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→The Dialogue of Judaism and Hellenism
Following customs current among their Gentile contemporaries at the Hellenistic symposium, the ''seder'' follows the order of these banquets along with the various customs. The recounting of the plagues with the dropping out of the wine on a plate is alike to the tossing of wine into a center bowl of the Hellenistic banquet. Questions and discussions about the menu itself, in the philosophical manner, were a part of the symposium ritual. That the earliest Jewish reference to the ''afikoman'' (Mishnaic tractate ''Pesahim'' 10.8) noted that one should not conclude the celebratory meal with it. Why so?
While later tradition took this to mean quite the opposite, the context of the Hellenistic symposium ''afikoman'' shows whyit was rejected by the earlier Jewish communities. The ''afikoman'' or "dessert" of the banquet was a time for carousing and drunkenness. That it was later introduced into the ''seder'', and even used by some Christians today in modern times as a "proof" of messianic significance about Jesus, only becomes intellectual and historical irony.
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