Weekly Torah Portion

On average, more than six million people visit Orlando every month, or roughly 200,000 people a day. So when some estimates put the Passover influx at about 50,000 Jews for the course of nine or ten days, it’s not quite a news story. Except that the “business” of Passover is distinctive.

Besides the usual hotels, rental cars and theme parks, the holiday also touches some sectors in unusual ways: some hotels get totally converted to bread-free zones, with entire industrial kitchens “kashered”, or made ritually (and actually) deep-cleaned. Caterers from Miami, New York and elsewhere set up shop at resort communities, preparing everything from all-inclusive buffets to drop-off pans supplementing whatever visiting families of enormous sizes may bring down with them.

The local Orthodox day school even operates a full-service office serving the needs of observant visitors to the region, with Passover as its busiest season – offering everything from freezer rentals to “white glove” wine case deliveries for the Seder’s Four Cups.

For well over a decade now, matza in the land of Mickey Mouse has been booming. But why?

I asked ChatGPT, today’s authoritative virtual source of knowledge – the new Google – “Why is Orlando a good city to celebrate Passover?” The answer was well formulated and thorough, with six different points. Unfortunately, only one of them (the weather) struck this year-round resident as accurate.

While one could easily come up with a few solid socio-economic explanations for why Orlando has become the American Jewish consumer’s Passover destination, I think there’s a more basic insight at hand.

Orlando is a well run city, one of whose strengths is an ability to accommodate lots of visitors at any one time, including massive groups whose needs while visiting may be specialized. Medical conferences, international business conventions, and class reunions are all daily occurrences. Whatever the size or special needs, Orlando seems to have the capacity.

I remember meeting a UK family with relatively young children on their way to Orlando for the sixth or seventh time. They were from a small city where the door-to-door journey took well over a day, including an overnight stay near the London airport. When I asked why they make the trip so often they explained they had dietary needs that only Disney World could well accommodate. Such is the economy of scale.

More than any other holiday, Passover is about the Jewish people as a unified group. We were commanded to eat the Paschal lambs in groups. The Seder is meant to be an interactive, group experience, often bringing together large extended families and friends. Those preparing food, whether chefs or household leaders, work weeks in advance ensuring they can meet group appetites.

Warm weather and theme park outings certainly don’t hurt a family vacation. But I would suggest that the city with flights from everywhere and countless resort communities is the place for Passover in particular because it’s the time we celebrate being a nation. After all, slavery, the Exodus, and walking through the split sea are all defined in the Torah and Haggadah as national memories, retold joint experiences. On Passover we celebrate becoming a people, not a collection of individuals.