The breaking of the middle matzah is a reminder of the fractures and breaks in our environment and world. We will begin to uncover different aspects and responses to environmental injustice, about communities that are disproportionately impacted by global environmental change,  bringing us closer to understanding how together, and we can repair our environment and world.

We take the larger half of the broken matzah to hide, and it becomes the afikomen. It is no longer a regular piece of matzah; the afikomen is the final hidden treasure that we need to find before the seder is complete. 

We will search for the afikomen after the meal, but we will search for the afikomen throughout the evening in our minds. One reason that we physically look for the afikomen is to bring the two broken pieces of matzah back together and symbolize a move from brokenness toward healing.

Yachatz is a symbol of moving from oppression to liberation. We break the matzah as we broke the chains of slavery, as we break the chains which bind us today. We will not be fooled by movements which free only some of us in which our so called freedom rests on the enslavement or embitterment of others. 

Why three matzot? They represent the three patriachs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as thesis, antithesis and synthesis: the two opposites in any polarized situation and the solution which bridges them. 


haggadah Section: Yachatz