ALL: This is the bread of affliction, the simple bread which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.

HOST: From the three matzos, I take the middle piece, break it in two. Why do we break this bread in two? Because if we hold on to the whole loaf for ourselves, it remains the bread of oppression. If we break it in order to share it, it becomes the bread of freedom.

I wrap one of the two pieces in a napkin. This special matzo is called the Afikomen. I will hide the Afikomen and after the meal, the children may search for it. The one who finds it will receive a gift.

In the world today, there are still some who are so pressed-down that they have not even this bread of oppression to eat. There are so many who are hungry that they cannot all come and eat with us tonight. Therefore we say to them, we set aside this bread as a reminder that we owe you justice and a share of the earth's fruitfulness, and that we will work to make the sharing real.

In the same way, if we human beings try to gobble up all the abundance of the world and leave nothing for the other forms of life to eat and breathe and drink, the abundance withers away into the death of many life-forms and despair for ourselves.

If we renew the earth's abundance for other life-forms besides ourselves, the earth will flourish and all beings will have enough to eat. Share your bread with the hungry, says YHWH, the Breath of Life.

This year we share in a world of greed and war, but we pledge to work during this coming year so that we can share and celebrate in a world at peace.

ALL: Let all who are hungry eat, and all who are in need come and celebrate the Passover.


haggadah Section: Yachatz
Source: Original