Passover

==Matzah==
{{main|Matzah}}
[[Image:Machine-made Shmura Matzo.jpg|thumb|250px|Machine-made ''shmura matza'']]

A symbol of the Passover holiday is [[Matzah|matzo]], an unleavened flatbread made solely from flour and water which is continually worked from mixing through baking, so that it is not allowed to rise. Matzo may be made by machine or by hand. The Torah contains an instruction to eat matzo, specifically, on the first night of Passover and to eat only unleavened bread (in practice, matzo) during the entire week of Passover.<ref>{{bibleverse||Exodus|12:18|HE}}</ref> Consequently, the eating of matzo figures prominently in the [[Passover Seder]]. There are several explanations for this.

The Torah says that it is because the Hebrews left Egypt with such haste that there was no time to allow baked bread to rise; thus flat, unleavened bread, matzo, is a reminder of the rapid departure of the Exodus.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=107&o=60495 |title=Thought For Food: An Overview of the Seder |work=AskMoses.com – Judaism, Ask a Rabbi – Live |access-date=September 29, 2006 |archive-date=May 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521142536/http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=107&o=60495%2F |url-status=live }}</ref> Other scholars teach that in the time of the Exodus, matzo was commonly baked for the purpose of traveling because it preserved well and was light to carry (making it similar to [[hardtack]]), suggesting that matzo was baked intentionally for the long journey ahead.

Matzo has also been called ''Lechem Oni'' (Hebrew: "bread of poverty"). There is an attendant explanation that matzo serves as a symbol to remind Jews what it is like to be a poor slave and to promote humility, appreciate freedom, and avoid the inflated ego symbolized by more luxurious leavened bread.<ref>[http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=107&o=450 What is the kabbalistic view on chametz?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080203202015/http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=107&o=450 |date=February 3, 2008 }} by Rabbi Yossi Marcus</ref>

[[File:Shmura Matzo2.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Hand-made ''shmura matzo'']]

''Shmura matzo'' ("watched" or "guarded" matzo), is the bread of preference for the Passover Seder in [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] communities. Shmura matzo is made from wheat that is guarded from contamination by leaven (''chametz'') from the time of summer harvest<ref name=Pomerantz>{{cite news|first=Batsheva|last=Pomerantz|title=Making matzo: A time-honored tradition|date=April 22, 2005|work=Jewish News of Greater Phoenix|url=http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/050422/matzo.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114082457/http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/050422/matzo.shtml|archive-date=January 14, 2013}}</ref> to its baking into matzos five to ten months later.

In the weeks before Passover, matzos are prepared for holiday consumption. In many Orthodox Jewish communities, men traditionally gather in groups ("''[[Chavurah|chaburas]]''") to bake handmade matzo for use at the Seder, the dough being rolled by hand, resulting in a large and round matzo. ''Chaburas'' also work together in machine-made matzo factories, which produce the typically square-shaped matzo sold in stores.

The baking of matzo is labor-intensive,<ref name=Pomerantz/> as less than 18 minutes is permitted between the mixing of flour and water to the conclusion of baking and removal from the oven. Consequently, only a small number of matzos can be baked at one time, and the ''chabura'' members are enjoined to work the dough constantly so that it is not allowed to ferment and rise. A special cutting tool is run over the dough just before baking to prick any bubbles which might make the matza puff up;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=42416 | url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402170657/http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=42416 |archive-date=April 2, 2012 |title=Making Matzah the Old-Fashioned Way |publisher=The Jewish Federations of North America |access-date=April 17, 2014}}</ref> this creates the familiar dotted holes in the matzo.

After the matzos come out of the oven, the entire work area is scrubbed down and swept to make sure that no pieces of old, potentially leavened dough remain, as any stray pieces are now ''chametz'', and can contaminate the next batch of matzo.

Some machine-made matzos are completed within 5 minutes of being kneaded.<ref name=Pomerantz/>