Kosher for Passover Chocolate

The Jewish Fair Trade Project

Made up of Equal Exchange and T'ruah

We're proud to offer you Kosher for Passover and Fair Trade chocolate products that you may give as gifts, serve at Seders, or sell for your synagogue fundraiser.

You'll find the following information below:

Kosher for Passover Products

Order by March 21st, 2023 to guarantee receiving products before the first night of Passover.

PASSOVER GIFT BOX:
Looking for a gift? Try our Passover Gift Box of assorted chocolate bars that can be sent to family and friends to celebrate the holiday. This year we're including two new exciting flavors, stickers, and a short piece to be read at the Passover Seder. Questions? Call 774-776-7366.

  • Organic Panama Extra Dark Chocolate (2 bars)
  • Organic Chocolate with Coconut Milk (1 bar)
  • Organic Very Dark Chocolate (1 bar)
  • Organic Total Eclipse Dark Chocolate (1 bar)
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Mint Crunch (1 bar)
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Orange (1 bar)
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Lemon Ginger with Black Pepper (1 bar)

Shop Passover Gift Box

CHOCOLATE:
Any of these chocolate products can be ordered as part of the Kosher for Passover program. All chocolate products contain fair trade ingredients from fair trade cooperatives.

  • Organic Very Dark Chocolate Bar
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Almond & Sea Salt Bar
  • Organic Chocolate with Coconut Milk Bar
  • Organic Total Eclipse Dark Chocolate Bar
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Mint Crunch Bar
  • Organic Panama Extra Dark Chocolate Bar
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Orange Bar
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Lemon Ginger with Black Pepper Bar
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Minis Countertop Display Box (150 minis)
  • Organic Dark Chocolate Minis Bulk Bag (888 minis)
  • Organic Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 55% Cacao
  • Organic Bittersweet Chocolate Chips 70% Cacao

Shop Kosher for Passover Chocolate

COFFEE:
Equal Exchange unflavored coffees (those without oils) do not need to be specifically approved as "Kosher for Passover" if purchased before the holiday.

  • Organic Breakfast Blend
  • Organic Colombian
  • Organic Ethiopian
  • Organic French Roast
  • Organic Love Buzz
  • Organic Midnight Sun
  • Organic Mind, Body, and Soul
  • Organic Sisters Blend
  • Organic Congo Coffee Project

TEA:

  • Organic Green Tea
  • Organic English Breakfast Tea
  • Organic Peppermint Tea
  • Organic Rooibos Tea
  • Organic Chai Tea
  • Organic Ginger Tea
  • Organic Irish Breakfast Tea
  • Organic Black Tea
  • Organic Jasmine Green Tea
  • Organic Chamomile Tea
  • Organic Assam Black Tea
  • Organic Black Tea With Ginger
  • Organic Turmeric Ginger
  • Organic Hibiscus

Account Setup:

If ordering for your organization, make sure to add your synagogue or group's name to the "Organization" field. If you are ordering for yourself, you are still eligible for wholesale case pricing. Choose the denomination, "Jewish" from the "Coffee Project" drop-down menu within your account to ensure that a portion of your purchases will benefit T'ruah, the Equal Exchange JFTP partner.

What is Fair Trade?

Fairly traded products are part of a system that puts people first instead of corporations. By purchasing fairly traded products, you're helping to secure a better life for farmers and workers in developing countries.

Fair Trade key principles:

  • A fair price that covers the cost of sustainable production
  • An additional fair trade premium to be used for community needs
  • No child labor allowed
  • Gender equality
  • Pre-harvest financing
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Safe and healthy work conditions
  • Democratic workplaces and worker independence
  • Transparent management and commercial relations
  • Longer term more direct trading relationships which provide stability for producers

Fair Trade is especially important when it comes to chocolate products. More than 50% of all cocoa is grown in the Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), where there is documentation of young boys forced to work in the cocoa fields. Fair Trade provides third party oversight and policies which reduce the chance of child labor on farms.

What's Jewish about Fair Trade?

  • Since Abraham, the mission of the Jewish people has been to "keep the way of the ETERNAL by doing what is just and right." (Genesis 18:19) Indeed, the book of Deuteronomy is in large part a blueprint for a just society, with special emphasis on treatment of the poor and marginalized. Even if reforming capitalism as an entire economic system is beyond our power, we can make choices as consumers that express our values, support workers, and point in the direction of larger systemic changes.
  • The highest form of justice is enabling others to be self-sufficient. According to Maimonides, the great 12th-century Jewish scholar, the highest form of tzedakah (charity) is entering into a business partnership or giving a person a job so that he or she can become self-sufficient (Hilchot Matanot La'Aniyim 10:7). When we buy Fair Trade products, we are effectively entering into a business partnership with the artisan or farmer, and our partnership supports Fair Trade producers to lift themselves out of poverty.
  • When goods are produced under unfair conditions, it is as if the livelihood of the producer is being stolen. Where child labor is involved, childhood itself is stolen away. The responsibility does not rest solely with the manufacturer but with us as ethical consumers. Maimonides teaches (in Hilchot G'neivah 5:1): "One may not buy stolen goods from a thief; to do so is a great transgression because it strengthens the hands of those who violate the law and causes the thief to continue to steal, for if the thief would find no buyer he would not steal, as it says, 'He who shares with a thief is his own enemy.' (Proverbs 29:24)"

What Makes This Chocolate Kosher for Passover?

The products offered through this Kosher for Passover page have received approval as "Kosher for Passover" by Rabbi Aaron Alexander, former Associate Dean, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University. They are listed in the Conservative Passover guide under the category of items that do not need a special Kosher for Passover certification if purchased in advance, and in the home before bedikat chametz (the night before first Seder). They are also vegan and gluten-free.

Why Especially on Passover?

Sanctifying these sacred times of the year by making ethical consumer choices is especially meaningful. The gift of freedom that our people received generations ago, and that we celebrate every Purim, Passover, and Chanukah, bestows upon us the obligation and responsibility to work for the liberation of all people. We are each endowed with "a strong hand and outstretched arms." Let us use them to extend freedom to others.

On Passover, we celebrate our freedom, and we often sweeten the celebration with chocolate. To eat chocolate on Passover knowing that it was likely produced with child labor is a bitter irony. In contrast, eating fair trade chocolate on Passover heightens our awareness and also allows us to take action – to vote with our pocketbooks – while also enjoying a treat.

Why T'ruah?

T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights brings a rabbinic voice and the power of the Jewish community to protecting and advancing human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.

We do this by training and mobilizing our multi-denominational network of more than 2,000 rabbis and cantors, together with their communities, to bring our Jewish values to life through strategic and meaningful action. Our work on Fair Trade emerges from our campaign against modern slavery and human trafficking

Resources on Jewish Values, Fair Trade, and Chocolate


A Kavannah (Intention) for Eating Fair Trade Chocolate

Every generation learns that things are more than they seem. This chocolate I hold is more than just chocolate. This is a symbol of potential freedom, a realization that foods that give me delight can be made without child labor. Joy need not be accompanied by pain or oppression. May I experience the sweet flavor of this gift as a hint of the freedom that birthed it. May the world know liberation, one person at a time, mindful act by mindful act, until all people are free.
— written by R. Menachem Creditor, UJA-Federation of New York