The Afflicted Matza
The top Matzoh
And bottom Matzoh are,
it is said,
Pesach substitutes
For the two loaves of challah on Shabbat,
Supposedly a reminder
Of the two portions of manna
They received in the dessert
Every Friday before Shabbat.
But the middle matza?!
Ah,
That's for the seder.
We break it in half
And call it the bread of affliction,
Just like the unleavened bread
We ate as we fled slavery
Matza Number Two,
The afflicted matza,
We break it in half
And separate ourselves from joy
So we don't forget the pain
That has been ours.
We break it in half
And separate ourselves from the joy
So we can remember the pain
Of others.
All this pain
Lives in this first half of the afflicted matzoh
And we eat this half now,
So that we do not forget that we were slaves
So that we do not enslave others.
But--
We separate the second half of the afflicted matza
(The Afikomen)
From all that hurt
So that we don't forget the joy that can follow the sorrow.
So that we don't forget the times that we changed things for the better.
And after the meal we will search for that happiness
And we will find it.
And then we eat the Afikomen together
So we don't forget that it is good to be alive
And we are obligated to share that joy.
Blessed One-ness, we are so grateful for the obligations to remember pain and share joy.
Amen
Favorites 2020
- Introduction
- Commentary / Readings
- Kadesh
- Urchatz
- Karpas
- Yachatz
- Maggid - Beginning
- -- Four Questions
- -- Four Children
- -- Exodus Story
- -- Ten Plagues
- -- Cup #2 & Dayenu
- Rachtzah
- Motzi-Matzah
- Maror
- Koreich
- Songs
- Shulchan Oreich
- Bareich
- Hallel
- Conclusion
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