The Afikoman is the "dessert" of the seder. This plain piece of matzah is intended to be the last bite of our ritual meal. Usually for dessert, I want something sweet. How can it be that matzah is sweet?

I spent Passover 2017 traveling in Belarus with a classmate. Everywhere we went, people offered us dry matzah as a snack, or gave us extra to take back to the hotel after a seder. As American Jews, we usually had our fill of matzah after about three days of Passover, and we were perplexed by our hosts' enthusiasm for it. 

We discovered the reason at the Museum of Ethnography in Mogilev. We were there with our translator, Irina, and the head of the Jewish community in Mogilev, Mila. At the museum, Mila pointed out a spiky metal crank. "That's a machine for making matzah," she told us through Irina. "I remember, when I was a little girl, one of my neighbors had one of those. We had to keep it a secret, and sneak over to get just a few pieces of matzah, because we would have all been in big trouble if the Soviets found out."

In an effort to quash religious diversity, the Soviets banned matzah and other religious foods. Today, Belarusian Jews no longer need to worry about having enough matzah for their seders. They can openly put on community seders. Matzah,now, is a symbol of their persistence through Soviet rule, and the revitalization of Jewish life in Belarus. Instead of a burden, foisted on us by tradition for eight days every year, matzah is representative of the freedom to uphold that tradition. Matzah is sweet because it tastes like freedom.


haggadah Section: Yachatz
Source: Lianna Mendelson