Working with the Jewish community’s burial boards, regional Jewish communities and the Jewish Small Communities Network, as of the week ending 26 November 2021, there have been 954 Jewish funerals carried out where the deceased contracted Covid-19. There have been no funerals in the Jewish community where the deceased contracted Covid-19 reported to the Board of Deputies in the last week. It is the first such report since the Board of Deputies resumed weekly reports at the beginning of September. There were several weeks over the spring and summer (16 April – 18 June – eight weeks) where no such Jewish funerals were reported to the Board of Deputies.
Any such data point must be understood in a context whereby not all regional communities report on a weekly basis to the Board of Deputies. However, the report does point to the community successfully taking up vaccines and adopting Covid-secure measures.
President Marie van der Zyl said: “This week’s report of no Jewish Covid funerals is welcome and is testament to the hard work the community has put into promoting vaccine take up and upholding Covid secure measures. We should always bear in mind that it takes weeks for any rise in cases to be reflected in mortality, and so we need to remain cautious. Especially with the new variant having arrived, it is critical all those who are eligible for vaccines take them up, and we as a community adhere to appropriate Covid-secure measures.”
We wish bereaved families a long life, and pray that the memory of their loved ones should be for a blessing.