New person reads:

We pause for a symbolic breaking of the matzah. During this section, Yachatz, we recognize that our world is not whole, and more often than not, we, ourselves, are not whole.  There is a teaching in the talmud that refers to the two sets of tablets, the ones that were broken by Moses upon seeing the golden calf, and the second set that were whole, remade, rewritten.  The teaching says that both sets of tablets, the whole and the broken, were carried in the ark of the covenant.  We live in a society where we are told to discard that which is broken.  Yet, our tradition comes to advise against such a mindset.  What is broken, what is imperfect is not only to be retained, but to be carried in our holiest vessel.  We lift up our brokenness, and recognize its importance.  This is who we are, and on this holiday, we break a matzah that serves as our centerpiece, we store it away, as the afikomen, and we savor it as our final taste of the seder.  It is this sweet taste of imperfection that is the final taste our celebration of freedom.

Leader continues:

Now I will break the middle matzah.

Leader removes the middle matzah and breaks it in half. They raise the larger half for all to see.

Leader continues:

Traditionally, I would hide this larger half as the "afikomen", which after dinner everyone would search for... But I won't, because you might have trouble finding it here in my home! Nevertheless, we will search for it later...


haggadah Section: Yachatz