Families Left Behind To Mourn COVID-19 Victims
Families Left Behind To Mourn COVID-19 VictimsEzras Yisroel

The Jewish communities of New York and New Jersey are reeling, as COVID-19 rips through their populations, robbing the world prematurely of many precious lives.

New York’s coronavirus death toll is reportedly nearing 1,000, and Governor Andrew Cuomo estimates that there will be “millions of cases.” Funerals in the neighborhood of Crown Heights have been postponed due to the high number of passings. It seems the wave has just begun, and what was once fear and apprehension has turned to grief.

The first level of tragedy is that of those who lose their lives: Ultimately they die in isolation for fear of spreading the disease, and do not receive the full traditional Jewish preparation for burial. Painful video footage from New York shows the religious Burial Society preparing bodies in plastic bags.

The next level of tragedy, however, reaches its gruesome grasp into the next generation: Many orphans are now left behind to grieve in poverty. The pandemic has hit the economy hard, and unemployment rates are skyrocketing. Those who have lost a parent to COVID-19 are now grappling with shock, grief, a lack of income, and the upcoming holiday to prepare for. It is an unbearable task.

Emergency funds are being raised by charity organization Ezras Yisroel to help these families cope through this painful time.

One of the most destructive aspects of the virus is that it has isolated a once social community: The Jewish People have been forced to stay in their homes, without guests, without family for the Pesach (Passover) seder. Those who lose their lives go without the warm touch of a loved one’s hand as they leave this earth.

Ezras Yisroel’s orphan fund is the Jewish world’s opportunity to rise above this isolation, and to join together as a global community, to support those who have been hit hardest. As for comforting them, that is a task best left to their Creator.

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