As we get older, nostalgia takes over many areas of our life and we often yearn for things from the past.

One of the most popular of our chaggim is Simchat Torah, which falls on the last day of Sukkot. As its name suggests, Simchat Torah celebrates the joy of the Torah. There is no record of this holiday before the 11th century, and its origin may have been in Spain.

The first time I met Irene Klass, of blessed memory, was in Israel. I was an olah hadasha (new immigrant) in 1971, and she had come to visit her daughter Naomi, who at that time lived near me in the Jerusalem suburb of Kiryat Moshe. “What do you do?” she asked me. “Well, I’m a writer, but haven’t found much work in Israel. In Australia, I was helping my husband in his pharmacy as a Revlon Beauty Consultant.”

Noah’s Ark. Do we believe it really happened or was it a kind of Biblical legend, allegory or parable? The author, an anthropologist as well as a barrister and criminologist, has done an amazing amount of research into ecology, and come up with a fascinating theory and a gripping children’s story of how it really might have been.

Every year, on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, we celebrate a strange holiday – Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees. The name is a short form of 15th Shevat – tet = 9 and vav = 6. This year, Tu b’Shevat falls on 3rd February, one month before Purim. It also has other names – Chag Hailanot – the Festival of the Trees; and Chag Haperot – the Festival of the Fruit.

The air over Jerusalem is saturated with prayers and dreams
Like the air over industrial cities
It is hard to breathe….