As soon as Rabbi Silberhaft is able to get the Pesach product list from the Beth Din, he will start sending it out to his 4,000-odd widely dispersed charges out there, collect and collate their orders and get the ball rolling.

A logistical balancing act

Rabbi Silberhaft’s unbelievable logistical balancing act every Pesach (this will be 17th in his position) probably makes him the one man in SA who is more apprehensive about Pesach that any Jewish ladies could be.

Imagine having to put all this together...

• Making up orders with communities around SA

• Ensuring that Pick n Pay Norwood Hyper does inter-branch deliveries to the nearest branch where there is one. (To ensure that the non-Jewish market doesn’t denude the shelves of matza and herring, Silberhuft doubles all the orders).

• Having PnP inter-branch stock made up to order for individuals where there are small communities.

• Zambia and a few other neighbouring states have PnP branches, so Silberhuft puts in the orders for those communities and has them exported to the company’s stares there.

• Mozambique’s orders are sent to the PnP in White River in Mpumalanga. Their community come across the border and collect their orders.

• Mauritius’ Pesachdik products have been sent from PnP Norwood to Mooz, where they await collection by a courier service for export to that country. Silberhaft will deliver some of their requirements personally as he will be there in two weeks to officiate at two weddings.

• Zimbabwe’s 260-odd Jews are referred to as a Community in Crisis, and as such they are supports by the AJC Zimbabwe Fund which is in turn funded by the American Joint Distribution Committee and a few local benefactors. Their Pesachdik shopping, including meat, is all paid for by the fund. And so is the transport. Due to logistic and other factors, says Silberhaft, many of the good destined for Zimbabwe have to travel through Botswana rather than going the much shorter Beit Bridge route. The meat for Zimbabwe will be supplied by Moishie’s and will be trucked up on the 14th.

Would anyone out there like this job? Not likely.