of the Ascension, 6 weeks after Easter, on the usual day last Thursday with my Protestant friends, who welcomed me at their little service in town, where I sat beside and prayed with a Northern Irish Protestant lady. It was very moving. They allowed me to do the reading, Acts 1-11 where we celebrated the Ascension of Jesus into heaven at Bethany and anticipated the coming of the Holy Spirit at the end of this week.

The Catholic church in England and Wales transferred the Feast to Sunday, this morning, so I got a double dose of grace and two wonderful sermons-one from the Protestant minister last Thursday and today from our local Dominican priest.

Speaking of Bethany-after Sister Jane's funeral a few weeks ago, (see a couple of entries ago) I needed some fortification so I went to a large Cambridge hotel to have a brandy-my mother used to carry a small flask around with her for 'medicinal purposes.' A young man was serving behind the bar. He was charming, a Palestinian and - he had been born in Bethany! It is an interesting story, because his uncle and the whole family decided to move to Jericho, where it's extremely hot. I told the young man of my experience way back in 1965 in the summer, my first visit to Israel  We went on a tour bus to the Dead Sea and Jericho-the air conditioning broke down and it was 110 Fahrenheit in the shade!

We started discussing the situation in Israel-Palestine, where Jericho is apparently now part of Palestinian territory, near Gaza. This young man said it was nothing to do with building on the West Bank. The main issue was how to educate the children on both sides not to hate. I told him how my cousin married an Israeli whom she met on a farming programme in Essex, they went out to live in Israel and her husband worked with the Arabs. After the 6 day war, when her children were growing up, her daughter took a very negative view of the Arabs and was horrified when I said (this was on my second visit) that i had a visa to go to Egypt. My poor cousin assured me that she had never brought up her children to hate.

Today we get an overview of the whole of creation and the Trinity ruling over the world. Whatever happens on this earthly plane, we must never give up hope and must always remember, as my mother used to tell me when things went wrong that: 'God rules the world.'

Shalom and more shalom
Gila

The Margolin music shop

My dear Friends

It's a small world. A rather tired-looking Englishman was standing at the corner of the Clare bridge, near the Scholar's Garden, peering into the river at all the punts, as i was crossing the bridge from the college to go to the University library.

I engaged him in conversation and discovered he was on a conference of Spanish literature, which was just coming to an end. In the course of our chat, I discovered that he had lived in Mexico City for over 35 years. I have never been there, but my father's sister had married a GI during the war and i had a feeling that a relative of his had made his way to South America.

'Is it true that there is a music shop in Mexico City, which bears my family name of Margolin?' I asked the nice gentleman. 'Yes indeed,' he replied. 'It has been known for many years as a great centre for classical music. But it is on the point of closing down, as they can't compete with the internet.'

I felt a little sad, and went on my way. Next day i wrote to my sister-in-law in London and asked her to tell my brother this story about the music shop.I am sure that he already knew that it existed. My brother and my late father worked together to build up Dansette Record Players, a firm that was to produce the first hi-fis in the UK in the 1950's.

Music is in my blood and in my genes.It gives me great pleasure that our family name, a Russian Jewish one (my grandfather came from Minsk and was a cabinet maker) has travelled so far and became the name of a music shop in an entirely different continent.

But my heart goes out to the man on the bridge in Clare college, who seemed a little sad too.

Have a good week
Shalom from Gila

My friend Sister Jane

My dear Friends

Recently, as you know, I lost an old and dear Friend, Benigna, someone with whom I lived for sixteen years. Very recently I lost another dear Friend, Sister Jane, who used to come and visit me and got to know Benigna.

Sister Jane, an Irish nun, who lived in community in Cambridge for 60 years  but who made regular trips back home to see her family and revisit the beauties of the Irish countryside, was one of my first Catholic friends when I came into the Church in 1989. I was struck by her deeply prayerful and contemplative nature, which was combined with a love and empathy with the poor and the marginalised and those who were depressed, upset or grieving.

But she could be very joyful too-she loved the Jewish people and was very moved by a visit she made to Israel-Palestine. Perhaps that was why I felt so close to her. When I started co-hosting Passover Seder meals in the traditional way for mainly Catholics in the large Catholic Church in Cambridge, she not only participated in every one over the fifteen years but arrived early to lay out the tables with all the ritual foods.

She had a very simple and pure heart, combined with a curious mind. She loved music and came to some of my concerts. When we were able to have a chapel in Benigna's garden in 2002 and Mass was occasionally celebrated there, she would attend with a few of her fellow Sisters. I remember on one occasion that she was very keen afterwards to sample the Polish vodka I was so fond of. From time to time she would invite me to the convent, for Mass and a bite of supper, making sure that i was well looked after.

She died in Holy Week and on the Jewish Passover, just hours before I was due to attend a communal Seder in the Jewish community-no accident I felt. I had a lovely warm presence to accompany me, just as I had had in all those other Seder meals. Her funeral was full to overflowing, with a lovely Irish hymn amongst others and her presence lives on.

Hallelujah!
Shalom from Gila 

Holy week and Easter Saturday

My dear Friends

I can't believe that we have come to the end of Holy Week and Easter, and the Risen Christ, is upon us. This week has been a bit of a whirlwind, as I have bowed to the Spirit and let god lead me through all sorts of encounters with different faith groups. It started on Palm Sunday, when i was unexpectedly asked to read as the third voice of the Passion, the events leading up to, and including the death of Jesus on the Cross.

Palm Sunday and Good (really meaning Holy) Friday are always difficult and painful days for a Jewish Christian, when you feel torn between your love for your own Jewish people and your love for your Lord(explains why the Gospel of John can be seen as controversial.) But of course they are not contradictory, far from it as the Jews still have a role to play in the history of salvation, something which has meant more to me now that I have been twenty four years in the Catholic Church. (It was on this Saturday that i was baptised and confirmed.) And speaking out the different voices in Church last Sunday  I became more aware of the battle between Good and Evil, which was not just played out on the particular but continues on the universal plane.

Tuesday I was with my friends in the little Independent Evangelical Church round the corner from my home, where i have a close relationship with the Pastor and his wife. Tuesday evening was pure JOY as I joined the Beth Shalom Jewish community round the communal Seder table for the Jewish Passover and relished in the singing. I met friends, old an new as we recounted the Exodus from Egypt, the liberation of the people from bondage to redemption and sorrow to joy-we enjoyed the traditional four cups of wine and opened the door for Elijah and the heralding of the Messiah.

In between these two events I learned that my very dear friend, Sr Jane, had just died. I had no time to grieve as i prepared for the Seder, but reflected it was a most timely moment for her to enter her heavenly home on Passover and Holy week, as she loved the Jewish people and came to all of my passover meals that I presented in the Church, arriving two hours ahead in order to lay out tables with all the ritual food. Not only was she loved in the parish, but in the wider community and as well as having a heart for Israel and justice, she was often helping the poor and marginalised, often in hidden ways.

To be continued!

By the time i write the next instalment it will be Easter ans xtill Passover.

Chag Sameach and Krystos Voskreas-Christ is Risen!

Shalom from Gila 

Habemus papem-we have a Pope!

My dear Friends

There was a cartoon in the paper last week. Coming out of the Papal chimney was smoke-not white or black, but pink! The caption read-'It's a girl!'

Well, the church has not yet become that revolutionary but we do have a slightly unusual man at the top. Pope Francis I seems a holy, good and above all, humble man, who chose the name of Francis after St Francis of Assisi. A Saint devoted to joyful poverty he is beloved round the world and crosses the divide of all religions and cultures. He is the attributed author of Make me a channel of your peace, a poem and song dedicated to bringing love out of hatred, joy out of sorrow, healing and reconciling misunderstandings and anger-so very close to my own heart and mission.

Apparently the new Pope, on his first day at the Vatican, asked the chauffeur to drive him into town. He stopped at the hotel he had stayed in before the Conclave (election of the Pope), paid his bill and carried his own bags out. He paused to talk to passers by, on their way to work or school.

No-one is underestimating the huge task which lies ahead, not only to reform the governing body of cardinals in the Vatican itself, but to heal the wounds of abuse and hopefully address the question of human sexuality in a deeper way, while not compromising the central tenets of the faith. Apparently he has declared that we must respect everyone.

My own deepest wish is that he moves on the process of Jewish Christian reconciliation, begun in earnest in the last fifty years, and that he reaches out to other faiths and to those who have none.He is praying for everyone in his heart.As a Jesuit he has the intellectual capacity, as well his obvious prayerfulness to make inroads into the enormous task he faces. His sense of humour will serve him well.

Shalom from Gila

Benigna

My dear Friends

Since I last posted a text, there has been some sad news. My landlady of sixteen years and my dear friend, Benigna, has passed away.At times she was as close to me as my own mother.

I lived with Benigna for sixteen years, from 1987 until 2003, when i moved over the river from her house in the South of Cambridge to the North and my present flat. The years with her in the big house were important and formative. People from all the world used to stay there and feel welcome.

Born into an upper middle class English family, who could boast Rab Butler amongst its members, Benigna went to the Royal College of Music in her early twenties to study piano. She distinguished herself and became a valued accompanist to many musicians, including myself-I used to sing with her and we gave small concerts together, initially for Peace and Reconciliation.It was in her house the I made the official foundation of The Little Sisters of Joy with the help of a French friend on 7th March 1999.

Benigna was an avid supporter of the Liberal Democrats and the orange flag which used to fly outside our house at election time stood out in what was mainly a Tory neighbourhood.She was a regular attender at Trumpington parish Church and I went to the Midnight Service with her in the Christmas of 1999. When I became a Catholic she was very supportive, being naturally deeply ecumenical.

I have many happy memories of sitting on the lawn in her extensive garden with a variety of friends. Benigna also hosted many of the musical events in the Jewish community, as she had married a German Jew, the distinguished professor Herman Lehmann, during the war. She had four children, three of whom survive-her daughter Fardijah, lives in Cambridge and there is also a granddaughter with several children.

Benigna's passing really marks the end of an era-she shaped and changed many peoples' lives. Her name means kindness and no better person could embody this. She will be truly missed.

Shalom from Gila