Guess Who's Coming to Seder?

Answer

The three matzot don't represent just any Cohen, Levi, or Israelite. They stand for three specific characters, who each played a central role in the Exodus.

They are none other than the three great siblings, Aaron, Moses and Miriam.

The top Matzah is the Cohen, representing the father of all Cohanim, Aaron. He was born a Levite, but was upgraded to a Cohen.

The middle Matzah is the Levi, representing Moses himself, who was born from a Levite father and a Levite mother.

And the bottom Matzah is the Israelite, standing for Miriam, who married an Israelite and joined his tribe.

Aaron was Moses’ older brother, whom he looked up to. So the Cohen Matzah is on the top.

Miriam was the older sister who watched over baby Moses as he floated on the Nile River, and so her Matzah is on the bottomholding up Moses, the middle Matzah.

Moses is the central figure of the Exodus. That’s why his Matzah is the middle one, and it gets the most attention. We break it in two, then recite the Haggadah over the smaller part, and hide away the bigger part as the Afikoman for the end of the Seder.

This is reflective of Moses himself, who was hidden away at birth. The Egyptians were killing Jewish baby boys, so Moses’ mother concealed him to save his life. The word the Torah uses for hiding is “Vatitzpenehu” - the same word we use for the hidden Matzah at the Seder - “Tzafun.”

More than that, our sages taught that just as Moses took us out of Egypt, so will his soul come back in the form of Moshiach to redeem us again. The smaller Matzah represents the redemption from Egypt, while the hidden larger Matzah is a bigger event, the future coming of Moshiach.

So we have Aaron, Moses and Miriam at our Seder table. We will meetthem again, when we finally find the big hidden piece of Matzah of the final redemption.