SHULCHAN ORECH

THE SUPPER WILL NOW BE SERVED AND THE Seder WILL CONTINUE AFTER WE HAVE EATEN.  (As in Judaism the prayer will be said AFTER the meal.)

THE PASSOVER Seder CONTINUES:

Baruchah

ALL RECITE THE FOLLOWING PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AFTER THE MEAL:

“Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, for the fruit of the vine, for the produce of the field and for the land that Thou granted to our ancestors, to eat of its fruit and be satisfied with its goodness.  Have compassion, O Eternal our God, upon us, on Israel Thy people, on Jerusalem Thy city, on Zion the residence of Thy glory, and give us joy on this day of the feast of unleavened bread.  Thou, O Lord our God, art good and benevolent unto all.  We therefore, give our thanks unto Thee for Thy wonderful blessings.”

TSAPHUN

The Afikomen is our substitute for the Paschal Lamb, which was the final food of the Seder Feast.

The youngest child searches for the Afikomen.  When he finds it he takes it to the leader, who redeems it with a coin.  The Matzah is then broken into small pieces and distributed to each person present. (A piece of Matzah has been provided, wrapped in a white napkin in the center of the table.  Please break off a small bite size piece and pass it along to all the folks at the table.)

It is very significant that the middle Matzah was the one which was broken, hid away and finally redeemed, broken and distributed.  It was at this point in the last Passover meal that  Jesus celebrated with His disciples, that He said: “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  (1 Corinthians 11:24 NIV)

The word “Afikomen” is a Greek word taken from the word “epikomos” which signifies “after Banquet,” hence “dessert.”  But there is another Greek word for Afikomen, which is spelled “Aphikomen,” and means “I came.”  Isn’t that exciting!  Who came?  The One, obviously, whom the broken Matzah represents, namely, the LORD YESHUA (Jesus), THE TRUE Pesach!  When you look closely at the Matzah, it is a beautiful picture of our Messiah.  In four ways it symbolizes our Lord and Savior.  It is pierced, just a Jesus was pierced by that Roman spear.  It is striped, just as Jesus bore those stripes for our healing and for our redemption.  It is leaven free, just as Jesus is, because he was conceived of and by the Holy Spirit.  And it is called the “bread of life”, just as our Messiah is our sweet Bread of Life. HA-goulash