Interim

Wow Israel has now not only the highest number of infections per capita in the world, but it has overtaken USA in deaths per capita as well. The numbers are scary ... but still there are numerous locals who don't believe the pandemic is real, that it kills ... that it's just a little flu. Believe me ... a generation will die because of ignorance. And worse ... it's willful ignorance. It's culpable.  https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-1st-time-israel-surpasses-us-in-daily-covid-19-deaths-per-capita/

Our lonely orange tree

And just as Yom Kippur started last Friday evening, the police arrested a man going to synagogue ... and he is corona positive. He broke quarantine laws. This is the frightening part ... that people willfully break the law without regard to the safety of others. They don't think of the old, the sick, the vulnerable who may catch the virus because of him. All that matters is he gets to pray in the synagogue and to hell with others' well-being. It has become a very selfish world. There is no more charity, no more love of neighbor. https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-pull-infected-worshiper-from-jerusalem-synagogue/?fbclid=IwAR3GOJPbhJ8CE4FdVjjNL9RVrGQCZA8rmnYRpNgUasSr9qmaoliBhJ_BS0Q

Fresh fish

I'm beginning to enjoy lockdowns. The govt has warned it will probably not be lifted after Sukkoth ... a mistake they made the first time round when lockdown was lifted too quickly for schools to reopen and that triggered the 2nd wave of infections. This time it will take another 2 weeks to slowly reopen places in stages. But like I mentioned in several previous blogs ... the lockdowns have done wonders to nature. Our lone orange tree ... suffering from years of abuse by tourists who break it's branches, strip of leaves and pluck it's unripe fruit ... after 8 months of lockdown, has flourished. Leaves are larger and greener. Fruit are 10 times it's size and branches are spreading outwards. It's so good to see it.   

Another thing is people are eating healthy now ... with more fresh fruit, veggies and meat on the diet. Kids who go to school usually don't have proper meals ... they just buy a pack of potato crisps for lunch. Now locked at home, they eat mum's food.

Well we're a week away from Sukkoth. It's the interim period between Yom Kippur and Sukkoth. I'd like to go for the Priestly Blessing at the Wailing Wall but this year it'll not be possible. Perhaps I can just hear it from my terrace ... it's about 800m away.