With Passover beginning on Saturday night, Israelis of all sectors of the population can relate to the holiday’s message of freedom.
Last year Israelis were locked down at home on the night of the Seder, unable to hold the big family meals that are a feature of the holiday for so many of us. People took to their balconies to sing “Mah Nishtanah” and “Chad Gadya,” at a distance from their neighbors, to feel like they were part of something bigger. Some non-Orthodox families held Seders over Zoom.
Yet nothing compares to the real thing, and many expressed sadness and longing for their traditional Seders.
That longing continued in Israel, through three lockdowns, and a year in which sickness and death were at the beginning of every newscast and seemed to lurk around every corner. Many thousands of Israelis lost their livelihoods.
Now, after a year of immense difficulties for so many of us, we are going from being enslaved by COVID-19 to freedom.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein announced on Thursday that over half the population of Israel has been fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
“We passed the 50% mark of all Israeli citizens who are fully vaccinated with the second dose of the [corona] vaccine,” he wrote. “Thanks to them, the State of Israel is defeating coronavirus. All that remains is to follow the instructions so that coronavirus does not return.”
As a result of that impressive effort over the last few months – which has sparked the admiration of much of the world – the country is beginning to open up again. Bars and restaurants are so packed in big cities that reservations have to be made days in advance.
Hotels reopened at partial capacity, and so did Ben-Gurion Airport. Children of all ages were able to return to their classrooms and see their friends – briefly, before Passover vacation began. The malls were teeming with Israelis buying new clothes and dishes for the holiday.
And, coming full circle from when the coronavirus crisis began, we can now enjoy our Passover with our loved ones, as we are accustomed to doing.
That being said, Passover is not the end of this story, just as the Haggadah ends long before the Israelites made it to the promised land.
Caution is still necessary. While the vaccine is safe and extremely effective after two doses, we do not know how long it lasts, and new variants could prove to be tougher to beat than the ones we know of so far.
In the meantime, while so many of us are immune, we must act out of concern for those who are more vulnerable, who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, and for children, for whom the vaccine is not yet available. While child morbidity for COVID-19 is very low, the numbers are somewhat higher with newer variants.
At the same time, every effort must be made to convince those who have still not been vaccinated to do so as quickly as possible. It’s saving lives and helping to minimize the effects of the deadly virus.
However, we’re not out of the woods yet. The law still requires everyone to wear a mask in public and limits the number of people gathering, and this should be respected.
It took the Israelites 40 years of wandering the desert until they reached Israel, and it will take us and the rest of the world some more time to be totally out of the coronavirus woods.
With pandemic responses seeming like a worldwide trial-and-error experiment, the slow adjustment to a post-corona world may feel like wandering in the desert, but hopefully, eventually, we’ll make it to the promised land.
But in the meantime, this Passover provides a fitting occasion to celebrate the freedoms that have been returned to us after a year of severe restrictions. Why is this night different from all other nights? Because we can finally have a Passover Seder with our full families.
Let’s use this holiday to remember how fortunate we are, compared with the situation a year ago, and to loudly pronounce ‘next year in a corona-free Jerusalem!’
Happy Passover to everyone.