Halacha and kashrut at a Pesach program

02

How a hotel kitchen becomes kosher for Pesach

A hotel kitchen cooks non-kosher food and chametz all year. Turning it over is the same job as turning over a home kitchen, on an industrial scale. The OU, which certifies hotels, puts it this way: doing this at home is arduous, and in a food service setting “all the more so”.

Before anything is kashered

The agency inspects the kitchens, equipment, dining rooms and guest areas, and agrees written rules with the hotel. Then every surface is cleaned: tables, ovens, stovetops, fryers, sinks, refrigerators, pots and pans. Rabbi Gornish of the OK describes outside cleaning crews working for several days. Some equipment is then set aside, unused, for 24 hours.

Kashering

There are two main methods. לִבּוּן (libun) is direct heat: blowtorches on surfaces, glowing coals on grills. הַגְעָלָה (hagalah) is immersion in boiling water. Dishwashers are stripped, cleaned and run with their thermostats overridden. The OU’s checklist says all of this should be done at one time, so that no part of the kitchen is left half finished, and that anything not kashered is sealed off and marked.

Separate kitchens

The OU looks for completely separate meat and dairy facilities, down to the washing stations, and separate carts and trays between kitchen and dining room. It also checks that staff eat somewhere else entirely.

03

What the mashgichim do

A מַשְׁגִּיחַ (mashgiach) is the supervisor in the room. At a Pesach program the work goes well beyond watching the stove.

• Deliveries. Every delivery is checked before it enters the kitchen, and approved ingredients are marked.
• The fire. Food cooked entirely by a non-Jew is בִּשּׁוּל עַכּוּ״ם (bishul akum). The Rema (Yoreh De’ah 113:7) rules that it is enough for a Jew to light or add to the fire. The Shulchan Aruch there requires a Jew to place the food on the fire, which is the Sephardi practice. Ask which standard the kitchen keeps. The OU checks that burners can’t be relit by staff on their own.
• Vegetables. Checking greens for insects needs big sinks, good light and time. Rabbi Gornish calls it a major part of the job.
• Menus and timing. Enough time between meat and dairy meals, nothing started on Shabbat or yom tov for the next day, and all Shabbat food fully cooked before Shabbat.
• The dining room. Watching buffets and tea rooms, and politely asking guests not to bring their own wine or food to the table.

How many?

Rabbi Gornish writes of six to ten mashgichim working at one time across a hotel, on shifts of eight to ten hours on chol hamoed and around the clock over the first days. Rabbi Fishbane puts a large program at about twenty across all shifts, each shift led by a professional. A number far below that for a big hotel is worth a question.

04

Things to watch out for

A shared hotel

When the program has only part of the hotel, another kitchen may be serving chametz and non-kosher food a corridor away. Staff, trolleys and dishes move around. Rabbi Fishbane describes agencies supervising the non-kosher side too, to stop anything crossing over. Each listing here says whether the operator states it takes the whole hotel.

Hotel glassware

Glasses that are used all year are a known problem. Rabbi Fishbane’s advice is that hotel glasses be used for cold drinks only. Ask what your program does.

Wine

Hotel waiters pour the wine. For that reason many programs serve only יַיִן מְבֻשָּׁל (mevushal wine). Rabbi Fishbane says a program should have a clear policy on wine that is not mevushal, so ask what it is before you bring your own bottles.

Gebrokts in a shared dining room

A kitchen can be kept free of שְׁרוּיָה (gebrokts). A dining room full of guests cannot be controlled in the same way, as Rabbi Gornish points out. Families who are careful about this ask how dishes and cutlery are handled.

Kitniyot

The Rema (Orach Chayim 453:1) records the Ashkenazi custom not to eat קִטְנִיּוֹת (kitniyot) and says it should not be changed. Sephardi families generally do eat them. A program serving both groups should have a clear answer on where kitniyot are cooked and served.

The seder menu

The custom in most communities is not to eat roasted meat on the seder night (Orach Chayim 476:1–2). The OK does not allow roasted meats at the sedarim it supervises.

“Glatt kosher”, with no name

Words like “glatt”, “mehadrin” and “strictly supervised” describe a standard without telling you who stands behind it. Ask for the name. On this site a standard is shown as stated only when the operator puts it in writing.

The day Pesach ends

Programs that stay on for the Shabbat after Pesach switch the kitchen back to chametz within hours. The OK describes bread bought and frozen before Pesach, with the mashgichim supervising the changeover from the moment the holiday ends.

05

Shabbat and yom tov in a hotel

Modern hotels are full of things that switch themselves on. Most of this is outside the kitchen, so it is often outside the mashgiach’s job. In 2027 the first two days of Pesach run straight into Shabbat, so outside Israel these questions apply for three days in a row.

• Room doors. STAR-K rules that electronic key cards may not be used on Shabbat. Good programs arrange manual keys or staff to open doors. Some locks that look mechanical contain a motor, so ask.
• Sensors. Rooms may have motion sensors for the lights and air conditioning. Ask for them to be disabled before yom tov. Check the closet light and the bathroom.
• Automatic doors. Ask which entrances are manual.
• Elevators. A Shabbat elevator stops at every floor on its own. If you would rather not rely on one, ask for a low floor when you book.
• Carrying. A hotel with many Jewish guests may need an עֵרוּב חֲצֵרוֹת (eruv chatzerot) to carry inside the building, and an eruv around the grounds to carry or push a stroller outside. Ask who set it up and who checks it.
• The pool. If separate swimming matters to you, get the hours in writing. Not every pool can be closed off.
• Candles. Many hotels don’t allow candles in bedrooms. Programs set up a lighting area, usually near the dining room.

06

What is still yours to do

Going away does not hand all of Pesach to the operator. These are the points families most often miss. Opinions differ on several, so ask your rav.

Your home

If you leave before the night of the 14th of Nisan, speak to your rav about how and when to check the house. Many families who are away for the whole holiday sell the chametz, and the rooms it is in, through their rav.

Selling chametz across time zones

The sale, מְכִירַת חָמֵץ (mechirat chametz), has to take effect before chametz becomes forbidden. If you are in Israel and your chametz is in New York, which clock counts? One view follows where the chametz is. Another, including Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, Orach Chayim 4:94), follows where the owner is. The usual advice is to make sure it is sold by the earlier of the two times. Tell the rav who sells your chametz where you will be.

Your hotel room

Whoever holds the key is responsible for checking a rented room (Orach Chayim 437:1). So a guest who has arrived by the night of the 14th does בְּדִיקַת חָמֵץ (bedikat chametz) in the room, with a flashlight where candles aren’t allowed. Whether a blessing is said is disputed. STAR-K writes that a guest who brought no chametz into the room checks without one. Ask the hotel to empty or seal the minibar.

Eruv tavshilin in 2027

Outside Israel, the second day of Pesach 2027 is a Friday. Cooking and preparing on yom tov for Shabbat needs an עֵרוּב תַּבְשִׁילִין (eruv tavshilin), made on Wednesday, April 21 (Orach Chayim 527:1). The program’s rav normally makes one for everyone. Many people make their own as well. Ask your rav.

One day or two

In Israel yom tov is one day. Visitors from abroad are in a well-known dispute: most authorities have them keep two days, and some rule one. Israelis spending Pesach abroad are forbidden to do work there on the second day (Orach Chayim 496:3). If you are booking Israel, ask your rav before you choose flights, and ask the program whether it runs a second seder.

07

Ten questions to ask the operator

These follow the ten questions set out by Rabbi Sholem Fishbane of the Chicago Rabbinical Council in Mishpacha magazine. The explanations are our summary.

1. 01Who gives the hechsher?Get the name of the rabbi or agency responsible, and take it to your own rav. Rabbi Fishbane warns against relying on a rabbi’s name in an advertisement: a scholar in residence is not the same as the person supervising the kitchen.
2. 02Who cooks?A kosher caterer with its own team, or the hotel’s staff working under supervision? Staff who have never worked in a kosher kitchen need far more watching.
3. 03How many mashgichim, and who are they?Ask for the number on each shift and who leads them. Ask whether they answer to the certifying rabbi or agency, or to the operator.
4. 04When does the program take over the kitchen?Cleaning and kashering a hotel kitchen takes days. Rabbi Fishbane’s ideal is about a week before Pesach.
5. 05Is any non-kosher food served in the hotel during Pesach?If the program doesn’t have the whole hotel, ask how the other kitchen, its staff and its equipment are kept apart.
6. 06How are the dishwashers, ovens and fryers kashered?These are the hard ones. A serious program can tell you what was done, or that it brought its own equipment.
7. 07How are vegetables checked?Leafy greens need washing and inspection under good light. Ask what the procedure is.
8. 08What is the policy on glasses and wine?Whose glassware is used, and for what? Is all the wine mevushal, and may guests bring their own bottles?
9. 09Does it match what my family keeps?Gebrokts, kitniyot, Cholov Yisroel, Pas Yisroel, shmura matzah at every meal. Each listing on this site shows which of these the operator has put in writing.
10. 10Who is responsible outside the kitchen?Eruv, door locks, elevators, the pool and the entertainment are usually outside the mashgiach’s job. Ask who decides.

See what each program states