More than a year after the global pandemic broke out, the worldwide Covid-19 situation is still dire. While many countries are still struggling with case surges and high death toll; Israel, on the other hand, has already moved out of pandemic mode.

On May 23, the headlines announced: next week almost all Covid-19 restriction will be lifted. The reporters couldn’t hide their joy. נִצָּחוֹן עַל הַקּוֹרוֹנָה (victory over the coronavirus), claimed one. הַקּוֹרוֹנָה מֵאֲחוֹרֵינוּ (COVID-19 is behind us), announced another. One reporter even opened his article with the phrase שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ (Who has given us life and brought us to these days), taking from a Jewish prayer said to celebrate special occasions.

The joy and relief are, indeed, great, because starting from June, Israel canceled coronavirus restrictions on gatherings and social distancing. Capacity limits at indoors sites and outdoors activities have been lifted. Furthermore, Israel is now allowing equal access to sites and activities to vaccinated and unvaccinated. No need to present an immunization certificate (תְּעוּדַת הִתְחַסְּנוּת) or a negative test (בְּדִיקָה שְׁלִילִית) when entering places or joining activities. Everyone is welcome, and no need to keep two meters distance from one another anymore.

On June 1^st, the first day of cancelation of the restrictions, Tel-Aviv Medical Center celebrated the occasion with a show of the singer Aviv Geffen in its enter hall:

With new coronavirus cases dropping to below 10 a day, less than 200 confirmed cases in total, and more than five million people vaccinated, Israel returns to normality (יִשְׂרָאֵל חוֺזֶרֶת לַשִּׁגְרָה). (The Israeli Ministry of Health updates the details every day, you can check them here). Vaccines have transformed Israel and brought it very close to herd immunity (חֲסִינוּת הָעֵדֶר). אֲנַחְנוּ קוֺצְרׅים אֶת הַפֵּרוֺת שֶׁל מַסָּע חׅיסּוּנׅים מֻצְלָח (we are reaping the fruits of a successful vaccination campaign), said the Ministry of Health.

More than 50% of Israel’s population has already been vaccinated. The morbidity (תַּחְלוּאָה) rates in the country have remained low, despite the reopening of most of the economy and of the school system a couple of months ago. Nevertheless, many businesses that were reopening still grappled with the additional burden of enforcing the coronavirus restrictions. Many leisure attractions did not even reopen, because the children are unvaccinated. The new easing on the restrictions is changing it all. Now restaurants, sports events, cultural activities, wedding and so on, are been conducted as in the pre-coronavirus era.

Gatherings restrictions and social distancing restrictions were lifted, but coronavirus testing is still an obligation to anyone who enters the country. Wearing a mask indoors is still mandatory, as well. So, if you visit Israel, make sure to carry a mask along.

 

Text vocabulary

Victory = נִצָּחוֹן

*Notice that even though the Hebrew noun for victory is masculine, its plural form belongs to the exceptions list and gets the opposite gender’s ending. The Hebrew word for victories is thus: נִצְחוֹנוֺת

Test = בְּדִיקָה

Morbidity = תַּחְלוּאָה

Certificate = תְּעוּדָה

Immunization certificate = תְּעוּדַת הִתְחַסְּנוּת

Routine, normality = שִׁגְרָה

Herd immunity = חֲסִינוּת עֵדֶר

To reap the fruits = לׅקְצוֺר אֶת הַפֵּרוֹת

Vaccine = חִסּוּן

Vaccinated = מְחֻסָּן

Read more about the verb to vaccinate in this post.

 

Keep Calm and Learn Hebrew

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