On Hidden and Revealed Aspects of Reality
The renowned Kabbalist Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, in a 1932 letter to his son, the future Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, explained the inner meaning of one of the rituals of the Passover Seder—Yachatz—the breaking of the middle matzah.[1] When arranging the Seder plate, we are careful to select three whole matzot. However, as soon as we wash our hands and before even reciting the blessing over these matzot, we take the middle matzah and break it in half. The larger part becomes the afikoman (“dessert”) and is set aside until the very end of the Seder, when it is taken out and eaten in remembrance of the Passover sacrifice eaten while the Temples stood in Jerusalem. The smaller part of the broken middle matzah is returned back to the Seder plate—the [...]