Seder means Order. Passover Seders follow an order of 14 Steps. I won’t list them all here but I will ask you to notice the relationship between Step 4,Yachatz, and Step 11, Tzafun. 

Yachatz is about being broken; the bitterness of slavery, the Red Sea splitting. It is symbolized during the Seder by breaking matzah (the unrisen bread) and then hiding the bigger half. Tzafun is about healing the brokenness; bringing the broken-off part out from hiding. It’s about healing into something new; coming into wholeness. At the Seder, it is symbolized by the search for the broken half which, once found, is broken into smaller pieces so that all who are at the table may eat of it.

Why does Yachatz/the broken become Tzafun/the whole? How does this happen?  In addition to Passover telling a story about transformation from yachatz/the brokenness of slavery to tzafun/the wholeness of freedom, here are two more examples from Jewish history. Continue reading Passover’s Process →