It's crunch time! Now you eat some matzah. Take a bite, or 10, and you can lean bck or even slouch, if you want.

As we already learned, the Israelites made matzah when preparing food for their journey out of Egypt. Eating this food doesn't just remind us of their harrowing escape - it also makes us feel like we are the ones leaving Egypt all these years later.

Would anyone here describe matzah as a fancy, indulgents food? Does it bear any resemblance to, say, a bagel, or warm challah fresh out of the over? Nope. It is dry. It is brittle. And it kind of tastes like... nothing. Eating matzah is a humbling expreience. The Torah calls it lechem oni, which means "bread of affliction", or, in other words, "poor man's bread." Matzah reminds us of what is like to live through hard times, when we don't get to eat special things.


haggadah Section: Motzi-Matzah