A merica 'apish Periodical Carter

CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, 01110

April 7, 1944

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

SEDER TREASURE HUNT

A Tale of the Afikomen

By BERNARD POSTAL

National Director of Bnai Brith Publicity
Editor's Note—One of the quaintest features of the symbolic Seder
service is the search for the afikomen. The origin of this
picturesque game of hide and seek with a sliver of matzoth
together with a number of anecdotes hinging on the afikomen
are told in this essay by Mr. Postal.

One of the most picturesque
features of the ever-fascinating
Seder service is the Passover
"treasure" hunt which genera-
tions of Jews know as the cus-
tom of hiding and seeking the
afikomen. It has long been the
custom for the head of the
household to begin the Seder by
breaking off a piece from the
middle one of the three matzoth
on the Seder table and secreting
it under his pillow. What re-
mained when the fragment has
been hidden is eaten by the as-
sembled company after the serv-
ice. The fortunate finder of the
hidden piece is supposed to be
entitled to anything he wants
from the head of the household.
This curious part of the Seder
service, perhaps the most enter-
taining so far as the youngsters
are concerned, has always been
taken for granted. Few have

bothered to inquire how this odd
game of playing hide and seek
with a sliver of matzoth came
to be included in the Passover
ritual. The truth of the matter
is that the genesis of this cus-
tom, like many others of hoary
origin, is shrouded in consider-
able doubt.
The word afikomen itself is
of Greek derivation, meaning, ac-
cording to one interpretation, a
call for a festal song. It also
means dessert. Most scholars are
of the opinion that the practice
of hiding the afikomen arose
from a misunderstanding of a
passage in Mishnah Pes. X 109a.
Some distracted father or grand-
father, more versed in rabbinic
lore than in the ways of awak-
ening the curiosity and stimu-
lating the interest of their chil-
dren or grandchildren at the Se-
der table, and perplexed as to

BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY PASSOVER

GATELY SHOPS, Inc.

241 MICHIGAN AVE.

TO THE MANY USERS OF

Electrol Oil Burner and Westinghouse Air
Conditioning Equipment

p

BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY PASSOVER

MECHANICAL HEAT
AND COLD, INC.

:=_LJ

Madison 7260

7704 Woodward Ave.

S

imf.)
. <,1.1

PASSOVER GREETINGS TO ALL!

•

GORMAN AND THOMAS

INSURANCE OF EVERY KIND

Representing 50 of the Largest and Soundest
Insurance Companies

2ND FLOOR MAJESTIC BLDG.

PASSOVER GREETINGS

UPON THIS OCCASION IN THE LIVES
OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE WE EXTEND
BEST WISHES FOR A HOLIDAY RE-
PLETE WITH PEACE, HAPPINESS AND
CONTENTMENT.

CHIC DRESS SHOP

9035 TWELFTH STREET

— and —

JANET'S SHOPPE

9021 TWELFTH STREET
TYler 6-7161
Near Clairmount
Li-
---

how to keep the youngsters
awake for the duration of the
rather lengthy reading of the
Haggadah, may have deliberately
misconstrued the passage.
At is was translated it read:
"They hasten (the eating of)
the matzoth in order to keep
the children awake." It can, how-
ever, also be translated: "They
snatch away the matzoth." And
so from the purposely erroneous
translation of the disputed pas-
sage there grew up the custom
of permitting the children at
the Seder table to abstract the
afikomen from under the pillow
of the master of ceremonies and
to retain it until redeemed by
him with gifts. An amusing de-
parture from the practice of
hiding, the ptikomen under the
pillow of the master of cere-
monies created what might well
be called the Seder treasure
hunt, with the broken piece of
matzoth as the elusive treasure.
Almost anywhere in the proxim-
ity of the Seder table has come
to be regarded as a legitimate
hiding place for the afikomen.
Before the family seats itself
around the Paschal table the
children, and even the adults,
anxious to retrieve the afikomen,
already have their eyes glued on
the master of ceremonies and his
every movement is eagerly watch-
ed. Generally, however, he is able
to secrete the matzoth without
being seen by more than one of
the company. The gay shout of
the lucky finder gleefully dis-
playing the piece of matzoth,
which he cheerfully shares with
others at the table, as he pre-
pares to make his demand for
ransom, adds to the gaiety of the
Seder.
Quainter than the origin of
the afikomen game are the re-
quests made by those who find
the afikomen. Often as not the
demand is for money. Not in-
frequently a petty trinket or
an item of clothing is the price
of redemption. Things children
would never dream of asking
for at any other time of the year
are demanded with more or less
impunity in exchange for the
afikomen. Only a churlish father
or master of ceremonies disillu-
sions the expectant youngsters by
refusing the request, whatever
it it.
In addition to being utilized
as a means of retaining the in-
terest of children in the Seder
service, the afikomen was once
widely regarded by Jews as hav-
ing the power to ward off fires
and to protect against the "evil
eye". As a protection against
fires, a hole was bored through
the afikomen every year, after
which it was hung on the wall
until the next Seder. In similar
fashion a piece of the afikomen
used to be placed in the pockets
of children's arba-kanfoth as a
safe guard against witches and
other manner of evil beings.
Thus a sort of joke grew up that
"he who is filled with much afi-
komen lives long" and the corol-
lary that he who died at a ripe
old age "has eaten much lin-
kmen".
Among Jewish anecdotes there
are a few extant that hinge on
the afikomen. Sonic, or perhaps
all, may be as apocryphal as
the historical and religious basis
of the afikomen itself, but that
is of little moment.
A story is told about David
Emanuel, the gallant Jew who
was governor of Georgia in
1801. The finder of the afikomen
at a Seder in Savannah at which
Emanuel was presiding asked
that the governor use his influ-
ence to help Georgians recover
their investments in the infamous
Yazoo land fraud. Whether or
not his action in this matter
was a response to this Passover
Plea, it was through Governor
Emanuel's intervention that thou-
sands of Georgia investors were
repaid even more than had been
hoped for by the most optimistic.
Equally interesting is the tale
told concerning the late Julius
Kahn, for many years a member
of Congress from California. As
the Kahn family was gathered
around the Seder table in 1918,
a timid knock was heard at tn..
door. The Congressman himself
answered and ushered in a little
old lady. The tear-stained visitor
turned out to be a Jewish widow
who had left her own sparse
Seder table to come to the Kahn
household to appeal to the Jewish
member of the House, who was
chairman of the Military Affairs
Committee, to help her commu-
nicate with her son, who was
overseas with the A. E. F., so
that she could remind him in
time of the yahrzeit of his
father.
Twenty years ago, at a com-
munity Seder sponsored by the

3

the afikomen, that Kraus offer
Bnai Brith's services as arbi-
trator in the Congress debate.
Ultimately the formula by which
all sections of American Jewry
agreed to participate in the Con-
gress was one based largely on
proposals made by Kraus.
And finally there is the story
about that colorful character,
Mordecai M. Noah, who combined
in himself the talents of play-
wright, Zionist, man about town,
diplomat and journalist. While
Noah was sheriff of New York, it
happened to be his duty to order
the hanging of a man on a (lay
that coincided with the first day
of Passover. Having heard of the
afikomen custom, friends of the
condemned man interceded with
one of Noah's Seder guests to
make an effort to acquire pos-
session of the afikomen and to
ask, as a reward for its return,
the commutation of the hanging.
It is not recorded that the
strength of the afikomen WA N
enough to defeat the hangman.

Junior Hadassah and Menorah
at the University of Wisconsin,
the late white-bearded Sol Levi-
tan, treasurer of Wisconsin and
a Bnai Brith stalwart, was pre-
siding. One of the guests, the
captain of the varsity debating
team, sat next to Levitan and
found the afikomen. As a ransom
he asked Levitan to help estab-
lish a Jewish students' house on
the campus. Six months later
Bnai Brith established at Wiscon-
sin the second Hillel Foundation.
The late Adolf Kraus, presi-
dent of Bnai Brith from 1905
to 1925, is the hero of another
afikomen story. In 1916 there
was quite a debate raging over
the proposed war-time American
Jewish Congress. The American
Jewish Committee had one idea
and the Congress' adherents an-
other. Arguments grew hot and
tempers short among Jewish lead-
ers. Bnai Brith was in the mid-
dle, taking sides with neither,
until one Seder night in Chicago
a member of Bnai Brith, who
was a guest at Kraus' home,
asked, as his reward for finding

BUY WAR BONDS!

BEST WISHES FOR .4 HAPPY PASSOVER

•

CENTRAL
OVERALL SUPPLY CO.

7043 E. PALM ZR

PLAZA 8180

BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY PASSOVER

DETROIT CITY ICE Z.4 FUEL CO.

6247 GRAND RIVER AVE.

TYler 6-9300

We take pleasure in extending to our many

Jewish Friends and Patrons

Best Wishes for a Happy Passover

DETROIT BREWING CO.

2536 ORLEANS ST.

CAdillac 1600

Passover
Greetings

With Best Wishes

and Happiness to

Detroit's Jewry and to

All in Armed Service.

•

SHECTER FURNITURE CO.

8928 TWELFTH ST.

Between Taylor and Hazelwood

TR. 2-3636

