Jewish communities adapt to celebrate Passover amid pandemic - East Idaho News
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Jewish communities adapt to celebrate Passover amid pandemic

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BILLINGS, Mont. (Billings Gazette) — Wearing an N95 mask and gloves, Rabbi Chaim Bruk hit the streets with boxes of matzo, a flat, cracker-like unleavened bread, and delivered them to Jewish families in Bozeman and other surrounding cities.

Bruk is the rabbi for the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Bozeman and is giving matzo ahead of Passover, the Jewish holiday commemorating the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery more than 3,300 years ago. Passover begins April 8, and continues through April 16.

The novel coronavirus has made celebrating Passover difficult for many, with groups of 10 or more people prohibited from gathering, both in homes and in places of worship.

Public health officials have encouraged residents to stay home since mid-March, and Gov. Steve Bullock has issued an order allowing only the most essential businesses to remain operational.

Not only will Bruk deliver matzo “prepared with love, and gloves,” he has also mailed it to families in Roundup, Dillon, Great Falls and other towns. Bruk’s wife, Chavie Bruk, will also be preparing kosher meals, to-go Passover meal kits, for those ordering them for pick-up.

The meals will be used for Seder (pronounced SAY-der), the ritual meal commemorating the Jewish exodus from Egypt. Other aspects of the Seder may include bitter herbs, like horseradish, which symbolize the bitterness of slavery; egg, which symbolizes spring and new life; matzo, which symbolizes the unleavened bread that was made by the Israelites as they left Egypt in haste; and others.

“I see men and women who survived the Holocaust, who survived the communist and the Stalinist regimes, and they ended up dying from (the coronavirus), and it’s heartbreaking.”

The kits also come with a candle lighting kit, wine or grape juice, a Seder guide and the Haggadah, or the narrative of the exodus recited during the Seder.

The synagogue’s other branches in Missoula and Kalispell are also providing matzo and meals to congregation members.

“It is perhaps the most consequential day on the Jewish calendar,” Bruk said. “What normally happens on Passover, Jewish families and communities get together and we celebrate. Except, this year, that’s simply impossible.”

Bruk closed the synagogue in early March, before any restrictions were implemented. Three of his relatives were diagnosed with COVID-19.

Bruk was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and knows a few Jews who have died because of the virus.

“I see men and women who survived the Holocaust, who survived the communist and the Stalinist regimes, and they ended up dying from (the coronavirus), and it’s heartbreaking,” Bruk said.

In Billings, Rabbi Erik Uriarte of Congregation Beth Aaron, would like to do an online Seder during the first night of Passover for those without family. If that doesn’t happen, he recommends that families use video platforms to celebrate the Seder and share recipes. Uriarte ordered matzo to hand out as needed, but because the synagogue is small in Billings, it’s also limited.

However, Uriarte notes that Passover is usually celebrated with family in the home. The congregation in Billings usually holds a community Seder the second night of Passover.

Both the synagogues in Billings and Bozeman have moved their classes online as well.

“We’re looking into several innovative ways of trying to maintain the community while also keeping the social distancing and quarantining in place,” Uriarte said.

And because of the pandemic, the congregation in Billings has had to postpone its centennial celebration, after deciding to officially celebrate in 2020.

In 1917, the Jewish community in Billings had to send their dead to Butte or Helena, since a congregation was not officially established and religious services were not held. When the Spanish flu stressed Butte and Helena’s resources in 1918, the Billings community was told to buy land and maintain a cemetery. Shortly after, the Beth Aaron congregation was formed.

“It’s a really interesting footnote in history that we’re having to put off our centennial celebration for a very similar event that caused us to be a community in the first place,” Uriarte said.

Celebrating Passover during the pandemic brings a new meaning to the holiday, according to Livingston resident, Kinerette Martin, who is a member of the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Bozeman.

Orthodox Judaism normally discourages the use of technology and other electronic devices during the Shabbat, or the Sabbath, and major holidays including Passover.

This will keep many families from videoconferencing with others, or with their synagogue.

“There isn’t an option of having a virtual community dinner,” Martin said. “Basically, everyone will have to have their own dinner with whoever they’re living with this year. It’s a very strange and surreal way to spend Passover.”

Martin’s home also burned down a month ago and she and her husband are now staying with relatives. She purchased a few kosher meals prepared by the Bruks to celebrate the holiday with the family she lives with.

Martin works for an essential business and feels fortunate she continues to receive a paycheck.

“As far as Passover, it’s going to be very strange and probably sad in some ways to feel so isolated,” Martin said.

Rabbi Chezky Vogel of the Chabad Jewish Center in Missoula sent out more than 300 boxes of matzo to families in Missoula and the surrounding area. The boxes also come with instructions on how to make a proper Seder.

Vogel has also moved classes online, including ones that educate members about Passover traditions. A model Seder will be conducted online as well the Monday before the beginning of Passover.

“It’s very challenging but we got creative and we found ways to maximize the potential,” Vogel said.

While many families will have to celebrate Passover at home, Jewish communities across Montana are finding ways to continue practicing their faith.

“We’ve been through a lot as a people, so we’re very good at adapting quickly,” Bruk said.

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