PROTECTION PRAYER

I was on holiday in Israel in August. I remember beautiful moments, such as sipping my glass of wine in the wine bar of the De Karina chocolate factory in Ein Zivan while my two-year-old son played with some new hi-tech bottle-opening device.

Next door, my other children were making sweets in the workshop, and my wife was drinking her Viennese chocolate coffee in the coffee shop. Outside, I could see carefree children playing in the sunshine and, in the distance, the beautiful chalets of the Moshav’s zimmers nestling up to a modern swimming pool complex.

A few miles away, there is a road sign, pointing to an IDF unit’s base on the ridge of Ramat HaGolan.

Twenty miles after that, sits the Al Nursa army (Al Qaeda). Fifty miles beyond that, sits Islamic State. But I feel safe. So do the villagers and visitors to the area.

On Yom Kippur, we sometimes concentrate on the curses in Ki Tavo. However, we must remember overwhelmingly the message of love and our divine protection at this time of year, and what we have to do to keep it.

Shana Tova! Harold Miller London