9. Motzi Matzah (Blessings over the Matzah)
This section on Motzi Matzah was contributed by Faustine Sigal, who is the International Director of Jewish Education for Moishe House, who works in France, where there are two Moishe Houses in Paris! The transliterations have a certain French accent to them which is really cool!
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Matsa is the Pessah bread, and, take it from a French person, bread is a central element in building social links. Judaism is well aware of this, as we are reminded by the fact that meals are started by a solemn, communal blessing over bread. More painfully, some rules also limit Jews possibility to eat bread together with non-Jews. This comes from the concern to keep Jews separated from their non-Jewish neighbours and acknowledges how transformative the experience of sharing a meal can be in a friendship.
This is for the generic bread part. But what is specific about matsa within the pessah picture? Matsa is an unfinished process: it is bread that we started baking but did not finish, for lack of time in the original story. Eating it is a reminder that Redemption is also an unfinished process. It is the first day of the rest of our lives rather than an ending point. It is not an achievement but a responsibility we are given, to take it further, step by step and to pay it forward. Next up in the Jewish calendar is Shavuot, the giving of the Torah. Once we are freed, accepting shared rules and memory is the next stop of this journey. What is yours?
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Activity/Discussion: What are our unfinished processes? Go round the room and say something that's unfinished.
MoHoLo Reverse Seder
- Introduction
- Commentary / Readings
- Nirtzah
- Hallel
- -- Ten Plagues
- -- Four Children
- Karpas
- Kadesh
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