Passover in the shadow of corona: NY Jews brace for grim week

New York, which has been the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the US, has seen more than 123,000 cases and more than 4,000 deaths.

By OMRI NAHMIAS
Hasidic Jewish men gather for a morning prayer outside of a synagogue, closed due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, New York (photo credit: REUTERS)
Hasidic Jewish men gather for a morning prayer outside of a synagogue, closed due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, New York
(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON –The number of COVID-19 cases in the US continues to rise, and more than 1,100 people died across the country on Sunday, bringing the death toll to nearly 10,000.
The upcoming week is going to be the worst so far, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned Sunday.
“This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives,” he told Fox News. “It is going to be a Pearl Harbor moment, a 9/11 moment. Only it’s not going to be localized. It’s going to be happening all over the country, and I want America to understand that.”
New York, which has been the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the US, has had more than 123,000 cases and more than 4,000 deaths. And with Passover almost here, many New York Jews are facing a grim reality.
“We’re seeing a peak of cases for the second time,” Jewish Insider reporter Jacob Kornbluh told The Jerusalem Post. “Over the weekend, a couple of dozen people passed away in Borough Park. Up until last night, I heard [ambulance] sirens nonstop. We get the sense that the situation is yet to stabilize, because it took us time to understand how dangerous the situation is and how to react.”
Kornbluh, who resides in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park, told the Post the numbers were discouraging.
“Although the Orthodox community accounts for a relatively small number of the overall fatalities, the trend is still negative, and we don’t know when it is going to change,” he said. “However, we do hear of cases of people who were hospitalized and recovered, which is a positive sign.”
Although Kornbluh does not leave his home, he said by looking out the window, he notices less foot traffic than usual.
“You can see some cars and some people shopping for Passover at KRM supermarket,” he said. “Given that Passover is later this week and people have been virtually in lockdown for the past couple of weeks, you are starting to see people outside here and there. But for the most part, people are cautious. Everyone knows someone who died, and it makes us all aware of how dangerous the situation is.”
Asked about how the Orthodox community will celebrate Passover, Kornbluh said New Yorkers have a similar directive to Israelis: Celebrate the Seder inside with your nuclear family.
“But unlike in Israel, there is no enforcement,” he added. “Keep in mind that there are three days of holiday in which people can’t go to synagogue or to visit family.”
Kornbluh said he was not sure if everyone will follow the rules, but he assumed around 80% of the community would.
YOSSI GESTETNER is the co-founder of OJPAC (Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council) and lives in Monsey.
“Like all New Yorkers and New Jerseyans, the challenge is the need to be home as much as possible when you can’t socialize and work as usual,” he told the Post. “As Orthodox Jews, so much of the community is around communal stuff. It makes it even more difficult.”
Age is a challenge, Gestetner said.
“In New York State, only 20% of the population is under the age of 18,” he said. “In the Orthodox community, it’s 60% of the population. Many more children are at home than in the rest of society. It makes it more difficult. But I think the schools and the yeshivas deserve a lot of credit for providing programs over the phone or over Zoom to help.”
Orthodox Jews are receiving disproportionate attention when it comes to coronavirus, Gestetner told the Post.
“I don't understand this bigotry from Israel to Canada to the United States, where people in government and the media keep on framing this about Orthodox Jews,” he said. “Did they violate the rules more than anyone?”
Gestetner thinks maybe it is because the media focuses on the Orthodox community more than on anyone else.
“The coronavirus is a global pandemic that has affected and affects people of all walks of life,” he said.