Two Mitzvot of Matzah: The Relationship Between Motzi Matzah

and Korekh

Rabbi David Fried

Why do we eat matzah twice before the meal, first separately, and then together with the maror in the Korekh?

We declare that we eat korekh in order to remember Hillel’s opinion, yet surely there are other debates in the Talmud regarding various parts of the Seder and we do not generally try to fulfill every single opinion. In reality, these two matzahs we consume represent the two reasons given for eating matzah in the Torah itself. One of these we say earlier in the Seder during magid. “Why do we eat this matzah? Because the dough of our forefathers did not have time to become leavened before the King of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He, revealed Himself to them, and redeemed them.” This echoes the language of Deuteronomy 16:3: “You shall eat unleavened bread, bread of distress—for you departed from the land of Egypt hurriedly.” This, however, cannot be the only reason why God commands us to eat matzah, because the timeline does not add up. God commands the Jews to eat matzah with the korban Pesach before they leave Egypt in Exodus 12:8. They have already consumed this matzah when we are told in verse 39 that after they left, they baked their dough into matzah because it did not have time to rise. It would seem that initially, matzah was only intended to be eaten together with the korban, just as some kind of matzah is brought together with all holiday sacrifices (see Numbers 28-29 and Leviticus 2:4-5). After they left, it took on a brand new commemorative symbolism as well, which gets reflected when the mitzvah is reiterated in Deuteronomy. Though they do not explain the details, this is no doubt why the Talmud (Pesachim 120a) understood that matzah is an independent Biblical mitzvah separate from the korban Pesach, while maror is not. When we make the bracha and consume matzah independently, we are doing it for the reason mentioned in magid, but we eat the korekh as well to remember the original reason matzah was commanded.

We can take this a step further. Why do we eat matzah with holiday sacrifices? The Mordechai, at the end of his commentary on Masechet Pesachim suggests that the reason for three matzahs at the Seder is to commemorate the three types of matzah that were brought with the korban Todah, the thanksgiving offering (Leviticus 7:12-17). Many commentaries point out (see, for example, the Netziv on Leviticus 7:13) that the reason we bring so much bread with the Korban Todah is to force us to gather a large group of people together to eat it, and enable us to tell of God’s miracles in front of many people. Similarly, at each of our holidays, but especially at Pesach, we come together with our families and friends to express our gratitude to God for all the miraculous ways the Jewish people have been saved. Motzi Matzah commemorates a very specific aspect of the Pesach miracle, but korekh, taken from that third additional Matzah, is really symbolic of the entire Seder, as we gather to tell of the many miracles God has done for us.