Israel: Yom Kippur confined and gloomy in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv, September 27, 2020. REUTERS / Corinna Kern
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Jews around the world celebrate Yom Kippur on Monday, June 28.
It is the most important holiday in Judaism: a day of fasting and prayers for believers.
In Israel, each year, the country stops on this occasion.
Public transport stops, the airport is closed and car travel is scarce.
Pedestrians and cyclists then invade the roads.
But this year, as the country faces an explosion of coronavirus cases, the party is little spoiled even if containment rules are not strictly enforced.
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Report in Tel Aviv by our correspondent
,
Guilhem Delteil
Ashley Millner and Daria Tarkhov sit on a bench facing the Mediterranean Sea.
The two young women are wearing sportswear.
This break concludes a physical exercise session on the seafront. It complies with government guidelines, they point out.
But Ashley Millner notes flexibility in the application of confinement rules.
“
I do not have the impression that there is an application as strict as during the first confinement.
I think the police are fed up with these rules too!
It's not that the corona is not an important subject but everyone, I believe, has lost their trust in government and they don't care
”.
Usually, these two thirties respect the traditions of Yom Kippur, the feast of Atonement: they fast in particular throughout the day.
But this year, adding religious restrictions to confinement was too hard, Judge Daria Tarkhov.
“
This year we have decided not to fast.
Because it's already very hard to feel like you're in prison, or that you don't have the right to do anything.
Both also hold their phones in their hands.
In accordance with religious rules, Daria Tarkhov usually does without it on this feast day.
But 2020 is an exceptional year: “
I think God will forgive me
(laughs)
.
Because times are tough.
"
On Twitter, singer Aviv Geffen even believes that
"
this year, it is God who must ask for forgiveness
. "
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Religion
Judaism
Israel
Coronavirus