A True Passover Hero
The Little Known Story of Joseph Jacobs
Let’s have some fun today, amiright!
Hopefully everyone is done with cleaning, and fully ready to welcome both Shabbat and Pesach this weekend. As for me, I’m thinking about one of my favorite stories to share around the Seder table. Not just because it always brings a smile and a laugh from anyone listening, but because it perfectly captures one of the founding beliefs behind Jewish Joy LLC. That the Jewish community holds incredible marketing power—and when we harness our dollars to support the brands, businesses, and people who actively celebrate us—there’s no limit to what we can achieve.
On that note, on to our story!
Did you know that in the early twentieth century in America, coffee wasn’t considered kosher for Passover?! **shocked pikachu face**
That's because rabbinical leadership believed that coffee “beans” were legumes, or kitneyot, making them unkosher for Passover under Ashkenazi religious law. The logic? Beans could be confused as chametz in the kitchen.
Can you imagine... going all eight days without coffee?!
I would absolutely call that the eleventh plague.
Thankfully, there was a mighty Jewish hero waiting in the wings. Enter the Moishe of advertising and the savior of Jewish caffeine addicts everywhere... Joseph Jacobs!
Jacobs worked in advertising in New York City, and was on both a personal, and professional, mission. He believed that the American Jew had marketing power, and he wanted to prove that to big corporations by getting them to place ads for their products in Jewish magazines and journals.
One of the companies Jacobs contacted was Maxwell House, the coffee brand. There was only one problem. Jews didn’t drink coffee on Passover. Maxwell House wasn’t going to pay for ad space in a Jewish magazine when Jews wouldn’t even be drinking the delicious caffeinated beverage!
Well, Jacobs was not one to be stopped. He took those coffee beans and traveled all the way down to the lower east side, where he consulted a Rabbi. Turns out, coffee beans weren’t beans at all. Instead, they were berries—making them completely kosher to eat on Passover and garnering a rabbinical seal of approval. Maxwell House began advertising in Jewish journals and Jews began drinking coffee--(en masse, I imagine)--during the holiday of Passover!
Kashrut approved. Coffee Saved. Jewish homes rejoiced.
All was well and good until the Great Depression of the 1930s, when Maxwell House once again turned to Joseph Jacobs for help in staying competitive. Josephs thought long and hard about how to save the struggling company, before suggesting that Maxwell House distribute a Haggadah, or the small prayer book Jews use during Seders, with each can of coffee sold.
Not only did this brilliant plan keep Maxwell House in business, but the Maxwell House Haggadah became part of our Jewish American legacy, decorating tables for generations!
So next time you sip that kosher-for-Passover coffee, or find yourself grabbing a free Maxwell House Haggadah at check-out in your grocery, remember: it’s more than tradition—it’s the result of an out of the box Jewish thinker, brilliant marketing, and a deep belief in the power of the Jewish consumer.
Also, don’t underestimate Jews. ;)
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach!