Miami Beach, FL – As a child, Jeffrey Grodko dreaded Passover. With its Seder dinners, no-grains diet — his family ate lots of meat and potatoes — and restrictions on car and electricity use for four of its eight days, it was “a lot of being bored.”
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Now 43, the Orthodox Jewish father of two from Brooklyn can’t wait for the holiday, which begins tonight and marks the ancient Israelites’ exodus from Egypt.
To observe it, he’s embarking on another kind of exodus: a luxury Passover at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau is one of at least eight local hotels offering Passover packages, making South Florida the country’s biggest Passover destination.
Thousands of Jews from New York to Israel will be in South Florida this week to celebrate Passover a way their grandparents probably never imagined: sipping kosher cocktails after poolside barbecues, or eating gourmet sushi lunches and elaborate dinners where options include tangerine caramelized duck and veal Milanese — made with no grains.
Hotels offering Passover packages include the Biltmore in Coral Gables, which is completely booked for 600 Passover guests; the Hyatt Regency Bonaventure in Weston, which will host 1,000 Passover vacationers; the Doral Golf Resort and Spa; and the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort in Aventura. A Passover cruise departs from Port Everglades and, for those on a tighter budget, South Floridians are renting out kosher apartments.
Make no mistake: faith is central to the Passover vacation experience. Hotel kitchens have been made kosher, temporary “resident rabbis” have been flown in and Judaism scholars will offer nightly talks.
“We can have Passover without the hassle. It’s a relief to me and to my wife,” says Grodko, who has spent the holiday at South Florida hotels for 18 years. It’s a stark contrast to his childhood, when Passover meant meticulous house-cleaning, switching out dishes and silverware and preparing food for extended family visiting for Seders.
At the Fontainebleau where he’s staying, rates for the duration of the holiday begin at $3,400 for eight days and nights. Rates are similar at other hotels and top suites have been booked for up to $24,000.
While the economy has affected the Passover travel industry — insiders say the number of hotels offering packages has slightly decreased in the last decade — every South Florida hotel offering a kosher experience this year has been booked for weeks. According to Totally Jewish Travel, a vacation listings website for observant Jews, 120 hotels will offer Passover packages across five continents this year.
Sam Lasko, president of Davie-based Lasko Tours, will host 3,000 people between the Eden Roc, Fontainebleau and Hyatt Regency Bonaventure. “We bring in 15 tractor-trailers full of food. We make desserts, paninis, waffles, foods not traditionally kosher for Passover,” Lasko says.
For weeks, 30 rabbis have worked around the clock to bring Lasko’s hotels in line with kosher standards, from using blow torches on kitchen appliances and pouring boiling water over them to making sure all grains, including bread crumbs, have been removed from the premises.
During Passover, Jews eat cracker-like matzoh instead of bread in remembrance of the Israelites, who left Egypt so quickly they had no time to let their dough rise. Ritual Seders, with foods representing a symbolic re-telling of the exodus, are central to Passover.
this is what pesach has become? “sipping kosher cocktails at poolside barbecues?” “gourmet sushi?” these people are missing the point entirely.
Sad
Pesach is all about family in the home. The korban started as an act carried out by a family with their neighbors then it transformed into a journey to Yerushalayim not a vacation. Does this make for a more meaningful holiday?
Is it just me, or does it seem like the Yidden blow all their money on Yom Tov and put nothing aside for a rainy day? Is saving for retirement not a Jewish value anymore?
This is fantastic news. Years ago unserer couldnt avail ourselves of luxus. Today, our fellow yiden have the wherewithall to spend on important regilous observance. MY neighbors rejoice in there.
Just came home from Miami and wish I could afford to stay for Passover!
why is it that yidden need to criticize. Who cares, you stay home and let him enjoy. He didnt ask you to pay for it.
Worry about your self.
If there is one time you do as you fathers did, its on passach, going to hotels is not the end of the world, but what will the next generation do???
not everyone is going to miami in a hotel there is thousands of families like me who come here make there house pessechdig (just pessech cleaning without having to clean all the thousands of stuff that is in the all year around house) and then cook their own hemisha food.
This is so sad.
Parents: Make the Seder a memorable one, so your children don’t end up taking their families to expensive hotels for cocktails and sushi on the holy pesach.
My heart goes out to this family.
Zman Cheiriseini….Time of freedom..every one is free to do what he wishes….If he can afford the HOTEL go ahead and have a simches yom tov…If you enjoy your own home have a simches yom tov….main thing is where ever you are its zman simchuseini..be happy…and smile and say git yom tov to every jew u see…
its this attitude that the navi says ‘moadayichem sonu nafshu’ see meforshim..that the holy yamim toveim was used only for physical pleasures… ‘lo notnu lohem shabbosos veyomim tovim ala lasok betorah uvemitzvos’..yes the halacha kreb yeshoah ‘chetzlach lochem’ but these type of yidden who ‘dread’ its kilo lachem. by the wat the ‘lochem’ has to also be leshem shomayim not like the 4th of july etc
pretty soon people will be making a pesach seder on the moon ok not that far try
antartica , iam sure when mesiach comes all these people will go to miami instead of a’y
Pesach is the bind between generations of klal yisroel going back to yetzias mitzraim. “V’higadito l’bincho” is a mitzva that kept yidden together over 2,000 years of golus. Mickey mouse and cruises are not an environmetn to pass down a mesorah from har sinai, even if it is non-gebrokt, chassidishe shchita, separate pools, daf yomi, gr8 lectures, top frum singers, and all the other guilt removing lines they sell. A prominent litvishe rov told me that he thinks it is the biggest tzora klal yisroel has today that we removed the heimishe pesach and replacedwith goyishe waiters serving veal and potato starch buns and hamburger bbq’s R”L.
For some people it is a necessity due to age, infirmities. For most people it is a waste of money. For half of $6800 per couple, I can bring 2 cleaning crews to clean your house, hire a professional cook to make you wonderful food, have a maid clean the house after the seder, and u will besurrounded by your family in your home welcoming eliyahu hanavi after benching instead of some entertainer.
For those at home, have a freilichen Pesach, and for those in these “glatt” hotels, have a (hopefully) kosher Pesach.
While i might not be in Miami sitting in a Hotel for Passover i do give Thanks to hashem that i have my own home (mortgage paid up) and my children for yom tov and all my food and utility bills are paid up b”h……I never ever had the urge to go away for yom tov while i see so many hundreds of neighbors suffering poverty and see many kids NOT having new clothing for yom tov.
If the Sinai Hilton had been open for Pesach I bet the Nesiim and their families would have stayed there and had Balsamic Lorainge Marinated Lamb as a main course. But since it was not available at their time let us now enjoy Zman Chayrootano in the style and comfort they would have enjoyed.
#8 , sounds really nice, and your head is in the right place. enjoy the hotel experience, i would LOVE to try it once!
B”H I have never had to leave home for Pesach. What a rachmanus on these people. All the money they have and all the money they spand hasn’t bought them a decent place to make a seder and a nice family with whom they can share it. Mamash a nebach.
IY”H their situation will turn around this year and next year, if c”v we still aren’t zocheh to bring a korbin pesach in Yerusholayim, at least they should have a nice family situation so they can enjoy a well deserved yom tov.
He’s bringing in 3000 people at around $4000 apiece. That’s 12 million dollars. Assume half goes to expenses. $6,000,000 is a nice take.
Cleaning is something u do even if go away for Pesach cous chumitz represents the yetzer horah & getting rid of ur chometz is like getting rid of the yetzer horah. by the the way what happened to the mesora of zich nisht mishen ? if some1 is really sick or has some other condition they should ask a sheila if they r aloud 2 go away !
Oyi what happened to our zinusdik and pushet way of life. These yidden are ruining it all.
Yes, indeed, it’s always better to make the seder at home! Because who wants to miss the home-Pesach experience, so essential for chinuch? Ahh, how I love it! Stressing out so much before Pesach that the whole family dreads coming down in the morning shloshim yom kodem hachag. The wife collapsing in a chair every night at two a.m. Starting the seder and hour late because the table is not set, and then everyone seethes when chatzos comes before you’ve had a chance to properly do the seder and eat like mentchen. The husband and wife staring at each other with daggers, and the eidems and shnurs wondering how they got trapped in this dysfunctional family.
Those were the days, my friends. That’s what precious memories are made of.
If I had the money, would do it in a second. This “holiday” is crazy. By the tine you get to the chag, you are so resentful of all you are put through..crazy. BTW, the one who called this guy MO as a negative statement…guess what, poverty it NOT haimish! Just because you work for al iving and are not on welfare does NOT mean you are any less religious. Sheesh!
what about all the rabbis that go
I wish I was away at a hotel. I am so tired now, I can’t move.
My wife is still kvetching about Pesach after spending 10k on jewlery for herself for her hard work, 2k on a shaitel, 2-4k at Pomegrante for fancy plastic dishes and food. And all I hear is how hard she works. Feh.
Know what irks me the most? The renowned speakers who are so highly regarded, they don’t stay home for Pesach either. so what message are they sending?
i’m a morah in LA and my salary was cut by almost 10% this year. BH i have a job and i get paid on time which is not the situation in other moidos here.some are months behind in salary ,have closed or fired part of their staff. listen ,Hashem didn’t test me (yet!)with ashirus but when He does AH i hope i’ll know what to do with it,like investing in chinuch,and not blow it on 8 days of gluttony and narishkait.
#50 ….for that money, i could buy a house
I hope these people are all paying full tuition. As far as leaving Israel for Miami – what an absolute shanda! Why would anyone leave their home in Israel to go to Chu”l, where they can’t even take advantage of the extra day of chol hamoed? My haggadot all say “L’Shana Haba b’Yerushalayim,” not Miami!
Been to hotels and have had seder at home. NOTHING beats having a seder at home! I work very hard at cleaning and I have 5 kids and 3 jobs. My husband does not help with the cleaning, but he paid for a cleaning lady who came for several hours on two days the week before Pesach. We had a gorgeous seder that was at our pace in our private dining room (without the noise of a public dining room), food made the way we liked it, and the ability to choose our own Pesach activities. There is no place like home……..
They go away to keep up with the Jones’es. They,are miserable because the think of the expenses at all time . Then you eat until you platz and can’t waot to see the doctor. Well,enjoy..
This is what we call Sinat Chinam. You people all need to get a life. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the reporter took his words out of context? And who cares if someone can afford to go away and celebrate pesach in style? Is he asking any of you for money? NO! On the other hand, I bet a bunch of you who whine about people who go away for Pesach sit on your fat tucheses while your fathers in law support you. Live and let live, I say. You’re all just jealous that you can’t afford to go yourselves. And instead your poor wives have to work like dogs so you can have a kosher pesach. Ask your wives if they’d like to go away for Pesach or if they’d rather start cleaning 2 months before the holiday and see how much she enjoys Pesach at home. Oh but wait, why would you care what your wives think. You’re the same bunch who make them work while you pretend to be ‘learning’
As a friend of the person quoted in the article, who most of you seem to have issue with for his choice to go away…I can only say you all WISH you had a friend like him. He would give anyone the shirt off his back, no questions asked. He’s always there to do anyone a favor, no matter how difficult, As far as his family goes, you should all wish to have a family like his, too. His children are well raised and well behaved, with derech eretz, midos, and respect for everyone (regardless of their religious affiliation) He’s the best father and a loving husband (who goes to Miami so that his wife shouldn’t have to work like a dog) and a pillar of the community. You should all be ashamed of yourselves for judging him before you even know the man. You’re all quick to call him all sorts of names and point fingers, why don’t you all look at yourselves in the mirror, first and judge your own behavior. I am ashamed to belong to the same tribe as some of the commenters.
power to him if he can afford what is it your business it is his way a person who makes comments about other people with out knowing anything about them are not worth listening to by the way iwas with him also and enjoyed every moment