It is easy to feel the tug of despair in today’s environment. This is why keeping to faith and finding ways to pass the time are important. The great indoors might not feel so great when you think too much about what you can’t do in the world outside for the time being, like visiting synagogues, going out with friends or planning Glatt Kosher Tours. However, if you dedicate yourself to doing productive and uplifting things while indoors, you can surely get through this global quarantine in one piece together with your family. Here are a few Jewish things that you can do while waiting for the world to become all clear again. Explore the Works of Jewish Artists Are you familiar with the poem “The New Colossus?” This poem single-handedly changed the context of the Statue of Liberty, solidifying it as a beacon of hope for the many immigrants seeking a new home in the United States, including Jews who sought to flee the oppression in their original countries. Emma Lazarus, the writer of this poem, was a Jewish American author, and this sonnet is not her only claim to fame. She wrote many other poems, a good number of which focused on Jewish life. Her collection, Songs of a Semite (1882) is one such example of her explorations on the Jewish experience in America. Emma Lazarus is but one Jewish artist whose work you can explore while cooped up indoors. However, her somber yet resolute verses are a good start. Trace your Heritage Across the Centuries As per the Haggadah, we remember the struggle of our ancestors against Egyptian slavery, and how we eventually triumphed. However, the space between then and now is a vast gulf of Jewish legacy, entwined with the complicated histories of countries and nations, a frontier that you can explore. Have you ever wondered where your great grandparents lived, or the origin of that one Passover recipe you always looked forward to savoring? By conversing with your elders or consulting your old family records, you might discover that your ancestors were Sephardic traders, expelled from Spain by the monarchs and forced to eke out an existence in other nations, such as Amsterdam or America. You might even discover that your grandmother fought as a partisan against the Nazis in World War 2, or that you have distant relatives among the chocolatiers of France. While you can’t go on Kosher Vacations at the moment, you can travel through time by rediscovering your ancestor’s stories, their struggles, and their triumphs. Like the Seder reading during Passover, you can learn from the past to give you strength in the present, to let you move on to the future.
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