The Great Afikomen Story Search

We invited 11- and 12-year old
students from Congregation
Shaarey Zedek to share with us
their best or most interesting
afikomen-hunting experience. Here
is what they had to say ...

The Missing Afikomen

One Passover night a few years
ago, after we were finished eating
the Passover seder, I knew it was
time, the time I had waited for ... to
find the afikomen. All day I waited
excited and ready to go to my
grandparents' and to hide the
afikomen.
During dinner I saw my dad go
and hide the afikomen so he said
we could go and find it. We looked
and we looked but we couldn't find it
anywhere. So we finally gave up
and my parents looked for it but
they couldn't find it either so they
took another piece of matzah and
hid it again. Then we found it and
came home.
The next day when me and my
sisters were hiding the afikomen, we
found the one from the night before.
We couldn't believe it!! It was in
between some books on a shelf. It
was so funny. And the best part was
we got extra presents. It was the
best Passover ever!!

— Julie Levin
Parents:
Bonnie and Morris Levin

Crumbs

The funniest story that ever
happened to me was when my
cousins and my brother and I were
looking for the afikomen. We have a
couch in our living room. My cousin,
who is four years old, went under
the couch and found the afikomen
but she couldn't get out. While the
rest of us were still looking for the
afikomen, we didn't notice that she
was missing. My brother got the
idea to look under the couch, so he
picked the couch up and there she
was, eating the afikomen.

— Sara Golob
Parents:
Carol and Michael Golob

The Best Passover

In my family, we have a great
time on Passover trying to find the
afikomen! At my aunt and uncle's,
we have a lot of fun because me,
my two brothers and my one little
cousin are the only ones who look
for the afikomen.
One year, a couple of years ago,
I found the afikomen. But when I got
ahold of it, it was all crumbled up. I
didn't really care, but it was still
great! Finally, our big Passover

night was over and it was the best
Passover ever.

— Alyse Erman
Parents:
Beth & Earle Erman

Find - 6)6
ANComen

The Smashed Afikomen

Passover had finally come.
Everyone was busy looking for the
afikomen. My grandfather had
hidden it under the table under a
napkin, but we didn't know that and
no one could find it. Then my
grandpa said "Whoever finds the
afikomen gets a treat." That made
everyone start looking harder.
All the parents were talking at the
table and the kids were busy
searching. The kids were excited
and the parents were cheering them
on when, crack, my sister was
crawling around under the table and
her knee had crushed the afikomen.
Everyone was puzzled. "It's the
afikomen," my cousin yelled out.
"That means you won," answered
my grandpa. Everyone became
impatient wondering what the prize
will be be. My grandpa bent down
and kissed her on the cheek and
said, "Love is one of the best
treasures ..."

— Melanie Jonas
Parents:
Barbara and Michael

Cracked Up

My afikomen story took place two
years ago on the second night of
Passover, right after the four
questions were said by my cousin.
My grandmother had hid the
afikomen and it was time to look for
it. My brother had said that he had
found it, but it was a phony. Every
one had given up and we went back
to our seats. My brother sat down
and —CRUNCH! — He had sat on
the afikomen. Everyone was
startled, but my brother had really
found the afikomen!!!

— Jackie Craig
Parents:
Andrea & Jaime Craig

Got the Prize!

It was the night of Passover, and
the time had came for us to seek
out the afikomen. I rose from my

seat and ran towards the living room
to look for it. After 20 minutes, I
assumed it was hopeless. I went
into the den and sat down.
CRUNCH! I jumped up, and there
was the afikomen, squished! My
cousins started to laugh and I knew

it was all right. We returned and
ate the afikomen.
(By the way — we still got the
prize!)

— Karen Schwartz
Parents:
Gail and Jerome Schwartz

Afikomen Question & Answer

Why is the afikomen hidden
under the pillow of the leader?
There seem to be three reasons:
to protect it from being "stolen," to
set it aside so it will not be mixed
up with other matzot, and to
prevent it from "embarrassment"
until its moment in the limelight.

How can I hide the afikomen if
I'm the leading the Seder?
There are various strategies for
hiding the afikomen without the
children seeing you. This is no
easy task, especially if you have
alert kids who watch your every
move. One strategy is to recruit an
accomplice, to whom he passes the
afikomen for hiding. Others simply
wait until the break for the meal to
quietly slip away from the table and
hide the afikomen. The trick is to
find a time when the attention of
the children is diverted and when
either you or another member of
the family can successfully hide the
afikomen without being detected.

Why in some families does the
leader hide the afikomen while
in others, the children "steal" the
afikomen?
Custom and tradition dictate the
different approaches. From our
research, it seems that the
"stealing" approach was more
prevalent among previous
generations, but today, the children
have a great deal of fun finding the
hidden afikomen. Either way, the
basic idea is to "redeem" the
afikomen so it may be the last thing
eaten at the seder.

Why is the afikomen wrapped in
a napkin?
This may be a reminder of the
way in which the Israelites left
Egypt, as detailed in Exodus 12:34:
"And the people took their dough
before it was leavened, their
kneading utensils wrapped in their
clothes upon their shoulders."

C

CC

From: The Art of Jewish Living —
The Passover Seder, By Dr. Ron
Wolfson, 1988.

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