Planning to find yourself in an unfamiliar city for a brief layover? Concerned about kosher food and minyanim while trying to make the most of your time?
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You’ve booked a flight with a great layover option and plan to leave the airport and go sightseeing. But what about feeding your kids and davening with a minyan? Admittedly, even the best layover tips for Jewish Travelers do not include creating something from nothing. But, read on to learn how to find what you’re looking for–when possible.
First, read 11 Time Saving Tips to Make the Most of Your Layover
Scroll to the end for an amazing Hashgacha Pratis (Divine Intervention) Story.
In the “olden days” (aka the early 2000’s), people would consult one of the various guidebooks written for Jewish traveler’s. These books were indispensable but required a great deal of regular updating, so the information was often outdated. There were other issues as well, but we can save those for another time. When planning a layover, the Jewish traveler is mostly concerned with whether or not there will be access to kosher food and perhaps finding a minyan. Shabbos hospitality, which was a big focus of these guides, is a non-issue.
The easiest and most reliable way to find what you are looking for is if you know someone (or know someone who knows someone) in your layover city. You’d be surprised when you start thinking or discussing with others, who you come up with. If you have a personal contact like this, please share. I am always looking to broaden our contacts around the world.
But, if you are really on your own, here are some helpful tips.
Kosher Food
Maybe it’s because our ancestors left Egypt in such haste that they couldn’t even take a proper sandwich with them that all future generations travel with enough food to feed all 12 Tribes! Furthermore, since we no longer receive the manna from Heaven, our top concern when traveling anywhere seems to be “what will we eat?” So much so that, when people hear that we RV, their first question is inevitably “what do you do about food?” Their concerns are not allayed even when I point out that an RV has an entire kitchen–fridge, freezer, stove, oven, microwave, etc. My RV kitchen in more well equipped than most Catskills bungalows, but still lacks a corner grocery.
But I digress…
There are some great apps around today to help you get started. Just know, that none of them are 100% accurate. Always call and check that the establishment actually still exists and is kosher. (I’ve seen restaurants with the word “kosher” in their name that were no longer kosher. They gave up the hashgacha, but didn’t change the name!) Also, confirm the location and hours of operation. In certain locations, hours can significantly vary seasonally. For example, there used to be a great restaurant in San Diego that was only open once a week during the summer.
Kosher Near Me Allows you to see the options in list form or on a map and you can click to open navigation. When viewing in list format, each entry includes the type of establishment (bakery, grocery, sit-down, take out, meat, fish, dairy, etc.). Although the cuisine options are not as thorough as Kosher GPS, the search filter is not limited to meat/dairy/pareve, it also includes fish, vegan, and vegetarian.
Kosher GPS Allows you to sort your search by price range and filter by rating, type of food (dairy/meat/pareve as well as the type of cuisine) and delivery and pick-up options. But, it is important to note that the top listings can often be paid ads for nearby locations, which are not necessarily the closest locations (they will say “ad”). This app also has minyanim and mikvah sections (but, at least when I checked my home location, it only lists address and phone number).
Both of the above apps allow you to search by location ahead of time or based on where you are in real time.
Kosherquest This is not an app to help find places to eat. Rather, it is a resource to check hechsherim. Although Jewish Communities in many locales rely on local lists, there are still many hechsherim around the world. This is a great tool if you are picking up snacks in local grocery or even at the airport. Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz publishes an overwhelming list of those that he approves and includes the contact information if you have specific questions or concerns. You can get the app on App Store or Google Play.
Another resource for local kosher information is shul and community websites. Many will have a visitor information section. However, these may only include locations under the supervision of that particular rabbi or synagogue.
Bonus Tip: Visitor Information sections often include resources for tours and sightseeing of Jewish interest. You may even be able to arrange a private tour and driver for the day that will include pick-up/drop-off at the airport and a stop at a kosher restaurant.
When possible, don’t just eat at the local shwarma or pizza place (unless you’re in Italy). Eat local! Try to get a croissant in Paris, a taco in Mexico City, gumbo in New Orleans, etc.
One major caveat: the kosher places are not necessarily in the same area as the tourist attractions. So, you’ll have to decide your priorities. If it’s just a question of not getting hangry (and you didn’t take the full supply of food with you), you may be surprised at where you can get kosher food. We were able to order hot meals at a museum in Warsaw (yes, it was airplane food, but is was edible).
Be aware: A product with which you are familiar from home does not necessarily mean it’s kosher abroad. When I was in New Zealand, the rabbi told me that I should not assume that something I see in his house is necessarily safe to buy it in the local stores. He said they bring in a great deal from Australia where the same items may be non-kosher when made in New Zealand. I guess he’d had experience where guests relied on what they “saw at the rabbi’s house”.
Minyanim
If you are flying on a typical “Jewish Route”, you may luck out and gather a minyan in a corner of the airport. But, don’t rely on it. If you want to ensure you have a minyan during your layover, it’s better to be over-prepared. Know what your options are. Be the guy on the plane that has the information for your fellow passengers who need it.
5 Tips to Ensure a Minyan on Vacation
If you don’t have any contacts in the city, this is where technology will come in handy. You can do a Google search for “Orthodox Synagogue in ________” and check their minyan times. Smaller communities may only have a local Chabad and not have daily minyanim. This all presupposes that your layover is in a location with some Jewish presence.
Be sure to call and confirm that the information is accurate. Also, in smaller communities find out how likely it is there will be a minyan. Since shuls are often located outside of the downtown area, you probably don’t want to spend the bulk of your sightseeing time traveling to and from a “minyan” of six. On the other hand, if community member has yartzeit that day and the rabbi is trying to gather a minyan, he will be grateful to know that you will be joining with your three teenage sons.
Sometimes you may be requested to “register” for a minyan ahead of time. This may be for security purposes (or COVID) or to get a “head count”. If it is for the latter, you should be notified if the minyan is or is not actually happening.
There are some websites that we rely on for minyanim and local zmanim as well.
GoDaven can be searched by entering a location manually or by GPS functionality. You can filter by time, distance, nusach, “next minyan near me”, and tefilla (i.e.: Shacharis, Mincha, Maariv). Each listing includes the shul’s schedule as well as the rabbi’s name and contact information. There may be shiurim listed as well. And, you can open navigation directly from the site on your smartphone. GoDaven allows “pop-up” minyanim to be listed too. So, if you are coordinating a Disneyland minyan, go ahead and post it. The listings are only as reliable as the people who update them. Also, there may be a “downtown office” minyan scheduled for “Monday thru Thursday”–but the Monday you’re there is a National Holiday that you didn’t know about. So, the same caveat as in the kosher food section holds true here: call to confirm!
If you are unable to join a minyan, at least you should know when to daven.
MyZmanim is a website that allows you to search by location and date and in 6 different languages. You can also download the app on your smartphone for GPS functionality.
Ultimate Zmanim is another app that comes in handy for searching zmanim that works on search and GPS functionality. This app also has a premium version that will allow you set zmanim alarms, set custom zmanim calculations (107 different calculations available), and produce zmanim printouts.
Hashgacha Pratis (Divine Intervention) Story Time
Several years ago, we made our son’s Bar Mitzvah in Israel. We planned a layover in Paris on our way home. Since the flight was leaving Israel in the middle of the night and arriving home about two hours before sunset, all we needed to find in Paris was a Shacharis minyan. No problem, right? Wrong!
We were landing around 5 AM and had to be back at the airport by about 1 PM. And we wanted to sightsee and get something to eat. We still thought it shouldn’t be a big deal for a city with the largest Jewish population outside of the US and Israel. Netz was around 6 AM and none of the attractions would open before about 8 or 9.
We knew it was Sunday, so minyanim would probably be later and options in the city center would be sparse. So, we figured we may lose out on touring time but we’d get to a minyan. After all, this was only a few days after our firstborn became Bar Mitzvah. We even considered splitting up for the morning: father and son to shul; mother and daughters to breakfast and tour.
We have a good friend and neighbor from Paris, so she offered to help us figure things out. Several weeks beforehand, she was in touch with her brother-in-law and a nephew. They assured her they would find options for us. So, I left it at that and continued planning the Bar Mitzvah and the trip. Remember: first Bar Mitzvah I planned, it was in a foreign country, during the school year, and the whole rest of the trip-including the Paris layover and a layover in Amsterdam on the way there.
7 Hour Layover in Paris-See it All!
I checked in with my neighbor every so often. But, she said not to worry about it, one of her relatives would give us all the information as it got closer. Since we were leaving home two weeks before the day we were going to be in Paris, I wasn’t too concerned. There was time. So, off we went to a lovely Bar Mitzvah.
But then it was one week until Paris. And still nothing. She gave me her nephew’s phone number to be in touch directly. He told me he’s still looking, but with our schedule and location it is very difficult. Not just was it Sunday, it was also European Parliament elections 🤦♂️
We would be leaving Saturday night and I got a text from the Paris nephew Friday afternoon: he finally found us a minyan! I would wait with the girls at the airport until luggage storage opened while my husband and son went to shul. Then we would meet up at the Eiffel Tower.
But the story doesn’t end there. You would think that the lesson would be that I put in so much effort to find a minyan and it always works out last minute. Nope. Even though everything is Hashgacha Pratis, this time we saw it more clearly than that.
While waiting to board the plane in Israel, a rabbi walked over and pointed at our son asking if he was Bar Mitzvah already. We said, “yes, just last week”. The rav started dancing in the terminal. He said he was escorting a group to Morocco (with a connection in Paris) on a heritage tour. He found out that a member of the group had yartzeit; so he wanted to arrange a minyan for him to say Kaddish. However, there were only 8 men in their group. With my husband and son, that made ten. He wanted to know if they would be willing to daven shacharis with them in the Paris airport when we landed. Of course the answer was yes.
Since we were headed out of the airport and the group was headed to the transit lounge, they just stopped and davened right in the middle of the Paris airport. It was quite a site. In the meantime, I found a quiet place to sit with the girls. They had some snacks and by the time the minyan finished, the luggage storage was open.
We headed into the city. We had a great day knowing that we helped a neshama have an aliya and were able to add a couple hours to our sightseeing in the process. It was a wonderful and timely opportunity for our son. Furthermore, even though we didn’t go to the minyan that we finally found, the effort was not in vain. Our son saw the effort exerted to ensure he davened with a minyan.
The visual excitement of the middle-aged rav dancing in the airport at the news that there will be a minyan is an impression that will last a lifetime. It was palpable simcha.
Layovers in exotic locales are very exciting and daunting. With these layover tips for the Jewish traveler, you can do it all!
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