Page 45 - HaMizrachi #8 Pesach

What's in a Word

David Curwin

AFIKOMAN KARPAS MAROR

ן ָמוֹקי ִפ ֲא ס ַפּ ְר ַכּ רוֹר ָמ

Afikoman translating the Mishna as “One should (apart from some interesting drashot) is
not eat anything after the Passover the word karpas appearing in the Book of
ased on the Mishna (Pesachim afikoman.” Esther (1:6), meaning “fine cotton or
119b), the afikoman – ן ָ מ ֹוקי ִ פ ֲ א linen.”
B – is a substitute for the pesach So even if we accept the Babylonian
[sacrifice]. Talmud’s understanding that we are not Prof. Heinrich Guggenheimer, in The
supposed to eat after the afikoman, why Scholar’s Haggadah, writes that since
The Mishna (Pesachim 10:8) states: ןי ֵ א ְ ו do we call the last piece of matzah we eat ס ַּ פ ְ ר ַּ כ was not vocalized in the texts
ן ָ מ ֹוקי ִ פ ֲ א ח ַ ס ֶּ פ ַ ה ר ַ ח ַ א ןי ִ רי ִ ט ְ פ ַ מ, “After the “the afikoman”? where it was first mentioned, those who
pesach (sacrifice) one should not end didn’t know Arabic or Persian assumed
with afikoman.” Most halachic authorities accept that to (mistakenly) that it had the same
fulfill the Mishna's intention, the last pronunciation as the word in Megillat
There are two major questions here. thing eaten at the seder should be a
One, what is this afikoman? And two, quantity of matzah. In the times of the Esther, and that vocalization eventually
isn’t the afikoman actually the last thing Geonim, there was no mention that this made it into the Haggadah as well.
we eat at the seder? Maror
piece needed to come from the broken
First, let’s find out what afikoman means. and hidden piece of the middle matzah. The etymology of maror – ר ֹור ָ מ – (in the
While there are a number of midrashim But by the time of the Rishonim, it was Tanach, it never appears in the singular
and folk-etymologies, the most emphasized that the last piece of matzah but rather as the plural merorim םי ִ ר ֹור ְ מ)
commonly accepted answer is that it eaten should come from the broken and is simple. It means bitter herbs, from mar
comes from the Greek word epikomion, hidden piece. This is the origin of the ר ַ מ, “bitter”.
meaning the festal procession after the siman (step) tzafun – ןּופ ָ צ – meaning
meal. Epi means after (as in epilogue), “hidden.” Eventually, the afikoman began The English word myrrh also gets its
and komos means banquet or to refer to the piece of matzah eaten name from the Hebrew word ר ֹומ (mor).
merrymaking (the root of the word during tzafun. This spice was burned at the altar in the
comedy). Temple, and appears numerous times in
So afikoman changed from a forbidden the Song of Songs.
Professor Eliezer Segal, in Holidays, act of revelry, to a dessert, to a required
History and Halakha, describes the word's piece of matzah during the meal. This of course leads to the question: why
development: The reference is to a would a spice be named after something so
custom known as epikomion, a Greek Karpas bitter? Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, (Living Torah,
word meaning “after dinner revelry” ... We all know karpas – ס ַּ פ ְ ר ַּ כ – is the Exodus 30:23) in his Living Torah
Normally this would involve going off to vegetable, often parsley or celery, eaten commentary to Exodus 30:23, explains that
someone else’s house, whether or not as a sort of appetizer at the Seder. What it had a pleasant smell and a bitter taste:
you have been invited, and indulging in is the origin of the word?
another party.What the Mishna is saying Myrrh is a gum resin produced by trees
and shrubs … It has a pleasing fragrance,
is that, in spite of some of the apparent There are those that claim it comes from
similarities between the seder and a the Persian word karafs, meaning parsley. very much like balsam, and a lasting,
bitter, aromatic taste, hence the name
pagan banquet, one should not treat it Others claim that it derives from the mor, which signifies bitterness.
light-headedly as the Romans and Greek karpos, meaning fruit of the soil.
Greeks would their own feasts. This Karpos originates in the Indo-European
meaning was understood by the Rabbis root kerp, meaning to gather or to 1
of the Palestinian [Jerusalem] Talmud, harvest. Other words from the same root Rabbi Shmuel David Luzzato, 1800-1865.
Klein was a Romanian-born Canadian linguist,
who lived under Roman rule. By include harvest and carpet, because it 2 author and Rabbi, 1899-1983.
contrast, the Babylonian Talmud (whose was made of unraveled, plucked fabric.
authors lived farther away from the David Curwin is a writer living in Efrat,
Greco-Roman world) came to One similar word that does not appear and the author of the Balashon blog
understand the afikoman as a dessert, to have any etymological connection balashon1@gmail.com

45