(Mike & Barbara)

We link ourselves with our brothers and sisters in this world who are not yet free as we fulfill the commandment to eat matzah, the bread of affliction. Why do we eat matzah? Because during the Exodus, our ancestors had no time to wait for dough to rise. So they improvised flat cakes without yeast, which could be baked and consumed in haste. The matzah reminds us that when the chance for liberation comes, we must seize it even if we do not feel ready—indeed, if we wait until we feel fully ready, we may never act at all.

Now, what does this mean in the great period of history? It means that we’ve got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt he had a favourite formula for doing it - he kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.

- Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. I’ve Been to the Mountaintop

ְָבּרוּךְַאָתּהְיָי,ֱאלֵֹהינוֶּמֶלךְָהעוָֹלם,ַהמּוִֹציאֶלֶחםִמןָהָאֶרץ: ָבּרוּךְ ַאָתּהְיָי,

 ֱאלֵֹהינוּ ֶמֶלךְ ָהעוָֹלם,ֲאֶשׁר ִקְדָּשׁנוּ ְבִּמְצוַָֹתיוְוִצָוּנוּ ַעל ֲאִכיַלת ַמָצּה:

Baruch atah, Adonai eloheinu, melech ha’olam, hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz.
Baruch atah, Adonai eloheinu, melech ha’olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivanu al achilat matzah.

Blessed are you, Adonai, Sovereign of all worlds, who brings forth bread from the earth. Blessed are you, Adonai, Sovereign of all worlds, who sanctifies us with the commandment to eat matzah.


haggadah Section: Motzi-Matzah