Matzah, the bread of poverty, is the bread that someone who doesn’t know whether they will be able to get more food guards and protects. Someone that knows they may not be getting more anytime soon is not likely to eat it all at once, but rather, take smaller portions and break it up, just like we do at the seder. The three matzot that are placed on the table are given the names Cohen, Levi, and Israel. The top one is Cohen because it takes precedence in all matter, the middle is Levi because Levites are one step below the Cohanim in rank, and the bottom matzah is named Israel. The middle matzah is divided in two at the beginning and the smaller piece is left in its place and the larger piece hidden for the afikoman and eaten afterwards, with Cohen left untouched on top to be used in fulfilling the mitzvah of eating matzah on Pesach. Israel, or the bottom and last matzah is eaten for korech. While on most other nights we only say the blessing for bread on two loaves, but because this night is different, we say it on the three matzot.

    This isn’t the only explanation for why there are three matzot at the passover seder. Another explanation for why we have three matzot on the table during the seder is because they are representative of our three forefathers: Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akov. While we were slaves in Egypt, we protected our ancestry line, one of the most noble ones in existence. We are still reminded of this noble family ancestry that we protected while we were still slaves in Egypt.  

    Another common representation is the fact that people sometimes make these three matzot very large, using one ephah of flour, which is almost as much as is used to bake a cake. It is said that these large matzot correspond to the three cakes of matzah which are offered up to God whenever a Thanksgiving offering, or קורבן תודה is brought because Passover commemorates and is celebrated to retell all of the occasions on which a קורבן תודה is brought. They are brought after safely coming through a sea journey, after coming unscathed through the wilderness, after a recovery from illness, and after a release from prison or slavery. All of these are shown in in the yearly occurrence of Passover.


haggadah Section: -- Cup #2 & Dayenu