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March 23, 2001/Adar 28, 5761, Vol. 53, No.25
Buying frenzy heralds Pesach
LEISAH NAMM
Assistant Editor
In the weeks before Passover, grocery stores display an array of standard Passover goods - boxes of matzo, jars of gefilte fish and borscht.
The eight-day holiday commemorating the Israelites' biblical journey to freedom begins at sundown Saturday, April 7.
Consumers eager to expand their Passover menus - with items such as cheese imported from Europe or frozen casseroles - may want to check out The Passover Pantry, a temporary store in Scottsdale offering a variety of kosher-for-Passover products until April 5.
Transplanted New Yorker Danny Sharaby, one of the store's founders, said he and his wife Linda talked with friends a few months ago about the difficulty of finding good kosher-for-Passover foods in Phoenix. They decided it might be "a good idea to get a little more exotic - different than your basic (supermarket) Passover food," Danny Sharaby said.
Through connections in New York's food industry, the Sharabys, along with several friends, opened their store March 13 in a Scottsdale storefront.
The Sharabys are members of both Temple Solel in Paradise Valley and Chabad of Scottsdale.
According to Claudia Gilburd, a spokeswoman for the store, the group searched through catalogs for kosher-for-Passover food items and placed their orders through New York food brokers.
All products are pre-packaged and certified kosher for Passover, Gilburd said. The store does not sell meat.
For sale are foods from Europe, New York and Israel and "a whole different host of things that you take for granted in everyday eating," Sharaby said. These include a variety of cheeses, pies, cupcakes, yogurt, cookies, chocolate milk, ice cream sandwiches, blintzes, vegetable crepes, French fries, whitefish salad and pizza.
"(The store) introduces a new dimension to Pesach here because it brings in very, very rich ingredients that we may not have had before, so it enlivens the tradition and it introduces kosher gourmet," Gilburd said.
The store is funded by its founders and run by volunteers as a community service, Sharaby said.
The Passover Pantry is located at 10261 N. Scottsdale Road, on the southeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard, between Oriental Rugs of Scottsdale and Dairy Queen. Store hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday and Sunday.
Segal's New Place, a kosher market which celebrated its 34th anniversary in Phoenix March 13, has expanded its selection of Passover products to include more ready-made cakes and cookies, macaroons, prepared kugels and fresh bison meat, said owner David Segal.
Segal's is located at 4818 N. Seventh St. Hours are 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Fridays; and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays.
Store hours for Cactus Kosher Foods, a kosher market located at 8005 E. Indian School Road in Scottsdale, are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays; 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursdays; 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Fridays; and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays.
Grocery stores throughout the Valley carry selected Passover items, but kosher consumers need to make sure the products are labeled "kosher for Passover" and certified by a reliable agency, said Rabbi David Rebibo, rabbinic administrator for Greater Phoenix Vaad Hakashruth.
The Vaad works closely with Safeway Food & Drug Stores and Albertson's Food & Drug to provide kosher products, Rebibo said.
At press time, the only kosher-for-Passover dairy product available in local grocery stores is Lucerne milk at Safeway, he said. The California plant that produced kosher-for-Passover Knudsen cottage cheese, available in local grocery stores last year, has closed down, Rebibo said, so the Vaad is looking for other options.
Rebibo suggests that consumers call the Vaad, 602-277-8858, for updates, as he will continuously be trying to expand the amount of foods available for Passover.
Another resource for kosher product information is online. Visit www.kashrut.com for information about Passover products, as well as links to the Web sites of main kosher supervising agencies.
Although the arrival of The Passover Pantry may demonstrate an increase of kosher-for-Passover goods in the Valley, some areas are still left with little choice.
Leslie Hafalia of Peoria notes that choices are still very limited in the West Valley. The Passover display in a grocery store near her home is contained to one folding card table. "There's really hardly anything here," she said.
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