By Tessa Epstein
COVID-19 has changed our lives, and those of many other families, and we feel these changes the most during the chaggim.
Like so many readers with children and grandchildren scattered around the world, we are deeply affected. Over the last 15 years, it has been Pesach and Rosh Hashanah in either Jo’burg or Sydney and now we were looking forward to Ra’anana as well. This has all come to a grinding halt. We were in Sydney in March for our grandson’s Barmitzvah, and so had planned to be in Johannesburg this year for Rosh Hashanah, but it looks like Selwyn and I will be alone. We will of course Zoom or Skype our children on erev Rosh Hashanah.
We communicate with our children and grandchildren every weekend both with audio and video but it is not quite the same, and whilst we are young in spirit and heart, time marches on. I hope that with prayer and Hashem’s blessing we will get back to normal and be able to be with our family once again, to hug them and do things together.
On the bright side, Selwyn and I are both working from home, (he even, for the first time, has taken an interest in the workings of the Chronicle) and after 51 years of marriage who thought that we could reconnect and enjoy each other’s company the way we are?
In the past I was off to Hatfield Street in the mornings and Selwyn off to his offices in Woodstock, he would get home late afternoon with work still on his mind, but working from home is so much more relaxed.
We have divided up the chores at home; the washing machine does the washing, he hangs it out to dry and I do the ironing. He does most of the cooking and we both wash up. We love working at opposite ends of the dining room table, having a little gesels in-between tasks.
COVID-19 has brought out the worst in some people but thank G-d the best in others!
Tessa Epstein has been the voice you hear when you call the Chronicle offices for the past 29 years, and she is still going strong!
Click here to read the other Brave new year to… opinion pieces in this year’s Rosh Hashana theme.
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