Pesach 2020: This night that is different from all other nights is going to be even more different this year.

As borders around the world were slamming shut, I organised for my daughter to return home from Israel very fast, experiencing the anxieties of my childhood overlaid with the stories of my parents .

Article about celebrating a barmitzvah during the Covid19 restrictions

This article, written by Rebecca Davis and published on 23 April 2020, reports on the Yom Hashoah events held the previous day, all online because of the lockdown. Three events are reported on: "special 45-minute broadcast to radio and online ‘Together We Remember’ [which] was produced by the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) and commenced a unique array of Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations as coronavirus isolation measures continue to prohibit physical gatherings"; "Immediately following the J-Air broadcast, the interactive Zoom event ‘Turning Memory into Action’ was hosted by LaunchPad in partnership with the JHC"; and "Later in the evening, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria together with the JHC screened 13 survivor testimonies on YouTube."

Due to the pandemic, Yom Hashoah commemoration events, which would normally be held in person, needed to go online. On April 20, 2020, LaunchPad hosted an online, zoom-based, Yom Hashoah event which "consisted of an intergenerational conversation exploring the preservation of memory and the ways in which we can each be custodians of our family's stories." At the event there were three speakers: Phillip Maisel (Holocaust survivor), Suzy Zail (2nd Gen) and Julia Sussman (3rd Gen), moderated by Jennifer Levitt Maxwell. The event (which went for 45 minutes) also involved candle lighting. Everyone was encouraged to light a candle at home, and then six people were nominated to light 6 candles for the event, namely: Pauline Rockman OAM - co-president of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, Simone Szalmuk-Singer - co-chair of Australian Jewish Funders, Phil and Sue Lewis and their family - co-chair of the Jewish Holocaust Centres capital campaign, Helen Mahemoff - Board Director of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, Arek dybel - filmmaker and creative director at museum POLIN in Warsaw, and Andrea Lipshutz - representing LaunchPad’s ‘Regeneration Melbourne’ Committee.

This collection of writings was assembled by Viv Parry (Chairperson for the Child Survivors of the Holocaust Melbourne Group) for submission to the archive. It contains the following: 'A Point in Time', a recent article that Viv Parry was asked to write for the New Year Magazine for The Ark Synagogue, Hawthorn Connections (August 2020) is a newsletter edited by Viv Parry for the Child Survivors of the Holocaust (CSH) Melbourne Group. In this newsletter there are 9 individual contributions from CSH in answer to her personal request to "tell us how you are travelling at the moment during this unprecedented time?" Viv made no suggestions, asking only that they addressed the group (265 CSH members) and shared their thoughts at whatever level they found personally relevant to themselves. 'Child Survivors, Corona' is an article written by Dr Paul Valant's for Connections, published in April 2020. A second article on the topic appears in the August edition of the newsletter. An email from Stefanie Selzer, dated 31.7.2020. Stefanie is the World Federation Of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust & Descendants N.Y, President and Claims Conference representative. Stefanie forwarded our Connections Newsletter to the other CSH groups in the US including Canada where Mark Elster felt compelled to reply (also included in the same document). These documents together create a story of a unique group of people who are supporting each other at this difficult time, with a remarkably positive attitude.

Pesakh was going to be a large family event. We had people coming from London, Canberra, Sydney and of course, Melbourne. Then the pandemic hit. No-one could travel, and we were not allowed any visitors in our house. So, we set up a zoom Seyder. We had members of the family join Zoom from London, Lund (Sweden), Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne. It was a huge success.

The National Council of Jewish Women of Australia Victoria (NCJWA Vic) was established 93 years ago with the vision of creating a better world for women. Our mission, is to support women at key points across the life cycle, advance their status and promote social cohesion and human rights. NCJWA Vic rolled into crisis management determined to continue our mission to support women and girls during this difficult time. Strong and decisive action was taken to keep our people safe and continue serving our community. We quickly adapted most of our program, while participants were incredibly grateful for our continued support, illuminating the need and value of social connection for mental wellbeing throughout our lives, even more so during such a crisis.

Connect Is NCJWA Vic's set of programs for older women, encouraging social interaction while improving their mental and physical health. These programs create a sense of community and family while offering a place where older people come together, have a chat and relax. Our main programs are The Golden Age Clubs, for Russian speaking Jewish migrants from the former Soviet Union, and Seniors and Bridge clubs.

The Jam Project is a teenage - buddy program matching participants aged 14-16 years with a female 'buddy' aged 21-28, with the goal of promoting the empowerment of girls, while helping to build their sense of self-worth, self-belief and autonomy. This is achieved through secure and reliable fortnightly catch ups, between the buddy and participant for up to a period of a year. Together with group sessions, the participants and buddies come together and are involved in activities that enhance their mindset and promote their curiosity, resilience and autonomy. Due to COVID-19, NCJWA Vic took steps to adapt the Jam Project in this difficult time. Our priority is to maintain our objectives and values through these adaptations.

The Caring Mums program is a service providing emotional support to mothers of babies and pregnant women. The program matches trained volunteers, all of whom are mothers themselves, to new mums with the goal of developing a secure trusting relationship. Through regular weekly meetings for up to a period of 12 months, mums’ feelings of isolation, anxiety and depression decrease, while their parenting confidence and sense of belonging grow significantly. Caring Mums adapted its program so that its aims and values can still be upheld during the current pandemic. We continue to see mums in our current catchment whilst growing our service into new areas, using technology, as we understand the impact this reality has on vulnerable and isolated populations, including mums already facing many new challenges.

Access Online refers to the suite of virtual programs created specially by Access in response to the 2020 Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic. These virtual programs are different to Access’ regular physical programming, however, they retain a link to our regular learning streams and are intended to provide participants with low intensity skill development, social connection and purposeful engagement. The programs have also been carefully put together to ensure they remain committed to Access’ values and mission and suit these different times.

First night seder of Pesach took place on zoom with ten different extended families from across the globe. Whilst it was chaos to the max, it was actually one of the most fun-filled interactive seders I have ever experienced.

Missing the Seder with friends...the story, songs, prayers, food and children squirming waiting for dinner.

Personal Reflection in regard to growing opinion that "it is the duty of the old to step aside and let younger people receive treatment",

An unveiling of a dear friend , an unexpected lesson learned, and the value of every day.

I love to garden. And especially our community garden. We started small and watched it grow year by year. The friendships grew too. It was also a place where neighbor's walking their dogs or just out for a stroll could pause, admire the colors and aromas - a bit of peace in an increasingly stressful world. This year, restrictions governing social distancing and community gatherings prohibited us from working on our garden. The pandemic had taken yet another joy from our lives.

Passover is one of my favorite holidays. I love the Seder, songs, prayers, food and sharing it with loved ones. For the last several years, I have been a guest at my dear friend's house. She has three grandson's, twins age 13 and a 10 year old. Her daughter is a wonderful baker and makes the most wonderful desserts! Her son is a chef and dinner is spectacular! He also conducts the Seder with the perfect combination of fun and the seriousness of the occasion. I miss this terribly!

The Israeli Folk dancing community in Melbourne specifically, is bereft at not being able to participate in weekly dance classes since the outbreak of the cholera pandemic

Shortly after the coronavirus pandemic was announced I created and maintained a page on the Aleph Melbourne web site containing a list of resources catering to the Jewish and the LGBTIQ+ communities. I keep the page as current as possible.

“Pretty early we shutdown the synagogue, and my family and I made the decision to go into isolation, as I am immune-compromised due to recovering from cancer. Since then we have been lucky to be able to launch a virtual congregation, and that’s been quite amazing. We have daily activities, prayer services and events. We are finding that people are engaging in our program now more than ever before because they are looking for content and, in isolation, are recognising the beauty that community brings to their lives. Things have been brought from the periphery to the centre of our consciousness, including the importance of relationships, value of community, sense of connectedness - many things that we take for granted until they are taken away. As a rabbi, my tradition is a great source of comfort to me, inspiring me to find paths to continue, rather than to stop Jewish life, just as past leaders have done over our long 4,000 year history. The synagogue may be shut, but our community never closes. We accept the need for social distancing but reject any possibility for social isolation. This year we added a paper clip to the Passover seder plate as a symbol of life right now. COVID-19 has required from us immense flexibility: the ability to bend and turn, but like the paper clip, the capacity to hold us together. The colour of the traditional paper clip, silver, is also symbolic, representing that even in this chaos there are silver linings, such as time, awakenings, valuable lessons, great blessings.” Instagram post on Gersh Lazarow, Rabbi, and his experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives.