Reflections on the Passover Lockdown

Desolate Boston
Photo: Michael Shepsis
Will it still be next year in Jerusalem?

The virus – like the matza – has freed us from who we thought we were.
Lawyer, broker, Uber driver, white collar, blue collar.

What did we chase that
was so important?
That made us feel safe?

My parents in Russia
were not allowed to leave.
Now it is the opposite.
The doors home are closed.

We are told that four-fifths of our people did not leave Egypt.
Died in the plagues.
Died in the ghettos.
Died in the camps.

And if tomorrow things return to the way they were. If the market goes up
and the sports return
and the movie theaters sell tickets
and the planes resume
and the borders open
Will it still be next year in Jerusalem?

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