Tonight is the first night of Pesach, aka Passover, aka most lefty Jews favourite Jewish festival.

Under normal circumstances, tonight my entire extended family who are in NZ (~20 of us) would be gathered for the Seder at one of my uncle & aunt's houses.

We'd sit together, read through the Haggadah (a book containing the story of Pesach), singing the same songs we've been singing every year for our whole lives. Some of these are traditional, others to the tune of popular songs like the Beverley Hillbillies theme tune.

One of my younger cousins would attempt a truly terrible Pesach rap, and we'd all laugh about how bad the lyrics are, not knowing who wrote them or even where they came from. But, like the songs we love, they're on the photocopied sheets we've been using for the last decade or so

There'd be a Seder Plate (or two) in the middle of the table, with food items symbolising our history as slaves, the tears of our ancestors and the mortar they used to build pyramids in Egypt. This history would be the subject of much of the readings and the songs.

The front door would be open for Elijah the prophet, and any other strangers who need somewhere to sit and eat, for nobody should be alone on Pesach. We all should be together to celebrate our people's escape from bondage, and to recommit to freeing all others from slavery.

It's a bit weird being at home on Pesach. But the festival is about freedom and the strength of collective action to fight for that freedom (hence why us lefties love it so much).

The key message of Pesach is simple - as long as one of us is enslaved, none of us are free.

That's as critical in the fight against COVID-19 as it is in the fight against all forms of slavery, so if you take nothing else from this thread, please take that.

I'm hopeful we eliminate COVID-19 in NZ, but until the same is true across the world, our effort cannot be over.

So I'll raise a glass of wine tonight (but not the more traditional four, it's a work night!) to my fellow Jews and wish you a chag Pesach sameach.

And to everyone across this planet working on a vaccine, working to stop the spread, working for public health. L'Chaim (to life!)