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Showing posts from August, 2022

alcohol cures all

I've had a tough day today so I'll probably unwind with a gin and tonic. I like my alcohol ,I must have got that from my Grandfather. He used to drink a lot. He always used to drink two shots, one after another. Once I asked him why.  His answer was, "I drink one shot and I feel like another person, another person is also allowed to drink!" My Grandfather, every time he felt ill, would just pull out a bottle of alcohol and drink a bit. He must have been doing something right as he died at age 100 and was in full senses until the end of his life.  In fact, he performed as a cantor the week he died. Whenever I feel under the weather, I make a spot of tea with a dose of whiskey in it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Life is about finding that balance. Today in my driving lessons, I learned the rules of the roundabout. Drivers coming from the right have right of way, unlike junctions where if you are going straight,  you have right of way. In life sometimes ...

good News

My body is aching and pains all over but things are starting to move in the right direction. My Landlady came this morning with her husband to pick up her mother's items which had been stored by us in the hall cupboard, as we obviously didn't need them. It comes at a good time as my stuff from Israel arrived last week, so now we have more room to store items. My electric massage armchair also arrived, so looking forward to relaxing and relieving my pains. I got a phone call this morning that an issue that has been stressing me out has been sorted and slowly until the next storm hits, we are good. Yesterday was my Hebrew birthday and Esther surprised me with chocolates she made for me. Its always good to get good news and feedback as it gives you strength for carrying on your life. It allows you to push forward positively. This week I recieved the class schedule for next year, my final year at university. After three years, I am finally about to graduate with a degree! Now my pa...

opportunities

I'm writing this aboard my flight back to UK.  I flew to Israel for the wedding of someone very dear to me, the son of my Rabbi, Rabbi Zarbiv . As I said to people, Rabbi Zarbiv is like my father, I wouldn't travel for my brothers wedding?  But going to the wedding also gave me other opportunities such as meeting one of my PR gurus, Isaac Cohen from Bardenstein communications , someone I speak to often but never met. Also to go into university classes where the teachers said "Hey, it's that guy from Zoom!" Yesterday, I walked into one of the classes which is taught by Michael. Now Michael, just last week had been teasing me how bad Manchester United has been playing. I had was really offended as he said Manchester United will lose to Liverpool, so as I walked in, I said, "Manchester United will do what against Liverpool?" as obviously we won. He was thrilled to see me and I expect more ribbing as time goes on. In life, we have to take opportunities tha...

Hotel Hell

In my previous blog, I updated that I am currently visiting in Israel. I booked my flight and hotel together in a package deal.  I landed Thursday at 6am,  had meetings and university all day and then at about 11 pm, I arrived at my hotel. I checked in and was told I had to pay extra for VAT. I entered the room and was shocked at the poor lighting, the dirty carpets, the walls were peeling and there were garish red curtains on the window, making it look like a prison cell. I contacted Expedia, through whom I booked the package, and they said to speak to someone at the front desk. I went to sleep and following day I went to the front desk and asked how I can speak to either the manager or the owner. A young man there said he was the manager. I told him about the state of the room and he answered something which shocked me, "You get what you pay for!" He told me they would clean my room,  so I went out to volunteer and afterwards to visit my parents. I returned to the room ...

my virgin atlantic flight

I'm writing this blog from the Holy Land. Yes, I'm in Israel for the weekend for my friend's wedding. I, of course, flew Virgin Atlantic, an incredible airline. As I entered the lounge, I bumped into friends of mine who were en route to New York, so we had a bit of a chat. I ordered a drink and then my friends suggested we go up to the rooftop terrace. I sat up there watching the planes and suddenly the waiter, Miguel, came up to the terrace and said, "Here's your drink sir, that your ordered downstairs. I thought you might like to have it up here." Such dedication, such thoughtful service to the customer. I went back down and ate some wings and chips and then went to the plane. I was seated for first time in Virgin's premium class. The seat was comfortable I received an amenity kit and a welcome drink and we then continued our flight. I watched a movie, a drink service came by, food service came by and then the purser, Tim, who was on his first flight as...

selfish

I'm sitting on a train from Manchester to London. I put my case on the luggage rack on top of another case and went to sit down. Aa woman nearby came to me and said, “Excuse me, you put your case on top of mine -  I don’t want that!” I was shocked. Had I done something taboo? Something wrong? Sometimes as a person on the autistic spectrum, I may do things without realizing that it might be wrong, but then people next to me came to my rescue and said, “He's right, this rack is meant for several cases. He can put his case there.”  The woman became a bit of a ‘Karen’ and kept complaining. Another woman came and sorted the luggage space out so that there was space for my case and the other woman stopped complaining. The whole situation got the cogs in my brain whirling around again. It’s astonishing how people have egos, are selfish and think of nobody else except themselves. We come across this phenomenon often and I often rack my brain as to why one would not think of other peop...

primaries

Today I voted in the primaries of the Meretz political party in Israel. I joined Meretz several years ago when my friend, who is actualy one of the candidates today, Dr. Laura Wharton, was running for Jerusalem City Council. She asked me to join the party to support her. I looked at the party's values and discovered that they included equality for all, helping the weak and disadvantaged, support for those who are different and minorities and pluralism: accepting everyone, whoever you are. My voting list today included Laura, as I think she needs to be on the national stage, my friend Eliran, whom I wrote about yesterday in my blog, and my friend, Anat Nir, an incredible feminist who does incredible work for feminism and the weak. During my time in Meretz, one person I met who really made a massive difference in my life is MK Mossi Raz. He is a guy who finds the time for everyone and makes an effort to be everywhere and cares for everyone. I knew we need to have him on our list. Fo...

my Haircut

Today I went to my incredible barber, Mordy Jacobs, from Just Cuts and I mentioned to him that I've recently noticed I have dandruff. I asked him to recommend an anti-dandruff shampoo to use. He response was: don't use shampoo at all! He said water does the same job. I replied, seriously?” and he answered that shampoo is just a good smell with chemicals in that is sold to you as an essential. He said someone once replied to him when he said this, “But they sell it in Tesco, so it must be needed.” He replied, “They also sell sweets cigarettes and pharmaceutical drugs in Tesco, it doesn’t mean it is good!” I thought about what he said and you know, he’s right! Marketing is all about convincing you that an item is essential and thus you must buy it. There’s a saying that a good salesman can sell ice to an eskimo. An eskimo doesn’t need ice, but a good salesman will manage to convince him that its essential. On this note, I’ll sign off for today as I am en route to Old Trafford to...

look for the good

I was watching a old clip of Ellen Degenerous interviewing an inspiring young man called Emeka. He fell while playing football and broke his spine and instead of feeling sorry for himself, he started helping youth. He said something so profound: if you lose your wallet, get a flat tyre or something bad and someone asks you how was your day, you'd say, "Terrible, I lost my wallet, had a flat tyre etc." But if after a month, someone asks you how your month was, you wouldn't even remember the flat tyre, lost wallet etc.  But if you helped someone, you would remember and we say, "This month I assisted this and that person, I gave to this and that person." In life we come across different situations that are tough, but its important to remember life is like a roller coaster: sometimes we are down but it always also goes up. Sometimes in life things look hopeless, with no hope, and then something good out of the blue happens. An example is when I was dating Es...

My Friend Eliran - Meretz primaries candidate

I think I first met Eliran at an event together with MK Ilan Gilon from Meretz. I remember a boy, very young, but very organised in his procedures to recruit people sign up to surport the local candidate whom Ilan was endorsing. Years passed and as I started volunteering for Meretz, I got to know Eliran personaly as a friend, as a mentor, as someone who really gave much to society and really cared for society as a whole. I knew if I had a problem, I could phone Eliran up and immediately, he'd help and if he couldn't, he knew who to connect to help. Then there were elections and we were campaining together and doing stunts together such as bringing to Bibi mishloch manot from Meretz or going around hanging up posters. The first election when I volunteered for an entire day, nobody brought us food and drink. Eliran heard about it and was angry and called me up to apologise: "Josh it isn't right! You were out all day for us, we should have cared for you!" Time went b...

Break keeps Dr away

Today a short blog as my wife got a phone call from a friend that a relative of theirs is coming into Liverpool on a cruise so they were driving down to say Hi and wanted to know if we fancy a day by the Docks. Immediately, we said yes, as it has been an intense week for me with articles and university and coursework, so to just go relax a bit is important. Of course, as Liverpool is the city of Manchester United biggest rivals, I made sure to wear my Manchester United shirt! Arianna Huffington told us when I was working in ITV, that when she started taking a day off to relax, her work improved. We all need to just relax a bit, let down our hair, and just forget our troubles in order to create a world where we forget, albeit for a short time, our woes. In other news, my doctor gave me today antibiotics for the persistant cough that I have had for the last 3 weeks, so hopefully that will improve. A day off is always a excellent remedy for improving one's health as well. Follow my...

The blessing

Yesterday, I gave one of the blessings at the Sheva Berachot (ceromonial meal held for 7 days after a wedding) of my cousin, Yehuda Zev to his bride Sara. The wedding had been held last Thursday in London but due to my current financial situation, I couldn't attend, so it meant a lot to me to have been invited to the special meal. My Aunt and Uncle, the parents of the groom were a dominent part of my life growing up. My Uncle, Benzion, was the sandak at my Bris (he was the person honoured to hold me at my circumcision at age 8 days old and my Aunty, Rela, used to look after me whenever my mother had a baby or was away and would go above and beyond to treat me as if I was one of her own kids. Yesterday, I was speaking to one of my cousins , Oshi, who played the music at my wedding, about our family which we learned from our Grandmother is not always in touch. I even have cousins whose names I don't even know, but if any of us are in trouble, we will all band together to help. Ma...

The Rev Family

One of my very good friends and sixth cousin is a guy called Tom Rev. He made Aliya from Australia and we have been very much in tandem with each other. When I lived in Israel, I used to go every week to his home for supper or to watch football. I also got to know his wife Susan and his kids; Naomi, who is married to Binny, Rebecca who is married to Boaz, and Daniel who is married to Becky. But one son of his sons, I had never met in person but had heard a lot about him. You see Tom had a son called Jonathan, who passed away at a young age. Jonathan was an aspiring young, man married to Hila. He was living in New York and he had a promising career ahead of him when he was diagnosed with cancer and became ill. Unfortunately, he died and was buried in Har Menuchot cemetery in Jerusalem. This week was the anniversary of his death and just after the ceremony that was held by the grave, Tom called me and said you have to hear this story: When Jono was ill in New York, Tom flew over from Syd...

drive safe

The past week has been a tough one for me personally. I have been reporting for the Ma’ariv newspapers about a number of fatal car accidents over the past week in Israel.  For me, this is extra tough because when I was young, my best friend, Naftali Zvi Bruer, died after he was hit by a car while he was riding his bike. I was severely bullied as a kid, but one person took it on himself to befriend me and helped me. Naftali. We did homework together, played hide and seek in his father’s furniture store, collected together money for our school on Purim and then everything crashed. Naftali was in a coma for over a year and every week I would go to visit him and would talk to him, knowing he wouldn’t talk back to me. Every day in school we said psalms for him. One day as we were saying psalms, the principal entered the classroom and whispered something to the teacher. Following the psalms, when we say names to be blessed, I noticed the teacher did not mention Naftali Zvi's name. Knowin...

Love United Hate Glazers

 Love United Hate Glazers; I think it's about time I talk about the drama that's oversweeping my favourite club Manchester United. United is owned by the Glazer Family. A  Jewish American Family that bought the club 17 years ago for 600 million and has placed that debt on the club along with more debt amounting to debts of over a billion. The family hardly comes to watch the football and doesn't invest in the club. A couple of years ago they were offered  5 billion for the club but are not willing to sell for less than 10 billion, meanwhile, the club not getting the funding and support needed by its ownership is collapsing. Fans are furious and intense protests are held outside the games pre-match. The latest movement is to hold an empty old Trafford for the game versus  Liverpool match in two weeks which will ensure that sponsors will be angry that fans aren't there. Michael Knighton, a UK businessman, announced a consortium to provide a hostile takeover. Now, this ...

Addiction

 I'm Josh and I'm a coffeeholic! I love coffee, the stronger the better. I own a Delonghi coffee bean-to-cup machine with a frother. I also drink Israeli Turkish coffee and if I order coffee at Costa, I always ask for extra shots in my cappuccino. Addiction is loving something so much you can't do without it, for example, me with my wife, I'm addicted to her! Addiction can be to many things: alcohol, drugs, pills, gambling and more. But addiction can also be the addiction to spread hate, the addiction to spread incitement against someone else just because you don't like a said person. An example can be me with Itamar ben Gvir or me with Boaz Golan. I hate their policies and the ideologies they represent, but I also look at the good they do and I'm friends with them despite condemning their policies. Many people ask me why do you hate Netanyahu and I answer I don't. I hate the hatred he brings along with him but I appreciate the good he has done for the count...

My cousin Menachem

 I'm strolling around Instagram and came across a video of my cousin, Menachem Tucker, broadcasting from a canoe in Miami! My cousin is a top radio broadcaster and TV host in the Israeli religious world and he had broadcast from many crazy places, including from a plane midflight. His antics have amused and helped many people, but I don’t know him as the celebrity Menachem, I know him as my cousin Menachem. When I first came to Israel, he allowed me to hang out at the radio station and answer the phone lines and even though he is always busy with the countless projects and activities, he always makes time for family and always asks me how I am. People who know me have asked me if I got my help with my work in journalism from Menachem. The answer is even that though he hasn’t helped me PR-wise, I have learnt a lot from him as a person and I have learnt from his example, that family always comes first. Family is the most important thing and by looking after our family, we provide a s...

Your advisor and friend

 I told my wife that on Wednesday, I will check her for covid again with a lateral flow test She said, “I can’t wait! I will test at 9 am and at 10 am, go straight out!” I answered, “If you’re negative! Don’t get keep your hopes up. Be hopeful, but on the other hand, be expecting the worse because if you don’t, you’ll be seriously disappointed.” I find that the best way in life is always expect something to happen and be prepared for the worst in every situation. How do we prepare for the worst when we don’t even know what the worst is? The answer is build a network of people who can help you, advise you and who are there for you every step of the way.  I have my Rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Zarbiv, who is my confidante; someone who has been in my life for over 13 years. I first met the Rabbi when I was going through a personal crisis. Throughout the years he has become a father figure to me. I know I can contact him if I need him 24/6. I know he will come running if I'm stuck somewher...

Lemonade from lemons

 A very short blog today as I am busy with my job as a journalist with what's happening in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine. I also just got back from Old Trafford, where Manchester United lost the first game of the season 2-1 to Brighton. Esther, my wife, is sick with covid, so I have to look after her as well. Life sometimes throws things at you that we sometimes don't understand at the time, but by pushing forward, we gain the strength to overcome the bad. It is important to look for the good, however small: the fact that a mate gave me two free beers and a shot at Old Trafford, the fact that I discovered that at the Old Trafford tram stop, I can bypass the long lines with my disability card and the fact that I was interviewed by one of the United fan blogs after the game! In life, when someone throws lemons at you, make lemonade! To my darling Esther - get better fast! I love you babe! To my fans in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine - stay safe! Follow my socials http://www.facebook.com/jos...

Look up not down

 It's been a busy day! I interviewed His Excellency,  Mr. Claude Wild, the Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine for the Maariv newspaper on zoom. I shared with him that my gtandparents, one from Holland, the other from Germany, met during World War II in Switzerland. I then interviewed one of the heads of the Jewish Fedaration in Ukraine and now I'm at university online, studying while answering messages on whatsapp etc. I went through my unread messages on Gmail earlier, over 16,000 unread messages! My whatsapp is just as bad! One of my favourate things to do before a flight is to mark all messages as read and as the plane lands, open my phone to have hundreds of messages coming in. Today, I was a little disappointed. A close friend of mine is getting married at the end of August in Israel and I wanted to go. But flights are so expensive, I just can't afford it The disappointment is hard, but I take solace in the fact that I am working hard. While I can't afford the f...

crisis management

 As I was feeling ill with my stomach issues, I lay down in bed and closed my eyes to rest. Less then 5 minutes later, my phone rang and I was woken up. Yep, it might have been just a catnap but that's also life! Sometimes we are relaxing and then calamity hits. In markerting, it's called crisis management.  We must learn how to control the issue so it doesn't spiral out of control. One way to do this straight after the incident, to offer an explanation and own up to any mistakes.  Personally, I've done a lot I'm not proud of: my anger for example is pretty hard to take and when I get really really angry, I pity anyone in my path. But I've worked on these issues and I know that when I get angry, I need to go to the side and breath and focus on something else until I am no longer looking for items to throw!  The idea is to know that yes, things may go wrong and yes, it's ok for things to go wrong and to know when we plan ahead for things and they go wrong, we...

My speech

 Yesterday, I was asked to speak at a teachers' training about autism arranged by the Eden Wellstyle Academy, the educational wing of the company, Eden Wellstyle, founded by the renowned psychotherapist, Dov Benyaacov-Kurtzman FRSA. I spoke about neurodiversity and autism. I spoke to the teachers about my life when I was at school, about being bullied by other kids and how I felt that my teachers never really understood me. I told them about one teacher, who after I had brought an abundance of Haribos from another kid, saw I had so many, accused me of selling them and took the lot. I spoke about other incidents and how if the teachers would have looked out for me, I would have felt better about my school years. I spoke about how important it is to treat a student as normal on one treating the kid as normal while also, at the same time, working with them together with their class so that everyone can understand that students with autism can also have the same interests and things i...

Shop and Fly

 I've just come back from the shops where I spent almost 100 pounds on groceries. It's a lot of money because prices have gone up but necessities must be brought. For me, the more I spend the better, as my Tesco points can be converted to air miles with Virgin Atlantic. Whenever I shop, I first check if I can get air miles. Virgin has an incredible program where you can get a lot out of your shopping. If I book train tickets, I get miles. If I buy from eBay, I get miles. Buy at Boots, more air miles. With the air miles, you get you can eventually 'buy' airline tickets and pay literally nothing for them. Recently I paid £150 for airline tax + 18,000 air miles for a return flight from London to Tel Aviv. If I am anyhow shopping or travelling on trains, why not earn almost free flights? The airline points system is incredible and I have been following several leaders in that field such as Gilbert Ott, the founder of 'God Save The Points', who I had the honour of me...