Local synagogue celebrating Passover with free meals amid COVID-19

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders are hitting the Central Coast religious communities hard this Holy Week.

For the Jewish community here, the first night of Pesach, or Passover, typically means large family gatherings, but this year, that's not happening.

It is a night unlike any other night of the year for Rabbi Dovid Holtzberg and his family. The start of Passover marks a series of days commemorating the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.

Only this time, the COVID-19 pandemic is making festivities unlike any Passover before, except perhaps the first ever 3,000 years ago.

"This is almost like the original way, the way it was back in Egypt that only the families they would quarantine themselves because they had to stay in their homes," said Rabbi Holtzberg, who leads a congregation at the Chabad of Monterey in Pacific Grove.

But Rabbi Holtzberg was not going to allow a modern-day Angel of Death of sorts to stop his congregation from missing out on a traditional Seder meal, a platter of six foods highlighting important lessons of the holiday and usually celebrated on the first or second night of Passover.

Holtzberg and his wife have spent the last few days making dozens of Seder meals to go and delivering them to people around the Central Coast, some of whom do not have the means or resources to prepare their own. It's all being done free of charge, though the family accepts any donations.

"We came up with the idea that let's include our community in a way that we've never done it before, but we could still make them feel like they're celebrating with us," said Rabbi Holtzberg.

"I think it's the kindest and most generous thing that anyone could ever do. It's a blessing for everybody," said Sheila Keifetz, a Salinas resident who received a Seder meal to go from Holtzberg.

It is an especially happy day to share joy with others for the rabbi, as his mother was recently diagnosed with COVID-19 in New York but was released from the hospital on Wednesday.

If family is one of the important lessons of Passover, certainly generosity is too.

"We say that whoever needs, we should let them in, no matter what," said Rabbi Holtzberg.

The rabbi says he has already handed out over a hundred Seder meals for Passover celebrations this year.