We have heard the story of Passover, and have put the elements of our Seder plate into a sandwich. What now? Remember our middle broken matzah from yachatz? Half of it is back and better than ever as our afikoman. 

Tzafun translates to “hidden,” and traditionally at this time the leader of the Seder will take the middle matzah and hide it, to be found by the children at the table. This is usually a wonderful tactic if there are children at the Seder, because as they spend their time on the afikoman hunt, the adults may continue the Haggadah. It is important that we remember the hardship of slavery, and the injustice and oppression still rampant in the world, and teach our children to be active and aware citizens. It is also important that we give them, and ourselves, a break for some joy. 

During Koreich, we reflected on the ways that we can draw inspiration from this story of slavery and liberation in our organizing efforts and movements for justice. Many of our current social movements are youth-led, from climate justice to gun control activism to anti-occupation work. Young people are killing the game!

As this is a virtual Seder and many of us would consider ourselves young-ish, let’s take a moment to appreciate the youth activists and all of the badass ways they/we are leading. Please take a second to feel some self-love and imagine yourself to be the kid at the Seder table. Then, let’s play a game!

Take a piece matzah, a or thin/flat book or object you have nearby, and we will hold a head balancing contest! The person who can keep the matzah/book/flat object on their head longest, you have "found" the afikoman and won. If the item falls, you take a drink, if the item doesn’t fall you take a drink. Just in time for bareich, the third cup of wine!


haggadah Section: Tzafun