Celebrating Passover (and Keeping Faith) During a Pandemic

If you are like me, and countless other Jews across our state, country, and world, this week you’ll be celebrating the holiday of Passover.

However, this year’s Passover celebrations will be different than the Passovers of recent years past.

During a typical Passover Seder, before the story of the Jewish people’s liberation from slavery is retold — it is customary for the youngest child at the table to read from the Haggadah and ask The Four Questions, beginning with “Why is this night different from all other nights?”

At the heart of the Seder is an acknowledgment of the reason for the holiday, as well as a recognition of the hardships that the Jewish people faced so many years ago. However, this year’s recitation of the Mishnah (traditional text) holds a new significance and meaning.

This year, COVID-19 and physical distancing threaten the very core of what the holiday calls for, opening our doors to the community.

During a holiday when families are typically brought together to commemorate hardship and celebrate resilience, we now find ourselves not free to be together, separated from our loved ones, forced to celebrate the holiday in isolation.

And as unfortunate as this circumstance is, we must remember that while this situation is temporary, countless Jews through history have had their freedom taken from them.

We must also remember that one of the central messages of the Passover holiday is resilience.

Resilience in the face of what may seem like insurmountable odds has allowed the Jewish people to overcome tremendous trials and tribulations in order to celebrate our faith. We have shown resilience in the face of exile from our homeland, oppressive governments, and incidents of anti-Semitic hatred.

I am confident that Jews around the world will take on this new challenge with the same resilience we have carried all these years. Our resilience comes from the power of our community, and what we can do when we are unified.

Even now, we are seeing Jewish resilience at work. Many Jewish families across the globe are planning to hold virtual Seders this year, making use of video-conferencing technology to remain spiritually close to those we must physically social distance from.

Even still, while many Jews will be celebrating Passover by themselves or separated from their loved ones this year, know that we will not truly be alone. Each of us, whether we’re together or not, will feel the collective and universal yearning for freedom that bonds us together; a bond that calls us to action to help repair the world. While we may not be able to open up our homes to family and friends for Passover this year, we have an opportunity to open our hearts with tzedakah(charity) to help others in this challenging time.

And so, while the youngest child might not be sitting next to you at the Seder table and instead is asking the four questions over video conference, or the melodies of the songs of Passover might not come together quite right, we should take comfort in the same traditions that have spanned thousands of years. And while this night is more different from all other nights than we are used to, we will say tonight, as we have for thousands of years, our message of hope and resilience: “Next year, may we all be free.”