Crowds

Full moon over Mt. of Olives

The past 2 days I've been very busy writing my 8 page course paper on Christology. It's been a very interesting online course, studied from the perspective of Coptic christianity. Managed to complete it this morning. Then it was a couple of hours of rest. Buddy and JJ were particularly happy because I could now spend some time playing with them. In fact we had a good half hour napping together. 

Purim started on Friday ... and despite curfew imposed for 4 nights to prevent crowds from partying and spreading Covid, people continued to flock and party in every City. And we're talking about thousands and thousands of people, from secular Jews to ultra-orthodox. And the police went on record to say they will not strictly enforce the ban on gatherings. So ... a mockery of the law, and an expected spike in infections in the next 2 weeks. It's utterly inconceivable that such open flouting of health rules can take place. But it is.  https://www.timesofisrael.com/more-illegal-purim-partying-saturday-as-hundreds-converge-on-jaffa-flea-market/?fbclid=IwAR0xYHYN_54yJSo7cmWDLqsFEESgqtdpN4fkYsHc5GGCykzro5Zfn11pGic

Purim crowds without masks

Tomorrow the Purim curfew ends; but Palestine will start a 12 day lockdown as infections have reached a peak and hospitals only have 5% available beds left. The health system is crashing. Luckily Israel today has decided to vaccinate 120,000 palestinians who come to Israel to work on a daily basis. They will be the carriers in and out of both countries ... and they must be first to be inoculated in order to break the cycle of infections.

A bright full moon has been shining in our night sky for the past few nights. And the weather, though sunny during the day at 17 degrees, is quite cold in the night ... around 4 degrees. I still have my thick winter blankets to keep me warm.