Yachatz

Yachatz is a point in the seder that is often overlooked. Many do it "on the sly" with the host breaking the matza and hiding it quickly before anyone notices, as everyone is still busy munching on their potato or parsley from karpas and chatting and trying to get more potatoes. I hope to make a point of it this year rather than try to sneak it through in the rush of activities before Magid begins...

Yachatz. 

We break the matza in half. Half is hidden away, and we search for it to make the matza whole again.

Our nation is broken in half. This year in particular has been a difficult one for the nation. We were broken in half. Before the last holiday we were broken in half by politics, with each side screaming at each other. It had gotten so bad there was serious concern it could lead to civil war, God forbid. Then Hamas broke us further, murdering and raping and kidnapping so many in a brutal attack. And since then, with an ongoing war and fallen soldiers and hostages still sitting in dark tunnels without decent food and water, worried about being killed at any time or doomed to remain there forever or until death comes before they get sent home. We are broken in half. 

We have to search for the pieces to put ourselves, our nation back together, to make us whole. Though with matza once you break it you can never make it whole again. There are always missing pieces. We might or might not be able to make ourselves and our nation whole again, but we have to look, to seek out, the ways and possibilities, and we have to try.

And when we find the afikomen, we bring it back to the table, we put it back together with the other piece, we make it as whole as we possibly can. We have to seek out the pieces of our nation that we pushed away, that are not with us, whether politically or physically like the hostages and our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, who have been away at war for so long, and find a way to put us all back together again, to be able to break bread with each other, to be whole and working towards our common goals, even if we dont agree on many things.