A Popular Dictionary of Judaism
Unleavened bread eaten at *Pesah (‘Passover’). According to *Exodus 12:39, the Israelites took mazzah rather than bread with them when they fled from Egypt because they could not wait for the bread to rise. To commemorate this, mazzah must be eaten on the first night of Passover, which is described in the *Seder as the ‘bread of affliction’.
For the rest of the Passover season, no *hamez (‘leaven’) may be eaten. The laws concerning the baking of mazzah are complicated because no trace of fermentation is permitted. So important is the tradition of eating mazzah that Passover is sometimes called the feast of unleavened bread. (See also *AFIKOMEN, *PESAH, *SEDER).
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