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OK, Google: Where’s the Afikoman?

Now you can lean on the Silicon Valley giant for answers to your most pressing Passover questions

by
Gabriela Geselowitz
April 06, 2017
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The Google Home device.Facebook
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The Google Home device.Facebook

As in DVDs and movies, hidden interactive features in electronics are called “Easter eggs,” but that feels rather blasphemous given that this one is about the Jewish holiday that Easter hangs around. We’re talking about Passover, of course.

Turns out, the Google Assistant/Home/cylindrical robot-thing has actually been programmed with canned responses for many Jewish holidays. If you wish it a happy Purim, for instance, it will wish you one back, maybe even with a reference to traditions associated with the celebration. But this Google contraption around the month of Nisan is extra fun.

If you have Google Home or Google Assistant (called Allo and accessible on eligible Android phones), you can have a bit of fun as you prep for Pesach. First of all, you can ask it to help you search for chametz. You may get sassy responses and an obvious but helpful reminder—”Did you check the pantry?” or “You might want to clean out the cookie jar.”

Plus, you can also ask for tips on how to find the afikoman! If you don’t use electronics on holidays, you’ll have to ask in advance (“Find the Afikoman!” will work fine). Its answer may be a bit… creative (think: bubbe and zayde).

The device can’t scan your home for the missing matzo (or traces of forbidden bread), but if it could, would Google really admit it to you? They have enough of your private information as it is.

No word on if the Google Assistant knows the answers to why this night is different from all other nights, but if it doesn’t, surely it’s only a matter of time.

Gabriela Geselowitz is a writer and the former editor of Jewcy.com.