My brother’s drosha (sermon) on this week’s sedra (Torah reading)

This week saw the UK’s Chief Rabbi speaking at The Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace – something very hard to imagine happening before The Abraham Accords. Appropriately, the sedra this week is VaYeira (Genesis 18:1 to 22:24) and my brother penned the following for a weekly email newsletter sent to volunteers at a local Jewish care home.

In last week’s sedra, and continuing this week, we read about arguably the most influential human being of all time: Avraham ovinu – Abraham our father.  Not only the original founding father/ancestor of the Jewish people but also initiator of the very idea of belief in G-d which has spread to the 4 corners of the earth.  

In Ethics Of The Fathers we are told that Abraham was tested with ten trials by Hashem.  Now although there is some dispute about what the 10 trials were, all commentators agree that the 10th and the most difficult trial was the startling command to sacrifice his son Isaac, as recounted at the end of this week’s sedra, VaYeira.

The Talmud says that every Jew is obligated to say, “when will my deeds reach those of my fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob?” –  a pretty tall order one has to say!  If we think for even a few minutes about the enormity of that tenth test, is it really realistic for us to achieve such an incredible level of dedication?  I’d like to suggest a couple of explanations…

Number one: The Talmud does not say we are obligated to be as great as Abraham – rather we should aspire to such greatness – and if, understandably, we conclude that it is not in our capabilities maybe we should at least sigh about it.  In a similar vein the Chafetz Chaim zt”l said that if, after reading through his eponymous book on guarding one’s speech, a person breathes a deep sigh because of feeling unable to keep to the demanding laws therein, even so it would have been a worthwhile venture on the reader’s part.

Secondly, we all know that it worked out well in the end because Hashem retracted his command at the 11th hour – almost like a Batman and Robin episode where they somehow managed to escape at the very last moment.  But such is the nature of life – real life! The Talmud says, “one should never give up hope even if a sword is dangling over his neck”.  And we have all heard of people being saved incredibly from illness, danger, death, war etc when their fate appeared to be sealed.  Although Abraham was not hoping for a last-minute reprieve- we are told that he did Hashem’s command with love and alacrity – nonetheless we can learn from the episode that what seems final and inevitable ain’t necessarily so.

Thirdly, as a general idea we can try and “make Hashem’s will our will” which is of course a challenge to us at every twist and turn.  No one since Abraham has or will ever be commanded by G-d to kill their own child and offer it as a sacrifice.  But there are innumerable ways in which we are commanded to make ‘sacrifices’ for our Judaism, be it not eating things we would like to, not doing things we’d like to on Shabbas or Yom Tov, or on the positive side, spending time and money on mitzvos(charity, mezuzahs, tefillin, kosher food etc etc) that we might prefer to expend on our personal pleasures/expenses.

A man once complained to his Rebbe that he just doesn’t enjoy davenning and learning and finds it a great effort and burden to have to do those things. The Rebbe replied: I envy you!   I have a burning love for Hashem and all his mitzvahs and I get spiritually uplifted from doing them, so I can’t claim to be serving Hashem doing his will as much as someone like you who has to fight his desire to not do these things –  and yet you overcome that and still do Hashem’s mitzvahs!

Max Witriol

Women’s Greatest Own Goal

Football Apathetic by Max Witriol

There are a number of reasons why I do not watch football any more.  Primarily, I suppose, because I’m getting on in years, and despite playing the game “after a (very obsolete) fashion” till I was 50 and watching it on tele a good few years beyond that, there comes a time in a person’s life when he feels he has to jettison the frivolities of youth, albeit very belatedly.

 Of course the pandemic did not help.  The idea of playing behind closed doors with superimposed crowd sound effects, along with the usual banal commentating, felt like a weak joke.  And the pandemic refocused priorities – people applauded frontline NHS health staff and other key workers, not the pampered, overpaid Premier League icons normally held in such high esteem. They and actors and pop stars, as well as those famous for being famous, were dethroned – a welcome byproduct of the pandemic. 

Those who turned out to clap on Thursday evenings, children who drew their thank you NHS pictures, even the mainstream media, focused their adoration on decent hard-working people for a change. Alas, it would appear that all this was just a flash in the bedpan, so to speak, as burnt-out nurses have been left to soldier on while, even as I type, the great moral compass that is the BBC is calling England players heroes for winning a match.

And we had the disgraceful and bizarre politicisation of football like never before, as football chiefs jumped on the BLM bandwagon. They still refuse to get off, despite the knowledge that they are sanctioning, nay demanding, footballers align themselves with an overtly Marxist organisation. When I first heard that footballers were ‘taking the knee’ before a match in the week of the BLM eruption, I was disgusted.  Months later, in conversation with a friend, I was incredulous to learn that this political gesture had been happening before every single game. And it has carried on ever since. 

Consider that we have only one day a year in which society in general, and football in particular, honours the memory of all those who died protecting our freedoms in World Wars l and ll.  I cannot bring myself to watch the game that I used to love when it is in thrall to a movement whose aggressive left-wing agenda is anathema to the vast majority of decent people and football fans.  But worst of all is the painfully predictable tactic of the self-righteous ‘liberals’: affording pariah status to anyone who doesn’t go along with this utter scandal. Hence those who boo the knee jerk nonsense are deemed racist. Talk about inversion of the moral order.

There is another reason why I have been turned off football and that is the equally leftist driven agenda of pushing women’s football and trying to elevate it to a status it simply cannot uphold.  And more to the point, why should it?  If you think I am being a misogynistic anti-feminist dinosaur you are only partly right.  Because here I think women have scored their greatest own goal since burning their bras – yes, as I am sure you realise by now, I am that old.

Of course, they have been massively encouraged by those who try and equate men and women in every which way – back to the BBC and the ‘liberals’ again. But here we have a case where women have ironically regressed by aping their male counterparts.

 My original point was that I had become apathetic to football by dint of being older and focusing on things in life which are more important.  All the years I was growing up as a football crazy boy/youth/grown man/middle-aged man, the women around me would consider it a nonsense and a complete waste of time – as the cliche of cliches went “it’s just 22 men kicking a piece of leather around”.   The women I knew were appalled at the obscene amounts of money these prima donnas were paid, most of whom were well-known for their infidelity to their hairdresser wives. Now I am not saying I retroactively agree with all and everything that women prioritise in life – nail polish, handbags, Phil Collins, etc – but football widows who saw their husbands spend hours away from the family and who felt entitled to more attention and help with the kids probably had a valid point – yes their views on football weren’t so ridiculous after all!    But now, in the name of “equality”, “diversity” and cultural Marxism,  they have to show that they are every bit as immature as men!

And it is not just women watching and playing football, but they are increasingly commentating on football.  And I do not mean commentating on women’s football but on men’s football!  Like there are not enough male ex-professional footballers who are far more qualified in terms of decades of top-level playing and/or managing experience to talk about the game.

And so now, after years of disappointment watching England fail miserably in tournament after tournament, when it saddened and disappointed me; now that I don’t really care I am probably gonna miss out on England finally being successful. 

But hey – I don’t care anymore.

Editor’s Note: this post was written before England’s quarter-final game…

POSTSCRIPT

Online racial abuse

All day every day, social media – Facebook, Instagram, tik-tok etc are cesspits of abuse and disgusting behaviour from hugely unintelligent elements of society.  It came as no surprise therefore that there was racial abuse directed at the three black players who failed in the Euro-20 final penalty shoot-out.   

The reaction to that reaction, however, has been over the top and completely disproportionate. As stated, abuse and hatred and vile language and death threats go on all the time. So why has the media and all the usual woke suspects blown this out of all proportion? The best way to deal with this abuse is to ignore it. But the only discussion I’ve heard since the final is not about the great performances of the players/manager etc but about a handful of morons who’ve got nothing better to do than what they normally do. 

Let’s be clear – we’re not talking about institutional racism in football or society.  Just a few nut-jobs who spend their time being gratuitously offensive. 

Sir Alex Ferguson tells about the time when he first came to Man United and was not at all successful. He was getting slated mercilessly  in the press and it was actually getting to him quite badly (who knew such a hard-nosed acerbic Scotsmen was so sensitive, eh?).  When he confided this to the late great Sir Matt Busby RIP, Sir Matt turned to him and said “there’s a simple solution Alex – just don’t read the papers”.  

Why give so much oxygen to the haters?

We can’t let these social media giants just get away with it you might say – which is absolutely true. But why the wall-to-wall outrage over this instance of trolling and nothing about the daily avalanche of hate from, e.g. Muslim extremists, terror organisations and general trolling?

You could argue that, ok at least this has brought the issue to much wider and urgent attention. But the question remains – what took the media so long, and why are they so selective with their criticism?

You couldn’t make it up # 29

Today’s lesson in double-talk focuses on the apparently loaded word colour.  Yes, that’s right you’ve guessed – it’s another foray into the weird and wonderful parallel universe where pc PC’s pound the beat ready to pounce on anyone not wearing the regulation straitjacket stipulated by the Ministry of Speech, aka the left-wing media.

OUT goes the outdated and offensive word coloured as a description of a black/brown man or woman.

IN   comes the fresh and apparently  innocuous person of colour as its officially sanctioned replacement.

That’s right grammar guys and girls, the periphrastic construction is good, inflection is bad(and in fact racist).

I understand how the word coloured referring to non-white people might be deemed offensive – after all, white is a colour every bit as much as black and brown and yellow (in fact arguably more so, since it contains all the colours of the spectrum). So sure, it’s understandable, if a little bit oversensitive in my opinion, to discourage the use of the word coloured and advocate describing any person’s skin pigment as is, be it black, white or anything in between.  But to replace the word coloured with of colour and to say that the latter is perfectly acceptable, and the former is utterly racist, is pretty bonkers by any standards.

I’m aware that some black people (am I allowed to say that?) are indeed against the term people of colour, partly because they don’t necessarily want to be lumped in with other ethnic minorities, and partly because they see the craziness of this inconsistency.

But clearly former FA chairman Greg Clarke was deemed to be beyond redemption for his use of the coloured word, to the extent that he lost his job and apologised profusely.  If he had referred to players of colour instead, he would not only still be the head of the FA, but regarded as a thoroughly forward thinking individual.

Who makes this drivel up? You can be sure it’s people in highly paid jobs, pontificating day and night in forums designed to keep them in cushy numbers, whilst ousting innocent decent people from theirs.  

If someone is obviously and genuinely racist then he shouldn’t be holding the top position in English football.  But to sack a man for using a term that is old-fashioned is a bit of an own goal.

Max Witriol

Shanah Tovah U’metuka: St John Vianney Church Tottenham and #antisemitism 5779

This is an email exchange I had with “St John Vianney Parish Community” (emphasis added by me to their emails). “Liberal” antisemitism has been so embedded in the UK for the last 20 years or more as to virtually go unnoticed. Certainly its perpetrators would assume – rightly – that it would normally go unchallenged. At least the brave few now standing up to Labour and its antisemitic leader have managed to expose leftist “pro-Palestinians” for the racists they are.

4 Jun 2018 

Dear Sir/Madam

Yesterday I went by your parish hall and saw a Free Palestine poster on display. I remember this as being there several years ago and assume it has been displayed continuously. As a Jew, I am perturbed as to why your church would do this. It suggests, intentionally or by neglect,  a one-sided view of what is a complex geopolitical issue. And indeed, one that is used by anti-Semites of the left and Islamists, to promote hatred of Jews and murderous attacks on them in Israel and beyond. Given that your church is close to the Stamford Hill Orthodox Jewish community (and certainly on bus routes used by many of its members), this shows a blatant disregard for the integration and tolerance of which your mission statement speaks. I would ask you therefore to remove this poster, or alternatively  to display an equally large Zionist poster alongside it. Yours faithfully

Philip Israel Witriol

13 Jun 2018 

Dear Sir/Madam

I have not had a reply or even acknowledgement to my email below – I have therefore now sent my email to Jewish communal organisations dealing with antisemitism for their information.

14 Jun 2018 

Dear Mr Witriol

In response to your email of 13 June 2018, sorry, our inbox shows that we did not receive your email on 4 June 2018, having gone back and checked our inbox records. Yes, the poster has been on display for a number of years. Looking at the situation in Gaza and the taking over of Palestinian land in Israel doesn’t seem right, so we need to keep this message in the public domain, with a view that justice for all may be achieved in the future. We find the antisemitism ‘ticket’ is wearing very thin. I assure you that we at St John Vianney Church are concern with Human Rights and Justice for all.

Yours sincerely

St John Vianney Parish Community

PS: Sorry the key to display cabinet is currently missing.

14 Jun 2018 

Dear Church Community

Thank you for your unsigned response which I take to represent the views of all your congregation. Based on this answer, I am now much clearer as to your views and will forward your reply to appropriate organisations that focus on antisemitism.
Regards
Philip Israel Witriol

15 Jun 2018 

Dear Mr Witriol

Thank you for your email dated 14 June 2018. We are very impressed that you plan to send our reply to the appropriate organisations that focus on antisemitism. If we are to continue this discuss I would ask you to come to speak to us face to face and have a dialogue so that we can come to a better understanding of where we stand. If this dialogue is not possible, I would appreciate if no further emails are sent to this email. I thank you for your consideration. Yours sincerely

St John Vianney Parish Community

17 Jun 2018 

Dear St John Vianney Parish Community

I am replying to your previous email. Like the first email it switches between we and I, but based on the tone and content, I assume the author is the same individual, and that you (singular) are replying on behalf of the St John Vianney Parish Community – or claim to do so. For this reply, please regard it as addressed to the individual author. You first stated that you “find the antisemitism ‘ticket’ is wearing very thin” and now that you “are very impressed that [I] plan to send [your] reply to the appropriate organisations that focus on antisemitism”. Clearly this attitude and tone makes me feel that your church (as represented by you) is not a safe and welcoming space for a Jew concerned with your Free Palestine poster. I cannot consider a face to face dialogue when you have made your view on antisemitism and Israel so plain.You say that you would “appreciate[it] if no further emails are sent to this email“. I have no choice but to send this to reply.I certainly will now refrain from further email correspondence directly with you (and would also appreciate it if no further emails are sent to this email from you), while reserving the right to copy you in to any replies I get – from Jewish and other organisations – for your information.
With many thanks. Yours sincerely

Philip Israel Witriol

PS: I too am sorry “the key to the display cabinet is currently missing” –  I trust you will be able to find a local locksmith who can resolve this if the key is not found soon.

 

The 23 Enigma by Max Witriol

Many years ago I seem to remember Ben Elton doing a comedy skit in which he lampooned young people who voted Conservative – he could forgive older people for voting Tory, but to do it when you’re young was to his mind unthinkably pathetic. Leaving aside the assumption that young people can’t think for themselves and choose to vote Conservative, I must admit I went along with this thinking and, to my shame, was a bit of a lefty – mainly due to the musical influence of Paul Weller, Billy Bragg and the other “anti-Fatcherites” of that era.  

However, I would flip Elton’s diatribe (especially now I’m all grown up) and say that while it’s one thing for a young person to vote Labour, for anyone over the age of 23 to do so is unforgivable – especially given the current state of the Labour Party and its appalling leader. We still see “older people” and, even worse, Jews among them, clinging to the view that the Labour Party is not infested with antisemitism. At best they say that Corbyn hasn’t done enough to address the problem  – they apparently still haven’t cottoned on to the fact that Corbyn is himself a vile antisemite.  And they are working to get him elected.

But unfortunately we live in a world where Conservatives  have also been totally influenced by left-wing thinking, especially in the realm of what might loosely be termed political correctness. Take Theresa May – as much as she is infinitely preferable to Corbyn, what is there to say about someone who allows hundreds of terrorists who have been fighting for Isis in Syria back into this country?  Or who oversees 23 thousand people on the MI5 terror suspect watchlist, but takes no action against any of them. Then when an attack happens we inevitably get told that one of the attackers was on the list  – like it’s an accolade, coz, hey, it’s been proven even more accurate than the weather forecast. A classic case of bolting the gate and then blowing it apart with dynamite.

But of course when anyone suggests that these 23,000 traitors should be locked up, let alone deported, they are instantly branded as a raving racist lunatic. Not only are they not locked up,  let alone deported, they are allowed to roam freely and, in many cases, claim housing and all other benefits so that they can carry on their treacherous plots against their host country. Future terrorists not only walking freely but being financed by the government – so effectively the nation is paying for its own destruction.

23 again. That was the number of Russian diplomats that Mrs. May expelled recently in the wake of the Russian nerve gas attack.  Yes, she overnight grew a spine and acted with decisiveness, strength and alacrity when it came to the aftermath of a single incident. I’m not criticising her for that action per se, but contrast that with her behaviour vis-a-vis the Islamist crisis in our midst and you see someone who is only prepared to take action when she feels the media and world leaders will go along with it (and yes, they largely climbed aboard).  A truly decisive and effective leader would tackle the would-be jihadists with absolute disregard for the politically correct lunatics who have taken over the asylum.

Small wonder then that she aligned herself with critics of Israel’s actions in protecting themselves from being invaded and massacred. “Show more restraint” she chastised the IDF for doing what they had to do to stop the bloodbath that the Palestinians were craving. I have to say, the excellent Michael Freeman showed far more restraint than I thought was humanly possible when interviewed on various TV programmes and asked why Israel acted like it did in the Gaza crisis.  I would have been tempted to say: “because we’re not mad, suicidal lunatics like you lot”. Then again, that’s why he’s the diplomat and I’m not.

Chazonus v. Punk by Max Witriol

I’ll put my cards on the table – I was never a big fan of chazanus [cantorial singing].  It was basically something you put up with, accepting it as part of shul [synagogue] going – itself an activity I never participated in very willingly.  

But as  Rabbi Lerer [Rabbi at Barnet synagogue] is fond of quoting from Joni Mitchell: “ Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”.   And now that chazonim [cantors] are all but extinct in London shuls, I’ve belatedly come to realise how important and undervalued they were.

Synagogue services have to a large extent gone the way of music in general.  As a reaction to the age of the big rock gods of the seventies, punk came along and said anyone can be in a band.  Rock music  was purveyed by self-indulgent and OLD musicians while punk proclaimed that three chords and loads of  youthful attitude was all you needed.

Shuls also took up the  “Breaking down the barriers” war cry and lay-members started to daven, [lead the service] bypassing the need to spend many long hard years studying nusach [melodic style of services] and voice production, melodies, pronunciation etc. Unsurprisingly, shuls were quite amenable to the idea of drastically reducing their wage bill by dispensing with the services of a paid officiant and replacing him with able volunteers.  The congregants weren’t too fussed either.  A lot of them, like me, were focused on reaching Adon Olam [a hymn sung at the close of the Sabbath service], which in turn signalled the kiddush [a small repast held after the prayer services] – and  a chazan often delayed that ultimate goal.  In any case shul was never the place to go for music – after all it never played any T. Rex or Slade. (Yes, I’m that old). But  now I can see the hugely detrimental effect this has had.

Whereas people of my generation can remember competent and decent services and all the grand pieces that chazanim effortlessly delivered, today there’s no importance given to trained and impressive voices being put to the service of God.  And it’s getting worse year by year, as a whole generation has grown up going to shul and hearing services that have no splendour, no grandeur and that can, frankly, be somewhat amateurish. Lay members do a very good job on a regular and voluntary basis, but there aren’t enough of them to go round and, understandably,  they’re not normally in the same league as a trained professional, even if they do have pleasant voices.  

But the real tragedy is that today’s congregants don’t know or expect any different. Yes, it is great and important to have audience involvement and good singable melodic tunes that everyone can join in with.  But that doesn’t mean to say you can’t also have someone with an excellent voice leading the sing-along and producing the notes your average Joe Rabinowitz can’t reach.

Unfortunately, the situation could soon get even worse.  The Chief Rabbi has proposed radically reforming the barmitzvah criteria by encouraging boys to lead a service,  i.e.  karaoke Judaism.  Now I realise there’s a reason why karaoke is popular.  It has stayed the course  and since initially bursting on the scene and being all the rage, it remains a standard and cheap alternative to having a band of talented musicians playing in a pub or party. It kills two birds with one stone. It engages larger numbers of people who aren’t very talented, and because anyone can do it there’s no shortage of people who are desperate to get on stage/ the bimah [platform in synagogue] and are more than happy to do so for nil remuneration.

But while some people might find it highly entertaining to see their drunken, tone-deaf  mates belting out  ‘Angels’ or ‘Mustang Sally’ or whatever , one has to question whether that’s the right road to go down for our shul services.  We now face the prospect of young boys being encouraged to lead our services, regardless of whether they have particularly pleasant voices or not.  As long as the boys get more involved, that is, apparently, all that matters – never mind that the congregation has to endure an ever-worsening quality of service.

As I said at the top of this article I wasn’t, and indeed still am not, a fan of chazanus.  I’ve never gone to a chazanus concert other than first night selichos services and don’t see myself doing so any time soon.  Nevertheless in a shul service that I’m attending anyway it would be nice to hear some very high quality singing even just a few times a year, and I think this would upgrade the status of a synagogue service in the eyes of  congregants.  For me it’s extremely embarrassing and rather a disgrace when there’s a big captive audience such as at a big barmitzvah – many of whom would not often come to shul – being treated to a shabby out-of-tune performance from someone who hasn’t got the self-awareness to realise he’s not up to the job.  

After twenty years of interactive Carlebach services I think it’s time the pendulum swung the other way.  Come back chazanim, all is forgiven.

The Long Walk To Freedom

Men jailed for years on end, such as Natan Sharansky, Gilad Shalit, Nelson Mandela or the biblical Joseph, who succeeded in staying positive, are truly remarkable individuals.

There are other parallels between those last two names. Both emerged from prison to lead their countries – the countries that had incarcerated them – from the brink of disaster to survival and success (albeit relative in the case of South Africa); both men preached forgiveness to those who had wronged them – Mandela to white South Africans, Joseph to his murder-plotting brothers who had sold him into slavery.  And both had hit songs written about them: Joseph’s by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Mandela’s by The Special A.K.A., L’havdil.

Note well that Mandela’s death occurred in the week when the climax of the story of Joseph was read in synagogue. A compelling case of Divine Providence and an absolute gift to Rabbis worldwide who could hardly fail to knock out a sermon linking the two. Or Living with the times as Lubavitch like to say.

Now I come to my point. On New Years Eve, I was half-watching Jools Holland’s Hogmanay (basically an excuse for the host to alternate between walking around failing to say something witty to his various B-list audience guests and gatecrashing his jazz piano into the performances of the bands – who can’t exactly refuse him). Some trendy band was in full swing with Jools, bless him, playing a highly-diminished boogie-woogie riff as “accompaniment”, when one of the band members called out: “This one goes out to a fallen soldier of last year – Nelson Mandela”.

I take no issue with referring to a political fighter as a soldier – as Mungo Jerry put it, “You Don’t Have To Be In The Army To Fight In The War”. But if we’re going to remember a fallen soldier of 2013 can I suggest Lee Rigby is the man to whom we in England should be dedicating songs. A man who served his country, seeking to keep his fellow citizens safe and free, who suffered the most horrific murder imaginable at the hands of truly evil men. But then trendy bands don’t dedicate songs to English soldiers, do they? Much less compose tributes to them.

Max Witriol

Lowering your BMI the BMI way

After working for more than three years as an administrator with district nurses (they visit housebound patients), I’m familiar with their dedication, conscientiousness, professionalism, stoicism, good-humouredness, empathy – and their enthusiasm for food.

There are various reasons why this team, perhaps nurses generally, are at least as  prone to carb (and fat) loading as the wider population: the stress and pressure of the job, no staff cafe, sometimes eating on the go or only in truncated breaks, patients giving gifts of chocolates etc, cultural norms (the Nigerian and Ghanaian ladies I work with certainly seem to value fuller figures), a fatalism from seeing disease affect the young and fit as well as the old and fat. And of course a self-reinforcing peer pressure where anyone slim is seen as, and is, the odd one out.

Regularly, I am amused by remarks that reflect the centrality of food to my colleagues. Perhaps the most hilarious was the day after the London riots (the health centre is in Tottenham):

[African nurse of mature years, choking with anger]: The fucking bastards even burnt down Dunkin’ Donuts…

Given my own gluttony and laziness, this particular nursing attribute was one I enthusiastically absorbed. Ignoring my better half’s admonitions to diet, my girth grew, my face fattened and my pectorals plumped up. My wake-up call only came when I had blood tests and my cholesterol levels were “that-is-high”-high. My GP nonchalantly said it was up to me whether to go on to statins right away or try a low-fat diet for six months.

I chose the latter and tightly embraced my own regimen – loosely described as Beer, Melon and Indolence (see what I’ve done there?). No reduction, if anything an increase in my daily beer intake (average of 2.5 pints, zero fat, 500 calories roughly), plenty of fruit, cottage cheese, yoghurt, oily fish, porridge, chicken slices and not much else. So – cutting out fatty foods and non-beer carbs. Making sure we had little or no “bad” foods in the flat and not eating during and after pub visits were other key changes. I also started cycling to work most days but reckoned that this used up few extra calories –  I certainly did no vigorous exercise.

On several occasions, a Health Care Professional (HCP) would ask me how I had managed to lose so much weight. I said I had given up various foods. This is a not untypical dialogue that ensued:

HCP: Like what?

ME: Have a guess.

HCP: (after a pensive pause): porridge? 

ME: No, think fatty foods.

HCP: Like what? I don’t eat fatty foods…

ME: (each item met by a head-shaking denial that it was partaken of): chocolate…cake…nuts…crisps… ice cream… fried chicken and chips…

HCP: (swivelling on her heels and walking away): Oh no, I can’t give that up…

Result: after six months I had lost about 30 pounds and taken at least two inches off my waistline. It had a limited effect on my cholesterol readings, just as the HCPs I spoke to had told me. Even this gung-ho article states “…you may be able to lower your reading by up to 20 per cent in three months…” [my emphasis].

So, I plumped for the statins and am now back to a more normal, balanced way of eating and drinking. But I have still cut down on my real ale and try to avoid bringing sinful food home – unless it’s been reduced by 90% at our local Tesco Express.

Return to Sendai

I have made five trips to my wife’s home town. Last year, my radio woke me up with a word I had never heard on air in the UK – Sendai.  A tsunami had struck. Even my intense rationality and Meg’s placidity could not completely cloak our anxiety. It took two days to make contact with her family. All was (relatively) well, but a city that I had developed an affection for was without electricity, gas, petrol and – worst – water.

When we went six months later, things in Sendai city itself were pretty much back to normal. Any discussion was pretty much confined to a matter-of-fact relating of events. Even a drive through areas that were still flattened did not engender the degree of emotional upset one might imagine. This blog gives some idea of the attitude of people in the aftermath.

From tragedy to the commonplace. A recent post on the engagingly quirky site Rocket News was entitled 46 Things That Surprise Foreigners in Japan. It starts

Even things that your average Japanese would consider completely commonplace and boring can be captivating for foreigners.

I would disagree with quite a few, though many are spot on. Here’s a few more that have struck me in Sendai:

• The presence of traffic guards everywhere – entrances to car parks, on building sites,  by roadworks etc
• Cyclists nonchalantly riding on pavements
• Raised markings for the blind on pavements on all major, and some quite minor roads
• The obligation to dress seasonally even if the weather is unseasonal
• Bowing in unexpected circumstances – one example: a department store employee might bow when leaving the shop floor to go on a break even when no customers are in sight

And on our last trip I got to go to a maid cafe, something that my wife and her friends found more captivating than I did. The maids’ grubby aprons, among other things, making it less than titillating for me.

You can ring my bell

One of the main reasons for my companions’ enjoyment appeared to be that the maids use the greetings associated with home rather than a public place. You can read more about maid cafes at this entertaining blog here. The irony for me was that we have been to genuinely old-fashioned coffee shops with waitresses in maid-like outfits elaborately preparing your drink – much more impressive!

A Guide for the Bedevilled

Recently, I came across Mamita Hebrea on You Tube and her monologue reminded me of the opening chapter (I Decide to Write a Book) of Ben Hecht‘s A Guide for the Bedevilled:

“I [his hostess “more famous than intelligent -which is one of the hazards of democracy”] would like to know how you explain the unpopularity of the Jews.”…She seemed to be asking me, as a Jew, to break down and confess something that would clear up the murder of the three million Jews of Europe… 

Written in 1944, I found it a brilliant and devastating analysis of German, American and universal antisemitism.

One of the two reviews on Amazon says that

 Hecht’s lofty vocabulary, though never pretentious, renders this book and its brilliant ideas almost inaccessible…

I cannot agree – most of it is written in what the same reviewer descibed as an “intimate, entertaining and engaging style” (!)

My copy is inscribed with the bookplate of Dave and Babs Blaushild.  Perhaps, based on this archive note, it even accompanied a Jewish American soldier during WWII.

Hecht’s powerful polemic

Ben Hecht was an active “highly partisan” Zionist – so described in the brief summary here – but in the book (an act of deception?) he seems to suggest that he no longer has any interest in Zionism. Although a copy and paste job in parts, this is another interesting mini biography.

Seventy years on The Longest Hatred continues to morph yet thrive, with the “intellectual” left’s alliance with Islamists seeming to harden with every jihadi attack on the Jewish state and the West.