Sadie and the Missing Piece
A Passover Adventure
Sadie Gezunter was youngest of five.
When her brothers got schmear, she got stuck with green chive. (BLECH!)
Till Passover night, when Miss Sadie Gezunter
Had a dream of becoming the great—MATZAH HUNTER.
But this year—oy vey! was she in for a treat,
A hide-and-seek master who’d never been beat,
Someone slick as a buttered up pan of polenta:
The maven of matzah, her magic Aunt Yenta.
“Long ago,” Yenta said, “by the salty Red Sea,
We were slaves to a pharaoh. We all had to flee.
We packed up so fast that our bread didn’t rise.
So tonight, we hide matzah and search for a prize.”
Then she muttered in Hebrew—a prayer? A curse?
And the matzah just poof!—disappeared in her purse.
[Art note: The matzah has been magically sucked away into the dark depths of Yenta’s star-studded purse.]
The magic bag glowed as she pinched Sadie’s cheek,
“With luck you might find it by end of next week!”
Now Sadie's four brothers were quite the sly guys:
One wicked, one honest, one quiet, one wise.
And every year one of them beat Sadie to it.
“But this year,” said Sadie, “I know I can do it.”
First Weisel the Wise, with his books and his brains,
Looked deep in the Torah for traces of grains.
He drew up schematics, equations, and charts,
And yet he found bupkis! despite all his smarts.
Then Iggy the Wicked unleashed all his bots.
They stripped all the cushions and flipped all the pots.
They blasted through curtains and cabinets too,
Till MATZAH MALFUNCTION—their circuits all blew!
Next Eli the Honest looked straight in the bag.
He poked in his head with a zig and a zag.
The pressure was building. He started to shvitz!
“What’s the matter,” said Yenta, “You calling it quits?”
But Sadie stayed focused. “I’ve put in the prep.
And I’ll track down our matzah, no matter the schlep.”
She took a deep breath, and she pondered their task.
“There must be some question we haven’t yet asked…”
If it isn’t at home, should I boldly set sail?
Could it be in a cave with the lost holy grail?
Could it be in the jungle, up high among peaks?
Should I wander the desert for weeks upon weeks?
But then she saw Levi the Quiet, whose poise
Was unlike his brothers who LOVED making noise.
He’d watched them all search, but he hadn’t yet spoken.
Could he hold the key to the piece that was broken?
[Art Note: Between these verses is a textless spread where we see scenes from the Passover story coming to life in front of Sadie and Levi. In these scenes, we see examples of the Jewish people helping one another as they resist and escape from bondage.]
“What makes this night different?” asked Sadie at last.
“It’s not about winning or finding it fast.
We each are important, we each have a clue,
And working together, we’ll see this search through.”
With Weisel’s big brains, and with Iggy’s big tech,
With Eli’s hard work, and with Lev to reflect,
They all searched together with Sadie out front…
[Art note: We see a family photo of Gezunters on an illustrated flap, which the reader lifts to reveal Sadie and her brothers holding the missing matzah.]
And with matzah in hand, they could end the great hunt.
Yenta handed the star-studded bag to her niece,
“My darling,” she said. “You have each found your piece.
So I give you this bag, both its magic and mission,
That one day, you too, might pass on our tradition.”
The dishes were cleared. The haroset was wrapped.
The fourth glass was raised, and the bottles were capped.
Till next year when all the Gezunters would gather
To tell the old story and add their new chapter.