You may recall that after dinner, the Pesach Seder is not allowed to continue until the afikomen has been found by one of the children and "ransomed" from the child by the person conducting the Seder.

If you think about it, it's quite, a curious custom. In a sense, the child who finds the afikomen could hold the Seder hostage until he/she is paid the price desired.

I was thinking about this and trying to figure what message the rabbis might have had in mind in giving a child that kind of power. And, as is usually the case, the answer was before me - in this case, in the very question itself. The answer is, power, because it is so much a part of the story of the exodus on so many levels.

First, of course, is the absolute power of Pharaoh - a king. In a broader sense Pharaoh represents all govemmental power, the power of the state. There is no guarantee that a democratic government won't overstep its bounds and act in an unwarranted fashion at the expense of individuals. Thus one message of the afikomen is to remember that governmental power can be misused. It is no accident that our American forebears almost adopted the graphic image of Moses leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land, because they too were fleeing the ruthless misuse of state power.

Second is the power of Moses, who is the representative of God's power. Moses' task is to stand up against the power of Pharaoh in the name of God, to challenge the authority of the state, to call it to task when it acts in a cruel and unjust manner. Such a stance is fraught with potential negative consequences. But Moses is willing to use the power of his faith to challenge the power of the state. One can't help but think of Martin Luther King, or Cesar Chavez, or Nelson Mandela.

And third is to remember that each of us, not just those who rise to fame or power of their own, has the power to stand for right when wrong is being done. The lawyer who takes a pro bono case in behalf of someone who has been mistreated by the system, the employee who is willing to blow the whistle on a superior. The students who demonstrated in the 50's and 60's against racism and in the 60's and 70's against the war. Probably the most graphic image of this in modern times is the photo of the student placing a flower in the barrel of the tank in Tianenmen Square.

The child who finds the afikomen has the power to stop the Seder from concluding or to allow it to end. Passover teaches that all of us even a single small child - have power that can be used for good and power can be used for ill. This lesson can and should be learned early on.

Happy Passover.