Tag Archives: Holocaust

The Corona Chronicles – Never Forget

Posted on April 28, 2022 by Shimona from the Palace

Today, in Israel, we are marking Holocaust Remembrance Day – or, to give it its full title, Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day. And I stress the word Heroism. Because while many people think Jews went like lambs to the … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

The Corona Chronicles – How Putin Single-Handedly Defeated COVID-19

Posted on March 3, 2022 by Shimona from the Palace

Have you noticed how nobody is talking about the pandemic any more? True, the transmission rate and other numbers are falling and the Fifth Wave did seem to be gradually subsiding (here, in Israel, at any rate) throughout February, although … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in History, International Relations, News, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Grecian Getaway – Day 7: All Good Things Must Come to an End

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Shimona from the Palace

The following day was to be the last of our tour.  After breakfast, we loaded our suitcases onto the bus and set forth for Veroia or Veria. Here, too, there was a Jewish community as early as the 1st century … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Archaeology, History, Photography, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Grecian Getaway – Day 6: Jerusalem of the Balkans, Madre de Israel

Posted on October 24, 2019 by Shimona from the Palace

There has been a Jewish presence in Thessaloniki (or Salonika, as it was known to its mostly Sephardic, Ladino-speaking Jewish citizens) for over 2000 years.  According to some researchers, Jews have been there since the city’s foundation, in 315 BCE.  … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in History, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Memories (Real – or Imagined)

Posted on August 29, 2019 by Shimona from the Palace

80 years ago today, on the 29th of August 1939, the SS Warszawa sailed up the Thames estuary, and docked in the Port of London. On board were about 70 Jewish refugee children, who had sailed just four days earlier … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Autobiography/biography, Books, History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

A Concert All In Blue

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Shimona from the Palace

Shabbat, the 21st of Tammuz, – Saturday, July 24th, 1943. The Kovno Ghetto. In the building which had once housed the famous Slobodka Yeshiva and was now the home of the Jewish Ghetto Police, an amazing, clandestine concert was taking … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in History, Music, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

The Age of Babylon and the Valley of the Dry Bones

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Shimona from the Palace

Last month saw the start of the 2016/17 academic year at Yad Ben Zvi, with a brand new series of Bible study tours linked to Project 929, about which I have written several times in the past. Since, last month, we finished … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in Archaeology, History, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Thoughts on Yom Hashoah

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Shimona from the Palace

Year after year, on Yom Hashoah, I watch the programmes on Israel TV devoted to the subject of the Holocaust and I want to cry out, in the words of Shakespeare’s King Lear: “Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in History, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Remembrance and Beyond: Commemorating the Holocaust – Part 4

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Shimona from the Palace

Monday, January 27th, got off to a bad start – a very bad start. This was the day we were due to leave Bayreuth and travel to Switzerland, for two concerts and the “grand finale” of our tour, namely, the official International Holocaust … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in International Relations, Music, Tourism, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Remembrance and Beyond: Commemorating the Holocaust – Part 3

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Shimona from the Palace

In Germany at the end of January, it doesn’t get light until almost 8 a.m. Accordingly, when I awoke on Sunday, January 26th, it was not until I had washed and dressed that I threw open the curtains – and … Continue reading →

Rate this:

Posted in International Relations, Music, Photography, Tourism, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments