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PESACH: MY RELIEF AMONGST THE PLAGUE OF COVID-19 By by Gary Hofman Gary Hofman is a Master’s Student, researching theatre, at the University of Auckland. He was previously the President of AUJS New Zealand and Union Campaigns Coordinator. Outside of that he is an avid actor with numerous stage credits and has run 3 theatre companies including his own.
C
ovid-19 is a topic that has plagued our minds. The global pandemic has forced us into isolation and removed the luxuries from our lives that we take for granted. For those things that we miss the most we will constantly search for something to fill the void. Something to plug the unfillable void. For me that plug came in the form of a chag. For me, that void has been theatre. Sure, the bountyless Netflix and Disney+ options have been able to patch the wound of this loss but the bandage always seems to rip and I had no idea why. Until Pesach.
with just my family. Not even the whole clan at that. The seder night was something that, leading up to it, didn’t seem right. This years seder was like many I have been to. A little smaller but we made do. We sat down, we read the haggadah and we ate a meal. I went to bed happier than I had ever been before after the seder. Perhaps it’s because I found the afikomen, perhaps it’s because my rendition of Mah Nishta Na was particularly brilliant (no Bar Mitzvah boy voice cracks for this singer) or perhaps it’s because I found something that managed to fill that void for a time. Let me tell you, the prior was icing on the cake but it was indeed the latter.
Pesach to most, including me, is a week where we loose other luxuries – namely bread and other foods that are staple to our diet. It’s a week of slightly burnt tasting water crackers and endless forms of potatoes. I personally love Pesach; I love Matzah and I love being able to use it as an excuse to justify fires as a “meal”. But this year, the lead up to Pesach didn’t feel right. I can’t remember the last time I celebrated the Pesach seder
We all probably know what the haggadah sets out. Reading the haggadah out loud has always seemed like a chore to me. A task that results in the award of a nice meal that we don’t usually have (because we’re usually at someone else’s house
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