For children,
many aspects of seder night are memorable.
They get to stay up way past their bed time and drink an endless amount
of sugary grape juice. But, what sticks out the most is the mad dash for the afikomen
at the end. Aside from the thrill of a chase, the winner reaps the reward of a
prize. For the adults also, the afikomen (which used to be the sweet korban pesach as
opposed to another piece of matzah) is supposed to have a lasting effect as it
is the last thing we put in our mouths on Seder night.
What is the idea behind breaking a
piece of matzah, hiding it, and then finding it again? Why not keep the matzah
intact in the first place and avoid the problem of finding it? The idea behind
this is central to understanding what the night is all about.
What propels the hagaddah forward is
the question. We have four central
questions at the beginning and four sons who are characterized by their question
s or lack thereof. The word for question
in Hebrew is שאל, she’al. Literally,
the root of the word means ‘that there is not.’ In other words, a question is
a revelation that there is something I lack and I seek to fill it. That is the
first challenge of the night- realize that we are not complete and need to seek
something better.
There are two fundamental ways in which
a human being lacks. People seek a life
of pleasure both physical and spiritual, and people want a life that leaves a
lasting impact. When the wise son asks about the different types of mitzvahs, the
Torah answers[1]that
the reason why we have all of these mitzvahs is for a good life physically and spiritually and for a moral,
meaningful life.
The hagaddah answers differently to
the wise son’s question. He says, teach him about the afikomen. Why? Because it
represents finding completeness through a good and meaningful life. And that is
the taste we need to keep in our mouth at the end of the night- the taste of
growth from incompletion to completion. That is why we were freed from Egypt.
We were freed in order to grow and to realize that is the ultimate freedom and
the ultimate pleasure.
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