Fairacres

This is the last place I visit, and I'm glad to be completing the walk here.

Emet, Cyril's guide dog, gives Mitzpah a warm welcome. Mitzpah goes to sleep, waking only for a couple of well-earned pre-Shabbat biscuits. When I mention the statue at Liverpool Street Station in commemoration of the Kindertransport, Thea tells Claire Mandel and me that she came here from Berlin with the Transport. She was just twelve and a half years old. 'I remember my father blessing us in the hallway the night before we left', she said. They never saw each other again.

I go down the long corridor to see David Jackson. He used to come to every Talmud class, self-made scholar with his wonderful sense of humour. He's laughing again today. 'This is my last hug of the walk', I say to him. He tells me how, during a time when he found it hard to read much in the Siddur he created his own spirituality. 'More abstract', he says, 'It has four key
words: Life, spirit, goodness and love.'

At the UJIA

'Despite and because' explains Doug Krikler: despite all the terrifying politics of the Middle East and the appalling violence, and also precisely because of it, the UJIA and many organisations in Israel continue to be creative, continue to work for life and coexistence. The UJIA is focussing on benefiting all communities in the north. I learn that enrollment at Tel Hai College is up 40% because of this ideology. 'There are two narratives', explains James Libson, 'One which you read about in the papers, the other the optimism and spirit on the ground'.

I ask to here about the UJIA's projects and am fascinated to learn about the Green Thread, a threefold commitment to the environment, especially in the North of Israel, through exploring development opportunities in green businesses, through social actiobn and through education for the environment. David Janner-Klausner comes to the UJIA from working for the environment and we look forward together to when groups going to Israel for longer periods of time will travel by train and ship.

We are presented by the UJIA with a cheque for £5,000 for Noam to develop a project related to a theme emerging from my walk. Simon Davies and I look at each other as if we are both going to cry.

At The North London Hospice

I've always been moved by the spirit of the North London Hospice. So much has happened there in the lives of so many people lots of us have cared about deeply. It's a place of lovingkindness, humility, and outstanding skill. It brings us together, it reminds us not only of our shared mortality but of what makes life worthwhile, - love, beauty which has nourished us, those moments when God's spirit touches us.

We share a meditation in the Room of Quiet. I read from the Hallel Psalms:
'For you have saved my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.' I think for a moment that these are the most inappropriate of lines to say in a hospice, where people do die. But I explain why I think they in fact belong most deeply here: Places like this stop our spirit from succumbing utterly to the power of death; the people who work here sustain us when our feet do stumble, they lead us back to the land of the living with renewed faith in the value of life.

Shacharit at Immanuel College

It’s lovely to meet Mossy at his school and to daven Shacharit with him. Having the family’s company for part of the walk has been one of the highlights. After prayers a gentleman spoke about local poverty and homelessness. The school makes sandwiches for the centre which his organisation runs. I’m struck and shocked by the fact that they care for a thousand people each year. The man says, “Don’t imagine the poor and the homeless are feckless types. Anyone can become poor. We’ve had barristers and company directors who are homeless.” He shows a picture of a homeless man sleeping in a public toilet and saying “People don’t notice me, they don’t want to. They’re afraid.” The gentleman talks about accommodation and a family who’ve lived in one room 3m x 3m for 23 years. “That’s squalor” he says. And it’s right next door. Something from this walk is going to go to his organisation.

Mitzpah’s Thoughts

Will I ever get back to my house? I haven’t even been to shul for an entire week. I understand that my people have put in a new carpet while I’ve been away and I’m looking forward to replacing the old holes in exactly the same places as I used to chew them when I was small.

I don’t understand my people walk towards the cars. They are not afraid of the horrid sounds of rushing that they make and the screaming when they zoom past, but they don’t run for the rabbits and bark at the horses, and play with all those creatures who are their true brothers and sisters.

I hope I am appreciated. No dog in the annals of canine history has ever raised so much money for a shul before, so I modestly request that the new courtyard has a bowl of fresh water for visiting dogs, and that the offices include a comfortable bed for me.

Hospitality

Wherever I’ve gone I’ve been graciously received. Would I have offered the same degree of kindness, hospitality and blister pads to a guest who walked to my door? I hope so.

Many medieval synagogues had a room attached for travelling guests, and to fail to include such people in a Sabbath or indeed a daily meal would constitute a blot on the reputation on the whole community. Hachnasat orchim, welcoming guests, includes everything from an open door to an open heart, with a boiling kettle, a full pot of soup and a listening ear. How much this mitzvah matters! All through the ages there have been Jews, and of course others, who considered it a disgrace to have a closed door.

Elstree & Borehamwood Masorti’s Beginnings

It’s great to stay with our Shlicha Reli and her husband Yoel. They are extremely hospitable, and I appreciate learning a bit about their families.

The new Masorti congregation here has a monthly shiur and the theme appropriately enough is Beginnings. We take a number of passages from the Torah and stop to focus on the start of Moses’ journey.

We look at one of my favourite verses. Moses grew up and he went out to his brothers, and he felt for their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian man smite a Hebrew man of his brothers. We puzzle over Ibn Ezra’s comment that the first brothers are the Egyptians. So at the beginning of the verse Moses perceives himself as Egyptian. After all he’s adopted into the palace and who knows if anyone told him anything about the secret of his birth, but by the time he comes home that day his brothers have become the Hebrews. Michael Gluckman comments “so his journey that day was one of transformation. He finds his identity in discovering his values”. Maybe that’s what marks the true beginning of our journey: when we know who and what we care for.

Thanks to Eric and the Trekkies

I’m constantly grateful on this walk to Eric Weigert and the Trekkies. Eric prepared the maps for me, provided me with a pedestrian sat nav for emergencies (which mercifully I haven’t had to use) and was incredibly kind. But in a deeper sense, the Trekkies set the tone for the importance of walking and the love of nature in our community. May they have many many more miles beneath their boots.

Walking With Nicky

It’s wonderful to walk a stretch with Nicky. She notices the thick hedgerows and how carefully they’ve been maintained. A little further on I see 2 men creating an entire new hedge, so I stop to ask them about it. They explain that there’s been a lot of dead ash and trees which have fallen over so they are re-planting. It’s good to see that they’re putting in what will be, when it is grown, a proper thick hedge of trees. The young trees they’ve planted are protected with plastic against the rabbits and the deer. I hope to come this way in a few years time and see the saplings flowering in the spring.

My Faithful Talmud Class

Members of my Talmud class join me at the Guess’ home to study. There can be no Jewish walk without serious talmud torah and we learn a short passage from Tractate Brachot about moral responsibility and mitigating factors. Is it always our fault or is God to blame for anything?

This Talmud class has been running for 21 years and one person, Linda Samuels, has been attending for the whole of that period. But every participant has been faithful to it over long stretches of time. I’m really grateful for this. Thursday mornings at 9.30am are one of my highlights of the week.

Assembly at Bernards Heath Junior School, St Albans

The school have had a terrible loss at the weekend. A teacher called Jacquie Hannah, much loved by the children and staff, died suddenly without warning. She was only 46. She was the art coordinator and the children’s work is beautifully presented around the school. The Head Teacher, Mrs Kilpatrick speaks about what the school is doing to support the children, the parents and the staff. They have created a board where children can leave messages and letters. They have had a special assembly. They have made plans for the staff to have time together. The atmosphere of the school is lovely, full of a sense of caring. The Head Teacher and I have a few minutes to talk. I appreciate what it can be like to be responsible for an institution in a time of tragedy. Mrs Kilpatrick is doing everything right.

At the Assembly Mitzpah is on good form. He sits up, gives his paw for ‘Shalom’ and takes his biscuits. The children sing a song ‘Shalom My Friends, Shalom’. Two of the children are members of the St Albans Masorti congregation and the school expresses its wish to make even stronger links. There is something very special about a place which cares sensitively and well for young children. I feel moved by having had the opportunity of being there.

A Thoughtful Evening of Discussion with SAMS

I’ve always appreciated the St Albans Masorti community. They are invariably welcoming, kind, thoughtful and engaged in their Judaism. The community is also strategically acute and I’m glad that this walk will also make a small contribution to their building. And they have a great Rabbi, now three-quarters moved to the New London, in Jeremy Gordon.

They asked me to speak about how the Masorti Movement is different from Orthodoxy on the one hand and Reform on the other. I base my response on the teachings of Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs, but the conversation soon turns to the key priorities for the St Albans community and the Masorti Movement as a whole: serious learning engaged both in traditional text and modern critical thought; observance encouraged by a sense of obligation and community example without being judgmental about every individual; education from birth onwards so that every community has a pre-school, we develop a Masorti primary school and play our part in JCOSS; passion and depth of prayer fostered by knowledge and music (with great appreciation for the work of Jaclyn Chernett and her founding of the European Academy for Jewish Liturgy); and participation in the important agenda of young people in social action and commitment to social justice. It’s great to see the Movement thriving in so many places.

Signs of Spring

Brian draws my attention to hundreds of tiny purple violets in the grass. I see on the other side of the stream the buttercups beginning to flower. The alders and willows have their catkins, wild cherry is flowering in woodlands and hedgerows. Not far from the cemetery at Cheshunt, on the other side of a waterway there glows an array of orange and bright red twigs.

I’ve seen a lot of rabbits which Mitzi strangely seems to have missed. He did, however, notice a small flock of sheep who’d wandered from their field onto the path and I quickly put him on his lead.

A horse chases him all the way up a field towards the looming M25. Fortunately there is a fence between them.

Crossing the M25 and the A1M

Brian Berelowitz walks this stretch with me. We pause on the footbridge over the M25 and listen to the roar beneath. Mitzpah is not too anxious because he has been able to run up to the bridge across (well fenced) fields and there are no cars on the bridge itself. Brian and I note that this is what we do every other day - race by in our cars at that appalling pace making this terrible noise. Thank goodness for Shabbat, at least one day of peace. But somewhere inside we both feel ashamed of how we as humans behave. Much later in the day, as the sun is beginning to set, we cross the A1M. We miss the footbridge and walk along the side of a busy road. The noise terrifies him and poor Mitzpah has to be carried; he puts his paw round the back of my neck and settles down comfortably like a child who just won an argument.

At The Western Cemetery

Leslie Lyndon, Marion Davies and I go to visit the graves. We stop first at Rabbi and Mrs Jacobs. 'Did you know her name was actually Sophie?' Leslie and I agree that we have both always thought of her as Shula. 'She was a mother to her congregation' reads the inscription. Rabbi Jacobs specifically wanted these words to be on her stone. I miss them both hugely, miss phoning up with questions about halakhah and philosophy, miss sitting in Rabbi Jacobs' study, miss the sound of their voices.

We stop at Sandra's grave, Leslie's sister, who loved her family so much, loved animals too, especially dogs, and whose son Russell found Safi in the street all those years ago. We talk to our friends (I shan't say all the names, because it's so sad and because I might inadvertently give hurt if I leave out anybody). As we read the names and inscriptions I think of everyone's families and pray to God to send them blessing. We all cry.

I ask Leslie to sing an El Malei Rachamim for 'all our friends who have gone to their eternal rest' and he does so quietly and sweetly. We all cry. I think too of how this is the last day of Kaddish for my father. We wander slowly back together and wash our hands, saying: 'God shall swallow up death forever...'. We are all so involved with our thoughts that I had quite forgotten about the hundred mile walk. But, wherever else I may go, this is the heart of it.

[Photograph: ©2008MarionDavies]

Visit to the RSPB Site at Cornhill Meadows

Tim Webb, of the Royal Society For The Protection Of Birds, and I find each other with the help of mobile phones in the Cornhill Meadows above Waltham Abbey. The area is a dragonfly reserve and is beautiful. All along the Lee Valley there is water everywhere - canals, rivers, small lakes, reservoirs and tiny streams. The area marked clearly as 'The Abbey fish ponds' reminds me of Chaucer. The sun falls briefly on a group of weeping willows, illumining the far bank of the waterway in a glowing green which epitomises early spring. Two swans make a majestic descent onto a pond.

Later, walking north west along the canal I count twenty four swans at a glance. Mitzpah barks at almost all of them from the safe distance of the bank. Tim explains that he is producing a guide for Londoners about local birds and reserves and wants to include a section about faiths. I say why I feel so strongly that birdlife, like all life belongs to God and is precious and important. We talk about suburban gardens as habitats, and I promise to include in our newsletter extracts about how to care for the winged visitors in our gardens, together with brief Biblical notes.

Breakfast Minyan

Mitzpah and I sit outside a transport café sharing toast. The M25 is only 50 metres away. Inside (no dogs, so we stay outside) is a whole community of lorry drivers having breakfast. A great friendliness rules. The lady brings my tea outside with an apology for not letting Mitzpah in. This is really a minyan, a human community early in the morning.

The Woodland Trust at Theydon Bois

What lovely people. I phone John to say I’m almost there at Theydon Bois, then I miss the railway bridge and the path which would have cut almost a mile off the end of a very long walk. (Mitzpah hates these roads...the whiz from behind him of cars he cannot see). John and the charming photographer wait in the cold. By the time I arrive it is dark and a thin moon shines in the cold black sky.

Nicky and Kadya meet us with perfect timing at the entrance to the site where less than 3 weeks ago 25 of us from the shul planted trees. Mitzpah leaps into the car with delight, but then finds the energy to chase round and round unwearied by his 25 mile walk. The bench our shul has donated is beautiful – wide, rustic, made of pale oak. It sits above the trees we’ve planted. In 10 years time this will all be forest and birds will out-sing the roar of the M11.

[This photograph was kindly taken by Graham Fudger on behalf of The Woodland Trust]

Two Worlds Meet at the Lee Valley

Reaching the Lee Valley and the canal are wonderful moments. Mitzpah experiences liberation from the traffic and the lead. I enjoy the houses, every one of them with a mezuzah on one side and the clusters of men clutching tallis and tefillin bags wrapped in plastic covers. A large delivery of meat being packed into a van from a Kosher butcher. The signs on a house door saying Be'ruchim Ha’Baim with a picture of an aeroplane. And then on the other side the canal, the honking of geese, the swans and the green.

The Three Faiths Forum

A wonderful welcome. Mitzpah gets a vegetarian bone in the shape of a toothbrush which he promptly devoured.

We talk about walking and pilgrimage. I’m asked: “In Temple times Jewish people ascended on foot to Jerusalem. Where is Jewish pilgrimage now?”

“We used to go on journeys to study” comments a charming gentleman, head of the Moroccan community. “We would visit the graves of great Rabbis and study their teachings. I’ll take you somewhere which requires a 6 hour journey by mule”. I say I’ll definitely be coming. I think of Hanno Terrorde who arranges travel with donkeys. “We have lost the wisdom and simplicity of Nomadic culture. We should recapture it for at least a few weeks in the year” (That would be a real journey. I am being spoilt all along the way).

We talk too about the tension between life’s journey as the pursuit of personal spiritual fulfilment (reading lech lecha as go to the land where you discover yourself) and life’s journey as service to others (reading lech lecha as go to you – that is, others whom we care for and who care for us). I worry about the possible narcissism if the first idea is taken too exclusively, and note the number of young people I know who devote themselves to social justice. Ideally the spiritual journey and the moral journey should inspire each other.

Memories As I Pass Euston Station

I am just passing the side road next to Euston Station where my father once dropped us to take the night train to Scotland on a family holiday. Taking us to the train, collecting us with all our endless bags...when the children were babies...when they were that bit older...with all our mud and packages. All my life my father was there, picking me up and delivering me onwards. Tonight will be the last night in 11 months of saying kaddish.

Memories As I Pass Russell Square

I am just passing Russell Square and after that Tavistock Square, and of course I am thinking about Susan Levy and Miriam Hyman and 7th July. I remember the wonderful sense of family of the Levy family and of how Susan was tremendously proud of her home and of the humour and the love of the members of the family. I think of Mavis and John Hyman and Esther, and the courage and the extensive work they have done in memory of Miriam. Miriam had a gift for friendships and a love of beauty, and she took great joy in colour. Out of their grief, the family have done charitable work which has restored sight to countless people who would not have been able to see. Miriam was valued so much.

The Chapel at Great Ormond Street Hospital

Anthony Green and another friend from fundraising join the senior chaplain and me at the Chapel. We talk about what the work of this extraordinary hospital has meant to so many families. We speak of how common bonds of concern for children draw Christians, Muslims, Jews, people of all faiths and none together. We talk about how it's easy to take for granted the extraordinary care which the National Health Service at its best provides. I visited this hospital and The Royal Free, and will go to the North London Hospice above all else to express appreciation.

Then we prayed together for God’s support for all who try to bring healing.

The Importance of Documenting

I met Ben Barkow of the Weiner Library. We talked about the importance of the collection of documents the library houses. He told me a plan to extend this work to the documentation of other genocides.

I recall how a former ambassador of the Sudan, who resigned in protest against the actions of his own government, came to my house and looked at the collection of books on Jewish history and said "My people don't have records like this, we need to know how to record our history otherwise the next generations will be ignorant of our sufferings". His words made me think of how the Torah tells us even before the Children of Israel leave Egypt that one day our children will ask, and we have to tell them, and to tell them we have to know.

Totally Jewish Mitzpah at Deutsche Bank!

Noam at Deutsche Bank

I meet with the leadership of Noam at the offices of Deutsche Bank, thanks to the kindness of Bruce Rigal. (There is a slight problem at the entrance because the bank has no previous experience of canine customers - but it turns out that they have no policy about dogs).

We learn Torah together. Olly describes how he led a Seder mainly for non Jews – one guest is amazed at the constant discussion. In describing this, Olly coins the fantastic phase, ‘Judaism is a religion where everything is a discursive possibility’. I can think of no better definition.

I cannot express fully how much I appreciate not just the work, but the whole attitude of the young leadership of the movement. I would not dream of going on a walk like this without meeting with them.

Kinder at Liverpool Street

We gather round the statue outside Liverpool Street Station. Small slabs carry the names of the different cities from which the trains with Kinder left Europe. In my mind are the words of Miriam Gillis-Karlebach in her memories of leaving Hamburg on the Kindertransport in 1938. The Gestapo summoned her and pestered her with the repeated question: “Where are your father’s financial documents?” This took away her last hour with her family. It was, as she put it: “a separation without a farewell”. It was a separation from her parents forever.

Two men joined us at Liverpool Street who had arrived here as children and told us some of their stories. One was only four and a half when he left home. “The mercy” he said “is that I remember nothing”.

Afterwards we learn about the work of WJR in Eastern Europe fighting poverty, creating Jewish regeneration. We must send a group from our community to see. Helping here must be our next tikkun olam project. We also learnt about WJR’s work in Africa. "Just as brave non-Jews rescued Jews in the Shoa, so we as Jews are rescuing others" they told us.

The Council for Christians and Jews

The CCJ are hugely welcoming. Mitzpah drinks, sleeps, rolls over to have his tummy tickled.

They show me their new library of Jewish and Christian books. They tell me what Professor Rabbi Jonathan Magonet said: "The remarkable thing isn't the books, but that here they sit side by side".

The question is how the work of the CCJ can be made even more successful. "What about Jewish-Christian text study at seminaries?" I am asked, with reference to a day at Rippon College near Oxford where I taught last year. I wonder, together with Jane Clements, if on an extensive course where trust is established, leaders of the ‘other faith’ could teach what they experience as a difficult or offensive text, and what their sensitivities to it are. This could be very revealing.

Should all places of worship have a statement of value including something about the principles according to which they interpret difficult Scripture?

Inter Parliamentary Committee on Interfaith Issues

Our faith and nationalist narratives have such power. They often rip apart the bonds between different groups of people. It is not necessarily true that those who know each other better kill each other less. Witness Rwanda, witness Bosnia. Race and religion may prove deeper identities than the relatively modern nation state. They are ingrained in us through ritual and story. They claim our allegiance in the decisive hour.

"Stress values" says one lady. “They don’t have the force of narrative” responds Bishop Richard Harries of Pentregarth. The conversation turns to neighbourhoods…how different communities can share ownership of health and environmental amenities through volunteering and working side by side. The focus is also on leadership. Our sacred texts are there to stay. Crucial are those who interpret them. All faith leaders should have experience of the sensitivities of other faiths. Could the Government require seminaries to institute such courses? "Religions will resent State interference" says the Bishop but maybe this Committee could convene a conference of heads of seminaries by invitation?

Meeting Dr Rudi Vis At The House Of Commons

Dr Vis, our local MP, is a charming man and kindly takes us (Claire Mandel, Danny Stone who works for the RSPB, Diane Taylor who co-created the Destitute Asylum seeker's Drop-In Centre and myself) to the Commons tea room for coffee.

There are two items on the agenda - environmental legislation and the government's attitude to asylum seekers. We start with the former. Danny, who is superbly well informed asks Dr Vis to support key amendments to the Environment Bill, even though Tories had proposed them. We speak of how wrong it is that air travel should often be so much cheaper that train travel. Surely taxation should be used to promote train travel.

The conversation about asylum seekers is raw. Diane shows pictures of people being tortured after the government deported them. This is an outrage. Surely it must be possible to be more compassionate and more discerning about who is truly at risk in the countries from which they have fled. I speak about how I hear people who work in the field talking about a 'culture of disbelief' so that when asylum seekers tell their stories it is all but assumed that they are lying. Dr Vis agrees, and acknowledges that this is not right. We speak about destitution and Dr Vis says he believes asylum seekers should be allowed to work - this would give them an income, restore a measure of dignity and hope and bring benefits to this country. He promises to pass letters from us on these issues to the Home Secretary.

Democracy

In Parliament the lobby and the meeting rooms are full of so many groups of people. A band of military passed by. In the Committee Room next door a group of teenagers are presenting their charity in the finals of a competition in the hope of winning an award which will be doing charitable work in India. Downstairs in the main lobby huge groups of people wait. People of all ages and appearances fill every possible seat. This is democracy.

Meeting At the Israeli Embassy

Mitzpah won’t give his paw when I say 'Shalom' to the Deputy Ambassador. He obviously doesn’t agree with government policy. I asked Talia what she hopes and expects from the Jewish community. She said “I know the community here is very supportive, but that’s taken for granted. It needs to be expressed in times of crisis so that the Foreign Office here knows there are Jews who care. You don’t have to agree with everything Israel does but you have to be supportive”. I agree.

I asked if she and the Ambassador appreciate invitations to synagogues. She said “Yes, but you must remember he is Ambassador to the Court of St James, not St John’s Wood. The aims of the Embassy are to further bilateral relations between Israel and Britain”.

Storm on the Thames Towpath

A wonderful morning along the Thames towpath. It turns out we’re not the only lunatics out and Mitzpah soon meets a convocation of dogs. The path is strewn with blown down branches. Red catkins, branches of alder, and on the grass sloping down to the rough river, white and yellow daffodils. The storm has obviously brought plenty for the birds. There are ducks, swans, Canada geese and one grey heron. Mitzpah is disturbed by the noise. At first I thought it was the wind, but then I realised it’s the sound of transport. It’s only an aeroplane I tell him, then look up and see that it’s actually a train cross the bridge at Barnes. What use are humans? A tramp comes round the corner, cheerfully pulling his belongings in one big bag he gives me the thumbs up. It reminds me that there are far too many people we think too little about.

The Herbarium at Kew

It was lovely to meet up with the rest of the family at Kew and to be shown around the Herbarium with the extraordinary millions of plants - their leaves, the roots, their stems and their fruits carefully dried and preserved, labelled and named and located according to which part of what country they came from. Apparently every 30 years they need to build another wing because the records are so extensive and we learned about conservation of plants in parts of the world which are still related to England and the danger of invasive species colonising in very small areas where the only kind of this plant exists in the whole of world. It was quite extraordinary.

Mitzpah's Wellbeing

For those who’ve expressed their concern for Mitzpah’s wellbeing: ‘Isn’t this all too much for a poor small dog, etcetera…’ I just want to say that he’s doing fine. He was so utterly exhausted (!) at the end of the day that he insisted I let him run for a further twenty minutes before turning in for the night. He bounced backwards and forwards across the green at Kew like a lunatic (and that’s after doing at least fifteen miles of walking, plus the extra running dogs always do), so his energy is totally undiminished. The only thing he didn’t appreciate was the rain, but then neither did Libbi or I.

Walking Across London

Walking west across London, through Maida Vale, Kensal Rise, Willesden, Harlesden, Neasden, Park Royal, Alperton, then south to Ealing and Kew. A highlight was walking along the Grand Union Canal (where Mitzpah had an argument with a pair of swans) and crossing a bridge over the North Circular. I’ve driven under there countless times and never realised that what was passing across above me was a canal. How diverse London is: we crossed from Muslim to Hindu heartland, then later as we passed a church towards sunset heard a sermon amplified in Polish.

Feeling Humbled...

Sunday in the afternoon, after walk through pelting and freezing rain, we reached the Hindu Temple, the Mandar in Neasden. We were received with the greatest courtesy. I met the Senior Swami and he showed me the different charitable projects which children of the community are involved in; and he had a blessing for my walk for the success of our community.

It was moving to see the embrace of all life, the concern for our planet, the concern for all humanity and the deep and real sense of peacefulness about the whole of the centre. They were also of course very concerned about Mitzpah the dog and made sure that during our visit he was kept somewhere where he would be safe and somebody could keep an eye on him. It was very humbling. Everything that I have visited so far has left me feeling humble and that I have learned a lot and that my commitment to other people on this planet is simply made deeper by the walk.

The Al-Khoei Mosque

I met two senior Imam’s from the Middle East, who welcomed me warmly and showed me around the Mosque (which was once a synagogue). They were very gracious and we talked of making plans for a number of Jewish-Muslim contacts between our communities. We all agreed, ‘If not now, when?’ However painful political realities are, we have to try to make connections on a human level.

Kaddish at New London

On Sunday morning I went to the New London Synagogue. It brought back many thoughts of my father. I used to go there with him and it seems appropriate that towards the end of the year of saying Kaddish for him I had a chance to speak about Rabbi Jacobs views about life after death and his belief that your soul goes on The prayers there were absolutely lovely and I had the chance to say the Kaddish in the minyan.

Late on Saturday night at The Pears Foundation Social Action Hub

It was wonderful to see so many friendly and familiar faces at this remarkable new centre for Tikkun Olam, Jewish social action projects. We studied till almost midnight: What makes a person compassionate? Does suffering waken the heart? How does a person find a way of making meaning in the wake of disaster? Why is our social conscience not stronger?

Saturday Evening at the Royal Free

On Saturday evening at the Royal Free Hospital, Professional Owen Epstein and Julian met us and they showed us the remarkable equipment to teach doctors in investigating a person's insides. I am quite squeamish but I was moved to tears.

We saw an item which looks just like an antibiotic capsule only slightly larger. It is produced in Israel. At either end, it has tiny lights and a camera and in the middle is a transmitter and a person swallows it and it goes down the natural way and then it gives doctors the chance to see a 360° picture of all the inner works of a person's body.

Apparently when it was first demonstrated everybody stood up and applauded.

We saw a simulator which showed doctors how to put a tube down someone's throat. I was absolutely moved by it.

Night Walking Through Hampstead

Walking up Fitzjohns Avenue, Libby, Mitzpah and I take a wrong turning and find ourselves next to a hedge of clematis armandiae...stunning whilte flowers and a perfume from heaven...one of the privileges of walking at night.

Motzei Shabbat, 8th March - London Jewish Cultural Centre

How moving to see the shoes made by Jenny Stolzenberg.

Mandy King explained to me how they are now a memorial. She told me about survivors who came, saw the shoes and wept and told their stories.

One woman said seeing the shoes "...that's me. I had my 21st birthday on a death march"

I remembered Gerda Weissman-Klein revealed how her father said to her before they were deported that she was to put on her ski boots. At the time she couldn't understand why, but they stayed on her feet until she was rescued by the American army.

This was my first stop of the walk and it made me realise what a blessing it is to be able to walk in freedom.