APRIL 18 • 2024 | 55
J
N

How About A Favorite 
How About A Favorite 

Afikomen Story for Starters?
Afikomen Story for Starters?

A F I K O M E N
Watch for it! The middle matzah on your seder table 
is going to be broken in two pieces toward the start of 
the seder. The larger part is called the afikomen. It gets 
wrapped and hidden — in some houses by the adults, 
in others, by the kids, and then bought back before the 
meal can be complete.
Finding the afikomen at Emma Grant’s house is 
no small feat. In addition to the usual hide-and-seek 
to find the middle matzah, she says, her family hides 
a few decoy afikomen — covers without the matzah 
inside — to throw her off the trail. “Sometimes we will 
ask for hints, but they don’t give big hints, so it’s really 
hard to find,
” she says. It’s one of her favorite parts of 
Passover, as is finding the old crafts and decorations 
she and her sister have made in years past and proudly 
putting them on display. The 9-year-old says she enjoys 
making matzah ball soup for the seder with her 
grandma from a recipe that belonged to her 
great-grandmother, and dancing around the 
table during Dayenu. “
And I love playing 
with my cousins after dinner,
” she adds. “I 
think Passover is just really 
fun.
”
Her classmates 
at Hillel Day 
School have 
already started 
talking about Passover 
at school, saying 
they’re excited to 
spend time with their 
families, she says. 
And as for what 
else she’ll be eating, she 
says, “We eat matzah 
pizza a lot.
”

YOU’LL NEED:

4 
matzahs

1 cup pizza sauce or 
 
marinara sauce

12 oz. mozzarella

2 oz. 
fresh basil 

* if you want to add other 
toppings, i.e., mushrooms, garlic, 
peppers, pickled peppers, go 
ahead, just remember to cut 
them thin, because the matzah 
pizza will be ready quickly!

AND TO MAKE IT: 

1. 
Place your matzah on a 
baking sheet (or two).

2. Spread ¼ cup of sauce 
on each of your matzah.

3. Shred 3 oz. of mozzarella over each of your matzah (or use 
pre-shredded). Add any other veggies you’ve selected.

4. With the oven rack just below the broiler, broil on high until 
the cheese melts, about 5 minutes. Keep your eyes on it so 
the matzah doesn’t burn.

5. Remove from oven, top with fresh basil, and let cool slightly 

before eating! 

Pro tip: For a less soggy pizza, use a wire cooling rack for roasting 
instead of a baking sheet.

Singing the Four Questions with her sister and cousins at 
the seder is one of Allie Grant’s favorite Passover traditions. 
“What’s really special to me in my family is that every year 
we go to my grandma’s house, and we all have a nice seder 
here … 11 of us, usually,
” says Allie, 12.
Passover tops her list of Jewish holidays, she says. “You’ve 
got to love the frogs and you’ve got to love the matzah,
” she 
says, adding that she’s impressed by Moses and his role in the story, 
which she’s been learning more about since starting at Hillel Day School 
this year. “I think he’s a great leader of the Israelites and B’nai Israel, and it 
really shows how to be a good leader of your community.
”
At the seder, Allie, her sister and two younger cousins put on finger pup-
pets representing the different plagues and assign out the roles of Pharaoh 
and Moses. “We re-enact the Passover story,
” she says, adding that last year 
her dog Charlie even got in on the performance, barking when they were 
trying to tell the story. “It’s different every single year.
” 

JONATHUNDER

Make Your Own Matzah 
Make Your Own Matzah 
 PIZZA

(get an adult 
to help!) 

Emma 
Grant

Allie 
Grant

