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Kosher Dekal aims to stick the landing one year after its Passover product fail
(New York Jewish Week) — Last year, a company that advertised a Passover-friendly counter lining became a household name — but for the wrong reason.
Traditional Jewish law demands that homes be cleaned rigorously for Passover, and that surfaces used for cooking or bearing hot food be made kosher — which can be achieved for some countertops by scalding them with boiling water. Another method of making surfaces fit for Passover is, arguably, easier: covering them completely with material such as plastic or aluminum foil.
So Kosher Dekal, a company based in New Jersey, thought they had a winning product with temporary counter linings they began selling last year, designed to quickly and easily make a surface kosher for Passover with its sleek silver, black, gold and gray faux-marble coverings. But while the peel-and-stick design may have been easy to put on, customers were dismayed that the linings were hardly easy-off.
Last year, Kosher Dekal was promoted by Orthodox Jewish influencers and advertised itself as an “elegant and easy solution” for covering countertops during the holiday. But after Passover ended last year, dozens of customers left comments on the company’s Instagram page complaining about the sticky residue left by the product. The criticism of the company began circulating on the messaging platform WhatsApp.
In the aftermath, the company, citing a “mistake from a production line worker,” owned up to its gaffe and offered $140,000 in refunds to thousands of customers who were charged from $32 to $37 per roll. Then, with the refunds in hand and Passover firmly in the rearview mirror, things fell quiet.
That is, until earlier this month, when Kosher Dekal sent out a press release announcing its return, calling its product “new & improved.”
“After Pesach, the founders were determined to rework the formula and perfect the product,” the press release said. “The Dekal founders searched the globe to find a trustworthy factory.”
In a phone call with the New York Jewish Week, Davidi Crombie, who co-owns the company with his brother, Shraga, said that this year, Kosher Dekal partnered with Continental Manufacturing in Germany to make this year’s product. (Last year’s version was made in China.)
“We searched for a factory that specialized in that kind of product, that has this trustworthy history,” Crombie said. “We had sent people there to visit. They’ll deliver and it won’t be like last time.”
Crombie believes that this year is a course correction for Kosher Dekal, “if not financially, at least morally.”
“The need for the product was always there,” Crombie said. “We just screwed up on our first chance. There is no second chance to make a first impression, but we are working from the ground up to correct the experience for ourselves and for our customers.”
He added that the most important change the company has made is to the glue that sticks to the counter.
“The glue is what it’s all about,” Crombie said. “The glue is our secret formula. I am not an engineer to be able to describe it. We’ve also added new designs and different sizes.”
Crombie added that the company bought three years of advance product from the factory in China which all had to be tossed, though he declined to say how much that cost or how many rolls of material that included.
“Last year, my brother and I were sitting during Pesach, we were literally shivering,” Crombie said. “We were sitting on our computers. We were destroyed. This was the end. We couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Some people, at least, are giving Kosher Dekal a second chance. One such customer is Chanie Apfelbaum, who runs the popular Orthodox Instagram account “Busy In Brooklyn,” which has nearly 100,000 followers.
Apfelbaum told the New York Jewish Week that she tested this year’s product on three different surfaces at her house, leaving it on her countertops for 10 days and placing hot dishes on the coverings. “As an influencer, I was on the hook last year because I promoted it,” Apfelbaum said. “I definitely want to do my due diligence and make sure it’s all good.”
She posted an Instagram story on Monday in which she removed the new lining and said it was “smooth as a baby’s bottom.”
“There is no sticking, nothing,” Apfelbaum said on Instagram. “I’m impressed. There’s nothing on my counter whatsoever.”
And yet, Apfelbaum did not give the product her “official” Busy in Brooklyn stamp of approval because she has “PTSD from last year,” she said.
“Although I did want to give them a chance, and try it, and show you for myself that it does seem to be new and improved, and be completely non-stick,” she said. “I can see a difference. If you had a bad experience and you’re scared, I get it. But it seems to be really great.”
Apfelbaum told the New York Jewish Week that she gives the company credit for “owning up to what they did.”
“They refunded and apologized,” Apfelbaum said. “They could have just shut down, but they went back at it.”
Crombie said that he is expecting at least a 50% return rate, but won’t know for certain until next week — the days leading up to Passover is Kosher Dekal’s busiest time for sales. He added that the company is getting hundreds of returning customers — and that not everyone was displeased the first time around. In an email exchange that Crombie shared with the New York Jewish Week, one customer wrote that “contrary to all the bad publicity you received last year, I was very happy with my kosher Dekal last season, and am looking forward to using the new and improved product this year.”
In another email, a customer wrote that she had difficulties removing Kosher Dekal, but “did not feel right in asking for a refund” and used baking soda and water to remove the residue.
Some customers, however, still felt trepidation over last year’s product. “Some parts of my counter are still sticky today,” one customer wrote in an email to Kosher Dekal.
“It is exactly what I’m looking for but it was a nightmare last year,” another wrote. “The residue was impossible to remove. I still find sticky spots in my counters a year later.”
Crombie understands the hesitation.
“There are a lot of people, we understand, who would never buy it again,” he said. “But the people who do buy it, the people who tested it, are very happy about it. Thank God, the outcome is heartwarming.”
He added that Kosher Dekal has been giving discounts and free orders to many returning customers who have reached out. Dozens of customers, he claimed, sent their refunds back.
“We are excited because we know and are certain that this product is indeed the right formula,” he said. “I have it in my house, on glass, on wood, on the cabinet, I put it everywhere.”
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The post Kosher Dekal aims to stick the landing one year after its Passover product fail appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Fate of Iran Peace Talks Uncertain as Deadline Approaches for End of Ceasefire
A view of Iranian-flagged cargo ship M/V Touska as the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Spruance conducts its interception in a location given as the north Arabian Sea, in this screen capture from a video released April 19, 2026. Photo: CENTCOM/Handout via REUTERS
Iran is considering attending peace talks with the United States in Pakistan, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, following moves by Islamabad to end a US blockade of Iran‘s ports, a major hurdle for Tehran to rejoin peace efforts.
However, the official stressed that no decision had been made.
Adding to the uncertainty, a source told Reuters that Vice President JD Vance was still in the US, denying reports that he was already on his way to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad for talks.
With a two-week ceasefire set to expire this week, the senior Iranian official said Tehran was “positively reviewing” its participation but no final decision had been made. The comments conveyed a clear change of tone from earlier statements ruling out attendance and pledging to retaliate for US aggression.
The Iranian official said mediator Pakistan was making positive efforts to end the US blockade and ensure Iran‘s participation.
BLOCKADE POSES A PROBLEM
The ceasefire had appeared in jeopardy after the US said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Tehran vowed to retaliate.
A Pakistani security source said Pakistan’s key mediator, Field Marshal Asim Munir, had told US President Donald Trump the blockade was an obstacle to talks, and that Trump had promised to consider ending it.
The US was hoping to start negotiations in Pakistan shortly before the ceasefire expires, with sweeping security preparations under way in Islamabad.
However, Iran‘s President Masoud Pezeshkian said that “unconstructive & contradictory signals from American officials carry a bitter message; they seek Iran‘s surrender.”
“Iranians do not submit to force,” he added on X.
US-IRAN CEASEFIRE SET TO EXPIRE
Trump announced the two-week ceasefire with Iran on April 7, and has not specified when precisely it ends.
A Pakistani source involved in the talks said it would expire at 8 pm ET on Wednesday, which would be midnight GMT or 3:30 am Thursday in Iran.
The US has maintained its blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran lifted and then reimposed its own blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which typically handles roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied gas supply.
Oil prices rose around 5% as traders remained fearful that the ceasefire would collapse. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was at a virtual standstill with just three crossings in the space of 12 hours, according to shipping data.
US MARINES BOARD IRANIAN VESSEL
The US military said it had fired on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship headed towards Iran‘s Bandar Abbas port on Sunday after a six-hour standoff, disabling its engines. US Central Command released video showing Marines descending ropes from helicopters onto the vessel.
The vessel is likely to have been carrying what Washington deems dual-use items that could be used by the military, maritime security sources said on Monday.
Iran‘s military said the ship had been traveling from China and accused the US of “armed piracy,” according to state media. They said they were ready to confront US forces over the “blatant aggression,” but were constrained by the presence of crew members’ families on board.
China, the main buyer of Iranian crude, expressed concern over the “forced interception,” and Chinese President Xi Jinping called for ships to resume passage through the strait as normal and for the conflict to be resolved through political and diplomatic channels, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Trump warned on Sunday that the US would destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran if it rejected his terms, continuing a recent pattern of such threats.
Iran has said that if the United States were to attack its civilian infrastructure, it would strike power stations and desalination plants in its Gulf Arab neighbors.
PREPARING FOR TALKS THAT MIGHT NOT HAPPEN
Pakistan geared up to host the talks despite uncertainty over whether they would go ahead. Nearly 20,000 security personnel have been deployed across the capital Islamabad, a government official and a security official said.
The US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, in part to prevent the regime from developing nuclear weapons.
Trump said on Monday he believed a nuclear deal the US is currently negotiating with Iran will be better than a 2015 international agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.
“The DEAL that we are making with Iran will be FAR BETTER than the JCPOA, commonly referred to as ‘The Iran Nuclear Deal‘,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
During his first White House term, Trump in 2018 withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed to by Iran, the United States and world powers, calling it “the worst deal ever.”
“I am under no pressure whatsoever, although, it will all happen, relatively quickly!” Trump added in his Truth Social post.
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The Strokes End Coachella Set With Video Montage to Denounce US, Israel Bombings in Iran, Gaza
Part of the video montage shown by The Strokes during their Coachella set on April 18, 2026. Photo: YouTube screenshot
The American rock band The Strokes ended their performance on Saturday night, during the second weekend of the Coachella music festival, by showing the audience a video montage denouncing recent bombings in the Gaza Strip by Israel and joint US-Israel military airstrikes in Iran.
Massive screens behind Coachella’s main stage displayed footage of a controlled demolition of a large building in Gaza and an accompanying caption said the structure was the “last university standing” in the enclave. The footage followed scenes of destruction in the Islamic Republic with the caption “Over 30 universities destroyed in Iran.” The video montage was not included in the band’s set during the first weekend of Coachella.
Before turning to footage from the Middle East, the montage showed images and messages that accused the CIA of being involved in overthrowing governments and assassinating leaders in foreign countries. The video mentioned the separate plane crashes in 1981 that killed Panamanian President Omar Torrijos and Ecuador’s President Jaime Rondos, as well as the overthrowing of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953, Guatemala’s President Jacob Arbenz in 1954, Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1961, Chilean President Salvador Alende in 1973, and Bolivian President Juan Torres in 1976.
The video montage also promoted the conspiracy theory that the US was involved in the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The Strokes showed his image and a caption that read: “US govt found guilty of his murder in civil trial.” The mentioned trial, King v. Jowers, took place in 1999, but in 2000, a review by the US Justice Department found no credible evidence to validate the jury’s verdict. The video also showed images of slavery in the US and Black Lives Matter protests.
The video montage was displayed as The Strokes performed their song “Oblivius” for the first time in 10 years and the second time ever in concert. As the clip played for the audience, the band’s lead singer, Julian Casablancas, kept repeating the same lyrics in the song’s chorus: “What side you standing on?”
For those not attending the set in-person, their performance was available to watch live on Coachella’s official YouTube channel. The video montage and the band’s performance of “Oblivius” was not included in the band’s Coachella weekend one performance on April 11.
The Strokes is made up of Casablancas, Nick Valensi, Albert Hammond Jr., Nikolai Fraiture, and Fabrizio Moretti. In 2021, Casablancas signed a “Musicians for Palestine” open letter that asked artists to boycot Israel and publicly express solidarity with Palestinians.
The band will begin a world tour in June, and in August, they will headline the 2026 Just Like Heaven festival in Pasadena, California. The festival is produced by Goldenvoice, which also produces Coachella.
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Trump: Israel Never Talked Me Into War With Iran
US President Donald Trump speaks about research into mental health treatments in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, April 18, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
President Donald Trump said on Monday that Israel did not persuade him to attack Iran, after news reports that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu influenced the US president’s decision and criticism from right-wing commentators.
“Israel never talked me into the war with Iran, the results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Trump also said “the results in Iran will be amazing” in the post, which came as the United States prepared to resume negotiations in Pakistan although Iran was undecided.
“And if Iran’s new leaders (Regime Change!) are smart, Iran can have a great and prosperous future!” Trump wrote.