Yachatz - Breaking the Middle Matzah

With three pieces of matzah stacked on the table, we now break the middle matzah into two pieces. Before reciting the blessing hamotzi, one should uncover and lift all the matzos (the two complete matzos and the broken half between them). 

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Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, haMotzi lechem min haaretz.

This is the bread of poverty which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry, come and eat; all who are needy, come and celebrate Passover with us. This year we are here; next year we will be in Israel. This year we are slaves; next year we will be free.

At a Passover seder we say an additional blessing before eating the matzah.

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Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav, v'tzivanu al achilat matzah.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who hallows us with mitzvot, commanding us regarding the eating of Matzah.

The host should wrap up the larger of the two broken pieces and, at some point between now and the end of dinner, hide it. This piece is called the afikomen, literally “dessert” in Greek. After dinner, the guests 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