Nesanel Rosin is the owner of Eggs Direct in Jerusalem

In Brief

What I do

I deliver eggs and other pantry staples to customers in the center of Jerusalem. We’re talking regular and organic eggs, as well as pasteurized raw egg whites and yellows — egg beats, they call them, they come in a one-liter jug and home cooks have gotten really into them — and coconut oil, brown sugar, and wheat and spelt flours, both ground fresh weekly.

How I do it

I’ve found the best way to transport the eggs is in the trays and boxes they come in. In Jerusalem, the streets are really narrow, so I use an agalah, a hand truck, and when you put two to three boxes on it, you can deliver hundreds of eggs at once. I walk around literally like a Lower East Side peddler, going from building to building and lobby to lobby. For long distance deliveries, I use my car.

How I got started

It started nine years ago as a chesed in yeshivah.  Whenever I brought eggs home from the shuk on a pull cart it was so annoying, as the eggs would crack.My yeshivah was buying their eggs at a local makolet and every morning they’d send the cook around the corner to get five or six trays, so he was schlepping eggs every day and paying retail. It was ridiculous! I realized everyone needs eggs on a semi-consistent basis. I thought this would make a great chesed idea, to make a big wholesale order from the distributors in the shuk. It would help the yeshivah’s cook, for sure, and all of us in the yeshivah, too, and it could save us from having to go down to the shuk to schlep eggs back home.

My clientele

It’s mostly private homes, but also some seminaries and yeshivos and a few local restaurants — Zomick’s Pizzeria, Tomato and Cheese, and this posh place near Belz called Atza. A few months ago, Crave, the hot restaurant near the shuk, found me through a friend and customer. They’re switching over to organic eggs. Those are fresher because I get them directly from the farm and you get them two days after they were laid as opposed to other eggs, which by the time they get to you it’s been about a week.

Delivery route

I deliver to more than 400 customers all over the center of Jerusalem: Shaarei Chesed, Rechavia, Nachlaot, Baka, Katamon, the German Colony and Emek Refaim area. Har Nof and Kiryat Moshe as well, and I recently started doing Maaleh Adumim, where there’s a religious more chutznik community there. A year ago I started hiring helpers full-time — they’re part-time students, all English and Hebrew speakers, and they deliver for me and collect payment. Until then, I hired only for the pre-Pesach rush. There’s someone else I know who does the northern part of Jerusalem — we help each other out, but we’re two separate businesses.

My schedule

Sunday and Monday I go through the orders, they’re e-mailed, WhatsApped, texted to me, and I put together a list. Tuesday and Wednesday I split with someone else — getting the eggs, unloading the huge refrigerator truck, distributing. Thursday we clean up, not much to it. I’m in kollel most of the time, that’s why I like this business — it doesn’t take over my life. And ever since my rosh yeshivah, who’s British, discovered I’ve been doing this, he’s been having the best time with the puns — walking on eggshells, eggceptions, eggstra — there are so many words with the “ex” that can be replaced with “eggs.” I have fun with it, too. There’s a shtick I do at wedding, I get plastic toy eggs, put them in real trays, and start throwing them at the chassan. People go crazy, they love it!

My favorite part of the job

Delivering during Yom Tov season. There’s a certain avirah all around Jerusalem that I didn’t have growing up in Miami Beach. Here, come Erev Yom Tov, every door opens to a busy house, vacuum cleaners are all on, everyone’s kitchen looks the same, and every woman says, “Don’t go in there, come this way, don’t mind the mess.” And I’m like, “I’ve been in 300 houses today. They all look exactly like yours.”

What makes it an eggcellent idea

Eggs here don’t need refrigeration because they don’t wash them — they don’t have that clean white look you see in the States. They look more natural, some still have that organic stuff on the shells, and what that means for me is they’re not as perishable — they have a longer shelf life. Also, my eggs are stamped. There’s a big industry of illegal eggs in this country, but mine are legal.

My near fiascos

Knocking on the wrong door — it happens more often that you think. There can be three Greenbaums in one building. I use it as an opportunity to launch into my sales speech — I can get new customers that way.

…and fiascos

Motzaei Yom Kippur is always busy because you have only four days to Succos. One year I put all the boxes onto the cart the morning after, and I started walking on a typical chareidi street — people bustling in all directions, kids pushing kids in strollers, everyone yelling. And then the entire stack fell, all 48 trays. As I cleaned up I found most of the eggs were whole — not so bad, only four trays were lost. And it was a great advertisement —the street became stained from eggs until a good rain came to wash it all away. The worst was when an egg broke in a car and the yoke popped. That’s the part of the egg that smells — the stench was terrible!

Most memorable delivery

Many years ago, someone ordered 30 eggs Erev Pesach time. I thought she meant trays. I brought the 30 trays to the front door, stacked them up, and rang the bell. Boy, did she look surprised when she opened the door. She said, “These can’t all be for me?” I asked her what she thought she ordered. She said, “30 eggs.” I asked her, “Who orders only one tray of eggs for Pesach?!” It was really funny, and we both had a good laugh. And don’t worry, by the next morning, all those trays were sold.

Busiest time of year Pesach, no surprise there! Chanukah too, and the nice thing is everyone offers you to try their latkes or a sufganiyah.

Largest delivery

One hundred and twenty trays of 30 eggs each — I delivered that one Erev Pesach to a caterer in Rechavia.

Most common question “I get eggs, but what can I do with spelt or coconut oil?” I tell them, “At home, I make the challah dough and my wife braids. I’ll give you a recipe for that, for my wife’s cookies, whatever we do with these products — give them a try!”

How to clean up cracked egg Use a plastic bag. P ut your hand inside like a glove and just scoop it up. Salt, sugar, or sand can make it even easier. They soak up the gluey, gooey parts.

Equipment I always have on me A two-wheel trolley and my iPad. Oh, and a package of wipes.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 704)