THE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS AND THE STAY-AT-HOME ORDER ON THE DAILY LIVES OF JEWISH TEENS.
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By Hillary Altes
Head Of Health
The Coronavirus outbreak has had a monumental impact on everyone. The quarantine has resulted in the cancellation of school, work, sports, the arts, the ability to socialize within six feet of each other, and many other integral facets of our daily lives as teenagers. One aspect of my life that has been especially impacted by the pandemic is my Jewish faith and how I have been staying in touch with it amidst these uncertain times.
A New Norm
Passover 2020 began on the evening of Wednesday, April 8th and ended on the evening of Thursday, April 16th. In normal circumstances, this holiday would have entailed days of preparation. My sister and I would come with our mom to do the shopping, and we would race to the Kosher section of Ralph’s to buy matzah, grape juice, macarons, special Kosher-for-Passover sweets and whatever else we might need to get through the week. We would join our entire congregation for a Passover seder on the first night of the holiday and my mom would cook all day in preparation for our family seder on the second night. We would have had loads of Kosher-for-Passover foods stocked up in our kitchen and we would celebrate with our loved ones.
Adapting To Change
Alas, the circumstances we are in are anything but normal. Because my parents have weaker immune systems than most, we have been ordering our food online instead of going to grocery stores in order to avoid any possible exposure to the virus. It has been a challenge to get the products that we would like, and the difficulty only intensified when it came time to order for Passover. Instead of stocking our shelves full of Kosher-for-Passover treats as usual, we ended up getting the bare minimum for this year’s Passover. We did not have any grape juice and our seder plate was missing a few of its usual elements. We made it work for the seder, but it soon became evident that it was going to be challenging to maintain our special diets throughout the week. The foods that are not Kosher-for-Passover include grains such as wheat, oats, rye, barley, and spelt when they have had contact with water or moisture for longer than 18 minutes, leading to rising. Some Jews also do not eat kitniyot, or foods like corn, rice, millets, and legumes. With dietary restrictions like these as well as the difficulties that came with obtaining food amidst the pandemic, my family had to get very creative in order to eat a Kosher-for-Passover diet.
Keeping Up With Tradition Online
Another aspect of our usual Passover that we could not experience this year is a communal gathering. It is traditional for families and friends to get together for the seder, but doing so would have violated social distancing rules. As a result, many families had “zoom seders” in order to experience Passover altogether. While technology helped to keep us connected when we could not be physically together, I still missed the community aspect of the holiday and it did not feel the same. After talking to many of my Jewish friends, I found that a common sentiment among us was feeling isolated and disconnected.
Threats To Faith
This isolation only progressed further when we all found out that a synagogue in Alabama had been vandalized on the first night of Passover. The Etz Chayim congregation in Huntsville, Alabama, was covered in Neo-Nazi grafitti. In addition to spray-painted swastikas and the lightning bolt symbol of the Nazi SS, phrases including “Gas Em All”, “Jew Rats”, “White Power”, and “Jew Scum” had been written all over the building, as shown above.
Reaction To The Threats
When I heard the news, it shocked me to my core. I could barely fathom the fact that somebody could do such a horrible thing during a global pandemic and quarantine, especially at the beginning of an important Jewish holiday. In conversation with many of my other Jewish friends who had heard about the vandalism, this event made most of us feel much more isolated. For the most part, this is because of the events themselves, but it is also due to the fact that most of our friends who are not Jewish ignored the event. Many Jewish teens shared the news of the event on our Instagram stories to spread awareness. Out of the 330 people who saw my story, only three who were not Jewish said anything to me about the event and nobody spread the news further. While I understand that this issue does not pertain to everybody, it came as a surprise to me how easily my friends and peers could ignore it. However, the three people who swiped up to offer their sympathy made me feel a lot less alone. This goes to show that reaching out to your friends to give your support is especially important right now, and that events other than the coronavirus are still having an impact on our society.
Finding Ways To Support Each Other
On the subject of support, various Jewish organizations have found a multitude of ways to provide engaging activities and opportunities for connection to the community. For example, the JCC (Jewish Community Center) has been hosting workshops and seminars that interest a variety of age groups. Camp Mountain Chai and other Jewish overnight camps are occupying younger audiences with fun activities like virtual zumba, baking lessons, and arts-and-crafts. For teens like me, NFTY (National Federation of Temple Youth), USY (United Synagogue Youth), and BBYO (B’nai B’rith Youth Organization Inc.) have been hosting meetings, virtual movie nights, and lots of other fun ways to stay connected during the quarantine. I am extremely grateful to have the support of this community during these uncertain times, and I know that it is something I can fall back on.
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