Passover might be my favorite holiday. I can’t claim to be very religious, but I love the tradition, I love the way it brings family together, and I love the food.
In a holiday of many edible symbols, matzah might just be the biggest one. There are many symbolic foods consumed during the Seder, but matzah carries forward for the duration of the eight nights of Passover. I love that this holiday is so much about bread.
For the uninitiated, matzah (or matzo) is unleavened bread – essentially, a cracker. As the legend goes, the Jewish slaves fleeing their Egyptian captors had to leave on such short notice that they had no time to wait for their bread to rise, and instead had to bake it immediately in the sun. It isn’t the tastiest thing ever – but it isn’t supposed to be. Our ancestors sacrificed perfect bread for freedom.
Hmm. As a baker, how does this make me feel? I’m as big a supporter of good bread as the next person, but this sacrifice was obviously a no-brainer. And so, maybe what I need to remember is this: it is a privilege in my life to be able to dedicate so much thought, time, and effort to the pursuit of good bread. There have been, and will be, times in many people’s lives when good bread (or any bread at all) has to go to the back burner, when more pressing issues come up. I believe good bread can make a positive and meaningful difference in people’s lives, but I also recognize that it’s a luxury. We could live on matzah alone. We are fortunate whenever we don’t have to, and we should not forget those who did, do, and will.
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