There are three pieces of matzah stacked on the table. We now break the middle matzah into two pieces. This piece is called the afikomen, literally “dessert”. After dinner, the you will have to hunt for the afikomen in order to wrap up the meal… and win a prize.

We eat matzah in memory of the quick flight of our ancestors from Egypt. As slaves, they had faced many false starts before finally being let go. So when the word of their freedom came, they took whatever dough they had and ran with it before it had the chance to rise, leaving it looking something like matzah.


haggadah Section: Yachatz