Cautious joy as no Covid burials last week
FOR THE FIRST time since the Board of Deputies began collating reports of Jewish Covid-19 funerals just over a year ago, no Jewish burials were recorded in the week that lead up to Pesach.
The Board suggested that the figure should be treated with caution as smaller burial societies do not report to the Board on a weekly basis. Board president Marie van der Zyl welcomed the news. But she also pointed out that Covid “has taken at least 900 members of the Jewish community. Seder this year will have been difficult for many, not just because they could not meet with wider friends and family but
Covid has taken at least 900 members of the Jewish community’
also as they reflected on loved ones they have lost in the last year.”
In the week before Pesach last year, the seven largest communal burial societies reported 97 Covid-related funerals. The most recorded for a seven-day period was 127, for the week ending April 13.