Matzo

Also matzoh. The thin, unleavened bread, referring to the bread the Jews took with them in their flight from Egypt and slavery. There was no time to let the bread rise properly, because the exodus took place furtively, in haste and in the middle of the night. Remembered each year at Passover, when matzo is a meaningful part of the ritual ceremonies, this humble, unsalted cracker, sometimes called "the bread of affliction", represents a highly significant chapter in Jewish history.

The Hebrew name for Passover is Pesah, from which the English "paschal" is derived, bringing together Passover and Christian Easter as important religious celebrations that always fall close to each other on the calendar. Passover begins with Seder, the ceremonial dinner eaten on the first or second night of Passover, during which matzo plays an honored role. In fact, for the eight days of Passover, observant Jews don't eat any leavened bread or foods containing yeast. Some interpret the flat bread as a symbol of man's lowly position before God, and that the parallel lines in the surface of the matzo - created by rows of perforations through which steam escapes during baking - are a visual echo of the Red Sea, through which the Jews passed as they escaped from the pharaoh's pursuing army.

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