Beards and face masks: Boro Park prepares for Passover
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Avi Kaye and Avital Chizhik-GoldschmidtApril 6, 2020
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
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