The Jewish world will remember these days, from Purim to Independence Day, for years. In many contexts, Jewish communities are an inseparable part of the countries that surround them, so the spring of 2020 will be remembered as the spring of corona for both.
However, our Diaspora brethren are seeing greater suffering and dying at disproportional rates. This points to the story within the story: the Jewish people in the shadow of the corona crisis. When the virus first started making its way to the west, it took the communities time to realize what was happening, which gave us the "Purim crisis."
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From east to west, many Jews starting reading the Purim scroll and drinking, from Rio de Janeiro to Moscow, from Montreal to Jerusalem. Infection rates climbed after the holiday, and even in South Africa the virus caught a ride with Jews on their way to celebrate the holiday. The community spirit did what it did.
The special Jewish public life exacted a price, and the numbers of corona patients in large communities (France, England, the US) made the Jewish minorities more vulnerable than the general population. Later came days of shutdown and enlistment, days of expansion (via Zoom) and the Jewish world got itself together to prepare for Passover in the shadow of the virus, Passover in which each of us reclined in his or her own house.
The holiday presented new challenges: sending matza to quarantined areas, delivering food and aid packages at a time when borders were closed and bureaucratic red tape presented insurmountable obstacles.
When it started, I was in a fairly new job, managing the Jewish Communities Department in the Foreign Ministry. The bird's-eye view was worrying and raised some disturbing questions, as well as frequent criticism: Could Israel could close its borders, even to the Jewish people, for the sake of its citizens' health? How could aliyah continue during the crisis? How could we reach small communities where basic equipment like gloves and hand sanitizer were lacking? What could we produce for the Jews of the world? How could we express solidarity? How could we help, when the disease was everywhere?
A few calming words.
The Jewish communities are demonstrating exceptional resilience. The same community spirit that hurt them when the virus first appeared is giving them the strength to pick themselves up and help not only their own, but also those around them in need. In Panama, the Jewish community donated a hefty sum to build a corona wing in the capital city; in England volunteers from Jewish organizations reached out to the elderly residents of various cities; in Sao Paolo the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein was at the forefront of the fight against corona; and other original local initiatives are underway in plenty of other places. Now that Independence Day is over, the world is slowly coming out of lockdown and the restrictions put in place to stop corona from spreading.
Although the disease will remain with us in one form or another and continue to affect us, the shutdown will be lifted and we will be able to enjoy what is left of spring. The Jewish people, like the world around them, will lick its wounds: The drop in philanthropic giving, the summer camps that won't open, the expensive education whose future is in question, the dead who were left behind, and the delegations and conferences that were postponed to sometime next year.
The state of the Jewish people, and their Diaspora, will turn their attention to the victims, of both the disease and the financial crisis, and will resume trying to strengthen old bridges, and possibly build new ones, that will keep us connected.
Many of the organizations that work to connect our people – government, civil, and national – think that the corona crisis will also be an opportunity for renewed dialogue, creative projects, and a new chapter in the contract between an ancient people and the state, which is already defined as an at-risk population. This spring will go down in our history.
