OU TORAH Bo: Two Reasons for Matzah – or One? Rabbi Menachem Leibtag

Ask anyone – why do we eat matzah on Pesach? Invariably you will hear one of the two following answers: To remind us of the ‘poor man’s bread’ that we ate when we were slaves in Egypt [‘lechem oni’]; [As we say in the Haggada – “ha lachma anya…”] Because we left Egypt in haste and our dough didn’t have time to rise [‘chipazon’]. [As we say in the Haggada – “Matza – al shum ma? al shum she-lo hispik betzeikam le-hachmitz…”] So, which reason is correct? In the following shiur, we uncover the biblical roots of these two reasons in Parshat Bo – in an attempt to better understand and appreciate why we eat matza on Pesach.