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

Coming Out of Lockdown (slooooowly)

Friday morning we were supposed to come out of lockdown at 7 a.m. Now, frankly, this was a really dumb idea because people who are not religious would therefore be able to go party on Friday night and people who are religious would be able to meet up for Shabbos meals. We've been in lockdown 5 solid weeks. At this point, who cares if we're in until Sunday morning rather than Friday morning?

In the middle of the night, it was announced that, nope, we were staying in lockdown until Sunday. Then they reversed it. Then changed THAT again. I think the point was so that people would just throw up their hands and give up. 

In the end, lockdown slooooowly started getting lifted on Sunday. So far, that means that roadblocks between cities have been lifted (the one on the main highway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem [that I drive to work] was so entrenched that there were permanent signs put up guiding buses and trucks to the right lane, passenger cars to the left and making sure everyone knew the middle lane was closed so the police could be set up there). Business that are one-on-one are now allowed to be open, so hooray for the hairstylist and eyebrow lady being open again. And restaurants can now have takeout as well as delivery. Man, that "delivery only" thing was a total drag: I finally live in a place with zillions of kosher restaurants, but with "delivery only" the lack of instant gratification was a real downer.

Schools will start a slow roll-out next week, but Penina's grade (12th) is not scheduled to return until the end of February and Ilana (9th) not until the second week of March. Where's that eye-roll emoji?? 🙄 This assumes that our city, currently "red" due to high numbers of Covid cases, turns at least orange, if not green. If it stays red, schools will stay closed. I might need that emoji again....

I went to the Kotel on Thursday after work in a huge rainstorm (thunder, lightning and hail! [fun fact: here a slushy/slurpee is called a barad  (hail). You may never think of the 10 Plaques at Passover the same way again!]. Aside from that I had some very important people to daven for (please keep Erik--Eliyahu Refael ben Tzirel Tova--in your thoughts), I also knew that it was the end of my private time there. And, indeed, when I went Monday after work it was mobbed. Glad I had 5 weeks of being with tiny numbers of people there. If you'd like to see what it was like, here's a little video I took:

Meanwhile, the huge immunization campaign that Israel has rolled out is doing well, This week is the first with everyone over age 18 invited to get vaccinated (no health issues, etc required) and those aged 16-18 can be vaccinated with parental permission. This week also brought a new clinic in Tel Aviv to vaccinate those who aren't citizens, including those in the country illegally and foreign students [including pretty much every patient of mine]--hooray! 

Currently over a third of the population has received their first vaccine and 1/4 of the population (over 2.2 million people!) has received both.  Those who have had the vaccines are doing well fighting against the new variants going around: 85% of those over age 60 have been vaccinated, and this age group has seen a very sharp decrease in those who are becoming critically ill from Covid. 75% of all new Covid cases are in the less-than 40 age group, with over 40% in the less-than 19 years old age group ((from the Israel Covid-19 update Whatsapp group. PM me if you want the link to join). This is the pickle that Israel, especially, is in: the new variants target the younger age groups who have not been approved to get the vaccine, and Israel has a HUGE number of young people: almost 1/3 of the population here is 17 or younger. I guess we'll see how this plays out...

We're coming up on Rosh Chodesh Adar and it will be interesting to see what Adar and the holiday of Purim is like this year. Boy, last year feels like a really (REALLY) long time ago.

Once Upon a Time....

Once upon a time, many years ago, my father-in-law Irwin died and then-named-Sam started to go to the local Conservative synagogue in the afternoons to say Kaddish with me along as his sidekick. We were the youngest people there (by many decades). A few months later, another young couple came in one afternoon. We hadn't met them before, but Erik's father had just died and he was coming to say Kaddish and Rhona was there as *his* sidekick. And thus began a beautiful friendship.

We both had our first children the following year, and both struggled with how to name a girl after a grandfather. Rhona and I became "coworkers" and hung out together pretty much every day. We began to cook together every Friday (while trying to amuse small children) and we would eat Shabbos dinner together every week, usually with a few guests brought home from Friday night services (a proud moment was when someone we had to dinner exactly once wrote on his application to JTS Rabbinical school that the Shabbos dinner he shared with the four of us had inspired him to become a rabbi). 

When I was in labor with Chana it was Rhona, Erik and toddler Avigail who walked over the two blocks from their house in the middle of the night to stay with Batsheva (their comment: "It wasn't so weird to walk down the street in pajamas at 2 a.m. But it was REALLY weird to go home at 9 a.m. in pajamas :)). 

So why am I telling you this? Because Erik, on Thursday night, had a very serious heart issue which they thankfully caught in time. He's had three surgeries already and has a long road to recovery. And I am asking you to please join me in keeping him in your thoughts and prayers and say tehilim for him:

https://new.tehilimyahad.com/mr.jsp?r=RF73AslI9IE

Because we want the last line here to be "And they all lived happily ever after"

Q & A

There are some questions that people have asked me lately, so maybe you are wondering some of the same things:

--Are your kids in school?

Nope. Schools, even preschools, are required to be closed across the country. Ilana hasn't set foot in school in three weeks and there isn't even a proposed date for schools to reopen. Penina has some Zoom classes and is working on her ever-important bagrut matriculation exams so she has a bit more of a schedule (Ilana's school sends worksheets and some videos out but has nothing at any particular time), but, basically, I fear those kids (and every other kid) will have forgotten how to get up and out of the house in the morning by the time schools finally reopen. Shalom Shachne describes them as being on semi-permanent summer vacation.  And not in a good way....

--Where's Chana?

Woohoo--delightfully, she's still here. She works US hours (4-midnight) as the Fellow in the Online Education Department of the college she graduated from, and is taking some classes in English literature at an Israeli college during the day. Since these classes are on Zoom, her goal of meeting other age-mates locally who share her love of English literature has largely gone unfulfilled, but at least it's giving her something to do.

--Did you get your second vaccine?

Yes! 3/4 of our family has received their second dose! I have tremendous respect and thanks to the Israeli government for running this program beautifully-well and smoothly. For example, the moment I made my appointment for the first vaccine, a second appointment exactly three weeks later was made automatically.  And 48 hours after receiving each vaccine, we got a text asking us to fill out a survey about side effects.

his comment: "5G enabled"

--Which vaccine did you get?

Israel has only given out the Pfizer vaccine so far. And good job, Israel--almost 40% of the population has received at least one dose, including over 80% of people over 60!  Currently, anyone age 35 and over (no "reason" or pre-existing health issues necessary) can get the vaccine, as well as 16 and 17 year-olds with parents permission (this country is *obsessed* with those bagrut matriculation exams).

Want more? Here's a Good article in the Wall St Journal

--Do you work virtually or in-person?

I feel like most of you reading this do know this answer, but I'll say it anyway since someone did ask. I work in-person running health clinics for English-speaking students here on gap year programs. I wear full PPE and have a limit on how long I can spend with each student, all to ensure that I don't end up in quarantine or ill (hopefully not so likely since I tested positive for antibodies several months ago and have received two vaccine doses, although still waiting for full effectiveness from the second dose).

--Seen Cousin Jillian lately?

No. And it stinks. The country has been in strict lockdown for weeks. There are roadblocks on major roads and passing through them requires an official letter or proof of a reason such as a medical appointment. Sadly, visiting cousins does not count as an official reason. Although it doesn't really matter since it's illegal to visit others in their house.....I don't think those of you in the US (who can still go to Target [although you might have to wait in line b/c they're only accepting 25% capacity], and can go to normal-size weddings and funerals and, and, and) can quite fathom the lockdown-ness of what it's like here.....But I'll keep trying to give a little glimpse of what it's like here

--Puppy?

A definite bright spot!!!!  Percy is adorable and a very good snuggler. As a true pandemic puppy he's less-than-thrilled with most (erm, "all") people outside of our family, but he's been great for us. 

--Any final thoughts for this blog post? (okay, no one has asked that. I just made it up)

Other "fun" things going on here:

The airport is now closed to both incoming and outgoing commercial flights, including for returning Israeli citizens and new olim. 

And, finally, according to the Jerusalem Post today, Israel has the extremely-dubious distinction of leading the world in number of days spent in lockdown: 139 so far. 

Hopefully in my next post I will have better news to report, although given how swiftly the Covid variants are going around the country, I'm not sure I will ;(

Hang in there, everyone!

Covid Good News/Covid Bad News

Let's get the bad things out of the way first: DRAT. Israel's cases are now topping 8,000/day. We've been in "sorta" lockdown for about a week now, but there has been veeeery little enforcement. While many stores are closed, more than just essential stores are open (I was in Tel Aviv yesterday, and I find it hard to believe that Laline [which is like the Israeli upscale version of Bath and Body Works], and Toys'RUs are essential businesses....). Schools have been open for every grade, which means that Ilana actually got to go to school for almost three weeks--hurray!!!!  Too bad this week has been midterms (did they even learn enough to make a test on?) and they go in for one test a day and then come home. Too bad because, BOOM, Thursday night we go into full-on, country-wide, they-really-mean-it-this-time lockdown, which means every grade above preschool that's not special ed will be closed. And roads closed. And stores closed. And WAAAH....

The Old City is the only place that has been seriously locked down, again with the doors closed to entrances (I seriously didn't even know those giant doorways even HAD doors there until the last lockdown), police checking that people live or work there, and empty streets.

Here are a few new photos of the empty Kotel (seriously amazing job perk that I can go here when so few other people can)....

the prayer book section, which is usually a mess of siddurim put haphazardly away, with the staff seemingly never able to keep up. Monday I found an Artscroll Ashkenaz easily on the beautifully-organized shelves, but almost couldn't get it out of the over-stuffed bookcase

Penina just got out of a week of bidud due to first one and then a second teacher of hers being Covid positive. Thankfully, she got two negative tests which gets you of of quarantine ten days after your exposure. But definitely not fun....

On the good news front (speaking of which, I get a very nice weekly email from Good News Israel), Israel is leading the world in vaccinating its citizens against Covid, with over 1.5 million people receiving their first doses, including 3/4 of the eligible members of our family (Ilana is too young), 4/5 if we include Cousin Jillian who smartly played the "I'm a medical student and really need one" card despite not being an Israeli citizen (it's still being worked out if/how vaccinations will be given to non-residents [at least, non-residents who aren't medical students!], which is a big question in a country with so many students in it)

I was feeling SO full of gratitude at this moment. Like, "the beginning of the end of this horrible time is RIGHT NOW". Mixed with a fair bit of, "See you soon(ish), Mom and Dad!"

Israel is making up guidelines for those who have been vaccinated, giving them (us?) "Green Passports" that will get us out of testing and quarantine when we come into contact w a Covid + person, or when we enter the country.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I looove the superhero nurse character

I'm just hoping all goes well with people here getting their second dose on time and without incident.....And, if so, my prediction is that the Likud Party and Netanyahu will win when we go to elections, sigh, yet again, in March. 

Lastly, a fun fact: applications to Nefesh b'Nefesh are up over 200% since Covid started, with the highest number of applications by people over 55 (perhaps aided by the fact that people over 60 here are automatically able to get the vaccine??). Not-so-fun-fact for those of us renting but hoping to buy: this has meant that real estate prices have gone through the roof. Oh well, you're all welcome anyway.

Gotta end with a Percy pic! "Sleeping Cutie" 

Chanukah Covid Whiplash

thanks to cousin Jen for bringing the balloon kit when she was here last year!

Since we started coming out of the last lockdown, everyone has been prepared that we would be in lockdown again for Chanukah.  So it was absolutely no surprise when a nighttime lockdown was announced from 6 pm-4 a.m., set to start on Wednesday, the day before Chanukah. But then a legal challenge was brought, the challenge won and the ban was struck down and then, for some reason that I cannot fathom, not only did we not have a lockdown, but EVERY store that was still required to be closed (and there were plenty of them) was allowed to open. WHAAAT? Covid whiplash, indeed....

On the bright side, by the end of the month, Israel is set to have 4 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine on-hand, and, with the first doses already in the country, it's possible that the vaccination program will start as early as December 20 (!) (evidently, we are waiting for the needles themselves to arrive, as well as for a program to be fully set up for who/how/when).

It was fun to be working in the Old City Thursday--the excitement over Chanukah was palpable; the air literally felt like it was buzzing. Tempting to scoot down to the Kotel for the candle lighting with Netanyahu, but I scurried home instead (not like I was likely to get in, given security issues and Covid issues!). 

wow--mosaic menorah at one of my schools!

Shalom Shachne is currently with Chana, Penina and Ilana at the Dead Sea for a visit. This involved
standing in line for over an hour on Friday to get Covid tests, as there is a road closure going into the Dead Sea (as well as Eilat--the only areas in Israel where hotels are open now), and one can only get in with a negative Covid test within 72 hours of entry. Don't think too hard about this, because it makes your head hurt; YES, there will be a small percentage of people who will become positive AFTER their test was taken. And, YES, they will end up there. And NO, you don't need a second test no matter how long you stay in these "Green Tourist Islands".....Just don't think about it too much. That's what I do. Rather, focus on the latest from "Puppy Cam"

Lastly, as our own little Chanukah miracle, we went out for a Shabbos meal for the first time in nine months. Wow. We ate at a separate table on our friends' balcony and had a lovely time. Nevermind the conversation, just eating someone else's food after nine months was totally thrilling!

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In "historical" news: a big thank you to Jeff H. who sent me a heads-up that our old house in Philadelphia is on the market now. It was so sweet to see the photos of a place we know so well, and see the great job they've done renovating (wow, real eye-popper of a price, though!!). For those of you who would like to take a trip down memory lane: https://www.trulia.com/p/pa/philadelphia/2403-lombard-st-philadelphia-pa-19146--2017363477

Covid Wedding

Here is what a Covid wedding in Israel is like these days:

First, it's a pleasant surprise to actually get invited, as the Corona rules are quite strict regarding numbers of guests. The chuppah was held in the backyard of a synagogue that abuts a park in our neighborhood. A few hours before the wedding, a message from the bride came in on my phone: "Ellen, can I assume you two would rather be slightly farther away from the ceremony, but in a place with less people?" Why, yes, she could assume that (clever friend)! And then I had this odd revelation that this was the Corona-equivalent of doing a reception seating chart.....

Her future husband had called the police to check that, although the guidelines say 20 people per wedding, could they have 60 people in three different locations just for the ceremony? The answer was "yes, but we will be coming to check". 

When we arrived, the wedding coordinator and her (small) team was actually functioning as a "Covid Safety Team", making sure that everyone was obeying the rules. Masks and hand sanitizer were available at the check-in table (although mask-wearing is a law here, and while you will certainly see people wearing masks incorrectly, it's pretty rare to see people not wearing a mask at all). The coordinators were allowing ten people in at a time to visit with the bride before the ceremony, and then showing us where we would stand for the ceremony. Although we were standing outside of the synagogue area in the park, we actually had a great view, right alongside the chuppah (although my feet still aren't talking to me after standing in fancy shoes for 2 hours, after eight months of not wearing such things). 

Another group was set up in the reception area, which had 5 tables of three, and one table of four (equals 19!). The bride and groom's table was alone in the next section, where the chuppah was being held (although it held the full 20--and probably a few more given the three musicians, photographers and videographer--during the ceremony). All in all, a lovely, beautiful evening and a very good job was done keeping it "within the rules". How do we know? The police did, indeed, come check before the ceremony started and allowed everything to proceed. Whew.

So how was it??? BEAUTIFUL--a lovely reflection of a special couple who took all the Covid lemons put on their big day and turned them into the most wonderful lemonade.  Look at this photo--you can tell:

  

Awesome photo, right? That's because
www.PhotographyByPenina.com was on the scene!

A HUGE "mazal tov" to Shira Chana and Yosef. We were honored to be part of your special day!