During Pesach (Passover) we relive the Exodus from Egypt and our birth as a nation, both of which were preparations for receiving the Torah from God.
The highlight of Passover is the Seder meal. This meal is of great importance in Judaism. It is a 3325-year old continuous tradition that began on the night of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exodus chapter 12), and is fully detailed in our ancient Oral Traditions (Talmud, chapter Arvei Pesachim).
The Seder meal is one of those occasions, like Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, that Jews all over the world, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, observe in common. During the Seder, we keep the essential mitzva and customs of handing Jewish traditions down to the next generation, with the traditional Seder foods and the ceremony of reading the Passover Haggadah which retells the events of the Exodus.
During the Seder meal, other traditional foods are eaten in addition to the matzah: bitter herbs, parsley, wine and haroset (see below). Salt water, a roasted egg, and a bit of roasted meat are also on the table.
During all the days of Passover, matzah (unleavened bread) is eaten; while leavened foods such as bread, cake, cookies, cereal and pasta are forbidden. Certain prayers are added in the synagogue services, and the Torah is read each day.
Here is the symbolism of the items on the Seder plate:
The bitter herbs (maror) symbolize the harsh slavery which the Israelites suffered in Egypt. Either horseradish or romaine lettuce is traditionally used for maror.
Charoset - A sweet mixture representing the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt. In Ashkenazi Jewish homes, charoset is traditionally made from chopped nuts, grated apples, cinnamon, and sweet red wine.
Karpas - A vegetable other than bitter herbs, traditionally parsley, which is dipped into salt water at the beginning of the Seder. The dipping of a simple vegetable into salt water (which represents tears) recalls the pain felt by the Jewish slaves in Egypt.
Beitzah - A hard-boiled egg, symbolizing the korban chagigah (festival sacrifice) that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. Although both the Pesach sacrifice and the chagigah were meat offerings, the chagigah is commemorated by an egg, a symbol of mourning.
Z'roa - A roasted lamb or goat shank-bone, chicken wing, or chicken neck; symbolizing the korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread The Occasion of our Freedom
Most Jews call the Passover meal the Seder, a word which means "order," in reference to the order of service or liturgy of the meal. It is sometimes called the Feast of Freedom because it celebrates the liberation of Jews from slavery in Egypt. It is also sometimes called the Feast of Unleavened Bread because it features unleavened bread and one of the high points of the liturgy of the meal is the command to eat unleavened bread.
Matzoh which is unleavened bread.
i should i know
its called matzoh
Matzo, which is unleavened bread.
The name of this bread is matzah
Matzah; also spelled matzoh. This thin unleavened bread is eaten during Passover. See also:More about Passover and the Seder
Unleavened bread
We call it matza, which is its name in the Torah (Exodus ch.12).
Food historians are of the opinion that leavened bread originated in Egypt, probably less than a millennium before the pyramids were built. Egyptian culture was the first to produce leavened bread, and leavened bread was a symbol of Egyptian culture. This did not mean that unleavened bread disappeared from the Egyptian diet (when Jews - or others - said, "On all nights we eat leavened and unleavened bread," they meant what they said), but leavened bread was preferred. The recognition that leavened bread first emerged in Egypt is essential for understanding the place of bread - leavened and unleavened - on Pesach, as is our understanding that leavened bread did not displace unleavened bread from the diet. The hurried departure of the Israelites from Egypt, described in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, prevented their bread being leavened as usual; the Jews today commemorate this event by eating unleavened bread on special occasions
Unleavened bread is bread without yeast. Today it could be tortillias. Yeast used to go bad very quickly an ussually distroyed the bread. Unleavened bread is bread without a flaw, or perfect bread.