Passover as virus wanes
Israelis gather for Passover, celebrate leaving pandemic behind.
JERUSALEM — A year ago, Giordana Grego’s parents spent Passover at home in Israel, alone but grateful that they had escaped the worst of the pandemic in Italy. This year, the whole family will get together to mark the Jewish feast of liberation and deliverance from the pandemic.
Israel has vaccinated over half its population of 9.3 million, and as coronavirus infections have plummeted, authorities have allowed restaurants, hotels, museums and theaters to reopen. Up to 20 people can now gather indoors.
It’s a stark turnaround from last year, when Israel was in the first of three nationwide lockdowns, with businesses shuttered, checkpoints set up on empty roads and people confined to their homes. Many could only see their elderly relatives on video calls.
“For us in Israel, really celebrating the festivity of freedom definitely has a whole different meaning this year after what we experienced,” said Grego, who immigrated from Italy. “It’s amazing that this year we’re able to celebrate together, also considering that in Italy, everybody is still under lockdown.”
Passover is the Jewish holiday celebrating the biblical Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt after a series of divine plagues. The weeklong springtime festival started Saturday night with the highly ritualized Seder meal, when the Exodus story is retold.
Most Israeli Jews — religious and secular alike — spend the Seder with extended family. Last year’s Passover was a major break in tradition.
Government-imposed restrictions forced the closure of synagogues and limited movement and assembly to slow the virus’s spread. Some conducted the ritual meal with their nuclear family, others over videoconference, and some in solitude.
Another lockdown was imposed over the Jewish High Holidays in September, again preventing family gatherings, and a third came this year with the emergence of more contagious variants of the virus.
By then, Israel had launched one of the most successful inoculation campaigns in the world after the government secured millions of doses from Pfizer and Moderna. Israel has now vaccinated more than 80% of its adult population.
The vaccination campaign in the Israelioccupied West Bank and Gaza has been slow to get off the ground, with Israel facing criticism for not sharing more of its supplies. Israel has vaccinated over 100,000 Palestinian laborers who work in Israel and West Bank settlements, and has sent a couple thousand doses to the Palestinian Authority.
For now, Israelis are enjoying what feels like a post-pandemic reality, lending special significance to Passover.
“It’s not only symbolic that it’s the holiday of freedom, but it’s also the holiday of the family,” said Rabbi David Stav, chief rabbi of the city of Shoham and head of the liberal Orthodox organization Tzohar.