NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The recent Jewish holiday of Purim posed a dilemma for members of New Rochelle’s Jewish community who were told to go into quarantine because of possible exposure to the new coronavirus. A 50-year-old man — a New Rochelle resident who works as an attorney in Manhattan — was infected with the COVID-19 virus and subsequently attended three large events at Young Israel of New Rochelle, an orthodox synagogue on North Avenue.
There are four parts to the celebration of Purim, each a mitzvah or commandment, that celebrants do: exchanging gifts of food and drink, donating to a charity, eating a celebratory meal and being at public recitations of the Scroll of Esther — the reading of the Megillah.
The holiday is celebrated each year on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar. This year it began at sunset March 9 and ended at sunset March 10.
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Rochel Butman, director of Chabad of Westchester County, had planned an annual Purim party and celebration, but was aware that many of her neighbors were in self-quarantine. That, in and of itself, made it impractical to hold big events.
Certainly, eating a festive meal, giving a gift of food and drink and contributing to a charity could easily be accomplished for and by the quarantined families, Butman thought, but reading or hearing a reading of the Megillah?
Reading the Megillah twice during during the celebration wasn’t practical for the families given the strictures of being quarantined. The reading is required to be in the presence of a required number of participants, or a minyan, which is a quorum of 10 men.
“That was the only mitzvah they couldn’t do,” Butman said.
“My job in the community as a Chabad representative is to serve the needs of the community,” she said. “How can we safely provide the opportunity for the people to hear the Megillah?”
Butman spoke with medical experts and the department of health about whether bringing the Megillah to people in quarantine would be safe for all concerned.
“They said if it’s outdoors, it’s ventilated, so if you are 6 feet away, you wouldn’t be putting anybody at risk,” she said, adding that a 15-foot distance was observed.
Butman wondered if anyone would be interested, so she put out the request on group chats.
“People were really excited about it,” she said. She began taking names and addresses of families who would want the Megillah to come to them and then got in touch with the Hebrew school, which was able to arrange for a group of high school boys who knew how to read the Megillah.
When the word started getting out about what she was doing, Butman said her phone began ringing off the hook.
“People were calling and saying, ‘Do you have time for me?’ ” she said.
“People were really happy and moved, and I feel grateful that I was able to do it with the help of so many others,” Butman said.
On Tuesday, she said there were 140 houses to go to.
“Even when I was driving around, I could hear the reading,” Butman said.
Former New Rochelle resident Haina Just-Michael said bringing the celebration of Purim to the people in New Rochelle who had to be quarantined away from friends and non-family members was what the holiday was all about.
“The holiday is about the resilience of the Jewish people,” she said. “It was a moment to forget you were quarantined and to forget about the coronavirus.”
On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the mandatory containment area, established in a 1-mile radius of Young Israel of New Rochelle, the synagogue at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in Westchester. The area also includes a portion of neighboring Eastchester.
