The police are out in full force. They always are during these holidays to maintain order among the crowds of hundreds of thousands that come to pray. But this year, they are out to ensure that there are no crowds, as Jerusalem remains under virtual lockdown.
Last Wednesday, as Jewish Americans were busy wrapping up their Passover shopping (well distanced outside the supermarkets, or begging for an online delivery slot) and struggling to set up a Zoom call with their socially-distanced families, Bernie Sanders bowed out.
In his foreword to Linda Sarsour’s memoir of political activism, Harry Belafonte remarks, “It wasn’t that long ago that we lost Martin and Malcom and Bobby.” He is comparing the vilification of Sarsour, the hijab-wearing, Brooklyn-born Palestinian-American, for her anti-Israeli politics to the murderous racist violence of the 1960s. It seems a stretch.
My sister was cooking up a batch of our late mother’s recipe for tzimmes Wednesday morning when the pot exploded.
Meetings and classrooms have been disrupted by blasts from pornographic films and, in one case, a shouter interrupted a Massachusetts school class meeting with profanities, and then disclosed the teacher’s home address.
Israeli officials warn that Wednesday night will be a make-it-or-break-it event in the fight against coronavirus.
Even though we no longer have a basin, and we no longer have a Temple, we do still have a mitzvah to wash our hands, called netilat yadayim.
In its efforts to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, the Israeli government has deployed thousands of Israeli soldiers to work with the police, along with the health and interior ministries, emergency health services Magen David Adom and other civilian authorities.
