Category: Holidays

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Books Holidays memories

Loyalty

I’m back at last and ready to fill in some of the spaces since my last post, six weeks ago, if not earlier.

The first event hasn’t happened yet, but it will happen in just five days. Loyalty and the Learner will be published on 9th September.

Hints on the contents of Loyalty and the Learner.

Loyalty and the Learner is the second in the series of Jerusalem murder mysteries. The first was Style and the Solitary.

In Style and the Solitary, the murder took place in an office. This time, it takes place in an apartment. Next time, … that’s a secret for now. Nathalie, Asaf and a few other characters are back, and there are several new ones, some friendly and others not so much.

You don’t have to have read Style and the Solitary to understand Loyalty and the Learner. Just click on the link for the ebook, which can be pre-ordered now. The paperback will be available from various online bookshops.

Here’s another project I’ve been involved in and haven’t had a chance to announce:

WE ARE THE BULLIES is a collection of stories written from the point of view of a bully. I have one story in it, called Owning Your Space, and I also edited the collection. For me, it was interesting to put myself in a position I’ve never been in.

The book is available from various sites. I suggest searching for ‘we are the bullies miriam drori’.

What I did on holiday

In the middle of July, I attended a fun-filled and exhausting five-day festival of Israeli folk dancing in the Czech Republic.

Then I spent three weeks in the UK, visiting friends and family and attending an action-filled writers’ summer school known as Swanwick.

We were once with the same publisher.

I recently joined a fascinating tour of the new National Library in Jerusalem, but I could never write a post about it as good as this one.

Monday marked a year since I lost my husband. This is what I wrote on Facebook:

“Today is the second of September, exactly a year since the sudden, although expected, death of my husband, David, after 45 wonderful years of marriage. I feel as if I had exactly five weeks to grieve before that event was superseded by one that changed the lives of everyone in Israel and has repercussions for the whole world. I’m coping with my loss, smiling at the memories, and am aware that people all around me are suffering much more.”

We’re planning to hold an exhibition of David’s art shortly.

Lhasa, Tibet, 2019

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Holidays

A Much-Needed Trip

Four years had passed since we’d visited the old country. Yet, despite all that had taken place in the interim, England looked very much as it did last time. The countryside, the towns, the weather appeared as we rembered them.

We met up with family and friends, but mostly we hiked around the south of the country, the furthest place being the Isle of Wight, where we struggled against the strong wind. At least, I did; D took it in his stride.

Of all the photos I posted on Facebook, the ones that got the most responses were these:

With the first photo, I expressed my surprise that D put the cream on first and spread the jam on top. Some commenters agreed with me while others sided with D. A few days later, I took the second photo and posted:

I’m shocked! 😲 Today, he put the jam on first, saying he likes to try different ways. Take note, all those who said he was right and I was wrong. He is very fickle. 🤣

Me

If you don’t know what I’m going on about, you must come from outside the UK. The question of how to put jam and cream on your scones is the most serious and contentious topic there. 🤣

Now we’re back in the country that’s continuously changing, with weather we could do without.

Watch this space tomorrow when I will be announcing something exciting.

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Books Holidays

Being an Outsider

India - Odisha - Bison Horn Maria village.

Sometimes, being an outsider is all right.

On our many trips abroad over the years, we have always been outsiders. Not so much in the UK, where most people don’t usually realise we’re not one of them, but most definitely in places like India, Ethiopia, Egypt and Japan, even when we dressed like the indigenous population.

India – Odisha – Bison Horn Maria village.
Dancing in Egypt
Ethiopia 2017: Wakonos Village.
We are Japanese, if you please.

In my childhood, I was an unwilling outsider. Like all children, I wanted to fit in but I never did.

However, my outsiderness was never as severe as Martin’s. He suffered in silence, learning behaviours that made life bearable as a child, but didn’t prepare him for being adult.

That all changed for Martin when he was sent to Japan to represent his company, not necessarily in a good way, although ultimately…

No, I won’t tell you the ending of Cultivating a Fuji, the new edition of which is out in one week: 19th January. You can pre-order it now from Amazon.

Nowadays, I’m happy to be an outsider. As an author, it’s helpful to get an outsider’s perspective. And I like being unique, rather than fitting some pattern. What a shame that children can’t see those benefits, or accept differences.

Categories
Holidays

Chanukah, Day 8

To make up for my recent lack of attention to this blog, I’m posting thoughts about Chanukah for each day of the eight-day festival. Today, I’m talking about:

WOMEN

There are women associated with Chanukah. Their names are Hannah and Judith (Yehudit). That’s two women. Or maybe three. Or only one. I’ll explain.

Here’s a story about Hannah. It’s a story of sexual violation and hardly surprising, it seems to me, that it’s not told in kindergartens. But there is another story that’s told about Hannah.

Hannah witnessed all seven of her sons being tortured, one by one, and killed for refusing to bow down to an idol, or for refusing to eat pork – the story varies. Never did she beg any of them to comply with the commands in order to stay alive.

Is that the same Hannah or a different one? Then there’s Judith (Yehudit), who might also have been Hannah. She beheaded the Assyrian general, Holofernes.

Reading these stories makes me regard those ancient times as violent and dangerous. But are human beings really any better now?

We will continue to light candles and hope to bring light to a dark world.

Image by Chen from Pixabay

Thank you for reading this series of posts. I wish you all a happy and healthy 2023. My plans for 2023 begin with republishing my uplit book, Cultivating a Fuji, through Ocelot Press. More about that soon.

Categories
Holidays

Chanukah, Day 7

To make up for my recent lack of attention to this blog, I’m posting thoughts about Chanukah for each day of the eight-day festival. Today, I’m talking about:

SONGS

Festivals are not only about eating. There’s also singing. Of the many songs associated with Chanukah, here are some that I particularly like.

I’ll start with the two songs recited every evening with the lighting of the candles, but with tunes I prefer to the ones normally heard. Well, I would have done, but I couldn’t find my favourite tune for Hanerot Halalu at all on YouTube. I had to listen to numerous versions of Ma’oz Tzur until I found the one I wanted:

Of all the other songs for Chanukah, this is the one I like the best, just because of the tune:

Here’s a folk dance that’s associated with Chanukah, although it’s really about lighting candles in general. You can see the “candles” near the beginning and at the end.

Categories
Holidays

Chanukah, Day 6

To make up for my recent lack of attention to this blog, I’m posting thoughts about Chanukah for each day of the eight-day festival. Today, I’m talking about:

GREETINGS

Salutations! On the day of this post, you’re either approaching the end of a holiday, or just starting one, or neither, but I expect most of my readers will be in the first two categories, probably the second.

How do I greet those? Well, I know most people say, “Merry Christmas,” but I’m a bit wary of that because I remember certain Christians are less keen on the word “merry” because of its association with alcohol which they don’t drink. So I tend to say, “Happy Christmas.”

Likewise, “Happy Chanukah” is fine and so is “Chag Sameach” which means “Happy Holiday” and fits all the festivals.

But on most years, Chanukah is over before Christmas begins, and people feel they need to wish me something in return to my greeting, so they wish me a happy holiday season or something of that nature. While that would work for Jews living in the diapora, who are caught up in the holiday atmosphere, it doesn’t really work in Israel where life continues as usual. A better answer would be, “Thank you.” Pretend I’m wishing you happy birthday.

This year, of course, there’s no problem. So, to most readers,

🎄HAPPY HOLIDAYS!🕎

Categories
Holidays

Chanukah, Day 5

To make up for my recent lack of attention to this blog, I’m posting thoughts about Chanukah for each day of the eight-day festival. Today, I’m talking about:

SUFGANIYOT

They say that every Jewish festival can be summed up like this: They tried exterminate us; they failed; let’s eat. Chanukah follows the pattern.

Sufganiya (plural sufganiyot) is Hebrew for doughnut and shares its root with the word for sponge, due to its texture. Most are filled with jam. We prefer the ones with dulce de leche. Chocolate is also a popular filling. Some have exciting toppings.

Then there’s levivot (latkes) and other items from the various Jewish communities.

What all these foods have in common is that they’re fried in oil, linking them to the miracle, which I recounted on Day 2.

And yes, they’re all delicious and unhealthy. Fortunately, Chanukah lasts for only eight days!

Me, ten years ago
Categories
Holidays

Chanukah, Day 4

To make up for my recent lack of attention to this blog, I’m posting thoughts about Chanukah for each day of the eight-day festival. Today, I’m talking about:

SEVIVON

Sevivon is Hebrew for spinning top. In Yiddish, it’s called a dreidel.

Don McLean wrote a song about it.

On the each of the four vertical sides of the spinning top cube is a single letter that stand for a word in a sentence:

נ – Nנס – Nesmiracle
ג – Gגדול – Gadolbig
ה – Hהיה – Hayawas
פ – Pפה – Pohere

In other words: A big miracle happened here.

But that’s only in Israel. In other countries, the last letter is ש – Sh, standing for שם – Sham, meaning: there.

I’m not sure I’ve ever played with a sevivon, but there’s a tradition of playing with it while the candles are alight, usually trying to win chocolate money or low denomination coins.

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Holidays

Chanukah, Day 3

To make up for my recent lack of attention to this blog, I’m posting thoughts about Chanukah for each day of the eight-day festival. Today, I’m talking about:

MENORAH

What do you call that thing you stick the candles into?

In the UK, where I grew up, we always called it a menorah. But that name is wrong and should be reserved for the seven-branched candelabrum that stood in Jerusalem’s Holy Temple.

In modern-day Jerusalem there’s a menorah, created by Benno Elkan (1877-1960) that depicts “29 formative events, figures and concepts from the Old Testament and the history of the Jewish People.”

In Israel, we stick the candles into a chanukia. It has nine branches, one of which is set apart from the rest. The candle on that branch is called the shamash and is used to light all the other candles.

Categories
Holidays

Chanukah, Day 2

To make up for my recent lack of attention to this blog, I’m posting thoughts about Chanukah for each day of the eight-day festival. Today, I’m talking about:

STORY

Do you know the story of Chanukah?

The generally accepted (though disputed) story took place in the middle of the second century B.C.E (or B.C.) when the Second Temple stood in Jerusalem. The ruler of the Land of Israel at the time, Antiochus IV of Syria, led his soldiers to massacre thousands of Jews and desecrate the Temple. A rebellion was led by Mattityahu (Mattathias) and later his son, Yehuda (Judah) the Maccabee. The Jews drove the Syrians out of Jerusalem and set about cleansing the Temple.

The seven-branched candelabrum, representing knowledge and creation, was supposed to be kept burning every day, but there was only enough olive oil to burn for one day. By a miracle, the flames kept alight for eight days, leaving the people time to find a fresh supply of oil.

Jerusalem: a light show on the Old City walls.

The festival of Chanukah concentrates on the miracle and not on massacres. It’s a fun festival and also a minor one. In recent times, its proximity to Christmas (this year they coincide) has raised its status.