Without matzah, Passover would not exist. Matzah is the core of our Passover celebration and contains much of the symbolism associated with the holiday. Matzah is unleavened bread. It is “bread” that does not rise. Made from flour and water, matzah is baked before the dough has time to rise. There are very specific laws regarding how matzah is made, including the amount of time it is cooked for (18 minutes).

Matzah symbolizes the unleavened bread the Jews had to eat when they hastily left Egypt. There was not time for the bread to rise. It is referred to as “the poor man’s bread” because it takes us back to what is most essential in our lives. Having matzah present during the holiday of Passover brings us in touch with the Divine within us – the very core of who we are. It strips us down to our bare minimum. We are reminded that it is what’s inside us and not what we have on the outside that is truly important.

Eating matzah not only puts us directly in touch with the experience of leaving Mitzrayim (Egypt), but it also separates us from the possessions we are attached to, the things outside of ourselves. Passover is a time to remember where we came from – the psychological significance of the Jewish exodus from Egypt and what that can represent for us today. As you munch on your unleavened bread, spend some time contemplating the rituals present in your life that connect you to meaning and purpose. Step beyond eating matzah because “that’s what we do on Passover” and spend some time exploring the symbolism of this most important component of our holiday.

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On our seder table, we place three matzot under a matzah cover. Many families have Sh’mura matzah on their table. Sh’mura matzah is round matzot that are handmade from wheat and have been watched from the time the wheat was harvested. The matzot are whole until later in the seder when we break the middle matzah in half, saving the larger piece to use as the Afikomen. The Afikomen, “that which is coming”, is hidden and the children present at the seder spend a good deal of time searching for it. The seder cannot be completed without it, and the individual who finds it usually receives some type of reward. The eating of the Afikomen signifies the end of the eating at the seder (there are still two cups of wine left to drink).