Baptism

Our chapel by the River Jordan

 It's the Feast of the Baptism and Christmas officially ends. Our chapel next to the River Jordan commemorating the Baptism of Christ finally opened after 50 years closure. Because of the war between Israel and Jordan, landmines were buried all around the land and these were cleared only last year. A small group of friars and Israeli military officials accompanied the Custos to the site in Jericho where he celebrated Mass there. It's touching. It's a homecoming.

Well the large majority of us stayed home under this lockdown, and celebrated the feast in a private way within each community. I did some gardening after Mass. The weather was good ... very sunny and at a comfortable 19 degrees. Then there were the weekend chores of cleaning the room, preparing the laundry and the compulsory playtime with Buddy and JJ. The 2 birds had a whole day with me ... and we played till there was nothing else to play with, so they went to sleep.

Custos at the chapel

Lockdown is still not working. Many people continue to flout the law, and police are reluctant to enforce it on the ultra-orthodox communities and their defiant rabbis. We're told that there were 12,400 fines issued but no one is likely to pay them ... many are jobless anyway. Infection rates are still high and vaccinations continue in a massive scale ... but the virus is spreading faster than the inoculation can cut it off. Today the S. African mutant strain was discovered in Israel ... and the British version has already spread rapidly and causing many deaths.   https://www.ynetnews.com/article/Bkod0r00Av?fbclid=IwAR3toA4Xhzi8y8WovT5crQEzE6cb4GH6Z6ffx40CoYywsqc2LwDt3ZYaWxM

I hope this week will be less stressful ... but I think I'll have to go out and distribute aid to the poor. The new year has just started, and so is the new school semester. Families need to pay bills and food and medicine and school fees. But I'll have to be careful not to catch the virus. It's rampant here in our Christian Quarter,

Empty streets

Empty street

 The lockdown is in its 2nd day. Our street below and the alleys around us are quite empty. But out at the main street especially at the junction of Austrian Hospice and the 3rd Station, groups of teens are hanging around enjoying the sun, joking, not wearing masks ... and Israeli soldiers are standing in the opposite corner ... not telling them to wear masks or keep distance. And how do I know? I went out too! This evening I had to go to M. Teresa's convent for confessions. The police never stopped me ... which I am grateful. And the sisters fried 2 eggs and made a pita sandwich for me for dinner ... which was nice because then I also have an excuse for going out. I went out for food, which is true.

While the vaccination is generally successful in the jewish side of the country, the arab side is just the opposite ... due to conspiracy theories and unfounded fears. It's unfortunate because the arab communities have a very high rate of infections and an unknown number of deaths. When their population is decimated and they lose one generation, then it'll be too late to regret. 

Meantime while the british mutation is raging around us, today we read in the newspapers that the S. African mutation has been discovered here in Israel as well. This is terrifying.

Lone walker

My asthma last night was awful. I was awake and coughing and wheezing from midnight till about noon. The air pollution is unbearable. If only it would rain and clean the air. It's been a very dry winter so far to date. The plantar fasciitis is much better today ... less painful. Maybe it's because I spent most of my time sitting and not putting weight on the foot. 

Tomorrow is the feast of the Baptism of Christ, officially the last day of Christmas. I'll spend the morning storing my Christmas decorations. Who knows what'll happen to Christmas 2021 ... hopefully it'll be better than 2020.

New commission

My commission 2021

 Traditional to every Epiphany evening, our community gathered for dinner and each was given the patron saint and spiritual commission for the new year. Mine ... was exactly the same as last year's: St. Jerome ... the lamenting suffering prophet; virtue to inculcate = forbearance; biblical verse = Col. 1:24; deceased to pray for: Fr. Castellana, our archeologist in Syria. 

We also received an olive wood rosary and a statue of the Holy Family. We would have traditionally also played Bingo ... but we abandoned that some 6 years ago. Well now ... it's time to try and put this commission into practice. 

The severe lockdown will start tonight midnight ... and many are watching how "severe" is severe. We've seen again and again how police don't enforce the restrictions and the public just go on as usual, with impunity. The police have warned they will be strict but the police chief says they will not enforce it in synagogues. So there you go ... an exception made even before the lockdown started. I'm not planning to go to work tomorrow ... but I'll be watching from our terrace to see what the police will do.  https://www.ynetnews.com/article/SkopG6NRv?fbclid=IwAR1_-XMKUqJShiwxla2CtGC9EqCZnka2hPI0_di3Gu3-CpB2QSoUHkF-K78   and   https://www.ynetnews.com/article/Hk7yvv70w

Epiphany gift

My plantar fasciitis is still giving lots of problems ... but also my asthma. Like I said perviously, the air quality has dropped significantly the past 2 weeks and many people are suffering from respiratory problems. I hope 2021 will be kinder to me healthwise.

And the biggest laugh everyone is having despite the impending lockdown is the chaos at Capitol Hill yesterday. That is not a normal human being acting as president. It's what you see in 3rd world dictatorships, or more aptly an emotionally retarded adult who's living in a fantasy world and reasons like a toddler. It's incredible how the US president can lie and lie and still people still believe him. Read the Book of Apocalyspe ... it's all prophesied there ... the beast who misleads the public with lies while they worship him. It's fulfilled. Evil is incarnate among us.

Epiphany

Our beloved
orange tree

 It's Epiphany today ... and we had solemn sung Mass at 7.30am. Celebrations in Bethlehem were celebrated yesterday evening because the Greek Orthodox celebrate Christmas today in Bethlehem and we don't want a clash.

Anyway this Christmas period under lockdown has been good. We had peace and quiet ... and Masses could be celebrated at 7am or 7.30am without clashing with pilgrim groups coming to celebrate Mass. So all of us could wake up a little later than usual. And our lonely orange tree in the courtyard has not only blossomed but it has fruit ripening on its branches. That's a rarity as all these 30 years it's been mauled and vandalised by tourists, and its fruit plucked while only a few centimeters big. This year is a Sabbath year for our orange tree ... it's got ripe fruit. It's such a wonderful sight.

Bad news. The govt has agreed to enforce a total lockdown on the country starting midnight Friday. Infections have shot to 8300+ and the new strain of the virus is spreading rapidly. Ultra-orthodox communities continue to hold huge wedding events and the police are avoiding clashes by letting them go on till towards the end when the crowds are told to disperse. Scuffles still break out. 

Cloth protest: photo
from newspaper

Meantime the announcement of a total lockdown has led to protests by many shop owners around the country. In Tel Aviv, cloth merchants rolled out their bales of cloth into the street. We'll see if the total lockdown will work, if the police will enforce it, and of the shop owners will observe it. 

I had been trying to call our Finance Dept to collect the salaries of my workers and since there was no reply, I walked up to the office 1km uphill only to find out it's Epiphany, a holiday for our diocese, and no one was working. Anyway I went to the New City to buy bird food for Buddy and JJ, and some dried food for myself to stock up for the total lockdown. My plantar fasciitis was killing me every step I took, but I managed to reach home after the 4km walk. I've been doing massages on the heel which help for a while. But I think I'll need something more permanent that that. 

First Tuesday of the year

MC sisters gather donations

 Back again on the blog. It's been a busy start of the new week ... New Year. It's paying the salary time ... and for 2 days I've been busy meeting with our Human Resource people to discuss each of our workers. Several have been laid off so they can claim govt. aid. Others who are not Israeli citizens must work, but we have to confirm their work permits and juggle with the mandatory limit of 50% workforce. Then there were medical insurances to check ... to see if the workers are entitled for corona vaccination. It has been a very hectic 2 days.

And lots of people have been coming to collect donations especially clothes for winter. Though it's technically warmer today ... 14 degrees minimum ... it still feels dreadfully cold indoors. Like 4 degrees. Many poor people cannot pay for heating so wearing more clothes is necessary to keep warm.

Despite Israel being the leading country in vaccinations, over 1 million in a week, the infection rate has surged to beyond 8000. And many who had their vaccinations have caught the virus before the vaccine could work. There is panic in the Health Ministry. The govt is considering a total and strict lockdown. The reaction was swift ... shop-owners in Tel Aviv immediately marched into the streets to protest. It must have been violent as we read from the newspapers ... police had to fire stun grenades. I can understand the merchants' plight ... but it won't do them any good if everyone is sick. Who will go buy new clothes when they have coronavirus?   https://www.ynetnews.com/article/Hk36S311Av?fbclid=IwAR0kRPeHki__urIGuEAUuoaRhTMGeApy94f8yjPdgWWcReVKgWvIwW1S_Qo

An upload on FB mentioned of the writer's allergy to Optalgin, a very strong painkiller. The side-effects on some people are severe. Now I know why my docs insist that I must never take Optalgin. Then again yesterday my docs ... and I got a 2nd opinion which agreed ... that I must not be vaccinated as I'd likely get an anaphylactic shock. Yesterday an Israeli suffered such an attack but was luckily saved. There had been 4 deaths of people who received the vaccine a few hours earlier ... though it's emphasised that there was no connection. They all had pre-existing health issues. Still I'm not taking any chances.

2nd Day

Grotto of the Nativity

 It's the 2nd day of 2021. No miracle turnaround of the pandemic, no miracle easing of tensions with Syria and Iran. It feels just like last week. Bethlehem is deathly quiet. A couple of nuns living near the Basilica of the Nativity pray in the grotto of Christ's birth. The Church door remain closed most of the time. And Manger Square is empty. The subdued celebration of Christmas is mute till Jan. 6 when the Orthodox Churches celebrate their Christmas. 

The lockdown in Israel has also seen restaurants and shops in the Christian Quarter closed. No one is walking to church ... the streets are empty. But in the alleys, children come out to play and get some sunshine. When will be magic of 2021 start? A turnaround or a leap forward ... something ... anything for a change.

Our Patriarch in Bethlehem

I had planned to do alot of reading today but as fate would have it, I worked over 10 hours distributing the furniture and clothes of the poor who came to collect. Most of the stiff are from the closed down hotel I had brought back 2 days ago. 3 beds, 2 cupboards, 2 organs, 1 drum, chairs and tables were given away today. Now I got home, tired, hungry, foot swollen. There were leftover pizza from yesterday' dinner which I ate. Now it's time to sleep. 

Vaccinations are going on even on Saturday ... and the rabbis are railing against the breaking of the Sabbath. Still its the most successful vaccination programme in the world. Almost a million jabs in 6 days. Now I hear that the govt is offering inoculations to religious as well. I doubt that news ... newspapers are saying there's a severe shortage of vaccines and the govt. is desperately calling companies to advance the shipments of next month. And with some deaths following the inoculations, and not enough studies done on the vaccine's side effects, I think I'll skip it if it actually is available to foreigners.

New beginning

Santa boy ringing
his bell

 Have been too busy to update the blog the past few days. 2020 wouldn't go without one last kick ... but in a good way as everyone else tells me. A chinese pastor closed his little church on the Mt. of Olives and offered everything free of charge to me. There were lots of chairs, beds, tables ... I took whatever I could. That meant hiring a truck to load the stuff and carry them to my library storage, twice. And hiring some of my neighbours to come and help. It was 2 days of hard work. But now I can give lots of necessary things to the poor, including new blankets and heaters in this very cold winter.

The Christmas spirit is subdued but not dead in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. We may be under the 3rd lockdown, and fewer people are in the streets, but still houses play christmas carols loudly out of their windows. All shops except pharmacies and groceries are closed. Today is the Solemnity of the Mother of God, but the solemn Mass presided by the Patriarch was limited to a handful of people. And it was broadcast life for everyone else to follow at home. Everyone is praying that 2021 will be kinder to us.

Israel is leading in the world vaccination programme. Over half a million people have been vaccinated in 5 days ... so much so that it's running out of stock. It's slowing down the programme till a fresh lot arrives in February. Let's hope for the best.

Full moon last
night

Last night, the day of 2020, we sang the traditional Vespers and ended with the chanting of the Te Deum for thanksgiving of the whole year. I went to sleep after dinner. There wasn't much to celebrate. This morning we had solemn Mass of the Mother of God and the superior cooked up a lovely seafood-turkey lunch. The moon is full and I guess it's a good start to 2021.

Violence by extremist jews against arabs and police have escalated in recent days after an israeli woman was killed, and an israeli extremist teenage killed in a getaway car while escaping the police. Newspapers are saying the police have lost control of the situation. It's frightening because it'll spill over to target leftists, christians, foreigners. The militant extreme right does not fear the police.  https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-extremists-violently-attack-arab-driver-amid-riots-over-settlers-death/?fbclid=IwAR0_bto3Fk9zUrYlOF4e4Glw93TkrPSHrwmfsRL3O-Zgc3noREL5tOsj8IU

Many people have been suffering severe breathing difficulties and asthma. Through social media, I found out I wasn't the only one. Apparently the air pollution is quite bad and many of us with respiratory ailments have become victims. Wearing masks doesn't help. I'll need to buy more medicines and stay home with windows closed.