The Seder 2023: Tzafun
The last thing we do at the seder before birkat hamazon is eating a little more matzah. Join Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman as he explores the reasons why taste of the matzah is the last thing we should take with us upon leaving Mitzrayim.
Access our full pre-Pesach Seder 2023 special program schedule HERE.
The Seder 2023: Tzafun: The Seder 2023: Tzafun
Hello Everyone,
Here’s a little game that you can play the next time you have nothing to do in shul between Minchah and Ma’ariv. Ask the people sitting in shul, “What’s ‘Tzafun’?” I bet you will get a good number of blank stares in reply. Next ask the people “What’s ‘Afikoman’?” I bet everyone will give you a quick and confidant answer. Everybody knows that Afikoman is that last piece of matzah that we reluctantly swallow at the end of the Seder meal.
What is interesting is that the current understanding of this word Afikoman is almost the exact opposite of what it means in the Gemarah. That last piece of matzah is referred to as “Tzafun” in the well-known medieval rhyme that begins with the words “Kadesh, Urchatz Karpas, Yachatz….” The word Afikoman is found in masechet Pesachim, but in the Gemarah it means something that is not to be eaten.
This word acquired a totally different meaning over the centuries. We will learn what it means now and its associated Halachot in this meeting. We will also see how Amazon markets its Afikoman merchandise.
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman graduated from Yeshiva University in 1980 and the dental school of Columbia University in 1985. In 1989 he began studying and teaching at Yeshivat Hamivtar and now studies and teaches at Yeshivat Machanaim in Efrat. He has rabbinic ordination from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.