Old Plague, New Twist

Families are being ordered to stay at home as a deadly plague ravages the land.

Sound familiar? That's what's happening here, today, where I am.

But it's not new. Go back 3,300 years to the Biblical account of the Children of Israel's exodus from Egypt and the similarities are striking.

They were ordered to remain indoors as last of the ten plagues wiped out the nation's firstborn.

Tonight is Passover, when Jews around the world sit down to commemorate the events of that night.

But by the most unwelcome and unexpected twist of fate we are also being forced to stay inside to protect ourselves from a deadly plague.

We've been in lockdown in Israel for weeks now, but as I write this, the net is becoming even tighter.

To prevent friends and family gathering, as they traditionally do for the seder meal, the government is imposing unprecedented restrictions for a 16-hour period.

When they say: "Stay at home" from 3pm today until 7am tomorrow they don't mean, as previously, you can go for a short walk, within 100 metres of home.  They mean you cannot leave your house. Period.

The worry is that close contact will lead to a new spike in coronavirus infection. And quite rightly so.  Lives are at risk. And that has to outweigh any understandable desire to share a special night with special people.

Times of crisis bring out the best and worst in people.  Police and soldiers will be on patrol to enforce this temporary regime, because there are always individuals who believe the rules are for everyone else.

But equally there are many examples of surprising acts of kindness.  My mother took a phone call out of the blue from the pool where she swims.  Did she need anything?  The staff were at a loose end because the pool was closed, so they were calling members, especially those more advanced kin years, to offer help.  So they went to collect her groceries from the supermarket, left them outside her door and said she could pay when the crisis was over.  They even returned the next day, unprompted, with an eggplant they'd left behind.

Times of crisis like these also force sudden changes in behaviour, like the impatient shoppers, accustomed to pushing and shoving, who now line up outside shops, with two metres between them.

And they bring about sudden changes in how we use technology, like the funeral I "attended" earlier this week on Zoom, like the doctors who now see their patients over Skype, like the millions of business meetings, conferences and conventions that are still taking place, albeit remotely.

Times like these force us all to reassess how we do business -  in diamonds or any other sphere -  to embrace change and to look beyond today's troubles to a brighter future.

So, in spite of everything, have a fabulous weekend.