Matzah

Another Post-Pesach Celebration Gabriel T. Erbs, New Voices. Two craft brewers near Portland, Oregon, celebrate Passover’s end by making Matzobraü, with crushed-up leftover matzah added to the fermenting mash.  Only whole wheat matzah, of course.

Why Is Manischewitz Matzah Like the iPhone? Daniel Fromson, New Yorker. OK, the founder of the Manischewitz matzah-making company wasn’t exactly Steve Jobs.  But, like Jobs, he took an existing product, tweaked and improved it, and vastly improved its image.

The Jew and the Giant Olive Natan Slifkin, Rationalist Judaism. The midrash says a person should eat an olive's worth of matzah at the Seder.  But halakhists today reckon the amount required at 10 times the size of an actual olive.

The Roots of Seder Night Dorothy D. Resig, Bible History Daily. Even while the Temple stood, some Jews were unable to offer the Paschal sacrifice.  Still, they found ways to recognize the holiday.

Softening the Bread of Affliction Shayna Zamkanei, Times of Israel. Today, we are accustomed to square, flat, crisp matzah.  But until the 19th century, Jews ate something that "looked very similar to a pita."