Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on March 25, 2013 by Derek Kwait
Written during Avigayle Adler's workshop during Pardes' Night of Learning for Passover.
That’s nice, but–if I can ask this and still keep my teeth intact–what’s it for? The Halakha doesn’t answer my question. By the way, did you know afikomen is a Greek word? What’s up with that? Why do we end our seders with the taste of a Greek word lingering in our mouths?
Just because I’m smart, everyone thinks I want to sit down and learn Leviticus with them, but I don’t. When I asked my question, I wanted to know: What’s the historical evidence (עדות) of this Exodus? How do these completely different laws (חוקים) come out of this? Finally, where is the justice (משפט), how does/can this ritual bring משפט into my life, into the world?
I asked the same question as my brother, the only difference is I was polite about it. I wanted meaning and you gave me the ArtScroll. And you wonder why so many of our best and brightest are defecting!
Oh, while we’re speaking of the afikomen, I know where you hid it, it’s behind the couch against the window where it’s been every other year for the past 12 sederim. But it’s okay, I won’t tell The Tam.
