As I sit at the keyboard wondering what patterns to weave today (Sunday), I immediately recognise that the world’s stories and Israel’s stories are forming two fairly orderly, but long, queues outside my office door, impatiently waiting to be tackled. I just checked outside the door, and recognised, on the one side, Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, and, on the other, the Arab sector, the Haredim, the Government.

However, it’s Sunday, and you won’t be reading this until Tuesday, and even Trump (or, conceivably, especially Trump) has no idea where the world will be by then, so I embrace the coward’s way out.

Which I feel justified in doing, since, for us, the main event of last week was none of the above, but, rather, the brit of our latest grandson, Adam. The immediate family in Israel – Esther and Maayan’s parents and Maayan’s siblings – gathered for what was a very meaningful ceremony. As many of you know, Maayan was present at the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, and her pregnancy, and the beautiful son she is now blessed with, represent her very conscious decision to embrace life.

Maayan and Esther have chosen to pronounce the name in Hebrew with the stress, unusually, on the first syllable. This emphasis plays on the name’s connections to adama – earth, ground – and avoids overly close aural association with dam – -blood.

Every new life is special. Indeed, every new life is special in its unique way. Adam is certainly no exception. His name reflects a beginning that certainly feels very special indeed.

This is, I know, an unusually short post, but I can’t top the last couple of paragraphs, so I will just wish you all a good week and leave it there.