AND THEN THERE WAS MARCH

Fortunately, March was a somewhat quieter time for us. I struggled with returning to Ulpan but eventually managed to slide back into a rhythm and even started enjoying myself again. I had made a decision not to stress about getting there on time and this decision - plus the extra time in bed where necessary - seemed to make a huge difference to the experience. And the rewards to my Hebrew were clearly visible.

A Publication

About a week or so into March, David started making some vague allusions to the facts that he had an idea to do something...clearly something very interesting, so his hints suggested. But he wouldn't tell me what he was talking about until he had started doing it. Eventually, he unveiled the mystery: he had started to write "The Whole of Jewish History in One Hour" the book (designed to be read in one hour).

The next two weeks, in the lead-up to our trip to the UK, were filled with the madness of a speedy production of this exciting new publication. David wrote the book, I put it together (designed the cover, did the lay-out and created the illustrations) and we got it off to the printer and back, just in time to take with us to London. We took all 200 copies of this trial first edition with us. David did an amazing job: the book is a great read and it is a real credit that he put all this together in such a short space of time.

Naturally, as the days approached for us to leave Israel and head off to London, the temperature here climbed and revealed glorious spring days, while we watched the forecasts in the UK steadily drop. We left Tel Aviv on Sunday 23rd, on a 35-degree day and arrived in a very overcast London, which was hovering around freezing, with forecasts for snow. We were not amused. But we headed off from Heathrow, grim-faced and determined, destined for Vauxhall and for the welcome and relaxed hospitality of our friend Michael.

London Tour

Our schedule for the nine days that we were in the UK was packed. On the evening of the day we arrived, David spoke for the Barnet Israel Group at the Cockfosters and North Southgate Synagogue. Our journey there was frought. Peak our traffic plagued the way and then as the dark descended, so did the snow, and we found ourselves driving in terrible conditions, unable to locate the headlights on our hire-car. I know this sounds stupid, but the headlight switch was not where it was supposed to be! We found ourselves struggling on, having to manually hold the full beam on (we could find that, but it wasn't with the main headlights) with one of us hold the full beam as the other changed gears or consulted the maps! (In fact, this was one of the joys of this trip, as David's licence had expired, I was designated driver for the entire trip; needless to say, it took a few days for each of us to settle into these roles and to maintain calm throughout our numerous journeys through London traffic.) Eventually, as this become untenable, we found a petrol station, pulled over and consulted a helpful man who managed to find the light switch in a very stupid counter-intuitive place.

Anyway, we shortly after arrived at our destination - later than we had hoped, but certainly on time. The organisers we already set-up and were delightful. The crowd was one of the largest of this trip (around 160) and very enthusiastic. Despite David's flagging energy levels, he did an amazing job. In fact, he particularly shone during question-time after the talk (interestingly, we don't normally encourage question-time). Then, for the first time, we had a book-selling session after the talk and people went crazy. On our first night in London, we sold almost 60 books - more than a quarter of the total print run. People were very keen and it was an immediate indication of what a great idea David had had.

The following day David and I set off for central London to do one of our favourite things ever - exploring the bookshops of Charing Cross Road. It was still bitterly cold, with another absurd untimely display of snow. Being Easter Monday, and effectively the only day of this London trip when we didn't have a commitment, we had thought it worthwhile to organise a pub gathering of friends. Unfortunately, we hadn't be terribly organised on this front and forgot to invite people until the last minute. But the final result was nice, although we had a short visit from Elliot Gotkine, we spent most of our afternoon and evening with Matt and Claudie. After a somewhat cold and tame session at the pub (I was driving) we all made our way to Golders Green for a kosher curry (the miracles of Golders Green!). After a very pleasant dinner, we dropped Claudie at home and returned with Matt to stay with him and Amy in their greta new flat in Dalston.

Tuesday evening brought our trek to Essex, for David to give The Whole of Jewish History in One Hour at Southend Shul. It was a long and challenging drive (peak hour, snow, not entirely sure of where we were going...) but we made it. While still quite a large community, Southend is apparently considered to be a 'dying' community. That said, around 70 people turned up for the talk (and large turn-out we were told) and were very excited by the talk. We also sold another 20-30 books!

On Wednesday David spoke for the New West End Synagogue, giving The Whole of the Bible in One Hour. It was interesting to see that this talk (and David giving it, of course) also attracted a large crowd - there must have been around 100 people in the audience. (The talk itself was not in the synagogue, but in the school hall next door, but we were taken across to see the shul later that evening and were very impressed by the Victorian grandness of the interior design and the imperiousness of the dimensions.) David did another fabulous job and even though he hadn't given the history talk, we still had lots of interest in the book.

On Thursday night David was scheduled to give The Creation in One Hour for the JCC London - his one kabbalah lecture...on tzimtzim. This was the talk he was least enthusiastic about, being a difficult topic to translate for a layman audience. The audience was comparitively small - around 40 - and the topic was tough, but David did a great job. We also saw some familiar faces as people were coming back to see David during the week.

We spent a restful Shabbat, stocking up on all the favourites from Golders Green, then on Saturday night, we tangoed with the tube (the tube won) on our way to Kings Cross for Matt's 30th birthday party. It was so great that we could be in London for his birthday and amazing that we have known him since he was 18! It was also a treat to catch up with some old friends.

Early Sunday morning we struggled with the daunting task of getting out of London on our way to Bournemouth for Wessex Day Limmud. Fortunately for us, the weather broke that morning and we enjoyed a glorious drive out to the 'west country'. David gave two talks that afternoon, The Whole of Jewish History in One Hour first, to an audience of around 70-80 people, and then his delivery of The Whole of the Bible in One Hour was the final talk of the conference, delivered to all participants in the amphitheatre. There is no question that David thrives on large audiences and auditoriums; he was, quite-simply, on fire for this talk. I have seen him give this presentation many times, but this was unquestionably one of the most impressive. The grandfather of Limmud, Clive Lawton, who was sitting in the front row of the lecture, ran up to David and the end of the talk, arms-outstretched, commending him for a "world-class" presentation. People were simply blown away; he was a huge hit, everyone loved us and, naturally, we sold more books!

I paid a visit to the ABPI to see my former work colleagues and to visit my friend Marjorie Johnson. Everyone in the (former) public affairs seems well, although the days of the long lunches are over. Having visited the fourth floor - my old haunt - I went with Marjorie for coffee in Waterson bookstore on The Strand (very appropriate)and caught up on as much is possible within an hour and a half. As always, it was great to see her.

Our final talk, on Monday 31st, was at Highgate Synagogue, where David was to once again give The Whole of Jewish History in One Hour, for the - a talk sponsored for the shul by Fred Worms. After a few moments of confusion, we managed to set the room up just as another fantastic crowd appeared. We were also delighted that our good friend James Garvey joined us - and later came with us to Golders Green for dinner (our third night in a row at Chopstix, the new kosher Asian take-away/dinner on Golders Green Road which we quickly called home). David was once again a huge hit and we found ourselves unable to meet the demand for the book, selling our last 15 copies that evening!

It was a wonderful end to a very successful tour, made even more impactful by the hugely successful launch of David's new book (a success educationally, as a PR tool and, of course, financially).