By Anash.org reporter <\/p>\n
With Pesach days away, a quiet but costly mix-up is making the rounds on Jewish social media. Year-round Manischewitz crackers, bearing an OU certification but not kosher for Pesach, look almost identical to the real thing and are showing up on grocery shelves right next to it.<\/p>\n
The Pesach box says \u201cPerfect for Passover Matzos, Original\u201d and is marked OU pareve and kosher for Passover. The year-round box says \u201cThin Salted Matzos\u201d and is marked OU pareve, \u201cnot for Passover\u201d. With the same familiar orange Manischewitz packaging and matzah image on the front, many say the difference is easy to miss.<\/p>\n
The issue was first raised by the pseudonymous X user @CraftsmanBob<\/a>, who posted a photo and wrote: \u201cFeel like it\u2019s pretty bad that they call this matzah and it\u2019s actually chametz, stocked by all the national retailers for Pesach. @OrthodoxUnion feels like it\u2019s a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Several Chabad personalities were among the first to sound the alarm.<\/p>\n Popular speaker Rabbi Shais Taub shared a photo of two near-identical boxes side by side. \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking when someone thinks they are keeping Passover and is unknowingly eating chametz,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt happens way more often than you might think. Look at these two products and tell me nobody would confuse them.\u201d<\/p>\n Shliach Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone, founder of Brooklyn\u2019s Tech Tribe, warned users: \u201cLook before you buy, or you too might end up purchasing OU-certified Manischewitz brand bread. Manischewitz sells a cracker that looks like matzah and says matzah, but it isn\u2019t kosher for Passover.\u201d<\/p>\n Rabbi Mendel Super, shliach in Lake Havasu City, AZ, also pushed back strongly. \u201cHey @OUKosher this shouldn\u2019t be called matzah,\u201d he wrote. \u201cJews trying to have matzah on Pesach buy it. Even if it says not KFP, because \u2018matzah is matzah.\u2019 Especially when the grocery stores put it in their Passover display.\u201d<\/p>\n Super later sharpened the point in a follow-up response. \u201cIt\u2019s wrong to call chametz \u2018matzos.\u2019 Many Jews aren\u2019t looking for a hechsher. They\u2019re just looking for matzah and buy this. In many supermarkets, the only \u2018matzah\u2019 being sold is this chametz.\u201d<\/p>\n