Take the middle matzah and break it into two, one piece larger than the other.

The larger piece is set aside to serve as Afikoman - which is Greek for "dessert." This is traditionally hidden, sought, found, and held for ransom at the end of the Seder - ransom because the Afikomen is the dessert which must be eaten last, in order to officially end the holiday meal.

The smaller piece is put back, between the two matzot. This smaller piece, along with the top matzah is what will be used for the “Motzi-Matzah” and “Korech”

We haven't even started telling our Passover story yet but at this moment we are creating our dessert, holding up the last thing that we'll eat tonight, and hiding it away from ourselves. There's a lot here - and in this life right now generally - about delayed gratification. Not that matzah is the sexiest dessert, and not that we don't have what to do before we get there. But, here we see that the night will end. We can't rush the process of what's going on around us, but knowing that it will end with this final mouthful is a comfort in its own way. 

Yachatz also brings up the age-old and sacred concept of brokenness. We enact a breaking that is mandated. We create unevenness, something that wasn't there before - our dessert - and a promise of a process we begin to experience now through questioning and storytelling. 


haggadah Section: Yachatz
Source: Ariel Kates