Passover, why do Jews eat unleavened bread?

On the Facebook page called Jewish community of Rome, the largest in Italy, there are indications on the precepts to be observed during the Pesach, the Jewish Passover which is celebrated to remember the liberation of the people fromEgyptian oppression. One of the posts, which often explain the reason for some customs, opens with this interrogative – concerning a staple food of Jewish culture: “Why do Jews eat unleavened bread?”

What is unleavened bread

First of all, let’s specify this: that the unleavened bread it is nothing but a type of bread without yeast which is obtained by baking a flour-based dough in the oven whole wheat and water. The main difference with the other types is precisely the absence of leavening and fermentation.

Its properties they are various: first of all it has a contribution higher calorie compared to ordinary bread. Then it is rich in fibreOf Vitamin B and hasn’t cholesterol.

The Story of Unleavened Bread: Why Jews Eat It

Why do Jews eat the unleavened bread? As can also be read on the page of the Jewish Community, “when they were freed fromEgypt the Jews did not have time to let the bread rise and in remembrance of this, during the eight days of Pesach it is forbidden to eat any leavened food and in its place you eat the unleavened breadthe matza”.

Despite being a basic food for their culture, the Jews did not invent it. In fact, unleavened bread has been there for a long time‘only bread known to mankind. It was prepared with wholemeal flour and water, and was cooked by placing the dough on red-hot stones or ashes.

Then the invention of ovens and the discovery of yeast have, together with other factors, stimulated the production of other types of. But the unleavened bread it has stood the test of time, not only for religious reasons, but also for practicality and nutritional properties. And he remained a guy traditional in different traditions.

Unleavened Bread on Pesach

The Pesach lasts eight days. For the Torah unleavened bread must be eaten on two occasions (the first evening of the holiday and the second of the Diaspora). But they are prohibited, during the whole period, all leavened foods and the yeast. These not only shouldn’t be eaten, but they really can’t keep at home.