By Laura Seymour

Dear Families,

Getting ready for Passover includes so much, and finding just the right inspirational thought to share can be a challenge. Going through the many articles I’ve saved over the years, I found this one from 2020 by Rabbi Helen Plotkin. It’s about kids’ favorite part of the seder — searching for and finding the afikoman.

Often, this tradition is seen simply as a way to keep children engaged. But Rabbi Plotkin offers a deeper meaning. First, we hold up the stack of three matzos, remove the middle one and break it in half. One half goes back into the stack, while the other is wrapped and set aside for the end of the seder.

Family traditions vary — sometimes the afikoman is stolen, sometimes it’s hidden. Either way, the Seder cannot conclude until the afikoman is returned. It becomes the job of the children to bring it back to the table. Only then can we move from the meal to the conclusion of the seder.

Here is where Rabbi Plotkin shares a profound message:

“As we approach the end of the seder, we come to the section in which we find and eat the afikoman, the section called Tzafun, which means ‘hidden’ or ‘stored away.’ The implication is that the afikoman represents something inaccessible — something not available to us in our everyday lives — complete and ultimate freedom, true redemption.

Sated with family, learning, laughter and food, we finally act out the repair of our broken world. When we eat the afikoman, the broken pieces of the human realm will get put back together — they will recombine inside us — they will become us. The bridge between heaven and earth will be repaired.

And this is the secret of the afikoman ritual: Whom must we trust to bring the other half? The children. In the end, the most important piece — the point of it all, the future, our own redemption — is in the hands of the younger generation. We have no choice but to trust them to bring it to the table.”

One of the closing rituals of the seder is opening the door for the prophet Elijah, who will join us and drink from his special cup as he announces the coming of the messianic age of peace. Many families have updated this ritual: Elijah’s cup is passed around the table, and each person adds a bit from their own wine glass to symbolize our shared responsibility to bring peace to the world.

So we end the seder with this message: We all have a role in creating a better world — and our children, who are watching and learning from us, will lead us into the future.

Laura Seymour is Jewish experiential learning director and camp director emeritus at the Aaron Family JCC.