Matza -- Bread of Affliction?

Matza is the bread we ate in haste during the exodus from Egypt, and thus represents freedom.  But it is also called  לֶחֶם עֹנִי, commonly translated as "bread of affliction."  What exactly does lehem oni mean, in the simplest reading (peshat)?  To what experience does it refer?


Here are some thoughts on matza and lehem oni:

In Exodus, the reason for eating matza is stated unambiguously: We left Egypt in haste and did not have time to bake leavned bread.

Ex. 12:34ff:

וַיִּשָּׂא הָעָם אֶת-בְּצֵקוֹ טֶרֶם יֶחְמָץ מִשְׁאֲרֹתָם צְרֻרֹת בְּשִֹמְלֹתָם עַל-שִׁכְמָם: . . .וַיֹּאפוּ אֶת-הַבָּצֵק אֲשֶׁר הוֹצִיאוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם עֻגֹת מַצּוֹת כִּי לֹא חָמֵץ כִּי-גֹרְשׁוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לְהִתְמַהְמֵהַּ וְגַם-צֵדָה לֹא-עָשֹוּ לָהֶם:

The term לֶחֶם עֹנִי appears only in the book of Deuteronomy (16:3), in Parshat Re'eh: 

לֹא-תֹאכַל עָלָיו חָמֵץ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים תֹּאכַל-עָלָיו מַצּוֹת לֶחֶם עֹנִי כִּי בְחִפָּזוֹן יָצָאתָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לְמַעַן תִּזְכֹּר אֶת-יוֹם צֵאתְךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ:

Peshat-oriented interpretations and translations of לֶחֶם עֹנִי can be divided into two groups:

1. Plain (or "poor") matza, i.e., flour and water with no additional ingredients.  This interpretation can be best understood in contrast to matza ashira (in the language of Hazal) -- matza containing eggs, juice, or other "rich" ingredients -- an expression which most likely arose in deliberate contrast to the biblical lehem oni. 

2. "Bread of affliction":  This is the translation of the King James Version (following, apparently, both the Septuagint and the Vulgate).

The first interpretation refers to the physical makeup of matza, while the second is connected to an experience of suffering during some part of the bondage in Egypt and/or the exodus.

The Sifre cites both interpretations, and there is also a discussion in the Bavli (Pesahim 36b) which refers to this tannaitic dispute.  In the Sifre on Re’eh:

לחם עוני. פרט לחלוט ואשישה (i.e., one may not use boiled bread or bread made with dried fruit).  . . . רבי שמעון אומר למה נקרא לחם עוני? על שם עינוי שנתענו במצרים:

According to R. Shimon, lehem oni connotes inui or suffering, and refers to Israel’s experience in Egypt rather the physical quality of the matza. 


Here is a summary of traditional exegesis on lehem oni:


Rashi opts for the second interpretation --  לחם עני. לחם שמזכיר את העוני שנתענו במצרים; the Ramban quotes both as possibilities.  Ibn Ezra appears to agree with Rashi.  Hizkuni links oni with ani; thus, a poor person has no access to anything but meager ingredients and no time for the leavening process.  Seforno identifies the source of "affliction" in this verse with the pressure exerted by the Egyptian taskmasters on the Israelites to leave quickly.  So matza is the bread of affliction because it was eaten in involuntary haste.  Finally, Aharon Mirsky, in Daat Mikra on Deuteronomy, cites the expression lehem lahatz (I Kings 22:27) as a parallel to lehem oni, i.e., meager bread eaten in oppressive circumstances.

On a midrashic level, the opinion connecting oni with inui – aside from the obvious linguistic connection, which is also relevant – appears to be inspired by specific verses in the Torah which use inui in reference to the bondage in Egypt.  I.e.:

Ex. 1:11-12

וַיָּשִֹימוּ עָלָיו שָֹרֵי מִסִּים לְמַעַן עַנֹּתוֹ בְּסִבְלֹתָם וַיִּבֶן עָרֵי מִסְכְּנוֹת לְפַרְעֹה אֶת-פִּתֹם וְאֶת-רַעַמְסֵס: יב   וְכַאֲשֶׁר יְעַנּוּ אֹתוֹ כֵּן יִרְבֶּה וְכֵן יִפְרֹץ

Deut. 26:6 

וַיָּרֵעוּ אֹתָנוּ הַמִּצְרִים וַיְעַנּוּנוּ וַיִּתְּנוּ עָלֵינוּ עֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה:

The fact that Torah repeatedly uses the phrase inui with respect to slavery in Egypt suggests that lehem oni is related to the experience of inui.  I believe this underlies both R. Shimon's opinion, as well as the "bread of affliction" translation. 

However, this interpretation does not imply that matza was slave-food imposed on Bene Yisrael, or even that unleavened bread, as opposed to hametz, was commonly eaten during the bondage.  It likely means, more simply, that matza is the "bread of affliction” because of its meagerness.  Read this way, R. Shimon in the Sifre --  למה נקרא לחם עוני? על שם עינוי שנתענו במצרים -- states that matza is a symbol of the Egyptian affliction.  As noted by the Maharal (Gevurot Hashem, ch. 51), the notion of matza as slave-food is nowhere mentioned either in the Torah or in the midrash.  See, for example, Bavli Peshaim 115b, where three different midrashic interpretations are offered for lehem oni, none of which refer to matza in this sense:

 אמר שמואל: (דברים טז) לחם עני (כתיב) ־ לחם שעונין עליו דברים. תניא נמי הכי לחם עני ־ לחם שעונין עליו דברים הרבה. דבר אחר: לחם עני ־ עני כתיב, מה עני שדרכו בפרוסה ־אף כאן בפרוסה. דבר אחר: מה דרכו של עני ־ הוא מסיק ואשתו אופה, אף כאן נמי ־ הוא מסיק ואשתו אופה.

The idea of lehem oni as slave-food became popular, I think, because of the Ha Lahma Anya passage in the Haggada.  One might render the words, di akhalu avhatana be-ar'a de-mitzrayim, as “which our forefathers ate as slaves in Egypt,” i.e., we ate matza by mandate or necessity.  But, read more simply, di akhalu refers to events mentioned explicitly in the Torah; either at “Pesach Mitzrayim,” when we ate matza and marror with the korban pesach, or to the period immediately following the exodus, when we ate matza out of haste.

In fact, a core group of medieval commentaries (e.g., Rashbam, Ritva, Shibole Haleket) on the Haggada state that lahma anya -- the Aramaic translation of lehem oni -- refers to the meager bread that was baked in haste, or to the custom of breaking the matza into pieces.  No mention is made of matza as a staple of the Israelite diet in Egypt.

The oldest source, I believe, identifying lahma anya with slave-food is the Orhot Hayyim (R. Aharon ha-Kohen of Lunel, France c. 1300) on the Haggada.  He names a Yosef Ha-Ezovi who cited a story supposedly told by Abraham ibn Ezra about his imprisonment in India. According to this account, the Ibn Ezra was given unleavened bread as a prisoner due to its tendency to linger in the digestive tract and the relatively small amount required to feel full.  So, Ha-Ezovi concludes, matza was the food given to the Israelites throughout the bondage of Egypt.  Ha-Ezovi's story is also quoted by the Abudraham on the Haggada, though the captive in Abudraham's version is more generically named Ben Ezra, rather than Abraham ibn Ezra.

See also a fascinating treatment of this subject in Avigdor Shinan and Yair Zakovitch, Lo Kakh Katuv Ba-Tanakh (Tel Aviv: Yediot Aharonot, 2004), pp. 92ff.  The authors argue that the lone reference in Deutoronmy to lehem oni represents an association of Passover matza with the hunger and oppression of the bondage.  However, the lehem oni tradition of matza was almost completely repressed in favor of the more festive association of matza with the korban pesach and the haste of the exodus.