At the beginning of the Haggadah we recite: “Ha lachma anya di achalu avhatana be-ara de-Mitzrayim.” On the simplest level, this statement means that our ancestors ate matzah while they were slaves in Egypt.

What is the source for this “ha lachma” passage? Unlike some other parts of the Haggadah, this statement is not found in any early sources. It seems to date to the Geonic period. See Safrai, Haggadat Chazal, pp. 109-111.

Is there any evidence in Tanach that our ancestors ate matzah as slaves in Egypt? The only possible evidence might be the term “lechem oni” at Deut. 16:3. Let us investigate this term.

We need to look at the entire verse: “You should not eat chametz with it [=the Pesach sacrifice]; seven days you should eat matzot due to it, lechem oni, because in haste you exited from the land of Egypt; in order that you remember the day you left the land of Egypt all the days of your life.”

A common translation of “lechem oni” is “bread of affliction.” This is the translation of the Jewish Publication Society of 1917. They took it from the King James Version (1611).

Let us look at some traditional commentators. Seforno writes that “lechem oni” refers to the bread that the Israelites ate while serving as slaves (=during the period of ענוי). Because the taskmasters were constantly rushing them, the Israelites did not have time to let their bread rise. Bechor Shor and Hizzekuni write that “lechem oni” refers to the bread being made at the time of the exodus in the manner of an עני (=poor person). It was made without all proper equipment and with insufficient time. Nachmanides writes that our verse indicates there is a double implication in the commandment to eat matzah: it commemorates the matzah that was eaten in haste while leaving, and the “lechem tzar” (=bread of distress) that they ate while they were slaves. Probably, by “lechem tzar” he means matzah. (See the Chavel translation; the ArtScroll translation, notes 34 and 35, disagrees.)

But on the simplest level, verse 16:3 is referring only to the time that the Israelites left Egypt, and “lechem oni” is describing the bread that they ate at this time. The bread is of low quality because it did not have time to rise. This seems to be how the Daat Mikra understands the phrase. The commentary has: “ve-ha-matzot lechem oni hu, ki lo chametz.” In this view, “lechem oni” does not mean “bread of affliction,” but “afflicted bread”! Similar are the comments in The JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy: “primitive, unluxurious fare that one would not normally eat.”

This is also the view of Ritva, in his commentary on the Haggadah, quoted in Haggadah Shelemah, p. 5: “ha-matzah mitkabetzet u-mitchaseret ve-einah matzlachat ke-mo ha-chametz.”

Also noteworthy are the comments of R. Hertz: “‘The bread of affliction.’ So called because the bread was prepared while the people were in a state of stress and hardship, consequent upon their hasty departure from Egypt… There is, of course, an obvious association of ideas with servitude in Egypt.”

R. Hertz does not explain further. But he has not stated that the Israelites ate matzah while they were slaves in Egypt. The “oni” in our verse can allude to the servitude without implying that they ate matzah while in servitude. See also n. 34 in the ArtScroll Nachmanides.

At Ex. 12:8, we are told to eat “merorim” with the Pesach sacrifice. The Torah never gives the reason. Could it be merely to generate appetite for the meat, as some have suggested? Strikingly, at Ex. 1:14 we had been told “va-ye-mareru et chayeyhem be-avodah kashah.” Almost certainly, the “merorim” we are commanded to eat with the sacrifice symbolize the bitterness of the servitude expressed in this verse. But this does not mean that we ate “merorim” as slaves!

The case of matzah can be analogous. “Oni” and its variants are common words in the servitude verses. See: Ex. 1:11 (“anoto”), 1:12 (“ye-anu”), 3:7 (“oni”), 3:17 (“oni”), and 4:31 (“onyam”). See also Gen. 15:13, Deut. 26:6-7, Isa. 48:10 and Neh. 9:9. Eating “lechem oni” can serve to remind us of the affliction of our ancestors, but this does not mean that they ate “afflicted bread” while they were slaves.

This also seems to be the view of Rashi. He writes on 16:3: “lechem she-mazkir et ha-oni she-nitanu be-Mitzrayim.” He is following the view of the tanna R. Shimon at Sifrei, sec. 130. This view does not claim that the Israelites ate matzah while they were slaves.

Of course, it is possible that matzah served as a food staple of the Israelite slaves. But we can only get to this result by speculation, and not by any verses. (There is a tradition in the name of Ibn Ezra that when he was in captivity in India, the bread served him was exclusively matzah. He observed that it did not digest quickly and that one does not have to feed someone a lot of it. He believed that the Egyptians fed it to the Israelites. See Haggadah Shelemah, p. 5. These statements are not found in Ibn Ezra’s own writings.)

When we look through the balance of the Torah for reasons for eating matzah, here is what we find:

At Ex. 12:8, the Israelites were commanded to eat the Pesach sacrifice with “matzot” and “merorim.” No specific reason is given for the “matzot” or “merorim” here and this was before the Exodus story described later in this chapter.

At Ex. 12:17: “U-shemartem et ha-matzot (the holiday? the matzot?) because on this selfsame day I took your masses out of the land of Egypt…”

At Ex. 13:6-7, the commandment to eat matzah is mentioned near the verse “baavur zeh….” at 13:8. Verse 8 is a vague verse with a variety of possible meanings.

At Ex. 12:34 and 39 are verses describing the Israelites leaving in haste. But these verses do not connect this to the commandment to eat matzah.

The commandment to eat matzah is also mentioned at Exodus chaps. 23 and 34, and Lev. chap. 23, and Numb. chaps. 9 and 28, but no reasons are given.

Matzah could have symbolized “haste” even before the story of the Exodus. At Gen. 19:3, Lot baked matzot for his two unexpected guests. Two other biblical narratives also imply that matzot were the kind of cakes customarily baked hastily for unexpected guests. See Jud. 6:19-22 and 1 Sam. 28:24, and N. Sarna, Exploring Exodus, p. 86. (The etymology of “matzah” is much debated, but one view sees the root of the word as אוץ, which means “urge” or “hasten.” See, e.g., Gen. 19:15 and Ex. 5:13.)

—Isa. 30:20 refers to “lechem tzar u-mayim lachatz” during a predicted siege. There are not enough clues to determine what “lechem tzar” means here.

—The original text of R. Gamliel’s statement in the Mishnah is much shorter than what we recite in the Haggadah. When he states the reason for matzah, all he states is “al shem she-nigalu.” See Safrai, p. 34.

As a scholar, Mitchell First knows the “poverty” meaning of “oni.” But fortunately, he is an attorney as well and afflicts others by filing suits against them. He can be reached at [email protected].