APO:The Story That Could Not Be Forgotten!  by Solomon Birnbaum

The New Ingredient

The Law of Moses which gave the Passover to Israel carefully
prescribed the manner in which it was to be kept. The outstanding
feature of that feast was the Lamb offered by the Priests in the
Temple of Jerusalem commemorating the Lamb slain in Egypt, and
which alone was called "The Passover".

All of this is recorded in the 12th chapter of the Book of Exodus.
Yet today with the Temple and the Priesthood gone, and no
possiblity of offering the Lamb, we nevertheless persist in in our
claim that we are keeping the Passover!

And as if to make up for that deficiency, a new ingredient has been
added to its observance, namely the *Wine*. Although nowhere,
neither in the writings of Moses, nor in those of the Rabbis
(including Hillel) during the fifteen centuries that followed the
days of Moses, is there any mention made of wine as being necessary
for the keeping of the Passover.

The Hagadda (the Jewish Passover story) tells us how Hillel kept
it. Only 3 things were essential: Pesach, Matzo, and Moror, that
is: the Passover Lamb, the Unleavened Bread, and the Bitter Herbs.

In other words, during the fifteen hundred years between Moses and
the birth of Messiah, Israel kept the Passover without the wine.
Possibly, wine was used by those who could afford it, but it was
not an essential part of the observance of the Passover.

Yet today the four cups of wine for the celebration of the
Passover, or Seder, are mandatory. No Jew could keep the Passover
without them. The Shulchan Aruch further instructs that the wine
used on that occasion should be red!

The Drama of the Matzo

Moreover, as an additional feature, so as to make up for the
sorely felt loss of the Passover Lamb, part of one of the Matzos
on the Passover Table or "The Seder" (as it is now called), is no
longer just "Unleavened Bread." It is called APHIKOMEN and has
been vested with a new significance. It now symbolizes the
Passover Lamb itself!

An interesting little drama is being enacted every year in
connection with the Matzo: Three Matzos are placed on the table,
one on the top of the other. The person who conducts the ceremony
breaks the middle one into two unequal parts. The larger piece he
wraps in a clean cloth and hides. Then, at the close of the meal,
he recovers it from its hiding place and shares it among all
members of the family. That piece of Matzo, or the APHIKOMEN the
Shulchan Aruch bids to be treated with special regard and eaten at
the close of the Seder with special reverence, because it says, it
represents the Passover Lamb which was eaten at the close of the
meal.

As the matter now stands, it is no longer the Passover Lamb,
commanded by Moses, which constitutes the main feature of the
Jewish Passover, but the bread (Matzo) and the wine.

This marks a radical departure from the feast initiated by Moses.
What was the cause of this departure? Who substituted the Matzo
for the Passover Lamb? Who made the Wine an essential part of the
Seder? Why should it be red like blood?

The Story That Was Not Allowed To Be Forgotten

The answer to the above questions may perhaps surprise the reader.
But I am sure he will be glad to know it. It will throw a new
light upon one of the most vital episodes of Jewish history.

The things we are doing to the Matzo and the Wine is a story in
action, or a drama, of something that happened long ago, about
someone that lived long ago.

This story is told in secret, as it were, because the people were
afraid to tell it openly. And for centuries Jewish lips were
forbidden to utter the name of the hero of that story or to reveal
its source.

That story, however, could not be forgotten. It became indelibly
enshrined in the soul of Israel. In order to keep it alive and
fresh, it was reenacted year after year at the Seder which is the
most sacred and the most religious occasion of the Jewish home.
It waited until the book where that story is written could be
opened and read without fear. That book is the Book of the
Messianic Covenant ("New Testament"). It is the book which tells
of Life, the Teaching, the Suffering, the Death and the

Resurrection of Y'shua, the Jewish Messiah!

The Core and The Substance of the Seder

About four decades before the destruction of the Second Temple (70
CE) we are told that Y'shua, at the close of His career, went with
His disciples to an upper room in Jerusalem to keep the Passover
with them. Someone present on that occasion describes the incident
in the following words:

As they were eating [at the close of the
supper], Y'shua took Matzo and blessed it, and
brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and
said, take, eat; this is my body.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and
gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for
this is my blood of the new covenant, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins.
(Matthew 26:26-28)

Questions and Answers

In these few sentences which describe the institution of the
Messianic Passover or the "L-rd's Supper", the answers to the
questions we asked above are found:

*WHY* does the Jew, while eating the piece of Matzo which is
called APHIKOMEN, believe (according to the Shulchan Aruch) that
he is eating the PESACH (or "Passover Lamb")?

The origin of this idea is not found in the Talmud; it comes
from the Messianic Covenant.

It is *BECAUSE* Y'shua took Matzo and said "This is my body."
It is He who gave His disciples bread and told them, as they
were eating it, to believe that they were eating the Korban
Pesach (Sacrifice of the Passover). He, the Messiah, was the
true Korban Pesach. He is "the Lamb of G-d who takes away the
sin of the world." It was from Him that the Rabbis learned to
make such an identification.

*WHY* are there three Matzos on the Seder table, and *why* is the
middle mazo broken?

The customary explanation for the presence of the three Matzos
is that they represent the three groups in Israel: the
Cohens, the Levites, and the Israelites. But if that be the
case why is the middle Matzo broken, wrapped and hidden (a
recent Jewish writer uses the term "buried" instead of
"hidden"), and then recovered from the hiding place and shared
amoung the members of the family? Why also is it called by
the mysterious name, APHIKOMEN? What has all this to do with
the Levites? Nothing like this has happened to them!

But every single act done to that middle Matzo is a
description of what happened to Y'shua. It is therefore He
whom the APHIKOMEN represents. And all the three Matzos are
symbolical of the threefold revelation of HaShem according to
the Bible: G-d the Father and Creator, G-d the Messiah and
Redeemer, and G-d the Holy Spirit. The middle Matzo which
represents Y'shua is therefore broken. He was broken when He
was crucified!

*WHY* is the broken Matzo wrapped in a cloth and hidden?

*BECAUSE* the disciple of Y'shua, when He died on the cross,
took His body down, wrapped it in grave clothes and placed in
in a tomb.

*WHY* is the broken Matzo, called APHIKOMEN, recovered from its
hiding place?

*BECAUSE* on the third day G-d raised Y'shua from the grave in
His resurrection from the dead.

*WHY* is the APHIKOMEN eaten as the last act of the Seder?

*BECAUSE* other parallel reports of this institution of the
"L-rd's Supper" took place at the close of the meal in the
upper room in Jerusalem.

And finally,

*WHY* is the APHIKOMEN shared amoung all members of the family?

*BECAUSE* the followers of Y'shua are regarded as the family
of G-d; and Y'shua had said to them "Take, eat!" He is the
bread of life to all who believe in HIM.

The Wine That Was Red

The incident related in the Messianic Covenant also answers the
questions with reference to the Wine on the Seder table.

*WHY* is wine necessary and essential for the Seder?

*BECAUSE* Y'shua took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to His
disciples.

*WHY* is the wine to be red, resembling blood?

*BECAUSE* Y'shua said: "This is my blood of the Messianic
Covenant, shed for many for the remission of sins."

*WHY* is it mandatory that every Jew should drink wine at the
Seder?

*BECAUSE* Y'shua said: "Drink ye all of it."

The Mystery of the APHIKOMEN

What is the meaning of this mysterious word APHIKOMEN? It looks
like a Greek word. Most scholars are agreed that it is, but
different opinions exist as to its meaning. Some say it comes
from "EPIKOMOS" and means "dessert." But that does not seem to be
correct, since a great deal of violence had to be perpetrated on
the word "EPIKOMOS" in order to turn it into "APHIKOMEN".

But there is another Greek word, which gives a full and
satisfactory explanation, and where violence is not at all
necessary to give it meaning. It reads exactly as our APHIKOMEN.
What does it mean? According to the Greek lexicon it means "I
CAME." Who came? The One, obviously, whom the broken Matzo
represents, namely, the L-rd Y'shua, the True Pesach!

In the APHIKOMEN, therefore the L-rd Y'shua calls to all who are
waiting and hoping for the coming of the Messiah, "Why do you wait
any longer? I came already! APHIKOMEN! Open your eyes of faith,
and behold Me. I am the True Passover. I shed My blood to shield
you from death and give you eternal life. I stand in the place of
your Passover Lamb because I am its fulfillment!"

How It Happened

Before we leave our subject, we must still say a word as to how it
was that the "L-rd's Supper" became the core of the "Jewish
Seder."

Briefly, it happened like this:

At the time of the birth of Y'shua, and about thirty years after,
only one kind of Passover was in vogue in Israel; the kind that
Moses instituted at the Exodus, and the kind Hillel observed
fifteen hundred years after Moses. Then Y'shua held His memorable
supper in the upper room in Jerusalem, saying to them: "This do
in remembrance of me."

Thereafter, there were two kinds of Passover in Israel; the one
that Hillel kept according to the Law of Moses, and the other
which the L-rd Y'shua instituted. To begin with, the disciples of
Y'shua, the Messianic Jews, being devout Jews, observed both
kinds. As long as the Temple stood, they with the rest of the
Jewish people ate the Passover after the manner of Hillel, and at
the close remembered with the bread and the wine the death and the
resurrection of their Messiah. Then in 70 CE Jerusalem and the
Temple with the Priesthood were destroyed. As a consequence, the
Passover after the manner of Hillel was done away with, and only
the Passover after the manner of Y'shua remained.

The abolition of Hillel's Passover left an intolerable void in the
religion of Israel. That void had to be filled if Israel as a
nation was to survive. But it had to be a kind of "Passover"
which was not tied inseparably to the Temple and the Priesthood
that were no more. The "Passover" of the disciples of Y'shua
completely answered their purpose. The Jewish leaders, therefore,
incorporated it into the religion of their people, building around
it embellishments and other features to adapt it to the
circumstances of Israel in the Galuth (Exile). Yet, in spite of
all the features and embellishments with which they loaded it,
they could not efface its inner and original import.

Always and ever, therefore, it was Y'shua, the Shepherd, and
Saviour of Israel, who provided for the spiritual need and
sustenance of His people to insure their survival; and forever
till they hear His voice, find safety in His fold, and find rest
for their troubled hearts.

Shalom

by Solomon Birnbaum
