Why do we eat matzah on Passover?

Matzah is eaten to fulfill the biblical commandment which commemorates the hasty departure of the children of Israel from Egypt: "They took up thier dough before it has time to leaven." (Exodus 12:34).

Matzah is also our "bread of regret", or "I wish I could have had more time" bread; in it is our no-fills bread, our "this is me without prettiness bread," our honesty bread.

The eating of Matzah is intended not only to remind us about the biblical story of Moses, with God's help, freed the Jews from slavery in Egypt, but also to provoke thought and discussion about our own freedom and that of our contemporaries around the world today.

The Zohar, the source book of Jewish mysticism, calls matzah machiah de-asvatah, "food for healing" ... We eat it for a week to heal our arrogance and restore our perspective.


haggadah Section: Motzi-Matzah