It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like....Pesach

 It's my own spin on the classic "Holiday" song (although, maaaan, I can't get that song out of my head). And things here feel, thankfully, so much more normal than last year, when I wore mask and gloves to go to the grocery store and waited in line to get in since they were limiting the numbers of people admitted. AND, this year we have eggs.

Things here feel almost like back to normal. The main difference from, say, two years ago, is that mask-wearing is still a law (rumor has it that after Passover, the law will be relaxed, or perhaps even removed. Too bad--I actually like wearing a mask both from a public health perspective (guess how many cases of seasonal flu Israel had this year? ZERO) and from a personal perspective (I had some skin cancer surgery and no one even knew!). 

Shabbos this past week was amazing/crazy. We had a friend in seminary stay with us along with a friend of Chana's from college who made aliyah this summer. For dinner we had Penina's friend's family over. They made aliyah this summer from Mexico and this was the FIRST time they had been invited out for a meal (eek. I just can't imagine moving halfway around the world and then sitting in your apartment not knowing anyone. For NINE MONTHS). Ended up being 13 seats for dinner which led to sort of endless issues of the "where did the we put the leaves to the table?!" variety and its sidekick of "I know it *seemed* like a good idea months ago to put the folding chairs waaaaaay back there, but....".

For lunch our neighbors came over with their dog, who is Percy's bestie. They have lived on our street since the summer and this was the first time we had them over (heck, it's only the second time in an entire year that we've had any other family over). In the afternoon, Shira S (who stayed with us last week) and her seminary roommate popped over from their teacher's house in a different part of town. It was so nice to be with other people! It was also crazy and totally exhausting because who is used to being so social for hours on end?! And, oh my, the amount of dishes. We've definitely become used to having post-Shabbos cleanup take less than an hour. Let's just say that this one took a  weeeeee bit longer.

This all came against the backdrop of reading Friday morning that France was going back into lockdown (oy). And made me all-the-more thankful that Israel has done such a good job vaccinating its citizens (a number of our guests also were post-covid. It definitely hasn't been a picnic here). As the Wall St Journal said in an opinion piece: "hospitalizations and deaths are rising again in Italy, Germany and France....To date the U.S. has administered 34 doses per 100 residents, the U.K. has jabbed 40, and Israel has 111. Most vaccines require two doses. Compare that to about 12 in France, Germany and Italy."

Tomorrow is, yet again, election day. Hopefully this time a coalition can be formed that will prevent election number 5.....

Vaccination Nation

 Woohoo! Way to go, Israel (and may it please Gd continue). Look at this data: more than half of the total population has received their first vaccine (the 5 millionth dose was given out yesterday, in fact), with close to 100,000 people most days receiving vaccines (Shabbat has a much lower number of places open/vaccines given). And what's been happening to all those people who have been vaccinated? b''H a WHOLE LOT less Covid: only .07% of people who were vaccinated later tested positive for Covid.

And this has led to the very delightful situation of the country slooooowly coming out of lockdown. Starting last Sunday malls and stores started to open. It's sad to see the stores full of winter merchandise; merchants lost the entire season and are now deeply discounting all their merchandise ("All Winter Merchandise: 70% Off". Except it was 72F today so not really sweater weather, even at 70% off). Every day on my way to/from work I drive by the new, gorgeous Ikea nearby. And every day for months it was a total bummer to see the giant parking lot empty. It was so exciting on Sunday to see the parking lot bursting with cars (and how convenient that a vaccination station was opened in Ikea to sweeten the deal ever further)! The new "Green Passport" is being rolled out  that will allow us fortunate folks who have been vaccinated to go to restaurants, hotels, and sporting- and cultural events. I'm eagerly anticipating going to a sit-down restaurant again: the last time they were open was mid-September....

It's a little odd to me that there is even a need to incentivise getting a Covid vaccine here, when people are driving hours and waiting in endless lines in the US (or maybe that was last month?! All I know is that my parents and in-laws have all now, thankfully, been vaccinated and none of them had to go through particularly annoying scenarios). 

When I worked in the Old City today, it almost felt like old times there. There were even a bunch of tour groups going around (the giveaway is that all but one was in Hebrew [no tourists let in Israel since last March. The lone English group I heard was almost certainly from a gap year program]). There was even a little line going into security at the Kotel for the first time in a looong time

(okay, I'm not sure waiting for three people in front of me counts as "line". Maybe "line-like"?!) and there were so many people at the Kotel for "Bar Mitzvah Day" (every Monday and Thursday) that I even took a picture as proof:

This Shabbos is almost going to feel like old times! Shira S from Philly will be coming here for her FIRST out-Shabbos since she arrived in Seminary and we are going out for lunch to friends whose family is all post-Covid.

Lastly, we will hopefully be seeing some changes at schools that will bring down the high rates of Covid among our young people (remember, only over 16's can get vaccinated. In a country with 30% of the population under 18, that leaves a whole lotta people unvaccinated). At Penina's school, they are planning to implement a program that will require every student and staff member who is not vaccinated to have weekly Covid tests. Since Penina TWICE had to go into quarantine after she had in-person classes with teachers who later found out they were Covid +, we are really in favor of this (led to some "funny" conversations: "Do we have to give a Purim tip to the teacher who has taught you for several years, but was completely unapologetic about potentially-infecting your whole class?" Frankly, I'm tired of these kinds of conversations and REALLY ready to be done with them).

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Please keep praying for Erik, Eliyahu Refael ben Tzirel Tova. He is making some slow but steady progress and needs every good wish sent his way: https://new.tehilimyahad.com/mr.jsp?r=RF73AslI9IE