On the front of the my super-sized box of matzohs (5 regular boxes in one big box), appeared the following exciting notice:

“You can win $1000 if you find a winning Afikoman inside this box. See Side Panel for Details.”

I seriously expected to find a kids toy inside the box. Like a little superhero figurine or something. After searching every side panel of the outer and inner boxes for details, I found a notice inside the box lid, with a “game code” to be entered at this website:

http://www.manischewitz.com/thats_kosher/afikoman/

Still no evidence of what an Afikoman actually is. So I went to wikipedia. The term Afikoman means “that which comes after” or “dessert” and is “a piece of matzo which is hidden at the start of the Passover Seder.”

The hiding away of the afikoman has become an opportunity to maintain the interest and excitement of the children at the table. If the leader of the Seder hides it, the children are encouraged to locate it and demand a prize for its safe return, such as money or a small gift. Alternately, the children hide the afikoman and the parent(s) look for it; when they give up, the children demand the ransom for revealing its location.

So to most Jewish folks, perhaps the concept of finding the winning Afikoman in a box of matzohs makes a lot of sense. It’s an interesting part of Jewish culture I had never heard of. And yet, I still wish Afikoman was a superhero. He and Mr. Tam Tam could have many great adventures.

Here is more information about my super-sizes box of Matzoh. Note that each 1lb box has 14 matzohs. 5 boxes = 70 matzohs! That’s a lot of unleavened bread.

Here is a picture of flavored matzohs that I really like: