Bread of Transformation

Dear Friends,

Some thoughts on matzah as we are readying ourselves for the Passover holiday:

The mystics teach that we should not to eat any matzah these days before Pesach, so that at the Seder we will be able to experience the full transformative power of this sacred bread.

When we begin the Seder the matzah is lechem oni—the bread of affliction.
By the middle of the Seder the matzah has become the afikomen—the dessert—what we seek and what we long for.

The transformation starts as we lift up the three matzot, breaking the middle matzah and calling out, “this is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. Let all who are hungry come and eat.”

As we acknowledge the suffering and brokenness that exists in us and the world and feel deeply our interconnection with each other and all beings, the matzah transforms.

It goes from being the bread of poverty to being the bread of connection, hope and faith. It becomes the symbol for the possibility that great healing can come through us into the world.
This is the bread we bless and eat.

Go to free A Way In resources for your Seder table.

Love and blessings to all,
Rabbi Yael