Readers Letters - January 2020 Issue 203

Anything to say? Comments about this issue? We'd love to hear from you. Send emails to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or write to: Letters, ESRA Magazine, PO Box 3132, Herzliya 4613002. Letters will only be considered for publication if you include your name, address and phone number. The Editor reserves the right to trim letters where necessary. 

Jordan was impressive but I felt unwelcome 

I wish to pay tribute to the many who contribute to the ESRAmagazine on a regular basis, not the least of whom is its feisty and energetic editor Merle Guttmann.

The latest edition # 202, December 2019, was another great read from cover to cover and for me, particularly, the article about the trip to Petra.

I had visited Jordan two years ago, following more or less the same route taken by the ESRA group. As impressive as Petra is, I was continually reminded that I was Jewish, from Israel, and an unwelcome guest. Although the guides were polite, the word "Israel" was never mentioned. Eilat, the "Jewish", and Palestine were frequently used.

The writer's description of Jordan as a third-world country was an understatement. Other than Amman which is crammed with buildings, noise and dust, the outskirts and the rest of the country was highly undeveloped, even primitive. Towns were isolated spots carved into the desert, greenery was sparse if at all, and even Aqaba, into which millions of dollars were poured to raise the level of tourist services, was distinctly messy, crowded, and unappealing.

We will probably have to wait for peace "until kingdom comes" (no pun intended), but should it ever arrive in the form of mutual acceptance and respect, both Israel and Jordan would benefit greatly because we Jews love to help, and boy, do they need it.

Cynthia Barmor

Modiin 

ESRA be proud of your achievement

When mum threatened us: No eggplant – no aliyah! 

"Jews Don't Eat That!" in your ESRAmagazine (#201 September 2019) struck an interesting note with me. We grew up in a very small town in upstate New York, the only Jews in a rural village. Being ardent Zionists, we were all waiting anxiously for the day when we would make aliyah to the new country of Israel.

One day my mother returned from grocery-shopping with an eggplant, which none of us had ever seen before. Mom was overjoyed with it, and announced, "Look at this. It's what everybody in Israel eats!" Being an unimaginative cook, Mom treated it like any other vegetable for supper - she boiled it in a pot of salted water. Needless to say, it was disgusting. But Mom insisted, "You have to eat it, otherwise you can't come with us to Israel. This is what they eat there."

Had I only known how many delicious ways eggplant is cooked and served here, I would have been much less apprehensive when we finally came on aliyah. How lucky Mom was wrong!

Mimi Semuha

Yokneam Elite 

A memory of Geula Cohen 1925 - 2019 

Early 1980s: On the occasion of a heated Knesset debate, 17 Tehiya members entered into an equally heated debate in Geula Cohen's Jerusalem hotel room. Although surrounded by rooms of other MKs, they were astonished to find that Kol Israel was broadcasting the substance of their debate on the midnight news! The hotel management made the insulated management offices available to Ms. Cohen and members of the Tehiya Center to continue the debate, which passed quietly as far as the other hotel guests were concerned - and with no further leaks.

May Her Memory be Blessed

Siri Jones – Rosen

Eilat

Says Siri: I was working on a late night shift at the hotel. 

Alzheimer support group for English speakers 

In the last issue of your magazine (No. 202, December 2019), the writer of the article about dementia stated that "support groups are desperately needed.......".

For the benefit of your readers who may have family members with the symptoms she describes, please note that my husband and I have been running an Alzheimer's support group in the greater Tel Aviv area for English speakers for over 20 years.

During these many years, we have been listed under support groups in the classified sections of The Jerusalem Post, Haaretz English Edition, as well as ESRAmagazine. Please note that my name and phone number appears in your current edition on page 101. Anyone who contacts EMDA (the Israeli branch of the Worldwide Alzheimer's Association) in search of an English speakers' support group will be directed to me.

Paula Felberg, Petach Tikva

054 423 7797; 077 324 0639

email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Baruch Spinoza a Sephardic Jew, not a Litvak 

Johannesburg, South Africa 

Emily's poems 'are mystic and Chassidic' 

How I spread the word 

In my neighborhood there is an assisted living facility that is very grateful to get my already read ESRAmagazines. It is a good way to spread the word and to give pleasure to older persons.

Honey Stollman

Givatayim 

It's a wonderful life 

 I enjoy reading the ESRAmagazine and its many wonderful stories about life in Israel.

Akiva Hertzfeld

Modiin-Maccabim-Reut 

Thanks, Yael, for all your tech help 

Yael Rubel was the ESRAmagazine website technical support person for the past eight years and it was always a pleasure to work with her. She helped us add various features to the site in 2012, and then went on to be our main technical support. Many was the time I would call her when things went wrong or we needed urgent help to change or add features to the site, and Yael was always there for us. With her professional ability and very pleasant and gracious manner, she would manage to solve all our problems.

We have now launched our new website https://magazine.esra.org.il and have moved to a different support system so we will no longer be working with Yael, but in the name of all the ESRAmagazine team we would like to say "Thank you" to Yael for all the years of support and cooperation. We are most grateful to her.

Myra Olswang

ESRAmagazine Webmaster 

Theater is in Raanana