In the original story of Passover, God helps the Jews flee slavery by hurling ten plagues down upon their Egyptian captors.
This year, Passover – one of the most popular holidays in the Jewish calendar – is marred by an actual plague.
As millions around the country begin an isolated Easter, lessons can be taken from Australian Jews who adapted to the coronavirus in order to preserve their cherished ‘seder’ traditions – songs, prayers and hot bowls of matzah ball soup.
“We had a family exchange of food,” says Newcastle audiologist Maxine Lorge. “My grandma made the matzah balls… she’s in isolation, but we organised so that matzah balls could be dropped off to the whole family.”
The 25-year-old joined a 30-strong family Zoom on Wednesday night, despite usually following tradition and shunning technology over the holiday period.
“I opted for being connected with family. It was pretty amazing to see all of us get Zoom up and running, even my grandparents who are well over 80,” she said.
For Noah Abulafia, who this week had two relatives in the United Kingdom hospitalised with coronavirus – one sadly dying on Thursday – connecting online brought his family closer than usual.
“Mum and dad were super happy we actually did the seder this year,” the 21-year-old law student says. “Other years we would just say ‘sorry, we’re in a different city'”.
Read the article by Max Koslowski in The Sydney Morning Herald.