I believe that the vaccines that will soon become available, together with public health measures, will be the mechanism that puts this outbreak to an end… A lot of people will still be getting sick until we get a level of herd immunity from the vaccine to essentially eliminate this infection from society. Until then, we’re going to need drugs for each and every stage of the infection: early, intermediate and late.

In poll after poll, alarming numbers say they don’t plan to be inoculated with the vaccine, whose 95 percent efficacy rate in trials exceeded everyone’s expectations. It’s scientists’ nightmare: create one of medicine’s landmark achievements only to have large numbers of people not bother to get it.

Experts are confident there’s an end in sight to the Covid-19 epidemic in the US, but the question is how long into 2021, or even 2022 and beyond, Americans have to wait before crossing that finish line.

So this will take a while. We have many decisions to make before then that could save a lot of lives — or cause potentially tens of thousands more people to get sick, hospitalized, and die.

If you haven’t been paying attention, you might think that secession is an extreme and seditious idea that began and ended with the Civil War. It’s not. Talk of secession and threats of secession have been a feature of American life almost since the republic was formed, and they have continued to this day. But, as we see from their notable lack of success, breaking up is hard to do.

It is highly unlikely any state or political party would act upon this nonsense. But even the mere suggestion that we should consider a move towards separation should be shut down, because this isn’t just about our political disagreements or differing values. Threatening to disband the union has serious implications for our national security, economic well-being, cultural stability, and constitutional order.

What is it, though, that so divides Americans now? There are issues on which Americans disagree, as there always will be. None is as insurmountable as that which partitioned the country 160 years ago. What has changed is that we have let anger replace understanding, to the point of blotting out our shared goals. And we have partisans trying to advance their cause with cynical untruths that border on immorality.

These accords are a celebration of our common humanity. When two countries say, “We need each other, we can help each other, we can work together,” that is humanity at work. If we go back far enough, we realize that Jews and Muslims share the same father, Abraham. We worship one God. We live in the same land. We love hospitality. We love music. We want to work and make a living. We love our children.

Morocco, which has 36.5 million residents, is considered one of the more influential countries in the Arab world and Africa, as well as having one of the continent’s strongest economies. As such, the latest developments can help convince other countries in the region to forge relations with Israel.

The agreement is a breakthrough for Israel, and also for Morocco. As part of the deal, Mr Trump—in keeping with his transactional approach to diplomacy—recognised Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara. The territory, which is slightly larger than Britain, is also claimed by the Polisario Front, a nationalist movement backed by Algeria that has pursued independence for more than 40 years. Mr Trump’s intervention comes amid provocations by both sides and risks restarting a war that ended three decades ago.

Saar breaks the old formula of “right means Bibi and all the rest is left.” Breaking this formula is essential because most Israelis are right or center-right, and the ceiling for a center or left party is limited. Blue and White could not convince Yamina to join. But Saar has such an option. Yesh Atid could not convince United Torah Judaism to join their coalition. Saar could and would.

Some view it as a sort of political big bang, that will bring about Netanyahu’s immediate downfall. Others believe that the major losers from this move will be Naftali Bennett and Benny Gantz – not Netanyahu. Within the Likud, there are many who believe that Sa’ar will fall flat on his face. Finally there are those, like myself, who view it as a possible game changer, that might or might not hasten Netanyahu’s demise.

For the first time in a long while, there’s a real chance of replacing the man who poses as a rightist, Netanyahu, with a genuine rightist such as Sa’ar or Naftali Bennett. Both of them have personal traits that would enable them to mitigate the terrible polarization Netanyahu has created through his one-man rule and run the country fairly and honestly.

Madame First Lady—Mrs. Biden—Jill—kiddo: a bit of ad­vice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unim­por­tant mat­ter. Any chance you might drop the “Dr.” be­fore your name? “Dr. Jill Biden” sounds and feels fraud­u­lent, not to say a touch comic. Your de­gree is, I be­lieve, an Ed.D., a doc­tor of ed­u­ca­tion… A wise man once said that no one should call him­self “Dr.” un­less he has de­liv­ered a child. Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forth-with drop the doc.

…to the future first lady: Whatever happens, for pity’s sake, don’t listen to this weird, grumpy, elitist man. Don’t ever sit in the White House and wonder what happened to your old sense of self. Be Dr. Biden. Be Dr. Biden forever.

Over the weekend, a groundswell of criticism built into a tidal wave over the haughtiness of the piece and its sexism and racism, such as where the author suggests as a simile for rarity the phrase: “Rarer than a contemporary university honorary-degree list not containing an African-American woman”.

Tony and Grammy award-winner Daveed Diggs, known for his roles as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, in the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” released a new Hanukkah song just in time for the holiday.

Titled “Puppy for Hanukkah,” the Klezmer-meets-hip-hop-inspired song premiered on Disney Channel on Dec. 4.

Hallmark finally made a full-fledged holiday movie centring on Hanukkah and I was pretty jazzed to watch it for “research purposes.” Let’s be real, I would have watched it anyway — because I’m a total rom-com junkie and seasonal Hallmark movies have my heart — but it also called to my inner Jewish girl.

In a few months’ time, Hanukkah will pass and I’ll be onto my next Animal Crossing holiday. I’ll be repurposing the virtual Halloween costumes I won in the fall as Purim costumes; soon after that, I’ll be rearranging my virtual space to make use of my Egyptian headdress and leaving an extra cup on my virtual table for Pesach. I anticipate that searching for a virtual afikoman might be a step too far.