Encyclopedia
Judaica 1906
Afikomen
By : Kaufmann Kohler
A piece broken off the cake of
unleavened bread, matzah (usually
from the middle one of the three
cakes called Cohen, Levi, and
Israel), at the beginning of the
Seder service on Passover eve.
It is secreted under the pillow
of the head of the family, who
presides at the seder table, and
it is eaten at the conclusion
of the meal. The word is of Greek
derivation, according to some
authorities from that is, a call
for the after-dinner pastime;
others hold that it is from (festal
song). The Jewish form of it occurs
in Mishnah Pes. x. 8, which says:
"One should not break off
the communion meal of the paschal
lamb by starting another entertainment,
called either [festal song], or,
according to others, ?p???µ??
[an after-meal dessert or pastime]."
This rule of making the paschal
lamb the last thing to be partaken
of in company was applied at a
later time (see Rab and Samuel
in Pes. 119b) to the Passover
bread; and the piece eaten at
the end of the meal received the
name Afi?omen.
In
order to awaken the curiosity
of the children the Afikomen was
broken off the matzah at the beginning
of the seder; the custom arising
perhaps from a misunderstanding
of the passage in Pes. 109a, "They
hasten [the eating of] the matzah
in order to keep the children
awake," which may also be
translated, "They snatch
away the matzah"; and so
it became customary to allow the
children to abstract the Afikomen
from under the pillow of the master
of the house, and to keep it until
redeemed by him with presents.
Subsequently
it became quite common among the
Jews, by way of witticism, to
say: "To eat much Afikomen
is to live long"; and when
a man died advanced in years it
was said, "He ate too much
Afikomen." A piece of the
Afikomen used to be preserved
in every house from year to year,
and in Eastern countries it was
supposed, when carried in a corner
of the arba' kanfot, to guard
against the evil eye.
Bibliography:
Jastrow, Dict. s. v.;
L. Löw, Lebensalter, p. 318;
Samuel Krauss, Griechische und
Lateinische Lehnwörter, ii.
107.
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