Like many oth­er Jews dur­ing Passover, Sam­my is enthu­si­as­tic about the first taste of matzah. But by the third day of the eight-day fes­ti­val, even the addi­tion of cream cheese can­not make it more appeal­ing. The unleav­ened bread’s ​“crunchy and munchy” qual­i­ties have worn thin. In the tra­di­tion of midrash, Ann Koff­sky offers an expla­na­tion for how our ances­tors came to enjoy the delight­ful treat of matzah topped with toma­to sauce and cheese.

Notic­ing his grandson’s matzah fatigue, Zaydee pro­vides some grand­fa­ther­ly wis­dom in the form of a sto­ry. If Sam­my will help him pre­pare matzah piz­za, he will nar­rate how, back in the days of the Hebrews’ exo­dus from Egypt, a few mir­a­cles not includ­ed in the bib­li­cal account may have tak­en place. Miri­am plays a star­ring role, using her strength and agili­ty to car­ry a bas­ket of toma­toes on her head. When these slip off, the ensu­ing effort to catch them involves a for­tu­nate acci­dent, as one toma­to crash lands on a piece of matzah. Koffsky’s bright­ly col­ored pic­tures of tired Israelites call forth the strength they will need to keep going. Their facial expres­sions con­vey their sense of sur­prise and unbe­liev­able good for­tune, even before the sec­ond part of the mir­a­cle occurs. Shmuel, a boy who shares Sammy’s name, encoun­ters some talk­ing cows, who are essen­tial par­tic­i­pants in the flight to a land of milk and honey. 

When Shmuel meets Moses, he wit­ness­es a mir­a­cle as astound­ing as the pro­vi­sion of man­na to sus­tain the for­mer­ly enslaved, as the leader waves his staff and turns the cows’ milk into moz­zarel­la cheese. Shmuel is as fair-skinned as his mod­ern-day coun­ter­part, while Miri­am and Moses have dark brown com­plex­ions and hair. Part of the appeal of this culi­nary spe­cial­ty is its name, a melod­ic phrase express­ing the joy of pesadik food that is not bland or bor­ing. Miri­am, Moses, and the rest of the crowd try out dif­fer­ent titles for the dish. Had the con­sen­sus turned out dif­fer­ent­ly, today we might be eat­ing ​“matzah mia,” ​“matzah munch,” or even the less prob­a­ble ​“matzah zebra.” For­tu­nate­ly, matzah piz­za wins the day. Sit­ting under date palms, the Israelites try out their new food, and are as delight­ed as Sam­my and Zaydee when they pull it out of the oven. The book’s final scene shows the chefs feast­ing on their suc­cess­ful recipe and host­ing friends Moe and Miri, who remark­ably resem­ble the prophets Moses and Miriam.

The Mir­a­cle of Matzah Piz­za is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed and includes a recipe for the Passover dish.