OPERATION PASSOVER REDUX

Here is an article that appeared on Monday, April 30th, in Kosher Today:

Consumers Had More Questions This Passover
New York… Kashrus agencies and rabbis all over the country were responding to a record number of inquiries from consumers prior to the recently concluded Passover holiday. The rabbis say that the huge increase in new products on Passover shelves may be partially responsible for the deluge of calls to agency hotlines and inquiries to local rabbis. Other rabbis say that it is part of a general trend of increased vigilance by kosher shoppers. At the Orthodox Union, officials responded to more than 2,000 phone calls from across North America, Israel, Latin America and Europe. On the Thursday before the holiday, almost 300 concerned individuals phoned in with questions on all matters of Passover intricacies, including some unusual ones as happens every year. “I received a question from a vegetarian about what he could use on his Seder plate in place of a shank bone,” Rabbi David Polsky of the OU said. The majority of callers, however, were concerned with medications and baby formulas and whether or not various products required OU Kosher Passover certification. The increased volume of calls comes at a time when information is widely available on the Internet and through special radio programs and community seminars. One rabbi told KosherToday: “I am astounded that people are anxious to be stricter with what they consume on Passover but yet are anxious to expand their menu with the many new items on grocery shelves.******************

If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, then they all flatter the UTJ and its Operation Passover which is over 20 years old. Second of all, Rabbi Polsky talks about getting a question about what a veggie could use on his seder plate instead of a bone. Well, rabbi, here’s a hint- over ten years ago in our first Passover F A Q, we listed the question and the answer.

We are proud to have been the first ones to provide an 800 number telephone for Passover questions, and we are proud to see that we have launched a lot of imitators. Hey, there can never be too much Torah out there!