Of all the regalim, it’s Pesach that draws the most inspiration and perspiration from religious Jews

PHOTO:SHUTTERSTOCK/ SHLOMITKOSLOWI

F

orgive me, but I can’t help it. Pesach is here, so once again I’m thinking about the supermarket Jews.

You know the type. The ones who don’t necessarily look Jewish, but in the run-up to Seder night, flood the aisles stocking up on Pesach basics.

In America, you might call them Manischewitz Man. You’ll find them in Walmart or Target, browsing the matzah and grape juice aisle, and puzzling over those old-fashioned fake fruit candies. If you happen to meet, they’ll bagel until you know that they’re a member of the tribe.

Being from England I think of them as Palwin People. They fill the trolley with Anglo-Jewry’s time-honored sweet kiddush wine emblazoned with the legend Palwin No. 10.

This is a wine so hoary and tradition-bound that most devotees have no idea that it stands for the Palestinian Wine Company, founded in 1898. (They also don’t know what the No. 10 means. Whatever happened to the first nine? Is it like Heinz’s baffling “57 varieties” ketchup label, in which Mr. Heinz labored over his product 56 times, until he struck red?)

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1057)