it is the middle of the night and I can't sleep. Not because of naplag this time but because of the events of the day and through the night, with two of my sons in the process of being called up for service - one was told already to go to the base in the morning (reserves) for combat service and the other is on call in his regular service in a cyber division. From what I see online, my fate for the night is shared by many other Israelis who also can't sleep for similar reasons.

The City of Tel Aviv published on its municipal website instructions, guidelines and relevant information for the upcoming holiday season in Tel Aviv. Some of it is informative, some generous, and some cute and quirky and not necessarily traditional.

I call upon the People of Israel to stay as much as possible in the sukka during the 7 days [of Sukkos], to eat there and to sleep there, as the sukka is considered open air space.

Besides for the mobile music trucks driving around the neighborhoods in the evenings to bring some joy and a fleeting bit of Simchas Beis Hashoeva spirit during CoronaVirus lockdown, different municipalities are putting out efforts to find ways to keep the residents spirits up, to keep them busy and to keep them entertained.

This Sukkos holiday has been sad and upsetting. 

The news is reporting that Epidemiologist Professor Itamar Gruto has warned that in sukkas as well you can only be with families and the regular rules apply,. he added that the sukka is considered a closed structure rather than an open one and one should not invite Ushpizin to the sukka..

I think it is kind of funny to discuss what the regulations and restrictions will look like in two months - they get changed every few days and are frequently confounding. Still, Israel Hayom is reporting, and many other media are now re-reporting it, that it seems the Ministry of Health will order full closures for the upcoming holidays of Rosh Hashana and Sukkot, similar to the full closure on Pesach and Yom Haatzmaut a couple of months ago. That will include orders to only celebrate with he nuclear family - only with people living in the same house - no guests, no grandparents, no cousins, married children, grandchildren, no nephews and nieces, etc.

This is not just an assumption, but is something being said by officials within the Ministry of Health. Obviously this has not been officially decided yet and an official decision will come later and be based on the trends and numbers leading up to that time period, but the working assumption is that this is what is going to happen.

The idea of such restrictions is, again, that holiday meals brings a lot of family and friends together from various places causing a significant cross-pollination and risk of exposure and infection. The thought is that shortly after such a holiday we would see spikes in the numbers of infections and deaths. Such a closure would prevent that.

Right? Wrong? Fair? not Fair? I don't know. Minister Yuval Steinitz is calling for a full closure right now, immediately, for ten days. Zebang VeGamarnu, as they say. Beat Corona right now with an extreme 10 day closure. Would it work? Maybe, maybe not. A holiday closure would not even do that, but it might prevent, or avoid, a situation that could become really bad.

Either way, forewarned is forearmed.

Like the other holidays, my guess is that we will see the elected officials making the restrictions for the general populace ignoring them themselves. Or they will "move in to live together" a day or two before the holiday, or before the lockdown, to circumvent the rules.

The schedule and program for the annual Sukkos Bet Shemesh festival is out!
Enjoy!