Diary 5 November 2025

Since my previous diary of Sunday quite a few things have happened again.
It is almost impossible to keep up with what is happening in the world and also just here in our country. Add to that that Blouma and I flew to Krakow on Sunday evening after our meeting with the Jewish Community Limburg, returned late Tuesday evening, and that I am now typing in the airplane on the outward journey from Schiphol via Athens to Cyprus, and it will be clear to you that I no longer know where to start with this diary and have absolutely no idea where to end. Let me start positively. The number of fellow travellers who offer to carry my small suitcase up or down the stairs into or out of the airplane has never been so great. Friendly greetings, shalom, we stand behind you, a number of people intend to form a resistance group and I have already received several addresses where Blouma and I can go into hiding…

For Chanukah I am already booked for all days and will so far publicly light the menorah in ten places during the eight days of Chanukah to dispel darkness and proclaim light. For although we do not engage in conversion, the Jewish people indeed have the mission to be a shining example and to spread the light of the menorah as widely as possible.

By the way, I hope that my Chanukah agenda remains full and that I will be allowed to keep the pure little flame burning on all Chanukah days, because if ‘they’ find out that I studied for three years in Israel and that during the Yom Kippur War I was a volunteer in military hospitals to provide spiritual support to soldiers of the IDF, will I still be allowed, in front of a town hall, a theatre or near a concert hall (just to name something), to light the menorah, will it be tolerated that I call for mutual respect and shalom? Will ‘they’ in my judgment or condemnation also take into account that I have given spiritual support to many Muslim women who were in misery, that I allowed that in my Jewish psychiatric Sinai Centre also traumatized Muslims could be treated, that I keep insisting not to generalize and to speak about ‘the’ Muslims, that I have since a few days a new boyfriend who is Muslim, Amjad Taha, living in the Emirates (and in Auschwitz I met him!) and that I keep proclaiming that when eighty percent of my family was murdered there was not a Muslim to be found in our so tolerant little Netherlands…?

Blouma and I arrived Sunday night in Krakow for the annual EJA (European Jewish Association) Symposium for European politicians. Theme: antisemitism. There were just under 150 participants and it was again extremely well organized. Guest of honour was Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister of the UK. Monday the symposium in Hilton-Krakow and Tuesday Auschwitz. It was for the PM the first time that he was in Auschwitz and he was more than visibly moved and warned very strongly against the rising antisemitism and the link between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. The symposium is held annually just before the commemoration of Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht, so said Boris Johnson in one of his speeches, was a test. Would the world remain silent or stand up against the hatred of Jews? Such tests have occurred regularly through the centuries, Kristallnacht was not the first. But time and again the world has failed and so we should at least then, at Kristallnacht, have woken up! The same applies for now. The antisemitism that by now takes on almost unprecedented forms can be seen and heard everywhere, is a siren, like Kristallnacht, and must make us realize that what happened in Auschwitz could have been prevented if the world had not remained silent then. We must not look away, trivialize, remain silent… There must not be a second Auschwitz!
During the visit to Auschwitz I walked close to the former PM. Not for the photos, not to speak to Johnson, but to be able to hear the guide who accompanied him. Unfortunately, I have often had the feeling that not all guides show involvement or are well informed in content. And so this time I experienced the dreadful and indescribable…

I am now in the airplane from stopover-Athens to final destination-Cyprus, where I will stay less than 20 hours. Just learned something, because Torah study must not be lacking even in the airplane, about our being here on earth. We do everything that lies within our power to provide for our livelihood and realize that this effort is required, but at the same time we also understand and accept that some people work very hard and earn practically nothing and others lean back almost completely while an abundance of wealth blows their way. It is the same with our effort in the religious field. Effort must be there to experience Judaism and to serve G’d in the way HE desires from us. And being of meaning to one’s fellow human being is an inseparable part of our service to G’d. Usually a person consciously goes out to help another, but sometimes you help the other physically or spiritually without intention and without realizing it, because ultimately: coincidence does not exist. That happened to me:

“Most esteemed Chief Rabbi Jacobs, COINCIDENCE DOES NOT EXIST!
We walked yesterday, Tuesday 4/11, through Auschwitz with a small Dutch group and an uninspired Dutch guide. After a few minutes I felt miserable and wondered how it was possible that I had been so emotional in Yad Vashem and here at THE PLACE, where my dear family stayed, not at all. I felt no connection with the group. Though respect that they had travelled to Auschwitz. After Auschwitz we went on to Birkenau. In the distance I saw a large group of people. When we approached them, I recognized a familiar voice and called to Stef: this is our Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs! I let the group pass me and stood still, as if nailed, listening to your beautiful words. And then… came your Yizkor. All emotions were released in me. It was as if Hashem felt what I needed at that moment. Coincidence does not exist. Thank you for being there. Kind regards also to rebbetzin Blouma. Louise Oppenheim”

I must put away my laptop, we are going to land.