Egg prices still high enough to scramble Passover plans for synagogues, other Jewish organizations

Since 1953, North Shore Synagogue has hosted community seders, when congregants partake in a meal during the Passover celebration.

Members and nonmembers alike come together on the first two nights of the eight-day Passover period for meals that include hard-boiled eggs, matzo (unleavened cracker); kugel, which is a baked dish made with eggs and potatoes or matzo; and other foods.

For the first time in its 72-year history, the synagogue is charging nonmembers a higher price for the meals, $60, versus $50 for members, said Jacquelynn Golub, executive director of the synagogue in Syosset.

Like many other Jewish organizations that hold community seders or give away food to people in need during Passover, North Shore Synagogue is making changes in response to the higher costs of eggs, a staple of the seder, and other foods. 

North Shore Synagogue is "trying to make it work as best as we can without charging people an arm and a leg when they’re already struggling on their own. And we know times are tough,” Golub said.

Egg prices have fallen in recent weeks, but consumers and food-supplying organizations are still feeling the sting of prices that soared for months. Nationwide, the retail price of a dozen large grade A eggs hit a record-high average of $5.90 in February, a 97% increase from the price a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The agency will publish the average retail price for March on Thursday.

The wholesale price of eggs has fallen steeply — from $8.53 for a dozen large white eggs on Feb. 28 to $3.77 on Friday in the New York market, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But the eggs are still higher than the price a year ago, $2.55.

Record-high egg prices early this year were tied to an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, which started in 2022 and reduced the number of egg-laying birds, causing an egg shortage. Retail prices for a dozen eggs soared to $9 or higher in grocery stores on Long Island, where wholesale prices tripled or quadrupled.

'Tradition is really the emphasis'

Passover is an eight-day period that marks the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt, as told in the Book of Exodus. The seder, a ceremonial dinner, is held the first night or first two nights of Passover, which begins Saturday. Eggs are a Passover staple because they symbolize rebirth and are a reminder of mourning.

Chabad of Brookville will host community seders on Saturday and Sunday. Since last year, the cost per person for the meal has been hiked from $54 to $85 for attendees age 14 and up and from $40 to $55 for children 3 to 13.

Chabad of Brookville started buying eggs at Costco a few months ago instead of at Stop & Shop and other grocery stores to get better prices, said Rabbi Mendy Heber, co-director.

The items that will be served on the organization’s seder plates, including handmade matzo and a boiled egg for each attendee, will not be changed to cut costs, he said.

“No matter what changes, whether price changes or whether scarcity changes, we’ll make sure we’ll have whatever we need on a seder plate," he said. "Tradition is really the emphasis of Passover.” 

Judaism prohibits the consumption of leavened foods, such as bread, pasta and pastries, during Passover. This is one reason eggs, which are high in protein, are such an important food during Passover, said Alex Roth-Kahn, managing director of the Caring Department at UJA Federation of New York. UJA is a Manhattan-based Jewish charity, which has a Syosset office, that gives money to nonprofits, health and human services agencies and other groups worldwide.

Each year, the UJA allocates money to the Met Council, a Manhattan-based Jewish charity, to purchase food for the year for families in need in New York City and on Long Island. But this year, the UJA gave $100,000 for Passover food to the Met Council on top of the $2.5 million annual budget for food and food pantry administration because of rising rates of food insecurity and higher food costs, especially for eggs, Roth-Kahn said.

“In addition to eggs, another food cost is potato starch — generally the main substitute for wheat flour. Per pound, even at wholesale prices, it is 48% more expensive than flour,” she said.

Because of high egg prices and previous low availability, food pantries run by Mid-Island Y Jewish Community Center in Plainview and Suffolk Y Jewish Community Center in Commack are limiting the number of eggs families can receive to four a week, down from a dozen weekly in January.

But it’s not just eggs that are breaking the bank for some charities and households.

At the two community centers, the number of people being served by the food pantries has increased by 50% since last year, with 350 to 400 families using the pantries monthly, said Rick Lewis, chief executive of both centers.

“You know, we’re just focusing on eggs right now because it’s the hot item," he said. But "food in general has gotten more expensive. And it’s become a problem for more and more families.”

While grocery inflation has slowed since hitting a 40-year high in 2022  because of supply chain disruptions and higher operating costs for farms, supermarkets and food manufacturers, retail grocery prices overall still were 27.4% higher in February than they were five years earlier because the factors that pushed them higher haven’t reversed, said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at Moody’s Analytics, headquartered in Manhattan.

Easter spikes

In addition to rising demand for eggs during Passover, egg demand increases for Easter, mostly due to home consumption as opposed to church events. Churches typically do not use real eggs in Easter egg hunts, local church leaders said.

Prices typically spike 10% to 30% higher, Kelly Seier, poultry market analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights, said in an email.

“Our forecast is for prices to increase marginally in the coming weeks ahead of the Easter holiday on [April 20], then ease again following the holiday as demand falls,” she said.

An increase in egg imports, mostly from Mexico, has helped ease price pressure, but prices are still elevated, she said. In January, the United States imported 45.4 million eggs, a 185.7% increase from a year earlier, said Seier, citing data from the USDA.

Last year, an estimated 361.2 million, or 0.4%, of a total 91.3 billion shell eggs consumed in the United States were imported, according to USDA data.

Correction: A previous photo caption incorrectly said Master chef Bat-Sheva Slavin prepared charoset for a Passover seder. Also, due to an editing error, the story incorrectly stated one of the age groups that will receive a price hike.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.