Seder on Lockdown
I guess this was our second seder on lockdown, if you include the very first passover in Egypt when we, the Israelites, had to “shelter in place” in our homes during the long hours of the final plague, the death of the first born, just before we left as a free people. The Prime Minister couldn’t have said it better than Moses himself:
Netanyahu Announces Passover Closure
You’ll notice how he mentioned Purim in his remarks, saying, “Pesach won’t be Purim.” There’s a feeling that virus initially received a boost in its spread from all the Purim parties. That was before everyone really appreciated what was going on. The irony is that Purim is the holiday of masks. Its the holiday where God’s face is hidden, behind a mask. The whole story of Purim happens without any mention of God, whose name never appears in the Megillah. This is one reason we wear masks on Purim. In the Jewish calendar Purim is followed by Pesach, almost its exact opposite in that regard, where Gods role in history, far from being hidden, is absolute and miraculous, displayed front and center, evidenced by the ten plagues and the splitting of the Sea. Those two opposites were eerily connected this year. Since Purim we have not been able to remove our masks.
Candlelighting this year in Israel for Passover was at 6:45PM. We began our seder soon after. And at 8:30PM we heard singing outside. We all went out to the balcony and found that everyone else was on their balcony singing Mah Nishtana. It was really really cool. I had been sent a text message from a friend that this would be happening, but with leading the seder and all, I had totally forgotten about it until I heard the singing out the window. Literally the whole country was outside singing together. What an unbelievable experience!
It was so successful it even made the news:
Since the closure everything has slowed down. Not since Yom Kippur has by balcony been so quiet and the highways so empty.
I was sent a series of pictures from one of the school parents WhatsApp groups I belong to showing the country during the lockdown from the police perspective. While in the US these pictures might seem scary, or indicative of an authoritarian police state, here in Israel the feeling is different. Just as with the army, the young kids pictured here are people’s sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. They are here to protect us and we wish all of them strength, courage, safety and health. The pictures are eerie, still, quiet, and beautiful.
