Looking to save money on matzo this year? A Boca Raton resident is organizing a bulk matzo purchase for South Florida’s Jewish community in time for Passover.
For the second year, Ben Feferman is ordering shmura matzo, a handmade, round flatbread, from Israel for $28 a pound, a price he said is a 35% discount compared with many local grocery stores’ prices.
“After witnessing the skyrocketing cost of hand shmura matzah, a group of concerned community members got together to help solve this issue,” Feferman and three friends wrote on their online ordering form. “The price we pay is the price you pay, absolutely NO mark-up!”
Jews are commanded to eat matzo during Passover to commemorate their hasty exit from Egypt, as recounted in the biblical Book of Exodus. During the holiday, which runs from April 1 through April 9 this year, Jews abstain from bread that has risen and rely heavily on the unleavened bread for meals.
While most matzo in the United States is made in factories, shmura matzos are baked by observant Jews who use well water to make the dough, roll it out in circles and cook it in a traditional coal oven. The whole process must take less than 18 minutes or the dough is considered to have risen and is therefore not kosher for Passover.
A pound of shmura matzo sold in South Florida’s kosher supermarkets goes for anywhere from $30 to $60, while a traditional box of factory-made Passover matzo usually costs $4 to $6.
Feferman, a father of four, is a Toronto native who moved to Boca Raton in 2021 and is member of Boca Raton Synagogue West, an Orthodox congregation. He works as marketing director for Kosher 4 Less, a South Florida nonprofit that offers discounted kosher food. But he said this project is his effort to do a good deed for the community and is separate from his professional work.
He orders the matzo from Beit Shemesh, Israel, where cooks bake it “the old-fashioned way, with olive wood-burning ovens, giving the matzah a unique taste,” he said.
Last year, 110 people ordered, he said, and he expects more than 150 to take part this year. Pickup will be at a home in Boca Raton.
Minimum order is 2 pounds, with an 8-pound maximum. Those who want to donate a box to the needy can mark it on their order form. Deadline is Tuesday, March 10.
To order, go to tinyurl.com/matza2026.
