50 | MARCH 30 • 2023
Y
achatz describes the portion of
the seder in which the middle of
three pieces of matzah is split in
two. The smaller piece is returned to the
table, tucked in between the two remain-
ing whole matzot, and the
larger of the broken pieces
is wrapped up and secreted
away, to be sought, found
and eaten at the seder’s con-
clusion.
During Yachatz, we
pretend not to see the act
of hiding. Only later is it
announced, “Now is the time to search
for the afikoman, the hidden, broken
piece of matzah, that we all turned our
attention to early on in the seder and that
we each must partake of in order to com-
plete the seder meal.”
If Passover is a holiday about found
freedom and realized redemption, surely
it also carries within its potent message
a reminder to seek, name, taste and pay
attention to that which is (or we might
say those parts of us which are) not free
or redeemed, that which is broken, cast
away, rendered off limits.
We point to the whole matzah as a
symbol of the slavery our ancestors
endured and then rejected. We locate
in the broken matzah our own cracked
edges, our unfulfilled yearnings and unre-
alized potential. It suggests all the ways
we are not yet whole, all within us that we
feel compelled to hide, all about us that
remains undiscovered, enslaved. The bro-
ken matzah represents the parts of us we
or others reject. Therefore, we hide it.
But without finding “it,” the afikoman,
it is impossible to continue with the seder.
And without acknowledging the broken
and partial aspects of our ways of living,
it is unlikely that positive growth and rec-
onciliation will occur in our lives as indi-
viduals and in the world as a whole.
Why do we hide the broken matzah,
only to retrieve and consume it later on?
To me, this is a profoundly Jewish ritual
for the following reason: It recognizes and
allows us to act out the human tendency
to want to hide or ignore those things
about others and ourselves that reveal our
fragility, weakness and limitations.
And then, the seder script calls upon us
to search for and hold aloft, in plain view,
the found broken matzah, symbolic of all
that we put energy into keeping out of
sight and out of mind. Not surprisingly,
it is our children, those uncannily per-
ceptive youngsters who sense our vulner-
abilities most acutely, who triumphantly
return to the table with the afikoman to
announce in essence, “You can’t contin-
ue this celebration until you own up to
having hidden things from us and your-
selves. Admit to being less than whole
and in need of repair as individuals, as
families, as a Jewish community, as global
citizens. Show us your good intentions to
acknowledge these truths, and then we
can go on.”
So, we negotiate their claims and our
responsibilities and the seder continues,
but it does not reach its conclusion until
we have each swallowed a piece of the
very same broken matzah. In chewing
and swallowing, we own — we claim —
all that is partial, incomplete, rejected and
hidden away in ourselves and our world.
We do so humbly, recognizing the many
ways in which we are not yet whole and
transparent.
Blessings accompany the myriad parts
of the seder, but no prayer is recited
before we break the middle matzah on
our seder plate. It is a silent act, one that
begs reflection:
What in our lives and in our world is
broken and in need of repair?
What can we learn from that which is
more hidden than revealed?
For what do we quest in an attempt to
become whole?
What might actually bring us whole-
ness/shalom?
Can we do something, anything, to heal
the divisions that keep us from seeing and
honoring all people, all creation?
Perhaps these thoughts and the follow-
ing reading by Sharon Cohen Anisfeld as
found in The Women’s Seder Sourcebook will
add new perspective to the sedarim. Get a
copy of the book to enjoy the entire pas-
sage, which includes these lines:
This is the afikoman.
It is up to the children to find it before
the seder can come to an end.
In this game of hide and seek,
We remind ourselves that we do not
begin to know all that our children will
reveal to us.
We do not begin to understand the
mysteries that they will uncover,
The broken pieces they will find,
The hidden fragments in need of repair.
Together, may we make whole all that is
broken.
Rabbi Lenore Bohm is the author of Torah Tutor: A
Contemporary Torah Study Guide. The lines from The
Women’s Seder Sourcebook, published by Jewish
Lights, are used with permission.
PASSOVER
Rabbi Lenore
Bohm
The Broken Matzah