Yeast is a metaphor for things of the earth that rise and grow: children maturing, grain stalks shooting up, the tumescence that signifies male sexual desire--all rise. Growth is implicitly associated with the female. Dough, composed of four elemental feminine symbols--water, salt, grain, and yeast--becomes the quintessential foodstuff called "the staff of life." Dough rising slowly in an oven is metaphorical for a baby growing in a mother's womb; "a bun in the oven" in modern parlance. In all emerging agricultural societies, kneading dough and baking bread were acts symbolic of fertility. Made of grain--the sacred gift of agriculture--bread baked by a mother for her family combined earth, hearth, and love.

Jewish communities around the world have slightly different versions of the Passover ceremony, but eating matzah and forgoing leavened bread is an unbroken tradition harkening back millennia. The symbolism of unleavened bread subtly devalues an important female contribution to culture, and indirectly demotes the role of the Goddess.

Virtually every sect, culture and religion has a spring ritual that celebrates the female themes of fertility, birth, resurrection, renewal, and the return of nature's gifts. The Exodus marks the beginning of the Hebrew people's rebirth and their rededication to the principles of their religion. Yet, the leitmotifs of the Passover story are deprivation, deliverance by a male deity, swearing fealty to Him alone, and the hardships of the Wandering, all of which glorify male ethics and values. This most important myth surrounding the birth of a distinct culture contains neither a single major female participant* nor any statement of the themes of resurrection, fertility, sexuality, and the fruitfulness of the land.

* Miriam is the only [pervasive] female character in this drama. Despite her early heroism and courage, Yahweh turns her into a leper for speaking her mind. (Num. 12:10)


haggadah Section: Yachatz
Source: The Alphabet Versus the Goddess by Leonard Shlain