In the recent Israeli film Maktub, two hardened criminals, after narrowly surviving a suicide bombing, decide to make their lives worthwhile by helping others. To accomplish this, they sneak notes from the Western Wall and then set out to fulfill the wishes of their prayerful authors. Liel Leibovitz, comparing the movie with both It’s a Wonderful Life and Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, writes in his review:

During the past two weeks, the Israeli government has been gradually reopening schools, restaurants, and beaches, leading to a spike in the number of coronavirus cases, the reclosing of some schools, and the quarantining of hundreds. The new outbreaks, for the most part, have spared the ḥaredi communities so severely affected by the initial waves of the virus. But, writes Ruthie Blum, there has been no parallel expressions of anger akin to what was directed at the ultra-Orthodox two months ago: