Shabbat Care Packages in a COVID World

In a world flipped upside down by the rapid spread of COVID-19, something previously as simple as participating in the warmth of a communal Shabbat meal has become impossible. With more and more people under strict self-isolation—especially those 65 years and over, whom health officials are warning to remain home at all costs for the sake of their lives—even heading out to a neighborhood store to pick up challah, a bottle of wine and food for the day of rest has become an impossibly complicated, even dangerous chore.

And it’s lonely, too. With the nerve centers of Jewish communal experience closed for the time being, the need for friendship and social interaction has become something of a pandemic in itself.

That’s why Rabbi Bentzi and Rochie Sudak, co-directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Hampstead Garden Suburb in London, knew that as Shabbat approached they needed to do something. Working in partnership with Hampton Garden Suburb Synagogue, commonly known as Norrice Lea, and with the help of local Jewish community volunteers, they put together a care package including challah, wine and an inspirational booklet for Shabbat. By Friday morning all 100 care packages were delivered to the homes of elderly or vulnerable Jewish community members in the neighborhood.

“Isolation doesn’t have to mean loneliness,” says Rabbi Sudak, who is also one of the leaders of Chabad-Lubavitch UK. “It is especially at times like these that we need the closeness and support that community offers, we just can’t experience it in a conventional way. Jewish wisdom teaches us that the real person is not the body but the soul. We are learning how we can in fact connect in deep, meaningful ways even when we’re not in physical proximity.”

Aside for the local Shabbat care package distribution, Sudak says that Chabad emissaries throughout the United Kingdom, who met via Zoom earlier this week, are in the midst of preparing for a massive Passover-at-home campaign throughout the country.

“We are working with printers for boxes, food distributors for the box’s contents, and we will be sending out thousands of Passover kits,” he says. “We can’t go to synagogue? We’re going to bring Judaism home.”

Chabad’s Smile on Seniors program in Phoenix created a Shabbat experience in a package that included a complete dinner.

The vital need for simple connection, community and a familiar Shabbat experience is always present in a place as distant as Accra, Ghana, whose multi-national Jewish community has been served by Rabbi Noach and Alti Majesky, co-directors of Chabad of Ghana since 2015. Already living in faraway Ghana, the West African nation’s Jews now find themselves stuck at home, an isolation within an isolation.

The Majeskys therefore prepared more than 100 Shabbat care packages, all of them including challah and many of them including multicourse Shabbat meals. “We want every Jew in this country to know we are here for them—that we care, that our community is stronger than ever,” says Alti Majesky.

“Early this week, most of our families left the country,” her husband, Rabbi Majesky, explains. “We usually have services, and a full course Kiddush, and for many regulars, our home is a jump spot away from the hustle and bustle of African life.

“We’re continuing Hebrew school online every day, sending these Shabbat care packages to the Jews who remain here, and sent chocolate and a different type of care package to the mothers and children who have in the last weeks left for Israel.”

In Ghana, gresh challah was made and placed into Shabbat care packages.

‘So Many People Unite’

Staff and volunteers at the Rohr Chabad Center for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University, New York, began planning their annual Shabbat 2020 program months ago. The program, which under normal circumstances would have included a full course Shabbat dinner for more than 2,000 Jewish students, was planned for Friday evening, March 20. Instead, volunteers at the Chabad center made individually prepared dinners available for pick up on Friday afternoon for all Binghamton University students remaining at school.

Instead of the program, Chabad invited students to log on for a special pre-Shabbat program beginning at 5:45 p.m. and featuring joint singing, performances by Jewish singing stars Benny Friedman and the a cappella group Six13 and words of inspiration.

“Despite the many iterations of this event due to the situation, it was so inspiring to see so many students come together to make this event a reality,” says senior Jacob Richman, who along with students Hannah Kaplun and Danielle Ganchrow is coordinating this event “But everybody involved agrees it’s worth all the effort to see so many people unite, and enjoying their heritage and traditions, especially during these challenging times.”

In the rural Pocono Mountain area of northeast Pennsylvania, the need for Shabbat food among many elderly Jews in the sparsely populated region is even more basic.

Challah wrapped for Shabbat in Ghana.

“I just keep calling people, and asking them if they need help, if they didn’t get their groceries yet,” says Rabbi Mendel Raices, co-director of Chabad of the Mountains. “Somebody needs to bring them food, what are they supposed to do otherwise?”

Raices himself goes shopping with a mask and gloves, and delivers the necessities to those for whom exiting the home is a real and present danger.

In Phoenix, the coronavirus outbreak and the measures being instituted to blunt its effect on regions elderly population, has meant that Rabbi Levi Levertov, co-director of Chabad’s Smile on Seniors program, has had to continually alter plans on how they can safely maintain a connection with Jewish seniors throughout Arizona.

“One of our programs is connecting volunteers with seniors,” Levertov explains, “and theidea is for them to call and visit each other, to combat loneliness and solitude, which is crucial for the older community.”

Once a month Levertov and his wife, Chani, run an in-person Shabbat program which usually draws about 250 Jewish seniors from the Phoenix area. This upcoming Shabbat was their next scheduled event. Obviously, in light of the pandemic, that’s been cancelled And instead they created a full Shabbat experience in a package.

The care packages contain a Shabbat basics challah and grape juice, dinner, desert and a candle-lighting kit. It also includes a booklet containing the Kiddush and Hamotzi prayers, as well as the full text of Shalom Aleichem and a joke.

“I always say a joke at our monthly gatherings,” says Levertov, “so I put this month's joke in the packet.”

The pick up is not in-house, being brought out to cars ensuring contactless delivery and contactless pick up.

Before the onset of Shabbat, the Majesky children taught about Shabbat online as part of the local Hebrew school.

Throughout Levertov has been in in close contact with Smile on Senior’s medical consultant to ensure that the entire process was in accordance with the most recent CDC and Arizona department of health guidelines.

While the food component is very often essential, says Levertov, the most important element during this time is the thought behind it.

“At the core here is the heart and care,” he says. “This is what community means.”

A Bring Home Shabbat Guide in London

By Friday morning all 100 care packages were delivered to the homes of elderly or vulnerable Jewish community members in Hampton Garden, London.