Among all the days on the Jewish calendar, the eight days of Pesach entail the most restrictions. Accommodating the many constraints takes much effort even in one’s own home; it is doubly difficult when one is confined to a hospital room.

Yad Ephraim is well aware of the many conditions hospitalized patients must deal with on Pesach. Of course we do! We’ve been helping them with all of it for the last number of years.

Our preparations for Pesach are a massive operation. We begin by kasher’ing our commercial kitchen, an arduous, challenging  task. In fact, it is such a difficult undertaking, we are one of the only volunteer organizations to actually have a kosher l’Pesach kitchen. Once the food is prepared, we set it up in our own bikur cholim room at the hospital.

Even before Pesach begins, on the night of bedikas chometz, an enormous amout of food is distributed to those who need it. Throughout all the days of Pesach, we provide ready packages, certified Kosher by the Tartikav Rav, which patients and their families can take at any time. Additionally, our volunteers go from floor to floor, checking if there are patients who need Pesach food but don’t have the wherewithal to come and get it.

We supply all the food for the seder meal. We also provide matzohs for the entire yom tov, as well as all day and evening meals. Because of the diverse group found in a hospital at any given time, we make sure to find out ahead of time what the specific kashrus stipulations of each patient are.

During the eight days of yom tov, our volunteers surf the hospital halls all day, handing out yogurt, fruit and other kosher l’Pesach snacks. They check on each patient to find out whether they are comfortable or need assistance in any way. As much as possible, we try to bring a yom tov atmosphere to the hospital space. If Yad Ephraim has a difficult time meeting our budget all year, it is all the more challenging during Pesach. The expenses are excessive. Food is more expensive than all year round, matzohs are extremely costly, and the specific seder requirements further challenge the budget. We cannot let high costs prevent us from helping the ill. They need our assistance.