Why Luxury Passover Vacations Are In

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Why Luxury Passover Vacations Are In
More and more Jews are heading out of town for Passover.
March 19, 2010

Kenneth Lasson
Special to the Jewish Times

Why Luxury Passover Vacations Are In

Some say all Jewish holidays can be summed up in a single sentence: They tried to kill us; we won; let's eat.

Whether that could be the story of Passover is up for debate — many Jews, after all, are less cynical and a lot more meticulous than materialistic in the way they obey biblical commandments. For most, the central idea is to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt by way of time-honored traditions: conducting highly symbolic seders and avoiding any contact with chametz (unleavened bread) for eight full days.

An increasing number of people the world over, however, choose to celebrate Z'man Cheirusainu (the Time of Our Freedom) with their own modern-day exodus to distant climes — traveling long distances to lush resorts, eating lavish gourmet meals for a full week, basking in the early spring sun by the sea or pool.

For them, this represents real freedom — liberation from the old days of household slavery, when two complete sets of dishes and cutlery had to be shlepped down from the attic or up from the basement, when matzoh would have to be ground by hand for cooking and baking, when stoves had to be kashered with blowtorches.

For many, preparing a home for Pesach is still a good deal more thorough and a lot more daunting than the average spring cleaning. Countertops must be covered, sinks scoured, dishwashers dialed off — and only then can the cooking and baking begin.

But modern housewives or househusbands are substantially better off than their counterparts of yesteryear. Many have granite countertops (which don't have to be covered), stainless steel dishwashers (which unlike others can be used on Passover) or self-cleaning ovens (which don't need to be blowtorched). Some may even have separate "Pesach kitchens," in which they can start cooking and baking and freezing weeks ahead of the holiday.

Many members of the Jewish community, middle-aged and older, remember (some fondly) how they celebrated Pesach when they were young. It was a holiday full of biblical symbolism and dietary deprivation. There was lots of matzoh, wine and dry sponge cake, not to mention plenty of horseradish, potatoes and chicken fat.

Merrill Lehman, born in Baltimore in 1916, is a spry nonagenarian who well remembers the old days of Passover in his hometown. "We'd have to grind matzoh by hand into matzoh meal for making matzoh balls and other things," and change all the dishes, which involved a lot of carrying heavy loads. There were few dairy products available, or packaged baked goods. And there was no escaping to a Pesach resort.

Eli Schlossberg, another native Baltimorean, is widely recognized as an authority on kosher marketing.  After college he joined the gourmet food business his grandmother had started, and became a consultant to a number of national supermarket chains. He too has clear memories of his Pesach childhood.

"In those days, preparations began two months in advance, with cleaning and taking out Passover dishes. We shopped at Liebe's and Jack's on Rogers Avenue. All German Jews [especially those from Shearith Israel] used Horowitz-Margareten machine-baked shmurah matzoh, which was under the supervision of Rabbi Joseph Breuer of New York, for the seders. The rest of Pesach we used regular matzoh. We also bought things like kosher-for-Pesach marshmallows, which would probably not be considered kosher by today's standards.

"We certainly didn't have the variety of prepared foods available in excess today.  At Jack's we bought cheese and chocolates made by Barton's or Schmerling's, tuna fish under the Season label, macaroons, a few other baked goods out of New York. There was much more reliance on fresh vegetables and fruits. We didn't know there were bugs in lettuce.

"Housewives had to do all their own baking, although Schmell and Azman later opened up a joint-venture Passover bakery. Everybody had their own favorite Passover foods. I remember that for cereal we made 'matzoh coffee' — Maxwell House poured over crushed matzoh with a lot of sugar added in. We had to buy all our milk before the holiday and keep it for eight days.

"I remember that immediately after Pesach some of the older Germans would go out for beer and rye bread."

Also scarce in those days was bottled soda. Coca-Cola and Pepsi were off-limits because they contained corn syrup. Later on the big bottlers began to substitute sugar syrup and the colas became kosher — Coke was under the supervision of Rabbi Benjamin Bak of Baltimore. Indeed, many people celebrated the seder with Maxwell House haggadahs (complete with their famous slogan, "good to the last drop," supposedly a phrase coined by Theodore Roosevelt, imprinted on the back cover). They've been offered by the company continuously since the early 1930s (with the exception of two years during World War II when paper was scarce) and are still available.
haggadah

Although that was one of the few free items available, except for those who paid the high cost of shmurah matzoh (specially watched and baked by hand) or employed help for cleaning, Passover was not an especially expensive holiday.

Nowadays, however, practically any product can be had, for a price. The Orthodox Union publishes a pamphlet listing everything from apple butter to yogurt, including blintzes, cereal, dumpling mix, egg substitutes, frozen dinners, gefilte fish, horseradish, ice cream, jams and jellies, kishka, lemon juice, mustard, noodles, olive oil, potato chips, rice milk, sauerkraut,  tea bags, vinegar and wines. There's kosher-for-Pesach baby food, cosmetics and toothpaste. There are three Web pages of cakes and cookies. There are even Pesach rolls.

Baltimoreans who used to be limited to a few small stores on Lombard Street or (later) Jack's and Liebe's in Upper Park Heights and Shapiro's in Pikesville now do their Pesach shopping at supermarkets like Giant, Shoppers and Seven Mile Market. You can even get a complete Passover dinner for 10 at Wegman's for $160 (whole turkey with farfel stuffing and gravy, chicken broth, matzoh balls, vegetable soufflé, charoses, two different kinds of kugel, tsimmes). A number of kosher caterers also offer Pesach foods — as do various non-kosher markets like Eddie's, Graul's, Safeway, Shoppers and Whole Foods.

So for those who stay home for the holidays, it's not unusual for an extended and expensive shopping list . . .

This is small change for those who choose to commemorate the Exodus by traveling to resorts, from trips to places nearby their hometowns, longer trips to all-inclusive destination spas around North America, to international junkets at exotic locales around the world.
matzoh cover

They've traded in the excesses of Pesach cleaning and the old Pesach dishes for hotel finery fit for royalty (according to some, in the best biblical tradition). Those who live in the Holy Land often go away as well, from Safed in the north and to Eilat in the south, with many points in between such as Tiberias, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea — or perhaps if they strive for a certain kind of wilderness authenticity, to the spot where Joshua crossed the Jordan near Jericho into Canaan.

They can find posh Pesach respite in Costa Rica, France and Switzerland, and Passover food in Hong Kong, Rome and Vancouver. In the U.S, there are Pesach places in Arizona, California, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

"Enjoy an intimate holiday the way it was meant to be!" reads one advertisement. "Daf Yomi, Shiurim, Bais Medrash Stocked with Seforim" says another. They can find kosher-for-Passover cruises (round trip from Fort Lauderdale to Cozumel and back, from $4,000 to $6,000 per person, shipboard gratuities included).

The most popular state for Passover vacationing is probably Florida, with spas in Hollywood, Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Doral Beach.

The original Pesach resort, according to Mr. Schlossberg, was the Granite Hotel in Kerhonkson, N.Y., run by the Shechter family. "Most religious Jews didn't go to Grossinger's or the Concord because they both had check-in desks open on Shabbos."  Though practically all of the resorts feature 24-hour tea rooms and virtually endless amounts of food, the Granite is the only one still to have waiter service at every meal — all the others offer three meals per day buffet-style.

Even in a depressed economy, many Passover resorts sell out — but the competition for customers remains fierce.

There are three primary reasons why people go away for Passover these days, says Rabbi Leonard Oberstein. "Older people find it too hard to make Pesach. Large families with financial means can accommodate an extended family gathering at a hotel. And there are times when circumstances warrant a special trip, like just after a wedding or bar mitzvah when you're not up to making Pesach that year." He recalls seeing some tables with families of 20 to 30 persons around them.

The Obersteins have gone out of town for 17 of the last 20 years; the last six of which he was a lecturer at the Renaissance Resort in Orlando,  Fla., across from Sea World. His wife and children served as counselors at the hotel's day camp. For the last eight seasons it was run by David and Nancy Broth of Matzah Fun Tours, and attracted around 400 people from around the world (with prices beginning at $3,299 per person). "People go away because this is the only time of year you can find quality hotels with kosher food virtually anyplace you want."
kiddush cup

That includes all kinds of kosher. Rabbi Oberstein explains why many observant Jews (particularly Chasidim) refrain from eating gbrochs — anything containing matzoh that might have come into contact with liquid. It is not so much a halachic concern as a family tradition. "Some people who have no problem with mixed swimming or swimming on Shabbos would never touch gbrochs."

Hotels go out of their way to please their prized patrons. Many will offer both gbrochs and not gbrochs. Mr. Broth tells a story about the lady who asked that her own special orchid plant be placed as a centerpiece on her table, and locked up every night; she took it back with her when she went home.

For the past several years no fewer than three Pesach hotels have operated in Maryland. Closest to Baltimore is the Pearlstone Center in Reisterstown, which advertises itself as "not a big impersonal hotel converted to kosher for the holiday; not an expensive resort that can only be enjoyed during Chol HaMo'ed; not a commercial business." It is a year-round Jewish retreat under the Baltimore-based Star-K certification.

It has a 115-person capacity for Passover, and is virtually sold out every year for an eight-day package (at $1,899) that includes lectures, a one-day spa and a Chol HaMo'ed barbecue. There are also lectures by this year's scholar-in-residence, Yitzchok Breito- witz, a popular rabbi and University of Maryland law professor.

This is Pearlstone's sixth year as a Passover retreat. About half of its clientele are repeat customers, mainly from Baltimore and Philadelphia. "People like our intimate setting and programming," says Frank Cleveland, director of operations and food services. "This year, we're featuring even more organic produce from our own farm, and free-range beef and chicken.  Most of our desserts are imported from Haifa in Israel."

The least expensive Maryland facility (beginning at $1,695) is the Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort in Cumberland, a sprawling deluxe resort at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, two hours from either Baltimore or Silver Spring (with a "Gas on Us" rebate). It rests on the shore of "a pristine 243-acre lake in a forested area with panoramic views of mountains and lake," and boasts an 18-hole golf course, an indoor pool and the now-standard "three glatt-kosher meals daily and lavish 24-hour tearoom."

The head chef at Rocky Gap is Don Tkatch of Catering by Weiss.

Celebrity guests this year are Morton A. Klein (president of the Zionist Organization of America) and Nathan Lewin (a nationally known appellate lawyer).

Among the guests at Rocky Gap this year will be Merrill Lehman, who has been going away for Pesach for around 15 years with his whole family. Not this year, though, because some of the group are so widely dispersed. One of his grandchildren is running a Pesach hotel at the Dead Sea in Israel. The Lehmans seriously thought about traveling to the Holy Land this year — "the cost for the whole holiday even with flights would have been a lot less than going to Florida" — but the logistics of bringing together some 30 people proved too difficult.

By far the biggest operation in Maryland, with a growing reputation as one of the premier Pesach resorts in the country, is the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort Spa and Marina in Cambridge. It's a five-star Hyatt Regency property, taken over for the holiday by HLF Leisure Tours — a partnership run by Ed Hoffman, Josh Lewis and Jacob Fader, all of Baltimore. Ed Hoffman

This year for the first time HLF has control of the entire 400-room resort, which features a championship golf course and an 18,000-square-foot European spa. The program also will offer charter fishing trips and exclusive tours of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the Naval Academy in Annapolis, as well as lectures by Rabbis Norman Lamm, Dovid Katz, Mark Dratch and Yakov Horowits.

For many of the expected 800 guests, though, the main attraction (at $2,195 per person) is the food. There is no skimping on quantity or quality. Every meal is different (as are the decorative printed menus), prepared and presented by a kitchen and serving staff of 100 under the direction of master chef Menashe Shabtai (formerly of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem) and two sous-chefs. All dishes are made from scratch, including the sauces.

HLF also stocks things like kosher-for-Pesach pizza crusts. Even pure chametz — 60 dozen hot dog and hamburger rolls — makes its way down to this Passover oasis on the Eastern Shore: it's frozen, stored in lockers, and sold to the non-Jewish hotel manager, to be redeemed immediately after the holiday for a lavish all-you-can-eat post-Pesach barbecue.

Although Mr. Hoffman is enthusiastic about his resort, now in its third year, "it's the hardest I've ever worked." As president and chief operating officer of HLF Leisure Tours, he gives a popular lecture on what it takes to run a Pesach hotel of this size: "The key is organization — and a great staff." For the Pesach hotel, he oversees 130 employees a day, including baby sitters, a camp director, four banquet captains, a snack coordinator, a tea room director, a day-trip organizer, an executive dairy chef, an entertainment director, a games coordinator, a computer-data processor and program designer, eight full-time mashgichim (kosher supervisors), a religious director, a scholar-in-residence and a chazzan.

Fred Findlen, who's been with the Hyatt chain for almost 25 years and is general manager of its four-star Chesapeake Bay Resort, has high praise for HLF: "They're fantastic at what they do, and are really good partners." Although all the guest rooms at the facility have been assigned to the Passover program, Findlen still has to use his own staff to manage housekeeping, security, recreation areas, golf course and the marina. As to the HLF venture, he says that "our success is theirs and vice-versa."

Preparations for the weeklong venture are made months in advance. This year the purchase spec sheet included 978 pounds of candy, nuts and dried fruit; 2,400 bottles of soda; 3 tons of meat and poultry; 8,100 dinner desserts (flown in from Israel's famous Angel's Bakery); and 20,000 linen napkins. Just prior to the holiday three tractor-trailers are loaded in Baltimore (two with food, one with equipment) for the two-hour trek from the HLF Commissary to Annapolis, over the Bay Bridge and down the Eastern Shore to Cambridge.

It takes 36 full hours for a team of 30 to kasher the resort's kitchens. A truckload of fresh produce and fish arrives daily. More than 6,000 plates are washed each day.
There's a twinkle in Ed Hoffman's eyes when he talks about some of his more interesting patrons. "One of our guests wanted to sail into the marina on his own yacht. [We weren't able to bring that off.] We once had 20 people [three families] come down from Deal, N.J., with their own food. They were unaware that the place was a Pesach hotel. When they saw a bunch of people running around with yarmulkes, they asked if they could be accommodated."  (They could, and were.)

Needless to say, guests are pampered. Special needs and requests are met to the point where few details are left to chance. The goal is to nurture, in a haimish (homelike) atmosphere. One patron wanted pineapple on his seder table. Another needed all her food pureed (for medical reasons). Still another asked for (and received, by special delivery) shmaltz herring for breakfast during Chol HaMo'ed (the Intermediate Days). Birthday cakes, photographs and table flowers are also available, at extra cost.

Although temperatures in Cambridge at this time of year are far from balmy, the locale is an attraction for people who want to avoid crowded airports.

For others, it's a way of connecting with large and extended family that wouldn't be available at home. Some guests come from as far away as Florida and Canada.

HLF also offers complimentary accommodations to people who would otherwise not be able to afford Pesach or have no place to go, via Gevuras Yarden (The Jewish Caring Network).

"It's one of the really nice things that Ed does," says Vicki Reches, HLF's director of activities. "We like to shmooze with the people, to make them feel comfortable. We've even made some matches."

She refers in particular to Michael Iseberg, a well-known pianist they'd brought in from Epcot Center/Disney World in 2008 to entertain guests; one of his performances was attended by a woman named Hedda Silverman, who caught his eye; they are now married and will be at the resort this year.

There's also a built-in continuity to the customer base. In 2008, some of the younger guests started a Facebook page to keep connected. Mikki Rosenbluth was 18 then, and recalls making a lot of new friends.

"There were tons of teens there. I met one girl from a different background and have since seen her in Israel and we keep in touch. Everything was very well-organized. We went to Six Flags and a minor league baseball game. There was a lot going on." She plans to go again this year with her family but spend a lot of time with people her age.

"A relative once told me," says Merrill Lehman, "that if I multiplied the cost of going away for Pesach by the number of years we went away I could have had a huge amount of money generating interest. But I said that we wouldn't have been able to see all our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren as much if we'd have stayed home."

There are, of course, many people who could afford to go away for the Passover holiday but prefer to stay at home. Some don't like to travel, or want the comfort of familiar surroundings, or feel that commemorating the Exodus is not best done by basking in Boca Raton.

But if food remains the common denominator, either group might well tell the other, "Eat your heart out!"

Kenneth Lasson, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, is a frequent contributor to the Baltimore Jewish Times.
Photo captions:
Seder plates and matzah covers are part of the table settings not just in homes but at resorts, locally and all over the country for Passover.

Ed Hoffman's HLF Leisure Tour group is bringing Passover to the beautiful Hyatt Chesapeake Bay Resort in Cambridge, Md. "The key is organization and a great staff," said Mr. Hoffman.

(photos Kirsten Beckerman)

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