2nd Easter

Holy Fire brought out of the Tomb

It's Easter Sunday again ... and though the media has been showing an almost empty Holy Sepulchre with only high clerics from various orthodox churches waiting for the Holy Fire ... there are also videos circulating showing the orthodox laity swarming the streets of the Old City celebrating and breaking the distancing law. They've always been an unruly lot ... and they should be held responsible if an outbreak of the virus occurs in the Christian Quarter.

Today the youngest citizen has died from the virus ... only 29 yrs old. Let's hope the pandemic will be under control locally. Everyone must do their part ... our lockdown here is a lot harsher than most of yours ... but we accept it because we want to end this cycle of infections.

And the govt has relaxed the lockdown rules as of this morning. One can now walk 500m away from home instead of 100m, more shops will be opened and public transport will be more frequent. 30% of a workforce may return to work. All points to a slow easing to normality.

But there're major links along the way ... as early as it's started. On Tuesday evening the country celebrates Holocaust Day and then Thursday evening begins muslim Ramadan and next Monday is Memorial Day and Tuesday is Independence Day. The govt has already issued no public celebrations allowed during those commemorations but we're not sure how the police can enforce that.

Sunrise on 2nd Easter

I received a lovely phone call from an old friend; a jewish tour guide who was recently widowed. Usually I would wish her on jewish feast days and she would do the same to me on christian feast days ... but with the lockdown and all that, I forgot to do it this year. But she called this morning to check if I was alright and warned me of my asthmatic state that I'm high risk of catching the virus so she encouraged me to stay home. It was very nice of her. Well yesterday I received a call form the Nazareth hospital asking about my health situation and called also for me to stay home as I'm high risk. I guess the message is loud and clear.