Three days ago I got out of bed around 7:30AM as has become my COVID routine, got dressed, made coffee, put on my talit and t’fillin and then logged in to the zoom minyan I’ve been “using” (attending?) for the past month. There were only exactly 10 people logged on – the leader said that since not many people were there, they would just say Kaddish if anyone needed it, then we would just each daven (pray) on our own. So that’s what we did. As weird an experience as that was, its always nice to feel needed, like when there are exactly ten people to just make the minyan when someone needs to say Kaddish. The next day when I logged on there was nobody there. I was left in my talit and t’fillin just staring at the “waiting for host to join…..” screen. I waited the socially acceptable 10 minutes (does that still hold these days?), then concluded that it just wasn’t happening any more, and davened myself. And so its been since then. Back to davening myself each morning. Not that I have a problem with that. But it’s just kind of weird that my morning routine had somewhat more of a community feel to it during the height of the lockdown than now, as things are starting to ease up.
Because the virus is starting to decrease here in Israel, they have been easing the restrictions. Store fronts are already open (free standing stores, not in shopping malls.) Shopping malls are scheduled to open in the next few weeks, as are beaches and national parks. Kids in grades K-3 went back to school last week (half the class size, wearing masks), and all the rest of the kids (which includes ours) will go back by the end of the month. For now, they’re still doing virtual school.
And my job prospects have been frozen along with everything else. I spoke to the hospital just after Passover and that’s what I was told. But now that things are opening up with the virus getting better, and because we are very close to having a functioning government (which can pass a healthcare budget), I am optimistic that I will be able to start soon.