KENDALL, Fla. – Passover is next week and normally for Jews around the world, it's a time to get together, often in large groups, in tight quarters, around a table.
But not this year.
"Passover is the holiday that, I'd say after Hanukkah, is celebrated the most by the Jewish people," said Rabbi Yossi Harlig of Chabad of Kendall/Pinecrest.
Harlig says Passover this year is going to be a bit different than in the past.
"Typically, before Passover, everyone is out shopping having big Seders, 20 people, 30 people, their family, grandparents, friends getting together," said Harlig.
But social distancing and safer-at-home orders have made it impossible to do things the usual way. Harlig says that's okay.
“Passover is all about being in your own home so really there’s no reason why the Seder should be a contradiction to what we need to do right now. The No. 1 thing in our law, in our Torah, is safety and health of the person. But the truth is, you can keep and follow the Passover Seder 100 percent without compromising your health.”
Harlig said the history of the Jewish people thousands of years ago in Egypt was that each family actually celebrated Passover alone. "They celebrated Passover all by themselves. And now we're once again going to have that."
This time of year, too, thousands of people from across the country would come to South Florida's Jewish communities to celebrate with their loved ones. But many have had to cancel, including the Magen David Yeshivah Day School in New York.
Their members had rented out hundreds of rooms at the Eden Rock Hotel on Miami Beach spending millions of dollars on deposits.
And now, after the virus forced them to cancel their trip, the Eden Rock has allegedly refused to refund their money and they were forced to file a lawsuit.
“Their position was if you can’t move the events to later this year on dates that work for us, which isn’t a possibility, it’s a Passover event that’s time sensitive, they viewed the deposits as forfeited and they’re taking them," said Dan Blonsky, the attorney representing Magen David Yeshivah Day School. Blonsky said the school has been doing their Passover event at Eden Roc for the past two years.
"It is a huge event. They reserve more than 600-plus rooms," said Blonsky. “This year’s contract was $3.5 million, and they paid deposits over $2 million and then the coronavirus started ticking up," said Blonsky.
Chabad of Kendall and Pinecrest are doing what they can to support people who may be doing Passover on their own this year. They are working with caterers to help provide food and even doing online classes using Zoom on how to put on a Seder.
As for the Eden Roc situation, Local 10 reached out to an attorney and media contact for the hotel, but have yet to hear back from them.