Orlando, FL – Passover Vacation Niche Grows to Dozens of Destinations

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    Orlando, FL – Most Jews around the world say the traditional “Next year in Jerusalem” at the end of the annual Passover Seder feast. Last year, St. Louis native David Benkof said to himself, “Next year in Disney World.”

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    For many Jews like Benkof, traveling to vacation hotspots during the eight-day Passover holiday has become a way of avoiding the hassle of heeding religious rules that require scrubbing a home clean of grain particles or hosting back-to-back, hours-long dinners at their homes for dozens of relatives and friends.

    Passover vacations have grown in recent years beyond the traditional destinations of Miami Beach, the Catskills and Israel. They now include scores of resorts in Orlando, Florida; Scottsdale, Arizona; Riviera Maya in Mexico; Whistler, Canada; Sardinia, Italy; the island of Crete in Greece; San Diego; and Puerto Rico, as well as a fully-kosher South African safari.

    “We’ve seen a massive growth over the last decade to 12 years of the locations, the variety, the price ranges, the types of hotels,” said Ralphi Bloom, who runs Totally Jewish Travel, a travel website.

    Bloom estimates that up to 50,000 hotel rooms for as many as 100,000 people are booked this year for Passover, which starts at sundown Friday. That represents about $60 million to $70 million in revenue, double the amount from a decade ago, he said.

    Passover travel programs at the resorts, which include Ritz-Carlton and Waldorf Astoria hotels in Florida, are accommodating the celebrants with kids’ camps, casino nights, Hawaiian luaus, daily barbecues, lectures by rabbinic scholars and meals that follow kosher dietary rules of separating milk from meat and prohibiting pork and shellfish, along with Passover prohibitions against bread.

    “People are more willing to not have the traditional Passover at home and actually go away, with the ability to make hotel kitchens kosher, source food locally that is kosher,” said Bloom, who is based in Manchester, England. “I think in more and more families both the husband and the wife work. When you go away for Passover … there’s no cleaning, preparing, cooking.”
    In this April 18, 2016 photo, workers prepare food in a meat-only kitchen for the Passover holiday at the Waldorf Astoria resort at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. More than 1,000 Jews are expected to stay at the resort and take part in the eight day celebration. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
    Benkof spent the last few days of Passover last year at the Doubletree by Hilton Orlando at SeaWorld, but he missed the first two nights when Jews have the traditional Seder meal. He plans to arrive in time for the Seder dinners this year. Food was a selling point: Some Passover food can be dry and flavorless but the resort served delicious meals.

    Observant Jews don’t eat leavened grain products during the eight days of Passover because the holiday commemorates the Biblical story of Exodus, when Jews fleeing slavery in Egypt didn’t have time to let their bread rise. They took instead flat, hard unleavened bread that today is sold as matzo. Passover dietary rules forbid consumption of certain grain-based foods like bread and pasta that puffs up when cooked.

    Benkof said the food at the resort hands-down beat the matzo and gefilte fish he would eat if he stayed home.

    “I went to the theme parks during the day and ate myself crazy at night,” said Benkof, who is paying about $4,500 for an all-inclusive package. “What is remarkable about the food is how much there is, lots of it. They had bread! It was kosher for Passover bread, but you couldn’t tell it was Passover food.”

    Depending on the hotel and destination, prices for Passover vacation packages range from $1,600 to $11,000 per person, and typically cover lodging, unlimited food and entertainment.

    Many tour operators hosting Passover vacations bring in their own rabbis and staff to make the resorts Passover-ready. They also bring in Passover-only dishes, utensils and cookware that are untouched by grain products. Utensils or dishes that aren’t used specifically for Passover must be immersed in boiling water. Stoves and ovens are cleaned for Passover by heating at full blast for one or two hours. Cupboards, refrigerators and freezers are scrubbed clean of any crumbs and residue. Sinks are cleaned with boiling water.

    “There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into making a kitchen kosher,” said Alan Berger, who is running the Grand Getaways Passover vacations.

    Berger’s company is hosting 1,000 people for 10 days at the Waldorf Astoria at Walt Disney World. His staff and caterers are taking over a hotel ballroom kitchen for the week.

    “There’s no ‘almost kosher’ for Passover. It either is or isn’t,” he said.

    At some resorts, sex-segregated swimming sessions are held at resort pools in deference to ultra-Orthodox Jews concerned about modesty requirements. Conference rooms are converted into makeshift synagogues for prayer services. There are also concerts, performances by mentalists and illusionists and, of course, a “tea room” where guests can nosh on sweets and snacks all day.

    “We’re constantly keeping everybody stuffed to the gills,” Berger said. “We try to entertain people at all times.”


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    20 Comments
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    d_sternkansas-city
    d_sternkansas-city
    7 years ago

    Absolutely sickening. The most precious of holidays completely ignored.

    Eliwexler
    Eliwexler
    7 years ago

    Sad.

    bennyt
    bennyt
    7 years ago

    There is no ta’am of Pesach in any of these hotels. Stuffing ones face seems to be the main theme of the entire Yom Tov.

    LionofZion
    LionofZion
    7 years ago

    $60 million dollars down the drain. This is the unintended consequence of a century of Chumros that made Pesach into an unimaginable-and unnecessarily difficult chore.

    knowitall1
    knowitall1
    7 years ago

    The basis of this mitzvah is that gluttony leads to a multitude of sins. The Sefer HaChinuch refers us to Deuteronomy 32:15, which tells us that Jeshurun (that is, Israel) “grew fat and rebelled.” When a person is overstuffed and complacent, he’s more inclined to turn his back on God. Therefore, while we are meant to enjoy our food and drink, we shouldn’t act as if we’ve never seen food before and gorge ourselves like animals. Rather, we should eat only until we are satisfied, which is the manner of the righteous (as per Proverbs 13:25).

    Liepa
    Liepa
    7 years ago

    All they do there is stuff you with exorbitant amount of food so you end up gaining tons of weight and charge 15k for the family for one week, ain’t worth it.

    ayoyo
    ayoyo
    7 years ago

    My dear friends , in the haggadah one of the 4 sons asks” what is the reason for all of the hard work that you do for the seder? Hard work is what’s needed to come to sit at a seder table . The commentators of the haggadah stress that the labor that is necessary to have a kosher passover is a redemption of the sins that a person has committed during the year.How can a person even think of a ”vacation”for passover? when this holiday is strictly a religious one? How can one think if eating all kinds of wonderful tasting dishes,when we have to ingest the holy matzoh ,that has such spiritual benefits for the soul.?Did our grandparents think of ‘vacation’ for passover? When the little children grow up will they remember the whole family gathered around the seder table doing as they had seen from their elders?.
    To all I WISH THE TRADITIONAL GREETING” HAVE A KOSHER PASSOVER”.

    7 years ago

    So much food it was obscene.Changing clothes times a day. Wild kids destroying hotel. This year bringing our own food to a hotel with our own burner for chol hamoed. Saving 9000.Then simple Yom Tov with kids and grandkids.House needs cleaning once a year anyway.

    sane
    sane
    7 years ago

    Has spirituality been severed from Judaism. People go to hotels because the food is better? Horrible

    ayoyo
    ayoyo
    7 years ago

    This time I’ll make it short– yom tov is not vacation time. It is time to get back to basics in belief.Matzah is the bread of understanding.When you eat all kinds of delicious dishes you lose the ”taste” of what matzah is all about.and the understanding of the holy days.

    SandraM
    SandraM
    7 years ago

    This kinda says it all: “

    They had bread! It was kosher for Passover bread, but you couldn’t tell it was Passover food.”

    Missing the point, much?

    Not knocking the idea of a Passover hotel – but truly, as hard as I work, and I do work very hard, there is something beautiful in the achievement of creating the holiday in our home for our families.

    Anything that is worth anything comes with hard work.

    The best lecture I attend is the one I that I hear from my tired hands and feet, and mind as they work to create the reality that connects me our beautiful and glorious heritage.

    7 years ago

    So much Yiddishe gelt wasted while so many moisdois chinuch have had to slash teacher’s salaries since the recession-that’s the really sickening part.

    7 years ago

    You people all miss a few pointers. Firstly, in wealthy households (such as the majorty who go to hotels) there generally is no “feel” and pressure for pesach like your bubby did. Thus its not like at home, the house is buzzing with pesach pressure. One goyta cleans everything another goes shopping and a thrid one cooks. The kids and einklach come rolling in on yom tov like kings and queens without doing much hard work. Secondly, there is so much food in the grocery store. Especially in wealthy houses where money is not an issue a ten course pesach/ yom tov seuda is the norm. Nosh and cakes are all over the place. And the goyta cooks all day. And so you’ll argue eat less so where do you draw the line? I think by most of us even non wealthy our meals consist of alot more than chicken and potatoes. Should we not make nice yom tov meals so that we “feel” pesach more. If one can afford it shouldn’t they hire extra goyta’s? So why not go to a hotel once you are at it? Many hotels offer private rooms for family sedarim too.
    By the way I am a poor stay at home pesach family. But if offered I would go to a hotel in a second.

    Steinberg
    Steinberg
    7 years ago

    Pesach phobia has taken a firm hold of people’s sanity, who, for a family of four, are willing to pay at minimum $10k for the short 8 day duration of the Yom Tov in a hotel or resort. Notwithstanding the expense, which I thank G-d can afford, I can say from experience that there is no comparable Pesach to the one experienced in the warmth of one’s home, surrounded by family. The chaos that is the sedarim in a large ballroom lacks intimacy and taam. Discussion of any aspect of the Haggadah is limited by the singular goal of getting to dinner. The kids, who the sedarim are geared toward, are lost in chaos and rush to shulchan orech. Time to come home for Pesach my fellow Jews. It’s more, well, heimish. And if prepation is the difficulty, a crew can be hired to clean the house for a nominal cost.

    The_Truth
    Noble Member
    The_Truth
    7 years ago

    This whole “pesach vacation at a hotel” I believe stems from years, decades & generations of people saying “Pesach is so much hard work”, along with chumros on top of minhogim and people making themselves crazy slaving away for months beforehand with the cleaning, and cooking.

    Todays generation are B”H much more well off, and along with the instant gratification that people want.

    All this had lead to people having no second thoughts about going away for Pesach. Why would i want to do pesach like my forefathers when all they ever heard was how hard pesach is to make.

    The_Truth
    Noble Member
    The_Truth
    7 years ago

    Then there is another thing. All the moisdos, institutions and organizations all offer/push for the best gashmius, just for a “little” bit of money at any fundraising. “Its Kovoid Hatorah / Mitzva min Hamehadrin / Segula Gemara to give money to this cause, and in return you will get this / have the chance to win the best gashmius out there!” Cars, vacations, exquisite clothing, luxury housewares etc – all for doing this mitzva of tzedoka. All the kids see it, how the gashmius is offered as a reward. Now they have grown up and want the gashmius too! “I am wealthy, I give my tzedoka, now let me enjoy myself – its even a mitzva of Pesach too!”