The Beauty in the Broken

A Reflection on Yahatz (Breaking the Middle Matzah)

The Jewish people are no strangers to brokenness. As Moses came down from Mount Sinai he was so angry that Benei Yisra’el worshiped a golden calf in his absence that he shattered the tablets he was holding containing the Ten Commandments. 

At each Jewish wedding, in the height of our communal joy, we smash a glass into pieces to remember that destruction is as much a part of our reality as wholeness and happiness. 

It makes perfect sense, then, that as we retell the story of our people’s freedom at Passover, we break the middle piece of matzah. After all, there was much brokenness in our redemption story. Our backs broke under the difficult labor of our enslavement in Egypt. Hearts broke when first-born sons died. Pharoah broke his promise, changing his mind after finally allowing Benei Yisra’el to go free. The sea itself broke so that we could cross into freedom. 

Today, our world is broken in so many ways. Hunger and poverty threaten nearly 38 million lives in America each year. War and hatred have allowed for destruction beyond measure. Israeli homes are broken, still emerging from the last years of war and uncertainty. 

We carry our brokenness with us. Moses carried the shattered tablets in the Ark alongside a new and whole set throughout our people’s travels in the desert. Many married couples choose to fill mezuzot with the shards from their broken glasses as they build a new home together. Our broken matzah becomes the afikoman, a hidden dessert that leaves a lasting taste of freedom on our tongue. 

We carry our brokenness with us to remind us that the world needs our help to put broken pieces back together. This year, as you break the middle matzah at your family’s seder table, ask yourself: What is broken in my world that needs fixing? How can I start putting the pieces back together?