A letter from Israel

or "The Meaning of the number  22, 993 in Israel " In the Commonwealth fallen soldiers are remembered by buying and wearing a paper poppies but here in Israel people fly the Israeli flag. Copyright: comedynose In South Africa (and other commonwealth countries) fallen soldiers are honored on  Remembrance Day , usually on the 11th of November. Ceremonies are held in a few of the large cities and small paper poppies are sold to raise funds for military veterans in need.

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is  vanity." Kohelet 1  (Ecclesiates) 

People all have their own private saddest days. They may have had their house foreclosed, had to bury their parents or even a child. So maybe I am not speaking for all Israelis when I say that Holocaust Day is the saddest day in Israel. But it really feels like it.

A Purple Judas tree A month or so after the almond blossoms are gone, the beautiful flowers of the Judas tree show up in loud purple glory in Israel.

Copy right: Goldberg  Some Israeli soldiers - just look how young they are. This week I helped friends of mine give a send-off party for their 18-year old son. He wasn't going to university or work in another city. No, he was off to join the Israeli army.