The Jewish community is preparing to celebrate Pesach, the festival which marks the exodus from Egypt following the ten plagues. But we now find ourselves wondering if we ought to worry more than others about an 11th plague: coronavirus. Jewish people represent over three per cent of the UK’s total coronavirus deaths, according to figures collated from Jewish funerals by the Board of Deputies for British Jews. This may, at first glance, seem a small number – but as the Jewish community represents only 0.5 per cent of the UK’s population, it suggests Jews are six times more likely to die from the virus. Why might this be?
One theory is that old habits die hard. Muslims, Jews and Christians have been asked not to gather together while the virus is rife. But the temptations of the more religious to convene for a minyan, a religious requirement which usually consists of ten men, is high.
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