Many people in Israel consider Passover to be the most exhausting Jewish holiday of all. Apart from all the religious restrictions on eating "hametz" — leavened foods — many are still traumatized by childhood memories of the thorough Passover cleaning sessions that preceded the holiday. To prepare the home for Passover, all remains of hametz must be eliminated, no matter where they might be found. This obviously includes the kitchen, but also covers crumbs in mattresses, toys and every last book.
Over the past few years, some have been solving the cleaning problem in a very simple (but decidedly more expensive) way. What started with the general public and spread to the religious nationalist community is now reaching the ultra-Orthodox sector as well. Entire families, including all their children, leave home right before Passover and move into a hotel. They will stay there for all of the weeklong holiday, until the very end of Passover. People who choose to go to a hotel for Passover not only avoid the exhausting cleaning process. They also enjoy full room and board and get a real chance to rest. Most kosher hotels for Passover are in Israel, but they can be found in hotels overseas as well, especially in Europe. These hotels are rented out in their entirety for the seven days of the holiday and made completely kosher for Passover under rabbinical supervision.
“As far as the ultra-Orthodox community is concerned, the phenomenon actually began in the United States and then immigrated to Israel over the past few years,” says Yaakov Strasser, CEO of Telechofesh, a company that promotes tourism among the ultra-Orthodox community. “It started with people who work right up until the holiday, and therefore have no time to clean their homes thoroughly. Now it is already a kind of annual vacation for many.”
According to Strasser, the demand for and variety of these types of Passover packages have skyrocketed over the past few years. “Ten years ago, there were very few options, and the phenomenon was rather marginal. Now we are talking about some 50 hotels in Israel and around the world that offer Israeli vacationers holiday packages that meet all the Passover requirements. Prices start at 10,000 shekels [$2,650] per family and can go as high as 60,000 shekels [$15,900] per family to celebrate Passover in Cancun, Mexico.”
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