When You Care Enough to Send . . .

“Would you pass the salt over here?” says the greeting card, which depicts a smiling family at a festive dinner.

“Pass the matzoh over, please,” it continues. “Hey, pass the wine!”

Inside, the card says: “No wonder it’s called Passover! Enjoy!”

Just how does a greeting card company take a humorous look at a serious Jewish holiday? Very carefully, Hallmark Cards Inc. says.

“The consumer said it is OK to have some fun with this line,” said Karen Louise Poppenberg, senior creative product designer for Hallmark’s new Tree of Life line. She says it was launched only after extensive discussions with Jewish consumers and much research, some of it in Israel.

The line contains almost 300 cards, including 52 for Passover, the eight-day observance that began this year on Wednesday at sundown and commemorates the exodus of Jewish slaves from Egypt.

Passover cards aren’t new. More than 2 million will be sold this year in the U.S., according to the Greeting Card Assn. And privately owned Hallmark, the world’s largest card company, has made cards aimed at Jewish consumers since the 1940s.

But the new Tree of Life cards use contemporary illustrations, “culturally relevant” copy and humor in an effort to be distinctive, Poppenberg said.

The new line is fresh evidence of greeting card companies’ ceaseless search for pockets of growth potential in a mature business. The $5.5-billion industry is struggling with “slow unit growth and a low inflationary market,” said analyst E. Grey Glass III of Wheat First Butcher Singer.

Hallmark and its rivals--which include hundreds of mall companies--have been scouring ethnic and other corners of the market. Among specialized lines are cards for Latinos, blacks and gays.