Archive for month: April, 2020

News Update

To listen to an audio version click here. (for supporters)

Deaths from the coronovirus in Israel have risen to 149. There are 122 people on ventilators. The good news is that the new infection rate is dropping and the recovery rate is increasing. The corner seems to have turned.

During a 6 hour government meeting, headed by PM Netanyahu, it was decided to slowly start reopening businesses, which have been shut since emergency measures due to the spread of the virus were declared nearly a month ago.

According to the proposal, submitted by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, trade, services and manufacturing will operate at 100 percent capacity as soon as next week if they are able to adhere to the following health directives:

1. Temperatures will be checked at the entrance of each venue

2. Workers showing coronavirus symptoms will remain at home

3. Wearing protective face masks is required

4. A two-meter distance from one another must be maintained

5. Public spaces must be disinfected every two hours

6. Creation of a sterile area for workers aged 50-65

Places such as big shopping centers, beauty salons and schools will remain closed.

In addition, people over 65 and those at risk of complications from COVID-19 will remain in self-quarantine for the time being and will be eligible for unemployment benefits.

A system of mass testing for the virus will be established, managed by the IDF and the defense establishment.

Bnei Brak and certain neighborhoods of Jerusalem will remain under lockdown through next week.

Muslim clerics have closed down the Al-Aqsa mosque compound (Temple Mount) for the entire month of Ramadan, which begins on April 23. The ban took effect on March 23.

The virus did not stop 2,000 demonstrators from gathering at Habima Square in central Tel Aviv to protest the current political deadlock and “the erosion of Israeli democracy” under PM Netanyahu.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecasted Israel’s economy contracting by 6.3% in 2020 due to the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic and not returning to its current level until 2022.

Earlier this month, the Bank of Israel Research Department published a forecast that predicted that the economy would contract by 5.3% in 2020 but that this would be more than compensated by 8.7% growth in 2021. The Bank of Israel’s forecast is based on the economy returning to full operations by June.

Food sales in Israel reached an all-time high in March 2020, at over NIS 4.36 billion, which is NIS 1.2b more than last year. The rise is apparently due to a combination of coronavirus and Passover.

News Update

Deaths from the coronovirus in Israel have risen to 72. Ten of the dead are from one nursing home in Bersheva. There are currently over 9,404 people known to be infected with the virus. 740 people are being treated in hospitals. 122 are on ventilators. At least 801 patients have recovered.

A nationwide lockdown began Tuesday at 7pm and will last until Friday. There will be a curfew from 3pm Wednesday until Thursday morning, which includes the first night of Passover, when families conduct a Seder. 6,000 police officers and 1,400 IDF soldiers will be deployed around the country to enforce the curfew.

The nationwide lockdown essentially prevents most Israelis from leaving the municipal boundaries of their own cities, although they would be allowed to shop for essential supplies in their communities close to their homes. They will also be allowed to walk their dogs up to 100m from their homes. All public transport, including international and domestic flights, is halted during the lockdown. Taxi services are still operational. an order requiring Israelis to wear surgical masks when going outside will officially go into effect on at 7am Sunday.

The holiday of Passover begins tonight, when we celebrate our miraculous redemption from Egyptian bondage. On that historic night, the Jewish people were also confined to their homes as the 10th plague raged through Egypt, killing every Egyptian first born. Yet on that very night of fear and isolation, in the midst of our terror, came our redemption. As our sages teach, God’s salvation comes in the blink of an eye.

While we might not be able to celebrate Passover as usual this year, with family and friends, nor can we worship together in our houses of prayer, we still are united as one nation, just as our ancestors were on that fateful night in Egypt.

And just as that night of fear and terror turned, suddenly, into a night of redemption and salvation, may our time of fear and terror be turned into redemption and salvation — for each of us, and for all humanity.

Wishing you a very healthy and happy Passover.

NOTE: We will be taking a break for the week of Passover.

News Update

To listen to an audio version click here. (for supporters)

Deaths from the coronovirus in Israel have risen to 37. There are currently over 7,030 people known to be infected with the virus, 95 of whom are on ventilators. At least 357 patients have recovered.

The government has decided to lockdown the city Bnei Brak – a center of ultra-Orthodox Judaism – as the number of infected has surpassed 1,000 and continues to rise. IDF Border Police set up barricades and roadblocks to enforce the lockdown, allowing people to leave the city for medical reasons only. The government ordered the evacuation of around 4,500 people aged 80 and over from Bnei Brak to a hotel outside of the city.

Medical experts estimate that as many as 38% of Bnei Brak’s 200,000 residents are infected with coronavirus and that the city could soon account for as many as 30% of cases in Israel’s 8.7 million population. This is primarily due to Bnei Brak’s population density, which officials say is almost 100 times higher than the national average, and because many residents ignored the social distancing regulations.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (71) and his wife were diagnosed with coronavirus and are in isolation. PM Netanyahu and other senior officials, including the head of the Mossad, are also isolating as a result of having been in contact with Litzman.

Litzman, who is ultra-Orthodox, reportedly prayed at a synagogue with a minyan on March 28, three days after the Health Ministry’s directive that “no person should pray in a place other than his place of residence unless prayers are being conducted in an open space.” Testimony by residents in the haredi neighborhood in which Litzman lives suggests he violated the directives several other times.

Moreover, when the Knesset was being sworn in three weeks ago, Litzman was the only one who refused to have his temperature taken before entering the building.

Litzman denied all of the allegations.