It’s flat and crunchy and, this time of year, ubiquitous in Jewish
households. Matzo is perhaps the most symbolic food consumed during the week of
Passover, this year beginning at sunset Monday.
In a holiday that begins with a lengthy service and meal to go with it, matzo is
a food of haste, a reminder of the Jews fleeing Egypt and a cruel leader to find
safety, with no time to let dough rise into bread.
Though Jewish people eat the unleavened bread — and banish leavened products
from their homes — during the week of Passover, the mitzvah, or good deed, of
eating matzo comes from consuming the cracker-like baked good during the Seder,
the meal/service combo held the first two nights of the holiday, said Rabbi
Eliezer Zalmanov, leader of the Chabad of Northwest Indiana, based in Munster.
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