PASSOVER - Pesakh - Hag HaMatzot
The number four plays a significant role in Judaism.
There are the four species of vegetables for Sukkot;
four kingdoms in the book of Daniel; four
Torah portions in the tefillin;* four Matriarchs.
At Passover, we find this number in abundance. In the course of the
Seder we have four sons, four cups of wine, four expressions of redemption
(Exodus 6:6-7) and perhaps the most famous"Four"
of all--the Four Questions.
As the Seder developed over the
centuries, the Four Questions underwent many changes
and
were altered as different situations arose.
1. For example,
originally one question dealt with why we ate roasted meat.
2. After the
destruction of the Temple, that question was deleted and one about reclining
was substituted.
Today, the Four Questions (phrased as observations) are asked by the
youngest child in the family:
Why is this night different
from all other nights?
1.
On all other nights, we may eat either chometz* or matzoh; on this night, only matzoh.
2. On all other
nights, we eat all kinds of vegetables; on this night, we must eat maror.
3. On all other nights,
we do not dip even once; on this night we dip
twice.
4. On all other
nights, we may eat either sitting or reclining; on this night, we all
recline.
The father then explains the Passover story.
There are other questions that the rabbis could have chosen as
well. In the spirit of rabbinical adaptation, here are some additional
questions that both children and adults might ponder.
(*
This and all other italicized Hebrew terms will be listed in a glossary
at the end of this article.)
Why do we place three matzot
together in one napkin?
There are any number
of traditions about this. One tradition holds that they represent the three
classes of people in ancient Israel: the Priests, the Levites, and the
Israelites. Another tradition teaches that they symbolize the three
patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Yet another explanation is that it is a
depiction of the "Three Crowns": the crown of learning, the crown
of priesthood, and the crown of kingship. 3
And a fourth option is that two of the matzot
stand for the two weekly loaves of Exodus 16:22, and
the third matzoh represents the special Passover
bread called the "bread of affliction." 4
And if those are not enough to keep one's imagination running, here's
another. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Sperling suggested
that the three matzot stand for the three
"measures of the fine meal" which Sarah prepared for Abraham's
angelic guests (Genesis 18). The reason for this interpretation lies in the
rabbinic tradition that this event occurred on the night of Passover. Out of all these explanations, how can
we decide which is the right one, or is there yet another?
Why is the middle matzoh,
the afikoman, broken in the course of the Seder?
Are we breaking the Levites, or Isaac, or the crown of learning,
or one of the guests' cakes, or the bread of affliction? Or are we
symbolizing the parting of the Red Sea (another explanation)? 6 If any of
these explanations are correct, why is the matzoh
hidden away, buried under a cushion, and then taken out and eaten by all, as
the Sephardic ritual puts it, "in memory of the Passover lamb?"
Where is our pesach,
our
Passover sacrifice, today?
The Torah prescribes that a lamb is to be sacrificed and eaten every Passover
as a memorial of the first Passover lambs which were killed (Deuteronomy
16:1-8). In reply, it is said that without a Temple we can have no
sacrifices - yet some have advocated that the sacrifice still be made in
Jerusalem even without a Temple. 7 Since the
Passover sacrifice, like others, involved the forgiveness of sins, it is
important that we do the right thing. Some feel that the pesach
had nothing to do with forgiveness. But in Exodus Rabbah
15:12 we read, "I will have pity on you, through the blood of the Passover
and the blood of circumcision, and I will forgive you." Again,
Numbers Rabbah 13:20 cites
Numbers 7:46, which deals with the sin offering, and then adds, "This
was in allusion to the Paschal sacrifice." Clearly the rabbis of this
time period regarded the pesach as effecting
atonement, and Leviticus 17:11 confirms that "it is the blood that makes
atonement for the soul."' Today, however, we have only a shankbone, the zeroah, as a
reminder of the Passover sacrifice, and roasted egg, the chaggigah,
in memory of the festival offerings. But nowhere did God say that we could
dispense with sacrifice. So, where is our pesach
today?
The answers to these questions can be found by examining how and
why the Seder
observance changed dramatically in the first
century.
The Seder celebrated by Jesus
and his disciples
The "Last Supper" was a Passover meal and seems to
have followed much the same order as we find in the Mishnah.
In the New Testament accounts, we find reference to the First Cup, also known
as the Cup of Blessing (Luke 22:17); to the breaking of the matzoh (Luke 22:19); to the Third Cup, the Cup of
Redemption (Luke 22:20): to reclining (Luke 22:14): to the charoseth or the maror (Matthew
26:23), and to the Hallel (Matthew 26:30).
In particular, the matzoh and the
Third Cup are given special significance by Jesus:
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This
is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same
way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new
covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. Luke 22:19-20
The Passover Lamb
The early Jewish believers in Jesus
considered him the fulfillment of the Passover lambs that were yearly
sacrificed. Thus Paul, a Jewish Christian who had studied under Rabbi Gamaliel. wrote, "Messiah,
our pesach, has been sacrificed for us" (1
Corinthians 5:7). John in his gospel noted that Jesus died at the same
time that the Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple (see John
19:14) and that like the Passover lambs, none of his bones were broken (the
others being crucified had their leg bones broken by the Romans - John
19:32, 33, 36). The idea behind all this was that just as the Israelites were
redeemed from Egyptian slavery by an unblemished lamb, now men could be freed
from slavery to sin by the Messiah, the Lamb of God.
The cessation of the Temple sacrifices
The first Christians were considered a part
of the Jewish community until the end of the first century when they were
expelled by the synagogue. Until the temple was destroyed, these Messianic
Jews worshipped regularly with those Jews who didn't believe in the Messiah.
In fact, there were entire congregations that worshipped Yeshua and they
continued in their observance of the regular Jewish festivals. In such a
setting, much interchange of ideas was possible. Jesus declared over the matzoh, "This is my body." Since the Jewish
believers of that time saw Jesus as the Passover lamb, it followed that they
would see the matzoh as symbolic of Jesus, the
Passover lamb. In turn, with the destruction of the Temple and the cessation
of sacrifices, the larger Jewish community might well have adopted the idea
that the matzoh commemorated the lamb, even if they
discounted the messianic symbolism.
The Afikoman
Ceremony
As mentioned earlier, the significance of the
middle matzoh and the ceremony connected with it is
shrouded in mystery. The derivation of the word afikoman
itself sheds some light. The word is usually traced to the Greek epikomion ("dessert") or epikomioi
("revelry").9 But Dr. David Daube,
professor of civil law at Oxford University, derives it from aphikomenos, "the one who has arrived."10
This mystery clears further when one considers the striking parallels between
what is done to the middle matzoh (afikoman) and what happened to Jesus. The afikoman is broken, wrapped in linen cloth, hidden and
later brought back. Similarly, after his death, Jesus was wrapped in linen,
buried, and resurrected three days later. Is it possible that the current Ashkenazic practice of having children steal the afikoman is a rabbinical refutation of the resurrection,
implying that grave-snatchers emptied the tomb?
These
factors strongly suggest that the afikoman ceremony
was
adopted from the Jewish Christians by the larger Jewish community
which also adopted the use of the three
matzot.
Jewish Christians contend
that
these three matzot represent the triune nature of
God, and that the afikoman
which
is broken, buried and brought back dramatically represents
Jesus
the Messiah.
THE QUESTION THEN REMAINS:
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO CONVINCE YOU?
FOOTNOTES: 1. Daube, David, The
New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (University
of London, 1956), p. 187. 2. Klein, Mordell,
ed., Passover (Leon Amiel, 1973), p. 69. 3.
Rosen, Ceil and Moishe, Christ in the Passover
(Moody Press, 1978), p. 70. 4. Klein, p.
53. 5. Sperling, Rabbi Abraham Isaac,
Reasons for Jewish Customs & Traditions,
(Bloch Publishing Co., 1968), p.m 189.
6. Ibid. 7. Klein, p. 28. 8. Morris, Leon, The Apostolic
Preaching of the Cross (Eerdmans, Third ed., 1965),
pp. 137-732. 9. Gaster, Theodor Herzel, Passover: Its History and Traditions
(Abelard-Schuman, 1958), p. 64. 10. Daube,
"He That Cometh" (London Diocesan Council for Christian-Jewish
Jewish Understanding, no date).
GLOSSARY OF HEBREW TERMS USED
chaggigah-roasted egg representing
the festival offering; also symbolic of mourning for destruction of the
Temple.
Charoseth-mixture of apples, cinnamon, nuts and wine
representing the mortar of Egypt.
Chometz-any fermented product
of grain, all leavening agents; hence, that which makes "sour."
Maror-bitter herbs, usually ground horse-radish.
Matzoh-literally "without leaven"; a flat wafer of
unleavened bread ( plural matzot).
Pesach-the holiday of Passover; the Paschal lamb.
Tefillin-phylacteries consisting of inscriptions on parchment encased
in two small leather cubicles attached to the arm and head when at prayer.
Zeroah-literally "arm"; the roasted shank bone on the
seder plate representative of the Paschal
sacrifice.
References & Quoted Material
a. Passover article written by Rich Robinson, Jews for Jesus,
ISSUES vol. 3:2
b. The Messianic Passover Haggadah, Lederer
Foundation, 1989
