Alone, Together—Part I: Mazal Tov!

The global pandemic has—to state the obvious—reshaped our lives, refocused our priorities, and forced us to reevaluate countless things we’ve long taken for granted. Israel was, of course, hit, too, in ways that are at once unique and just like the rest of the world. We’ve had curfews and lockdowns, shifting social distancing guidelines, layoffs, isolation, discrimination, economic hardship, illness, and death. We’ve also had births and bar mitzvahs, weddings and birthdays, and have witnessed unusual displays of solidarity, resilience, and kindness.

Throughout the miniseries, we’ll look back at the last few months and share stories that are simultaneously utterly Israeli and completely universal. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a gloomy period, for different people and in different ways. But, perhaps counterintuitively, we are going to start our miniseries with some cheer and brightness. Our episode today is all about celebration. Or, perhaps more accurately, celebrations in the time of coronavirus.

Open-sea yacht rendezvous, off-book private-jet landings, and direct lines of communication to the highest echelons of power are usually the stuff of James Bond films. But then again, COVID -19 really has changed everything we know about the world. In the prologue, “Make Everything Correct,” host Mishy Harman talks to Rabbi Yair Baitz, a Chabad emissary in Limassol, Cyprus, who was willing to do anything, literally anything, to circumcise his newborn son.

Act I: “My Big Fat Corona Wedding.” Long before Anthony Fauci became a household name, and we began peppering our speech with terms like “herd immunity” and “flattening the curve,” Miriam Syber and Mickey Polevoy had it all figured out. Their upcoming wedding was going to bring family and friends from all over the world to Jerusalem, and the excitement was—accordingly—palpable. Everything was ready: the hall, the dress, the photographer, the invitations. But as the Yiddish saying goes, der mentsh trakht un Got lakht (“Man plans, and God laughs”). Producer Skyler Inman chronicles 10 crazy days in March that turned a walk down the aisle into a treacherous obstacle course.

Act II: “Camino de Corona.” Danna Harman loves her birthday. Usually, it’s a time for her to celebrate, take stock of life, and plan ahead. But this year was going to be even more meaningful, as she was—to her utter astonishment—going to turn 50. The plan was to embark on a spiritual pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago and hopefully hit on a direction forward in life. But instead of meandering down the back roads between Condeixa-a-Nova and Mealhada, Portugal, she spent her big day alone in an apartment in Jaffa. And it was on that very same day that she received an ominous text message from HEALTHGOV ordering her to stay in complete home isolation.

The episode was mixed by Sela Waisblum and sound-designed and scored by Joel Shupack and Yochai Maital with music from Blue Dot Sessions and the Underscore Orkestra. The end song, “Tears for Barcelona” by David Broza is the first single released from his upcoming album.

Listen to the episode here, or download it from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify. You can hear all of Israel Story’s episodes in English here and in Hebrew here.