Yom Yerushalaim

It seems like Israel is slowly but surely going out of the coronavirus crisis. Very few new carriers are found every day, and the numbers of people dependent on breathing machines is dramatically dropping. Only 13 new carriers of the virus were discovered yesterday, and life is resuming.
Yesterday I went to the city for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began. It was strange to use public transportation again. Of course, almost everyone was wearing a mask, but still, there was crowdedness in the light rail, and therefore a feeling that life is getting back to normal. Baruch HaShem. It is such a good feeling. I wonder if people are going to take any moral lesson for their lives from what we've been through. I have the feeling that only few will. Most people are not the thinking types. They live their life on an 'automatic gear' and seek to escape from reality to different kinds of entertainment. I'm still trying to figure out what it is that I myself learned from this period of time. Perhaps that sometimes the biggest charity one can do - is not to do anything, to stay home, to not cause damage by doing, and this was my lesson. I stopped all of my regular activities and found that I can be charitable also by not doing anything. I also learned that times like this are like a litmus test - putting people in tests while they are not aware, and it is a chance to see who the people around you are really are. I witnessed how a very rich person was trying to take advantage of the situation in order to rob a poor person who worked for her of their salary, even though there was no justification for it. I'm sure many people around the world witnessed such human and moral failures. It was anthropologically, ethically and psychologically interesting. I also found that I passed such a test with flying colors - I could have taken advantage of my government to get money from them, legally, but since I felt there was no justification for it, I didn't even try, and when they contacted me several times by different means and told me that I can get the money I 'deserve', I refused. This was my test, and I'm so so happy that I could pass it. I feel very happy and content with it. I feel very disappointed with people who agreed to take advantage of the government in such a time of crisis, but I guess one of the purposes of the coronavirus pandemic was to serve as a social, ethical and moral test as well.

We are having some VERY HOT days. For a week, the temperature in Jerusalem was around 37-38 degrees. It made it hard to walk with masks on, and the government canceled the requirement to wear masks. Even so, most people still wore them. I wore them, but not when I was jogging out. My apartment is very hot because it has ceiling windows and the sun shines directly in, so I had to turn on the air conditioning and it helped me a lot. Baruch HaShem there are air conditioning in the world, and that there is one in my place.

My hair has grown so much during the past two months, and now in this heat I really want to cut it short. People who haven't seen me for a while and suddenly saw me were shocked. I had a short hair and now it is below my shoulders. I forgot how I look with long hair. I really want to cut it again, but I'm restraining myself. My goal is to manage to grow another "braid" - to let my hair grow to such a length that I will have at least 30 cm to spare, to be able to braid it into one long braid and donate it again. I did it five years ago and since then I kept it short, but every time I cut it, I felt pangs of regret that if I cut it, I won't be able to donate my hair again, but very gratefully, it is growing really fast now (I prayed that it would and it suddenly started growing really fast), and I believe that in one year from now I will have the necessary length to be able to donate it to the Zichron Menachem charity organization again. It would make me very happy to be able to do that.

Yesterday was Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, in which we commemorate the reunification of Jerusalem at the end of the miraculous 1967 six-day war. No words can capture the miracle and the sanctification of G-d's name that occurred as a result of this miracle, but I already wrote about it in the past, so no need to repeat myself here. I'm glad that I could really celebrate Yom Yerushalayim, even though I had no plans of doing this in these times of coronavirus. The way it went is that at the beginning of the week I got a surprise WhatsApp message on my phone from a Japanese acquaintance of mine, from whom I haven't heard in over 3 years. She told me that she is in Jerusalem and we started chatting. She then told me that she watched the famous, lovely SHTISEL tv-series on Netflix, and loved it. She had many questions about the show and about Jews, and I invited her to ask. She did. I answered her questions and then she said that she has two other friends here in Jerusalem who want to ask questions too, because they liked that show very much. So we made plans to meet in the city. We scheduled it to Thursday night (yesterday) and met. After we finished, I was walking towards the light rail to go home, but there was something so special in the air, and I just couldn't go home. Something pulled me to the Kotel, to the Western Wall. I walked there, not knowing if I would be allowed in, because of the coronavirus. But surprisingly, they let me in. The area in front of the wall is divided into cubicles now, and in every cubicle they can have something like 15 people only, with masks. There was a line of women waiting, and I waited with them, but my turn came pretty quickly, and I even merited to go further deep to the stones and touch them. It was such a wonderful strange feeling to be in this place after such a long time. I felt so grateful and it was hard for me to pray with words. All I wanted to do was breathe the special air around this place and thank G-d by being happy. And I did. And, of course, memories of a special visit to the Kotel many many years ago flooded me and are still affecting me, with tears involuntarily rolling down my cheeks from time to time. I hate it when it happens, but I have very little control over it. I hope that on Shabbat I'll be able to balance myself against it. So thanks to those Japanese people, I merited to visit the Kotel and celebrate Yom Yerushalayim there.

I didn't know how the meeting with them would be because I haven't spoken their language in a long time, but it went well. We sat and talked for 2.5 hours, almost 3 hours, and towards the end I felt like my brain used up all of its glucose and I started speaking in a less fluent way, but for most of the time it was OK and I truly enjoyed every moment of it. These three people (my acquaintance and the couple) are completely secular, they come from buddhist/shintoist families, no relation to the Bible whatsoever, so it was a double challenge. I find that it is much easier to talk with Christians, because at least they have read the bible, but these people never have. We started by talking about the kind of job I'm doing, and theirs, which was very interesting, and then moved to talk about Shtisel and all the questions they had about it (they loved the show - and they saw it on Netflix with Japanese subtitles which was shocking to me that this series has subtitles in Japanese), and then we started talking about Judaism, the bible, the miracle of the survival of Israel as a nation in diaspora, the miracle of our return and prosperity in our promised land, and the incredible fact that all of this was prophesied in the Torah and in the Prophets. I hope it made some impression on them, but at the moment I have no way of knowing. They were very grateful and very attentive to every word I said, but will it change anything in their view of life? I have no idea. All three are pro-Palestinian, pro-Arab and therefore anti-Israel. We didn't talk politics at all, only culture, faith, religion - and I hope that something in them will change for the best following this. They said that they want us to schedule another time to walk in the Me'ah She'arim neighborhood and tour it together. That would be nice. All I want is for them to start believing in G-d. Israel doesn't need their support and we don't want to convert them to Judaism. All I want is to help them recognize G-d in their lives. That's it. I told them that G-d is everyone's G-d, not just ours, that he created all of us and lovingly watches all of us and supports us from above. It is the concept of personal providence or 'setsuri'. I also talked with them a lot about the importance of performing charitable deeds, to make this world a better place, and a few minutes later, G-d sent them a chance to experience it. Someone came and asked one of them (the guy) to help him carry a heavy box. He did, and that was such a nice divine exclamation mark on all of our discourse. You can never know how these things go. You plant a seed - the seed may dry and die or it may be irrigated and nourished, and then sprout and grow to become a wonderful fruit-bearing tree. I really think that the reason G-d gave me the ability to learn languages is to use them in such a way as well.

Anyway, time to say Shabbat Shalom, I still have some preparations to do!
Have a peaceful, restful weekend!
R.

Out, at last

The radio announced that there have been only 13 new cases of infection with the Coronavirus in the past day, which means that the situation has improved tremendously and I hope it will continue to be so until a final resolution of this problem. The numbers have been low from the beginning of the week, so I finally allowed myself out for a walk, after a month (or two) of locking myself at home and not leaving, unless it was for the supermarket or to throw out the garbage. So Sunday I went on a one-hour morning walk, and yesterday on a 2-hour walk and again this morning I enjoyed a 2-hour long walk in my neighborhood and the adjacent streets. It is so good to be out. The flowers are in full bloom, and in this season the Jasmine flowers give their scent, their sweet, heavenly scent, and I am so happy that I can enjoy it. Everything is so beautiful! Of course, I do not leave the house without a mask. Once I did, without realizing it, but when I realized I was without a mask, I went immediately back home, fetched my mask, and then went out again.
What is surprising to me is that my legs were not weak as I thought they would be after such a prolong time of confinement. It is almost like everything is normal. I hope to be able to continue doing these walks, to energize myself, to have my blood flow freely in my veins.
I recently started eating less cooked food and more raw food - fruit and vegetables. It is such a good feeling. I feel the blood flowing in my body. A few good months ago I tried to change my eating habits to include more meat to give myself the iron I'm in desperate need of, but it didn't last long. I'm not a big meat eater, and you feel so heavy after eating meat. Now I'm eating a lot more fruit and vegetables, and a little piece of white fish occasionally, and I feel so light, and the color has returned to my face again. I look at myself in the mirror and for a split second ask myself when did I paint my lips with rouge, I'm not the type who puts on make up, I hate it. And then a split second later I realize it's my blood that is coloring my face, and since the blood is richer now, my very pale face is no longer that pale. It's a good sign.
So while still cautious, I think I'm slowly going back to life, and so is everyone around me. I'm very proud of most Israelis that they still wear a mask outside. It shows that they care about others and that they are considerate. I am really proud of them.

I really recommend reading the writings of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. He writes a weekly blog about the weekly Torah Portion, and he has beautiful insights. I recommend reading his old blog posts, not just the new ones. Such jems and pearls of wisdom. Try not to miss any of them. They are not short, but they are worth the reading. I haven't read all of them, but I want to. There are many personality types out there. I'm not sure what's his, but regardless of the personality, I really like what he's writing on the Torah.
Israel is starting to open up after a two-months closure, and the world is back to normal. People are out, shops are open, most people are still walking with masks on their faces, but some do not, which I'm not happy with. Unlike most other people, I'm still trying to close myself at home. I think now that everyone is out is more dangerous than before, and people with a conscious should guard themselves even more. I'm still leaving my little apartment only once every few days. A friend of mind asked if she could come over, and I said that I'll be happy to, but not now. I am not afraid of the virus. If I get it, either I won't feel it at all, or would have a flu. But if I get it, I might give it to someone else who would give it to someone else and down the line someone would lost their lives. I don't want to participate in this 'game'.
One of the things that I'll remember from this time of coronavirus is the beautiful minyan that I saw in my neighborhood - people standing in their balconies and praying together, as if they were in a synagogue. It was so special and I heard them from my apartment. Once or twice I went down, stood in an isolated place, and participated in the prayer with them, from my own improvised women section. It was nice because it showed they really cared to stay home and not infect anyone. I saw other groups who didn't care that much, unfortunately, and it made me both sad and angry.
When I go to the supermarket once every few days, I find myself asking people in the street to put on their mask. There is a new "fashion" here of walking with a mask, but placing it over the chin rather than over the nose and mouth. It is so unfair and inconsiderate. Most people are not doing it, but some do, and when I see someone doing it, if I feel that saying something would help, I tell them, without words. Just looking them in the eyes and pointing at my mask, a signal for them asking: where is yours? It helps in some cases.
An another case, someone on the street saw me with the mask, and a second later put on hers. So you also teach by example. I wish a 100% of the people would be considerate, and not just 95% of them. It is basic. The angel of death is still dancing in the streets, and we have to guard ourselves and each other. I don't like being a disciplinarian, but in days like this, you must be. Down the line it would save someone's lives and health.
I have a feeling that the world hasn't learned much from the pandemic, not for the long-term, anyway. People keep shopping and buying more than they need, as before. Once the airlines will resume activity, people will keep flying too often, escaping from the meaning of their lives. When I pray about the situation, I first pray that people will repent, and then that the pandemic will be over. It seems like it is over, thank G-d, but repentance, if it happens, is not mainstream.
It is a hot day today, it feels like summer is just around the corner. I like all seasons, I love winter, spring, and especially the fall. But summer - I like less. It gets too hot, and you have to protect yourself from the scorching sun. Gladly, in Jerusalem the weather is dry, so there is not the extra burden that comes with high humidity.
During the times of Coronavirus I started learning French. I still don't know much, it is very basic, but because it shares many roots and words in common with English, once you know the basics, you can start reading texts pretty quickly. I've always felt that I need to have a basic knowledge of this language and wanted to learn it, but felt that it would be hard without a teacher. I made up my mind to do it once an old lady who speaks only French needed my help, and I couldn't understand a word of what she was saying. At that moment I decided I have to learn it. There is a great smartphone application for learning any language you want in the world, I learned about it from my students, it's called DuoLingo, and it's fun and efficient. Here is an invitation, if you want to check it out, or you can search for it in your Google Play or Store:
https://invite.duolingo.com/BDHTZTB5CWWKSAEXRX5APJL2NQ

Today is the 2nd Passover. What does it mean? When the first holiday of Passover ever was celebrated, there were people who were ritually impure at the time. They didn't want to miss the chance to celebrate so they demanded of Moses and of G-d to have a second chance. And they got a second chance! This is what they said:
"But there were certain men, who were unclean by the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. And those men said unto him: 'We are unclean by the dead body of a man; wherefore are we to be kept back, so as not to bring the offering of the LORD in its appointed season among the children of Israel?'"
And the answer they got was this: "And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 'Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: If any man of you or of your generations shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD; in the second month on the fourteenth day at dusk they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;they shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break a bone thereof; according to all the statute of the passover they shall keep it."
They got their second chance, and it is today, exactly one month after the original Passover we celebrated this year. So I ate some Matzah (which I love!) and this Shabbat I will do the blessing over the bread with Matzahs instead of real bread. But these Matzahs are not exactly like the real passover matzahs. They are Kosher, just not Kosher for Passover. They look the same and taste almost the same, but they are considered leavened bread, whereas real Matzah is considered unleavened bread. Anyway, I like both types a lot. The message of this second passover is to tell people that you have a second chance - in many areas of life, even if we blew up our first chance, there is a second chance. We must only be aware of it and claim our right for a second chance. Sometimes it is easier said than done.

Wishing you Shabbat Shalom,
R.