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Tzafun/Afikoman
Contributed by Jeffrey Rothman

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

TZAFUN /AFIKOMAN / Dessert - צָפוּן

[If someone of the children has “stolen” it, or if the adults have hidden the Afikoman when it is first put aside (IV) and let the children look for it during the meal to win a prize, it is now time to redeem the Afikoman. Then, each person eats a portion of the Afikoman.

After one eats the Afikoman, it is forbidden to eat anything further or to drink anything but for the two remaining mandatory ritual cups of wine, one for the Grace after meals and one for Hallel.

One accepted theory is that Afikoman is a Greek word connoting the dessert – dates, parched corn, nuts, sweet fruits, etc. The Seder meal in the time of the Temple was concluded with a taste of the Paschal lamb that had been offered in the Temple, after which nothing further was eaten.

More recently, the suggestion has been made that the word is akin to a Greek word meaning “entertainment” which concluded the Greco-Roman festive meal. Whether “dinner music,” “dessert,” or “the practice of going from house to house after dinner,” the Sages of the Talmud prohibited any practices which might detract from the attention that must be paid to the symbol of Passover, the Paschal sacrifice.

It is the custom in some countries to save a piece of the Afikoman from the Second Seder until the burning of the Hametz the following year, when both are burned together.]

        Passover is approaching. At the seder table, every Jewish child will be retold the story of Moses and the Pharaoh, and how God brought boils, locusts, hail and the other plagues onto the Egyptians. Yet in spite of this overwhelming evidence of God's intentions, Pharaoh refused to let the Jews go, until a tenth plague, the death of the first-born children was inflicted on every Egyptian home, passing over the Jewish homes. Only after this tragedy did the Pharaoh relent and let the Jews leave slavery and Egypt to begin their journey to the Promised Land.

 
        This has been known for generations. What has not been known is why the Pharaoh, in the face of such overwhelming evidence would refuse to release the Jews after the first nine plagues. It took eight years of research by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the renowned psychologist and nurse, to find the definitive answer. Dr. Kubler-Ross spent those years studying the Dead Sea Scrolls before discovering the answer. And once found, it was obvious ... The Pharaoh was still in de Nile.
haggadah Section: Tzafun

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