First Day of 23

February 9, 2024 / IlanaB / 5 Comments

On February 8, 2002, I arrived in the morning. I was picked up from Ben Gurion airport by my aunt and my cousin. Before the sun set on that day, we planted an almond tree in my aunt’s yard. The tree and I have had our challenges; we’ve grown – one of us taller, one of us wider as well as emotionally, intellectually, and in spirit. And both the tree and I are still here – with thanks to my aunt who has been there for both of us.

After I wrote the previous post about The Waiting Place – and coincidentally thinking about poetry – I remembered that one of my favorite poems from high school was “Still Here” by Langston Hughes. I’m not generally a fan of poetry, but sometimes a poem says more than any 1,000-word essay. “Still Here,” I think, tells the story of me, my almond tree, and the people of Israel today and through all time.

Still Here

I been scarred and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
   Snow has friz me,
   Sun has baked me,

Looks like between ’em they done
   Tried to make me

Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’–
   But I don’t care!
   I’m still here!

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/348/still-here/

Today, February 9, 2024, is the first day of my and my tree’s 23rd year in Israel. Today is the 126th day of the Israel-Hamas war and the 126th day 136 people have been held hostage in unknown conditions. May all of us have the strength to cling to hope, embrace joy, and continue to say: “I’m still here.”

100 Days in The Waiting Place

January 14, 2024 / IlanaB / 2 Comments

3 minutes

You can get so confused
that you’ll start to race
down long wiggled roads at break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirding wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place . . .

. . . for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.
– Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Posters had been put up overnight – the ones they had been tearing down in big cities. I saw them as I was walking to and from work, and I thought, “That’s important. I should write a post about that.” Before I could, the hostage release deal went through. Every day, I turned on live-streaming news on YouTube to watch the transfer. I couldn’t do anything before 4pm. And then there were delays and more delays and more delays. For days, I could do nothing else: I waited before. I waited during. I waited after for the next day. And then I waited for the extension. Or would it be the end of the pause?

I have been constantly waiting. Dr. Seuss, one of the great philosophers of the 20th century, told us when we were kids that The Waiting Place is a most useless place. And it is. And today – the 100th day of waiting – Israel still cannot turn the page. We are all just waiting.

Waiting for news.
Waiting for friends and colleagues to come back from reserve duty.
Waiting for phone calls from loved ones.
Waiting to hear the names of the fallen.
Waiting for the next siren.
Waiting for Friday or for Chanukah, but without any excitement.
(I forgot to wait for Santa – what can I say, I like the NORAD Santa Tracker. But not this year.)
Waiting for the secular year to change to 2024. (I made a herculean effort to remember to do the countdown to midnight, but it was empty and meaningless.)
Waiting for the 100th Day.

NO!
That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.
– Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

That “somehow” is a little tricky.
For now, we’re all in The Waiting Place praying for the release of the hostages and praying for peace.

To get out of this terrible, awful, no-good Waiting Place, we have to take action, so we’re always looking for that “somehow” to escape.

Heroic people like a lion
Together we will win

“There is no greater mitzvah than redeeming captives”

This week on Emek Refaim
Yellow ribbons for those we are waiting for

Notes from Jerusalem

November 7, 2023January 15, 2024 / IlanaB / Leave a comment

*7 minutes

This is a blog about life in Israel. Since my last post in 2021, we went through a bunch of elections (I didn’t think I could explain them in any coherent way), COVID closures now and again, and just life. Simply put, I had nothing to add to the conversation.

Now, it’s been a month since the nightmare of October 7, and only now have I been able to write anything. I think I’ve been in shock. I wouldn’t say denial, although I haven’t been able to watch any of the horrors or hear any stories of the heroes of that day. I would start crying and never stop.

This post will not be political or angry – though my constant doom scrolling might suggest that that’s what I want to write. Instead, I decided that I would share things that are not reported in the news in the West. This will not be a click-bait post about terrible things happening here. Jerusalem is a bubble, and we feel kind-of safe here, though I’m sure we’re not as safe as we think we are.

October 6

It was Friday night, and my neighborhood has continued to have Shabbat services in the park. The celebration was especially joyful with singing late into the night. It was the holiday of Simhat Torah (celebrating restarting the weekly readings of the Torah).

October 7

I was awakened at 8:15am by a strange noise. It wasn’t my alarm. It wasn’t anything electronic in my home. It took me a few seconds to understand that it was a siren. A SIREN. I grabbed my phone and tried to find out what was happening. I could hear my neighbors turning on radios and noises of moving around, but no panicking or hysteria.

My building is old and not equipped with a protected room. There are recommendations for safety in every scenario, so I knew that my bedroom was probably the safest place for me to be. The public shelter is in the park. It makes no sense to leave my home, go out into the street, walk for a minute, then enter the park to go into the shelter there. And I’m certainly not going out there in my pajamas.

There were a few more sirens that morning, but nothing after noon or so. Because it was Shabbat and a holiday, the news was slow to come out.

Normally on a Shabbat, I like to lounge around in my bathrobe, have a leisurely brunch, watch some shows, and putter around the house. Not on this day. I probably did something a little strange. After the second siren, I decided to take a shower, including washing my hair. I got dressed in clean clothes and put on tennis shoes. If anything should happen, at a minimum, I would be prepared. I’ve been wearing tennis shoes every day since then. If I have to run somewhere, at least I won’t be held back by improper shoes. My joke to myself is that these are my emotional support shoes. It’s not really funny, but they do make me feel better.

In the evening, we were notified that school had been canceled, workplaces that don’t have proper shelters will be closed, gatherings would be basically forbidden, and we should all stay home as much as possible.

My work let all of us know that if we were able to come in, we should.

October 8

(Don’t worry, this isn’t a day by day diary, I’m just trying to give a little context.)

The first text message I got in the morning was from my health fund. They wrote to let us know that services might be slowed down during this time, but a hotline was opened for anyone having any mental or emotional struggles at this time.

When I went out, I was immediately struck by how quiet it was – very little traffic, few people on the street, businesses closed. I called it COVID quiet.

On this day, we were just learning who had been called to reserve duty, whose family members had been called up, who had lost loved ones, who had families in danger. The horror stories were slowly being revealed. The number of hostages was rising. The shock of the atrocities was a cloud over all of us. It still is.

Since then

Reserves were called immediately. Some who were not called, came voluntarily. They called 300,000 reservists, 360,000 showed up.

Calls to action by every kind of Jewish organization in Israel and outside of Israel came right away – for food, for clothes, for additional protective and field gear for soldiers, for funds for more ambulances and medical personnel and supplies, for blood drives, for sheltering animals who were left in the communities or whose owners were killed, for workers to help in the agricultural areas in the south.

It’s estimated almost 50% of Israelis have done some kind of volunteer work this month.

Social media influencers went into overdrive for Israel. Among them are Christian and Muslim Arab Israelis.

Within a day or two, billboards were covered with images of the Israeli flag. Just before President Biden’s visit, there was a huge banner with his image, the US flag, and the word “Thanks!” This week, I saw kidnapped posters. The light show on the walls of the Old City was images of the kidnapped.

Couples who had plans to get married later decided to get married now. Rather than a honeymoon, the men, and sometimes the women too, went to their reserve duty.

Israeli hospitals moved their wards into underground parking garages. They have full care facilities and operating theaters set up, and patients are protected.

It’s not easy to purchase and keep a gun in Israel. But after October 7 and after people heard that the slain usually didn’t have a weapon nearby, gun permit requests went sky-high. They expedited the process so that the paperwork would be processed more quickly and rather than a face-to-face interview, it could be done over the phone. It will still take a few weeks to process each request.

There are approximately 300,000 evacuees (from southern communities, but now also from the north) in hotels. Some real estate management companies have opened up empty homes to house families from the evacuated areas. Businesses are coming up with free activities for them so they don’t feel so isolated, alone, or abandoned. For example, the Cinemateque is screening feel-good movies three times a day for free, museums are offering free entrance and in-person activities at the hotels, retailers are offering percentages of purchases going to help evacuees. Most of the time, the programs are called something like “embracing evacuees.”

Many nights have been silent. In regular times, you can hear people out and about or hear the traffic. But now, most nights are extremely quiet. You can hear the wind. You can hear low-flying planes and helicopters keeping watch in the sky.

Plant nurseries in the south had to sell all their plants as quickly as possible. I bought a bunch and started to work on my garden. I felt like I was planting hope.

The buses are equipped with audio recordings to let passengers know which stop is coming up and that if you don’t scan your card, you could face a big fine. During COVID times, the announcement reminded everyone to wear a mask. Last week, there was a new message: In regular times and in emergencies, Egged (the bus company) will be there to provide service. We are strong together, and we will get through this together.

I’ve started seeing the motto Together we will win. A few weeks ago, the country was divided and Netanyahu and his government were teetering on the edge of the abyss. But on October 7, the country said, we’ll deal with that later, right now, we need to act together to deal with this external existential threat. Rest assured there will be inquiries about the catastrophic failures of October 7 and the lack of leadership. But first we have to succeed in removing Hamas from the Gaza Strip. The only way Israel can move forward is by being together and united.

Welcome to 2021

January 1, 2021 / IlanaB / Leave a comment

So the hiatus went on quite a bit longer than I expected. I found myself wrapped up in following the US election and since that’s not the point of this blog, I didn’t want to post my thoughts on it here. On top of that, this strange year turned out to be the year of the cat.

In June a cat came to me begging to be rescued – it was in terrible shape and couldn’t eat. So I brought in the vet for her immediate teeth problems, then got her spayed, and tried to release her. She wasn’t having that, so she’s stayed around.

Another cat started showing up for food, and at first I thought it was a male, but then it started to get mysteriously fat and oddly shaped. Yep. Preggers. I tried to get her in to be spayed, but because of the lockdown, there were no elective surgeries.

Meanwhile, my #2 cat was extremely sick on Erev Yom Kippur. She needed emergency surgery because she had an intestinal blockage. With the holiday and the lockdown restrictions, she got her surgery at the clinic, but my living room was converted into a cat hospital. I had to give her injections and keep her hydrated via IV. Turned out she had eaten a hazelnut. Where she got it I’ll never know! (She’s doing great, by the way!)

Two weeks later – 10.10.2020 – the first kitten popped out. After the shock of the first one, Mama Cat (I named her Ralph because she kept throwing up during her pregnancy) suddenly knew exactly what to do. I had already set up a nest for her and the other three were welcomed into the world over the next two hours.

Mama Cat Ralph took fantastic care of them and let me help sometimes. The three females have been adopted. The single male may not find his way into an advertisement via Facebook – we’ll see how things go.

I was surprised to find that my visitor numbers here for 2020 were higher than ever even though I haven’t put up new content for 6 months.

I’d like to get back to writing on the blog, but there’s not much new happening in Israel right now. We are currently in a semi-lockdown and are looking toward elections in March. We had an election in a semi-lockdown already, so that’s not new. One good thing is the new statistic that we can see here in Israel related to COVID-19.

**SOURCE** – This is a screengrab from the homepage of the Times of Israel.

Vaccinations! It should be noted that this reflects first dosages of a 2-dose vaccination, but it’s an amazing start. The best part is that it’s more than double the number of cases we’ve had here in Israel.

In looking back over 2020, I’m grateful that I had work that I could do from home. I’m grateful that I had internet to keep me connected to the world and to keep me entertained when I wanted to drop into a series and forget about all the craziness. I’m grateful for the green space that I have access to around me; I’m not sure lockdown would be as easy for me if I didn’t.

I’ve probably embraced my introvert (anti-social?) tendencies a bit too much this past year. Maybe I’ll work on that. I’ve definitely embracing lounging around and my waistline (and every other line) have reflected that. I will commit to shortening the lines and lowering the number on the scale.

May we all have good health in 2021!
May we all count our blessings and heal our wounds!
May we have the strength and patience to carry our burdens!
And may 2021 be better for all of us!

Same action, same result

July 25, 2020 / IlanaB / Leave a comment

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Misattributed to Albert Einstein (actually from a mystery novel…)

If you watch the news – or even just glance at the headlines – you might think the whole world is on fire. Not to diminish the problems of the world, I can tell you that it’s a quiet Shabbat in my neighborhood. It’s calm and still. And hot! I may have to make some iced tea – but I digress. Solutions to the world’s problems are not going to be found by doing the same things over and over.

The flu pandemic of 1918 lasted for two years and had four major waves. The Daily Show put out a video this week showing how the US is behaving today much like it did then. And expecting different results? (The longer version is quite illuminating. It’s not a documentary, but makes some interesting points. The humor may not be for everyone.)

Here in Israel, we have protests (violent and nonviolent about a whole spectrum of issues), more coronavirus (sick and dead), a failed opening strategy, economic collapse, a bloated political coalition that can’t pass a budget, and a prime minister accused of corruption.

So what’s the solution? If the budget doesn’t pass within a month, new elections, of course. Fourth time’s the charm?

The recent anti-Semitic hashtag Jewish Privilege is on people’s minds. Social media warriors have taken it over and turned it into a teachable moment.

But where has this kind of anti-Semitism shown up before? How about Madison Square Garden in New York City in February 1939 where 20,000 Americans attended a Nazi rally, said the Pledge of Allegiance to the US flag, and sang the “Star Spangled Banner”?

A Night at the Garden – A chilling collection of archival footage.

In the way of coincidences, after I saw The Plot against America and someone shared the video above with me, I found out that the warriors against Nazis in the 1930s in America were none other than Jewish mobsters.

There’s a great article in Tablet Magazine giving the history, but what struck me was the Jewish leadership was timid and publicly disowned their Jewish brethren for doing what they had been asked behind closed doors to do.

“They wanted the Nazis taken care of but were afraid to do the job themselves,” he [Meir Lansky] said. “I did it for them. And when it was over they called me a gangster. No one ever called me a gangster until Rabbi Wise [Stephen Wise] and the Jewish leaders called me that.”
Gangsters vs. Nazis: How the Jewish Mob fought American admirers of the Third Reich

If you’ve read to here, you might be thinking “Ok, she’s lost the plot. What does this have to do with your theme?” Good question! I’m glad you asked!

What finally broke up these Nazi sympathizers? Not the mobsters (although they helped). Not the Jewish community. Not any community. Not the US courts (First Amendment). Not the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Not a raging war in Europe from 1939 to 1941. No, it was that their leadership was caught embezzling funds, and then in December 1941, the US went to war against Nazi Germany (a few days after declaring war on Japan for Pearl Harbor and after Nazi Germany declared war on the US first). [Factoid: 120,000 Japanese, but only 11,000 Germans and 3,000 Italians, were interned in the US during WWII.]

Anti-Semitism will probably (unfortunately) always be around. When times are tough, the Jews are a handy target. In the 1930s, during the Depression, Nazi sympathizers blamed the Jews. At the moment, the anti-Semitism is coming via the Black Lives Matter movement, but it wasn’t so long ago that Tiki-torch-wielding mobs chanted “the Jews will not replace us.” How far are they from a rally featuring George Washington and swastikas?

What we’ve learned is that being timid and trying to blend in with the furniture doesn’t work. Thumping heads has some effect but is kind-of frowned upon. Divisions within the Jewish community are a recipe for disaster. The only thing that has worked so far is the Invisible Hand of History (or the Miraculous Hand of God, take your pick) to tip the flow of events a different direction. But that’s not much of a strategy to defeat anti-Semitism. At least in this case, it seems like we’re ready to try different things.

And so am I.

I’m going on hiatus for a month or two to recharge my creative batteries. What I know for sure is if I keep doing what I’m doing, I’ll get the same result.

Up and Down. And Up Again?

July 18, 2020 / IlanaB / Leave a comment

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1

And what will writers say about the summer of 2020? Dickens – paid by the word in his time – could have been writing about a vision he had for 2020. Shakespeare gives us hope by flipping the seasons.

Israel is in a weekend slowdown. We are allowed to leave our homes, but almost nothing is open, except beaches (those close next weekend). The decision was made by politicians at 3am. Doctors have said that this kind of slowdown may not actually be helpful. After being a shining example of how to get the virus under control, Israel is an example of how not to open a country.

The virus affects some like a flu; it kills others. Some have no symptoms at all but carry it on to others who get infected. There is no vaccine, but maybe there are ways to lessen the symptoms with already existing drugs. Some say the virus is real; others say it’s a hoax. Some people wear masks to protect others; some refuse to wear masks to preserve their own freedom.

The internet is a salvation of information and entertainment. But it’s also filled with bad news and threats of hacks. Technology allows us to virtually meet with people around the world. At the same time, it isolates us. Industries that can move to the internet are finding new ways to market and engage. Industries that can’t adapt collapse.

New social realities have brought out the best in people – giving to charity, helping neighbors, being kind. Some internet trolls have found their way into real life and are probably happy to have their ugly behavior filmed.

Shabbat morning brought sounds of mid-morning prayers in the park. But this afternoon is so quiet, I can hear insects buzzing and birds chirping.

What will writers say about 2020? Now is the summer of our discontent made glorious winter by this endless social distancing. It was everything; it was nothing. It was bleak; it was hopeful. It was the end; it was the beginning.

Getting back in balance

July 11, 2020 / IlanaB / 1 Comment

TL;DR – Thai massage is good for you!

This is what a disastrous re-opening of the economy looks like. Israel had 1,441 new cases in a day, and as of yesterday, a total of 351 people died.

This is the same graph for Thailand (pop. 69.4 million). FYI, 58 people TOTAL have died in Thailand from coronavirus. They had a small uptick of 14 new cases today.

This week I strained my back and my knowledge of Thai massage principles and acupressure points saved me a lot of pain and aggravation. Based on the graphs, Thai massage and a culture of caring for others helped save the country from coronavirus too.

First contact

My beloved Thai Massage School in Chiang Mai

My first contact with Thai massage was when I was in Thailand taking Thai massage courses. I liked the treatment combination of stretching and pressure, and I could feel the influences of both yoga and Chinese medicine. But I became a true believer when I came down with a stomach virus during my first week of training.

During a practice session, my partner pressed a spot on my foot causing me to run out of the room and throw up my lunch. “This is not how this adventure ends!” And back I went.

The next session was, of course, stomach massage. With my new partner, we modified the massage to deal with my stomach issues. And I was CURED.

UNESCO recognizes the power of Thai massage

Last year, I was very happy to see that UNESCO recognized Thai massage as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. There’s a 9-minute video on the site if you want to know more about it. The legend of Thai massage is that it was invented by Buddha’s physician. It migrated from India to Thailand and picked up some Chinese medicine elements on the way. The Thais simplified it and now have a beautiful national wellness practice.

Back to my back

Thai massage and acupressure is not a miracle cure. It’s not too “woo-woo” for ordinary folk. In short, any kind of massage increases blood flow and more blood circulation will help heal muscles. But Thai massage has the added benefits of increasing energy, bringing on relaxation, and lessening pain.

My pain was probably an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. I tried some stretching, a hot bath, medicinal creams, rest, ibuprofen, and a bit of trigger point therapy. All of these helped the acute issue of back strain and the resulting leg pains. When I was able to move around a bit more freely, I still had pain at times up to 7 or 8 as an ache, not as a result of movement.

Then I remembered I have all these treatment protocols from my Thai massage training. Once the acute issues had subsided somewhat, I could do some of the protocols on myself. It’s not easy!

But I can do as many acupressure protocols as I want whenever I want to do them. Yesterday I did about 4 protocols over 45 minutes and brought my pain down from 7/8 to about 2. In fact, I felt so good I did some light tai chi.

This morning, the pain was about 6.5, and another round of 45 minutes brought it down to 0.75.

I’m not 100% yet, but I think I’m about 85-90% better. I have residual pains here and there from other stuff that Thai massage doesn’t treat (or that I can’t treat myself).

This episode reminded me that I miss practicing Thai massage. Thai massage is almost as good for the practitioner as for the client – a case where it really is as good to give as to receive.

I’m looking forward to getting back to it eventually. But not yet.

A few thoughts about masks

July 4, 2020 / IlanaB / 1 Comment

TL;DR – Wear masks!

As a fan of Korean dramas, I noticed a lot of the big stars would wear cloth masks in public. Are they trying not to be noticed?

Screen grab from SOURCE, note that the date is 2019 (not coronatimes)

I also noticed Asian tourists in Israel wearing masks. They aren’t trying to keep a low profile in public.

I found out that in Korea specifically, but also in other Asian countries, the pollution is so bad they include fine dust warnings in their weather reports. People wear masks on particularly bad days. Masks also are a layer of protection against sun damage – the tourists were often wearing big sun hats and UV protective sleeves on their arms. For this post, I also did a little research about mask wearing in Asia and found an article from 2014 about the culture of wearing masks in Asia. In short, if someone is ill, they will wear a mask to protect others. Apparently this has been part of the culture since the flu pandemic of 1918. Today, it’s a fashion statement.

Coronatimes

Now we are in the middle of a pandemic that is not getting better. To update the numbers from last week: There are now 11.2 million cases – up 1.2 million since last week. Incidentally, May 27 was the first day there were more than 100,000 new cases and it’s been steadily going up to 200,000+ new cases every day. The death rate remains stable with 29,500 deaths this week putting the world on track to reach another 100,000 deaths within about 3 weeks.

Israel is officially in the second wave. We’ve doubled the new case rate this week with over 1,000 new cases reported in a single day. It’s directly tied to reopening and people ignoring warnings about how to reopen safely.

The best option for people is to not get exposed to the virus by staying home. That’s not a long term solution. So if we have to go out, we need to protect ourselves and others. That means masks.

My office sent this graphic.

A slightly more colorful comparison was making its way around Facebook.

Masks = Healthy society

I’ve been horrified by the public meltdowns in the US over wearing masks. I can’t understand how a matter of public health became a question of freedom.

I think one good example is smoking. A person is free to smoke as much as they want. That’s a choice they’ve made. Now that science has proven that second-hand smoke causes cancer and puts children in smoking households at a higher risk for respiratory illnesses like asthma, smokers may not like that they can no longer smoke in bars and other public places, but they tend to agree that they don’t have a right to blow smoke into people’s faces and potentially cause cancer or respiratory distress in other people.

What about speed limits and seatbelt laws? They are government-imposed laws for public safety. No one (that I know of) has tried to avoid paying the fines because they have a god-given right to pass other drivers like they’re standing still and smash through their own windshield when they slam on the breaks.

Now compound the danger by making smoking and bad driving contagious.

Yes, masks are uncomfortable. But surgeons and dentists haven’t thrown out sterilization procedures because they are uncomfortable. Coronavirus is also uncomfortable. Many of those who “recover” suffer as much as when they were sick and can’t return to normal life. That’s pretty uncomfortable. If an asymptomatic carrier turns into a super-spreader and people end up hospitalized or dead because they were near that person, that’s not comfortable for anyone.

Your freedom ends at my personal space. Wear a mask.

Corona Corner

June 27, 2020 / IlanaB / 1 Comment

With everything else in the news, you might have forgotten that there was a virus. I didn’t. I’ve been wearing my mask in public and socially distancing all the time. I think twice before taking a bus and use alcohol gel after each trip.

Israel is trying desperately to get back to normal with mixed results. Hundreds of new confirmed corona cases are showing up every day, but deaths remain in the single digits. Is this the dreaded “second wave”? Probably not; it’s just people thinking they don’t need to take precautions. The government doesn’t want to shut down the whole nation again, so they are enforcing targeted lockdowns.

Big-picture view

One statistic I followed – and I haven’t seen reported – is the time it takes to reach 100,000 deaths globally.
It took 77 days to reach the first 100,000 deaths (January 23-April 9).
It took 14 days for the next 100,000 (April 10-April 24).
It took 19 days for the next 100,000 (April 25-May 14).
It took 22 days for the next 100,000 (May 15-June 6).
We’re just about to reach the next 100,000 (probably today, June 27) and that took 21 days.
It seems to me that since April 25, the global death toll has been stable. If one country starts to lessen their death toll, another one steps up to take its place.

Is the US doing as badly as reported?

The big headline in the past few days has been Americans will not be allowed in EU countries because of their poor handling of the coronavirus. What’s left out of the headline is that the US is not targeted and is one of a number of countries (including Israel) that will not be allowed in the EU yet.

I’ve felt that perhaps the reporting on the US handling of the coronavirus has been a little bit skewed. The US has 50 states and 330 million people; it’s the third largest country in the world in terms of population. So I combined the 6 countries in Europe with the highest death rates (UK, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany) and found their total population is 335 million. Altogether, those 6 countries have 155,000 deaths (133 days) to the US’s 127,000 (119 days) (both numbers rounded as of this writing).

Brazil has the second most confirmed cases in the world (half of what the US has) and about two-thirds the population of the US. Since May 27, it averages about 1,000 deaths every day. From the first deaths on March 22, Brazil reached 56,000 deaths (rounded as of this writing) in 97 days.

For a closer-to-home comparison: Mexico has one-third the population of the US and 26,000 dead (85 days) with hundreds dying every day; Canada has 38 million people and 8,500 deaths (103 days) with not even dozens dying every day. Americans are allowed to travel to Mexico, but as yet are not allowed to travel to Canada.

Another statistic is that there are 10 million confirmed cases in the world and 2.5 million are in the US. Of the nearly 500,000 deaths, 127,000 are in the US. The US, a single country, represents 25% of both numbers. No other single country comes close.

Is the US doing badly? It depends.

Europe has many countries and many governments. Their policies are not entirely coordinated under the EU umbrella. Some countries do better. Some do worse – like the UK’s failed “herd immunity” policy and Sweden’s “just be responsible citizens” policy. In the US, some states are doing really well (Wyoming) and others are struggling (New York). It could be said that Europe and the US are sort of equal in numerical terms.

In general, the daily coronavirus death toll in the US is going down (see the daily deaths graph and the CDC’s excess death rate – the spike in 2018 was the flu). But it would be a stretch to say that the downward trend was a result of compassionate, logical, serious, unified leadership at the federal level.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm

Is the US leading the world with a unified message on coronavirus? No. Once the US president was seen as someone who would bring nations together to solve global problems. The current president is not a voice of leadership for this global pandemic, and so, on the world stage, yes, the US is probably doing as badly as reported.

Just a Little Justice

June 20, 2020 / IlanaB / 2 Comments

Justice, Justice shall you pursue . . .
. . .צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף
Deuteronomy 16:20

This verse from the Bible is translated many different ways, but I think this one is the most literal. Some translate it as “Righteousness, righteousness, shall you follow . . .” and some go with “Equity, equity, you are to pursue . . .” (I’m not a fan of this one).

Following my last post about Hebrew roots and given everything that is going on the world right now, I’m moved to write about the root צדק – tzedek.

Tzedek is generally understood as justice. From this root, we also have tzedakah meaning charity. A righteous person is called a tzadik.

You might notice that none of these three is strictly tied to the law. But they all relate to doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

How do we know what is right?

Most religions and philosophies have some version of the most basic principle.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Or the opposite: “What is hateful to you, do not do to others.”

Another version is: “What you wish upon others, you wish upon yourself.”

Whether it’s about wearing a mask to protect others from coronavirus or acknowledging that we have inequality in society or acting against police brutality, we can all take a moment to consider the effect of our actions on others.

An interesting addition to the discussion of the root tzedek is that when you make it reflexive (the action of the verb is done to the speaker), it means “to apologize.” Merriam-Webster notes that to apologize more often means to excuse or defend, not acknowledge a fault. And here we clearly see a link to justifying one’s actions through the root tzedek.

I guess the real question we need to ask ourselves is: when we look inward, can we justify our actions to ourselves and others by showing that we are doing the right thing? Are we pursuing justice and righteousness?

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