Temperatures are only rising - and tomorrow's bathing season opens • Just before, Daniel Roth-Avnery went down to the beach to meet four people without whom he is not the same

• Return to the beaches

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  Coco

Ephraim Khalsagi - "The Epic of the Tiger" - (47) - The Popsicle Seller Everyone Wants to Selfie

"Little Popsicle, Great Happiness"

After a time when he sold mainly popsicles, popsicles and soft drinks in the parks, with the beginning of the bathing season, the way Ephraim Khalsagi's way changed. Known for beaches and soccer pitches dubbed "Epic Leopard," and highly recycled for selfie photos, he now returns to the sea to sell his wares on the south coast of Herzliya. 

"It's not an easy job. I work 8 hours in the heat, but it is a great joy to go back to the sea and meet the people," says Khalsagi, who reveals that Israelis prefer to buy seashells mainly on the beach, and their favorite flavor is cherry. 

Hundreds of Israelis spend the seashore on the beach // Photo: Paz Bar

"Popsicles, beer, cola, water, cold and inexpensive. I shout out to them, once it was just popsicles, but today the audience at sea is already asking for more things," he says proudly, "I carry the cooler with me, it weighs 10k." C, I was lucky to lose 14 pounds only during the Corona period, because I was training a lot at home. I was working on myself, lifting weights. " 

He said that despite the heat, he would expect arduous work, but this was a great happiness for him, certainly after the Corona period. "I die on the sea," concludes the tiger epic, "dies on nature and dies on people. The money then, first of all, health. All I want is to make people happy. Sometimes a little pug also makes great happiness."

Dawn Zabari (33) - Olympic medalist in surfing

"The opening of the bathing season? This is the temperature decides"



"The truth? The whole period of the Corona and the ban on going to the beach has struck me professionally nice," confesses the Olympic windsurfer, Dawn Zabari. Those who should have been in a very intense training period at sea ahead of the Tokyo Olympics found themselves leaning slightly back due to their rejection, enjoying an upgraded training lag due to the Corona's restrictions. "I had a very good time at home with the woman, and the girl Niv is a year old. I came back from the Australian Championships, after a month and a half, straight to the corona mess," he shares. 

But to Zubari, a seafaring man, the seashore is very much missing. "Personally, sitting at home all day without being able to go to the beach, have fun, enjoy the sea and be at the beach, which is what I do at the beach as well - I enjoy like a normal person - I had a hard time getting into the water to catch waves, sitting on the beach. To the sea, and suddenly there is no, so it sucks a lot, "explains Tsubari. 

Like many others, Tsubari claims that there is no sense of sea restrictions during the Corona period, but when they opened the sea for sports activities, it is "half a consolation. And here the sea is often opened, then you can sit at sea and have fun. In the end, no one decides When does the bathing season really open - except for the temperature at the beach, "smiles Tsubari.

Yossi Caspi (78) - Walking every morning on the shoreline

"Breathe in the sea and not the mask"

In two weeks, Yossi Caspi of Beit Liberty will celebrate his 78th birthday. On this day, too, he plans to continue the best tradition that comes with the opening of the bathing season, a 50-minute morning walk on the shoreline from Beit Yigal to the Alexander River estuary and back. 

"I go out every morning at 6am and really love the clean air of the sea and the wind, but mostly I like to walk alone, the quiet," shares Caspi. 

He makes the march before taking a job as a traffic safety officer at Plassown. Even as a pensioner, he takes great pride in walking ahead of the work day. "I have recitals that I recite to myself while marching." A healthy mind in a healthy body, "" Thinking well and positively, "and I think about them so much in the march, that I really convince myself," Caspi smiles. 

He says there is magic in the marching community at sea in the morning. "We only know each other inside and say good morning," he says. "I always go with a mask in my pocket in case I am among people and it is very important for me to keep myself. During the Corona, I walked with a mask, because I am a law-abiding man. Sport, so I can do it without the mask in the open, amazing air of the sea. When you are near the sea, you have to breathe it and not the mask. " 

Avi Crimson (56) - Rescuer in Tel Aviv 

"The closure period was difficult, waiting for the beach to be washed"

The legendary lifeguard of Gordon Beach, who has moved to the beach for the past few years, Avi Crimson (56), has known the profession for 32 years.

During the Corona period he and his colleagues were in crisis - and my father said he worked at odd jobs, distributed food to the elderly and served as Corona Superintendent at the Carmel Market - all to make a living.

"Opening the bathing season is a difficult feeling for me and the rest of the rescuers," says my father. "It is a great feeling and I am excited to see the bathers that I have known for decades coming to the beach. During the Corona period many of them wrote me exciting messages and promised me that we would soon see the beach - and here It happens".

My father and his friends, rescuers in Tel Aviv, are currently preparing for the beach opening. They are organizing equipment that includes lifeboats, resuscitation kits, handkerchiefs, hanging flags on the site, but mostly sharpen procedures. "I wish all bathers a safe season and there will only be declared beaches", Says my father, "to keep the Corona regulations in the open air. I am excited for the moment when I will climb the stairs and return to the peep beach lifeguard. "

The Interior Ministry has drawn up an outline for the regulation of coastal activities

In accordance with the decision of Minister Aryeh Deri, the Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for regulating the activities of bathing in Israel, formulated a "purple character" for the opening of the beaches on Wednesday. According to the layout, each rescue station will be staffed by three rescuers, who will not be forced to wear masks. First-aid applicants will be required to protect according to medical service guidelines, cleaning staff and inspectors will be required to wear masks, services will be sanctioned every hour. Also, only closets and showers will be allowed in enclosed buildings, and sports facilities can be used. 

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At the same time, chairs, tables and tanning beds will be placed two meters apart. You would also be bathing on the beach two meters apart and would be required to wear masks. The separation will be done by grouping people who are defined as a family or group of six people, and from cluster to cluster will be two meters separation, and the local authority will be responsible for marking and monitoring the separation between the different groups. 

Coastal signs will be posted for rules of conduct and beach hygiene. Kiosks and restaurants will follow the Health Ministry's general guidelines. In order to implement the guidelines, the Ministry of the Interior and the Treasury will work to transfer a dedicated budget to the local authorities whose territory has a beach.

As part of the opening of the bathing season, at the beach in Ashkelon, rescuers updated the rescue bag to include the materials needed for life-saving operations, including cleaning, disinfecting, gloves and masking. The beaches will have the duty of wearing a mask and maintaining distances as defined by the Ministry of Health. Six declared beaches will be operated throughout Ashkelon, where rescuers will often announce the various guidelines and will also disinfect the indoor services every hour.