The Passover Break

We are deep into the Pesach (Passover) festival and I have a few thoughts. 

First, as I was looking into the Hagadah before the seder, one of the beginning acts jumped out at me. 

Before we get to the telling of the story, we take the middle of the 3 matzot and break it roughly in half - this is called Yachatz. The larger portion (the afikoman) comes to represent the Pascal lamb and is set aside for the end of the meal. It is hidden by the one leading the seder and searched for by the children. Once found it can be used as a bargaining chip for a gift, because without the afikoman we cannot end the seder. It should be the last food we taste, a reminder that we should be partaking in the festival lamb but cannot.

One, the matzah is broken but the laws regarding the Pescal lamb state that it cannot be broken. We break the afikoman on purpose, our seder is incomplete, imperfect, it is broken.

Two, the breaking, the Yachatz, reminded me of the beginning of our Pesach story and it seems to me that our Sages have placed this act here intentionally. It brings us to the story of Yosef and his brothers, which brought the family to Egypt and ultimately into slavery.

Yachatz. Yaakov and his family are in Cnan and are feeling the pressures of the famine which weighs heavy on Egypt and across much of the fertile crescent. It has been almost 22 years since he was told of Yosef’s death, yet he still mourns. Yaakov says to his remaining sons: 

וַיַּ֣רְא יַעֲקֹ֔ב כִּ֥י יֶשׁ־שֶׁ֖בֶר בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יַעֲקֹב֙ לְבָנָ֔יו לָ֖מָּה תִּתְרָאֽוּ׃

When Jacob saw that there were food rations to be had in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another?”

וַיֹּ֕אמֶר הִנֵּ֣ה שָׁמַ֔עְתִּי כִּ֥י יֶשׁ־שֶׁ֖בֶר בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם רְדוּ־שָׁ֙מָּה֙ וְשִׁבְרוּ־לָ֣נוּ מִשָּׁ֔ם וְנִחְיֶ֖ה וְלֹ֥א נָמֽוּת׃

“Now I hear,” he went on, “that there are rations to be had in Egypt. Go down and procure rations for us there, that we may live and not die.”

וַיֵּרְד֥וּ אֲחֵֽי־יוֹסֵ֖ף עֲשָׂרָ֑ה לִשְׁבֹּ֥ר בָּ֖ר מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃

So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to get grain rations in Egypt;

(Bereshit, 42:1-3, Sefaria translation)

In Hebrew the word shever, used above several times, can mean “rations” or “plenty” but also “broken”.

In the latter sense, Yaakov, whether aware of it or not, is stating that something is broken. Our family is broken, Egypt is broken. Yet the only way to fix what is broken is to go down to Egypt. And of course, he is right. He is aware of Gd’s promise to Avraham, his grandfather, that his descendants will be residents in a foreign land and will suffer hardships but will come out a great nation. He knows they are building a great nation. However, a great nation cannot be built on a broken foundation. רְדוּ־שָׁ֙מָּה֙ וְשִׁבְרוּ־לָ֣נוּ מִשָּׁ֔ם וְנִחְיֶ֖ה וְלֹ֥א נָמֽוּת׃

“Go down and break for us there, that we may live and not die.”

Yachatz is the beginning of slavery and of redemption. You cannot fix something that isn't broken. And often, what is broken cannot be fixed without breaking it just a bit more.

I feel that this is our current situation in Israel (and in other places in the world as well but I am living here). Something is broken. This was true before October 7th but that day made it explicitly clear. The 6 months since have not shown me that we have fixed the problem, although we will do so in the end.

For instance, a justice system that cannot deal with Nukba murders should be dismantled and rebuilt. These institutions have failed. They are not built for Eretz Yisrael.

Our acquiescence to England regarding visitation rights for illegal-combatants when our hostages are not afforded the same is pathetic.

Our failure to move on Rafiah because of foreign pressures, while dedicating and endangering Israeli soldiers to secure the US “temporary” dock shows just how broken things are institutionally and we are all at fault for that.

We will fix what is broken and I pray that the process is not too painful. It has been painful enough already.

Meir

Image by avitalchn from Pixabay