YACHATZ - BREAKING THE MIDDLE MATZAH
Take the middle matzah and break it into two pieces. Wrap the larger piece in a napkin and set it aside. It will be the afikoman. Place the smaller piece between the other two matzot.
Some do not get the chance to rise like golden loaves of challah, filled with sweet raisins and crowned with shiny braids.
Rushed, neglected, not kneaded by caring hands, we grow up afraid that any touch might cause a break. There are some ingredients we never receive.
Tonight, let us bless our cracked surfaces and sharp edges, unafraid to see our brittleness and brave enough to see our beauty.
Reaching for wholeness, let us piece together the parts of ourselves we have found, and honor all that is still hidden.
-Tamara Cohen
*The most common explanation for yachatz links the breaking of the matzah to the term lechem oni. The word oni can be translated as "the bread of afflication," thereby expressing the notion of matzah as a symbol of the poor fare we were given as slaves in Egypt. The symbol of even that simplest fare is broken in half to stress the extreme poverty of our lives in Egypt. Oni can also be translated as "the bread over which much is answered," pointing to the matzah that lies before us as we discuss and ask questions concerning the Exodus. - Michael Strassfield.
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