AJWS Creates an Afikomen Prize Worth Bragging About

New York, NY; April 1, 2009— Finding the afikomen during the Passover Seder (holiday meal) will have new meaning this year for many children.

American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development and human rights organization, has created a special certificate informing successful afikomen seekers that a donation to fight hunger in impoverished communities around the world has been made in their honor.

During Passover, Jews remember and celebrate their emancipation from slavery in ancient Egypt by eating matzah, the bread of affliction, at the Passover Seder. This bread evokes a time when Jews had no control over what food was available, but ate what they could out of necessity. 

AJWS is asking people, this Passover, to join the organization in its commitment to creating a more just world where all people are free from malnutrition and free to take control of their own lives.

“The Passover narrative of justice and liberation for the oppressed embodies the values that motivate AJWS’s international social justice work,” says AJWS’s Rabbi in Residence and Director of Jewish Communal Relations, Brent Chaim Spodek. “And, this Passover, hunger and malnutrition are still the greatest forms of injustice in the world. It is good enough to talk of God and liberation over our wonderful seders, but for the 963 million people who live without two meals a day? To them God can only appear as bread and butter!”

“The donation and award certificate offer a chance to give children the lasting gift of knowledge—the understanding that being Jewish means taking part in the historic challenges of our time and having compassion for people of all races and religions who are struggling to survive.” 

To make a tax-deductible donation to AJWS and automatically receive a certificate that can be used as an afikomen prize or a thank you card for seder hosts, visit www.ajws.org/passovergift

For More Information

If you are a member of the press and wish to obtain information about our work or speak to a member of our global team on deadline, please contact Tanyanika Davis, Director of Media Relations, at tdavis@ajws.org.