Afikoman & Korban Pesach: Our All-Encompassing Relationship With God

Rabbi Jeremy Teichman

What does the wise child say? "'What are these testimonies, statutes and judgments that the Lord our God commanded you?'" And accordingly you will say to the child, as per the laws of the Pesach sacrifice, "We may not eat an afikoman [a dessert or other foods eaten after the meal] after [we are finished eating] the Pesach sacrifice."

In the beginning of magid, we speak about how to communicate the ideas of the Exodus to the wise child, who is intellectually curious and advanced. In short, the anticipated question asked is: Why do Jews observe all these different types of commandments from God? This questioner is searching for a reason, a question beginning with “why.” Yet, we answer with a factual statement, as if he asked a question beginning with “what.” Our answer seems to completely ignore the wise child’s question! How does that make any sense?

There is another aspect of this answer that seems difficult. The particular law to which we refer is that in the time of the Beit HaMikdash, when the Pesach sacrifice was offered, it had to be the last food eaten on the Seder night. This is hard to understand. Even if we assume that citing a law is an appropriate response to his question, why this law in particular? Why do we focus on the laws of the sacrifice, and why this one, in particular?

Rambam explains that the reason that we may not eat anything after the korban Pesach is to ensure that the taste of the korban Pesach will linger in a person’s mouth, signifying that that this is the primary mitzvah and “take-away” of the night; it is the “last licks” of the Seder.

The haggadah presents the background and importance of the korban Pesach as follows:

The Pesach [Passover] sacrifice that our ancestors were accustomed to eating when the Temple existed, for the sake of what [was it]? For the sake [to commemorate] that the Holy One, blessed be He, passed over the homes of our ancestors in Egypt, as it is stated: "And you shall say: 'It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, for that He passed over the homes of the Children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and our homes he saved.’ And the people bowed their heads and bowed."

During the plague of the firstborns, Hashem instructed the Jews to sacrifice lambs as offerings to Him, and they spread lambs' blood on the doorposts of their homes. By doing this, God passed over the Jewish homes during the plague and only afflicted the Egyptian homes. Why did God want the Jews to do this? The classic explanation offered is that because the Egyptians worshiped lambs as one of their many deities, Hashem called upon the Jews to publicly, in the face of their Egyptian masters, demonstrate their lack of religious belief in the Egyptian gods, and show their faith in Hashem. By doing this, Hashem reciprocated by saving the Jewish people and redeeming them from Egypt, in order to ultimately make them His nation with the giving of the Torah and the Land of Israel. The most pivotal message to learn from the Seder is that the Jews are His people, and all the implications included must be internalized.

In order to relate this idea to the discourse with the chacham, there is a key point that must be noted in the question of the chacham’s who does not simply ask why Jews observe the תוצמ (commandments) of Hashem. Instead, the chacham asks why Jews observe תודע (testimonies), םיקח (statutes), and םיטפשמ (judgements)–three different types of commandments. Perhaps it can be understood that the chacham is asking why Judaism is not simply one mode of law and commandment. Why is Judaism such an all-encompassing framework, with 613 distinct commandments?

The response to this question stresses the importance of the Korban Pesach, the essential last licks of the Seder. The Pesach sacrifice symbolizes the forging of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. Accordingly, since every real relationship encompasses all aspects of life, our relationship with God is no different. In marriage, two people share their lives together in a way where everything that each spouse does has an impact on the other. Without any distinctions, everything is part of their relationship. Similarly, God calls upon the Jews to observe תודע (testimonies), םיקח (statutes), and םיטפשמ (judgements)–three different genres of commandments–to limitlessly share all the different aspects of our lives with Him.