Editing Passover (section)

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

A symbol of the Passover holiday is [[matzah]], 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 matzah, specifically, on the first night of Passover and to eat only unleavened bread (in practice, matzah) during the entire week of Passover.<ref>{{bibleverse||Exodus|12:18|HE}}</ref> Consequently, the eating of matzah 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, matzah, 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, matzah was commonly baked to travel because it preserved well and was light to carry (making it similar to [[hardtack]]), suggesting that matzah 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 matzah 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 matzah'']]

''Shmura matzah'' ("watched" or "guarded" matzah), is the bread of preference for the Passover Seder in Orthodox Jewish communities. Shmura matzah is made from wheat that is guarded from contamination by leaven 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 matzot five to ten months later.

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

The baking of matzah is labour-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 matzot can be baked at one time, and the group 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 matzah.

After the matzot 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 hametz and can contaminate the next batch of matzah.

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