Beards and face masks: Boro Park prepares for Passover

Children going for a walk to get fresh air — to let mama cook in peace. Image by Avi Kaye/Hasidim in USA
A year ago, I profiled Avi Kaye, an Orthodox street photographer who mostly works in Boro Park and Williamsburg, and who posts his photographs on an Instagram account, ‘Hasidim in USA.’.
As COVID-19 hit the Orthodox community, I noticed that Kaye was posting photographs of Orthodox Jews wearing face masks on Instagram — he was driving around Brooklyn, and walking around using hip photography, trying to capture this moment. So I reached out to him and asked him to take us along on a walk in Boro Park, as communities rush to prepare for Passover in the bizarre silence of a pandemic.
“The whole atmosphere in our communities is surreal right now,” Kaye told me. “You walk down the main avenues, and it’s dead — on erev Pesach! Very few stores are open in Boro Park now, mostly essentials – food, and hardware stores.”

This hardware store was ensuring people stood far apart, and only allowed a few customers in at a time. Image by Avi Kaye

Picking up treats on 16th Avenue. Image by Avi Kaye
“I know some people are not listening to the rules, you see it in the media,” Kaye said. “It’s unfortunate that there are these extremists, those who don’t believe in the system. But in general, the streets of Boro Park are really empty for this time of the year. The majority of people are really indoors. I followed a truck that was playing festive music for hours in the streets, to uplift people – and I could see, most families were staying home, waving from their windows and porches.”

This grocery only allowed people with a mask and gloves on, and limited each family to one shopper. Image by Avi Kaye

Masks for sale in Boro Park Image by Avi Kaye

Conversations on a Boro Park street Image by Avi Kaye

A shuttered Boro Park Judaica store, amid COVID-19. Image by Avi Kaye

Children going for a walk to get fresh air — to let mama cook in peace. Image by Avi Kaye/Hasidim in USA

Cleaning the family car for Passover in Boro Park Image by Avi Kaye/Hasidim in USA
“Usually cleaning the car is exciting – but this time, it’s the oldest brother who got the job. His siblings were watching him from the porch.”

Passover preparations in Boro Park Image by Avi Kaye
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture In a Haredi Jerusalem neighborhood, doctors’ visits are free, but the wait may cost you
-
Fast Forward Chicago mayor donned keffiyeh for Arab Heritage Month event, sparking outcry from Jewish groups
-
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
-
Fast Forward Latvia again closes case against ‘Butcher of Riga,’ tied to mass murder of Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.