Word Prompt – HAVDALAH – Yisroel Picker

Living near the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem means that there will be frequent protests and disruptions to the daily flow of life. Since the start of the protests years ago, I have made it a point to walk to different parts of the protests, and offer Havdalah to the men and women of the police force who were unable to hear Havdalah due to their professional duties.

I often go with one or more children, and strike up a conversation with these members of the police force.

No two weeks are the same.

Back in September 2025, we provided Havdalah to a policeman who was performing his duties whilst on horseback.

Whilst holding the lit candle, I filmed this policeman making Havdalah.

It was a nice moment, and I shared it with some friends.

This video ended up on one of the Jewish WhatsApp news groups, this company added their watermark to it, and added a caption that was a nice story, but totally untruthful.

This reminded me of the sad reality; we can only control what we can control. We can control our words and our actions. How people choose to interpret our words and our actions is beyond our control.

Stop wasting time on these interpretations. Some people just want to get it wrong. Let them.