Travelin Dreams

Hmm, this hasn't occured to me because I've never really observed Passover. Guess this doesn't win me too many points with the very observant.

How interesting that even in Israel the kosher restaurants close- I would expect they could get a lot of business then. . . Is there an edict against having them open?

Lehava

Ok time for confession...I totally denied it was Passover this year after many many years of being very stringant about it. I flew domestically on Passover, I was away the entire holiday, I was in places that it was not easy to keep kosher and just decided God and my friends would have to either accept it (and let me live with my guilt) or provide guilt of their own for me *smile*.

So my sarcastic ethical question is, if you totally denied the holiday was happening, are you still breaking the rules when you eat non-passover-kosher food or does the denial negate the rules *grin*

jan_az

Nice *grin* but - rules are rules .

Jewish guilt has to win here

CO FF

Where does it lose?

I once had to do an all-day interview during passover -- myself and 2 guys who co-lead my team with me were changing companies. Of course, neither of them cared about passover, kashrut, etc., and I was being strict.

So I bought a new cool-pak at the store, froze it before I went to the airport (night before the interview), packed pop-top tuna, hard cheese, dried fruit, matzah. At the hotel, I filled the ice bucket to keep the cool-pak cold, and stuffed the food into the minibar fridge. In the morning, I ate before the interview, and carefully packed my cool-pak & cheese into my briefcase.

We walk into the conference room for the interview, and there's a box of matzah and a huge bowl of grapes, oranges, apples & bananas, along with the usual bagels, danish, donuts, etc.

badatz

There are a few reasons why Kosher restaurants close on Pesach:
It is very difficult to "Kasher" (clean and make acceptable) a restaurant for Pesach. You literally have to tear it apart from ceiling to floor and clean everything including vents, pans, pots, plates, burners, cutlery, glassware,tables chairs etc and then ritually "Kasher" them my soaking, or flushing with boiling and then cold water. Many owners don't want to go through all this as it ties up the kitchen for a few days before the holiday and can be very trying and tiring.
Secondly inspite of all the cleaning many Kosher observers don't eat out of their house during the holiday and would never go to a restaurant just like that
And lastly it gives the owners an oppurtunity for a well deserved vacation with their family

blhst28

I've found that when traveling during Passover I tend to eat fruits and vegetables and bring my own matzah. Also I try and use "Jewish Geography" to my advantage - it always seems that a friend of a friend lives in my destination city so I can usually count on at least one dinner at that acquaintance's house. Business meals are a bit more difficult - I've yet to find an easy solution to that. Fortunately it's another year until it's an issue again.

entropy

dovster, this shouldn't be a problem, just eat meat meat and only meat!

salut0

In 1994 took a charter flight back from Israel a few days after Pesach TLV-LGW and they still had the stale kasher-le-pesah meals.

Anyway, airline food tends to be horrible so I'd take your own.

GoingAway

I flew last year during passover for the first time and requested the meals. I got one Kosher for Passover and one generic Kosher meal during the trip, so YMMV but I wouldn't rely on the airline catering service to get it right.

As far as travelling during passover, I try hard to avoid this but have not always been successful. When I had a client in NJ and needed to be up there for the week, I found a kosher store/butcher in the general area and ordered a bunch of prepared food from them. I stayed at a suite/extended stay type place when I came back after the first days and used paper plates/utensils. That worked out very well. For day trips, I pack my own food and for longer, I do a combination of pack my own and eating a lot of fruits & greens. The best thing is to stay home or travel somewhere where you know people who will feed you

BTW, my brother had these special meals that you mix water into the lower compartment to cause a reaction to heat the meal so you don't use electricity. I don't know if they make a passover version of those but they came in handy after the hurricanes this year. (I didn't taste them so won't vouch for that, but they were at least edible)

Comicwoman

I find it silly that you can make a Kosher for Passover cake if you use 12 eggs whites and have 3 hours to spare. And in the past decade, the Kosher for Passover aisle has exploded.

My theory is that the whole concept of the holiday is to move quickly. If Moses could have stopped at the deli and got 1000s of sandwiches to go, it would have been enough.

So, I figure, if I can eat it in my car, Moses and the Israelites could have eaten it while escaping from Egypt. And it is good.

A Cantor friend of mine finds it interesting and amusing.