"What In The World Is Actually Going On?"

26 Nisan 5780
Day 11 of the Omer

I do not have a pharmacy in my town.  I'm allowed to travel to the nearest town to go to the pharmacy for needed supplies.  There is no bus to the nearest town, so that leaves the largest city in the country.  Only half the usual buses are running from my town.  I can go at 8 am or 2:15 pm with a bus back at 1:10 pm or 5:30 pm.  I am dropped at the edge of the city at the lite rail.  The bus cannot continue its full route because the entire rest of its route passes through religious neighborhoods - all of which are locked down with no one in and no one out.

The  closest pharmacy accessible by the lite rail was in the center of the business district.  After locating one of the few seats not marked with a sign that forbid anyone to sit on it, with no prior warning, the driver suddenly announced that no stops would be made through the entire business district.  We rode as unwilling prisoners of the train driver from the Damascus Gate of the Old City until the Central Bus Station.  And no bus could be had traversing the same business district where the pharmacies were conveniently located because it required those buses to pass through religious neighborhoods, which, again, it was forbidden to enter. 

Maybe the petty politicians think the commoners like me will blame the religious people for causing all my troubles today.  I don't.  Not at all.  It makes me long for the days of public executions of failed leaders and wannabe tyrants.

People in cars can manage pretty well, but if you are poor or elderly and confined to public transportation, you might as well not be taking up space in their world.  One thing stands out when you travel around the City of Jerusalem, the only places where it is "business as usual" are the various construction projects intended for the Global Elite.

PS: I did finally make it to a store and there, they took down my name and phone number to be turned over to G-d knows who or why.