On the first night of Passover (Seder Night), Jews all around the world ask: "Why is this night different from every other night?" In fact in Israel, the entire Passover week as well as the weeks that precede it have a unique flavor that differentiates this period from any other in the national calendar.
The festival of Passover celebrates the exodus of the Israelites from Ancient Egypt, after over two centuries of slavery. In their haste to leave, there was no time to let their dough rise, and they baked unleavened bread, or matzah, instead. God commanded Moses to instruct the Jewish people that they were to mark the event as a festival every year, ridding their houses of leavened products (hametz) for seven days.
In modern Israel, however, Passover is not just about eating matzah for a week. The festival constitutes both a boon and a headache for manufacturers and retailers alike. For example, making milk or a chicken "kosher for Passover" entails not only ensuring that no sources of leavening can come into contact with production, but also changing what farm animals eat weeks in advance. In addition, a full month before the holiday begins, products labeled "kosher for Passover" - from food stuffs to toothpaste and dog food - begin appearing on the supermarket shelves, and orders for "regular" stock drop off, sending supplies of one's favorite cornflakes dropping to dangerous levels. As Passover draws near, members of staff work overtime covering up hametz products with brown paper and masking tape. Yet while up to 70% of all products are marked "off-limits" for consumers during the holiday, this does not dent sales volume: for a holiday revolving around eating, statistics show that in the three weeks prior to Passover, consumers spend two to three times as much as they stock up on kosher for Passover food.
While the lack of leavening constituted the ultimate challenge to Jewish cooks throughout the generations, manufactures now flood the stores with everything from kosher-for-Passover breakfast cereal, "pasta" and even baking power. Beyond food, Passover also creates a huge market of items tied to holiday preparations, from special dish detergents to new dishes, as well as kilometers of aluminum foil - used to cover kitchen countertops and stoves. Everyone wants a piece of the action, leading to some strange but extremely successful strategic alliances. Last year, buying a certain brand of condiments made shoppers eligible for up to a 40% discount on household appliances of a particular European manufacturer.
Israel is geographically situated for a visitation that many view as "the 11th plague", which descends on the households of those busily involved in spring cleaning: an easterly, hot, dry wind that blows in from the desert leaving every spic-and-span house in Israel covered with a fine layer of yellowish dust. Others maintain that the 11th plague is the result of overeating matzah. The problem, it seems, is not just the hazard of adding surplus kilograms just before summer season hits, but the danger of blocked intestines - an ailment that registers a seasonal increase toward the tail end of Passover week. Doctors also warn of the annual rise just before Passover of children arriving at emergency clinics with injuries sustained by mishaps with dangerous cleaning materials.
Army life, too, is affected by the holiday. The IDF takes no chances, embargoing all packages from home just before and during Passover week in case they contain hametz goodies, thus ensuring that bases will be kept strictly kosher so both religious and non-religious soldiers can serve shoulder-to-shoulder during the festival period.
Another custom which has sprung up in Israel is the Passover gift that salaried employees expect to receive on the eve of the holiday. What began as a simple gesture - a bottle of wine and a box of sweets or a book - up to the late '60s, blossomed to a pair of blankets or a rocking chair in the early '70s, and ultimately sky-rocketed to encompass presents or redeemable shopping coupons worth up to 1,000 NIS (approximately $250) by the '90s. Not only do supermarkets and houseware chains compete to market these coupons, the practice has sparked domestic rivalries between spouses over "who got what". There is even an annual exhibition months before Passover where hundreds of manufacturers and importers set up booths hoping to land contracts to supply this year's Passover gift to the employees of large companies or government offices.
It is often joked that Israelis reenact the Passover story twice - once sitting down at the seder table, and once in the motorized exodus getting there. In the space of two or three hours on the eve of the holiday, it seems that half the population of Israel travels northbound, while the other half seem to be going south, resulting in probably the worst traffic jams of the year.
With all government offices, municipalities and a host of other services and private businesses closed or at least semi-paralyzed for the duration, one can basically forget about doing any official business during Passover. In addition, most kosher restaurants close down rather than go through the complicated business of making their kitchens kosher for Passover. Thus it comes as no surprise that the planes leaving Israel in the small hours after Seder Night and the following day are packed with vacationers who plan to return to Israel only when "domestic life" returns to normal.