Matza is ubiquitous. Even non-Jews know about Passover and Matza. Recently my wife’s healthy food influencer who is the most secular person around, eating chazer treif with high fiber exhorted her listeners to eat Matza-on Passover. But in a rabbinic sing song exhortation sher reminded her listeners “only the two nights are required”.

Why is Matza such a symbol of Judaism? Matza resolves our spiritual/physical tension.

Matza breaks our mental gaps or divides about the world. Most people see the world as a conflict or tension: good -bad or more relevant “sacred-profane.” We see the world and our actions as falling into one of these distinctions. We see our spiritual actions as prayer, charity, chesed. Our physical needs- eating, bathing sleeping even procreating we mistakenly believe do not have a spiritual dimension. However, we don’t realize that in Jewish thought and the Torah even EATING is a spiritual undertaking.

Eating Matza breaks the mistaken spiritual/physical distinctions. By saying that Gd commanded us to eat Matza and then eating by eating Matza we dissolve the physical-spiritual conflict into one dimension. By eating Matza with the understanding that this act signifies are belief in Gd, his dominion and most importantly his charge for us to improve ourselves by helping others around us; by spreading the message of monothesim-love thy neighbor (all who need come sit, eat and be satisfied)

Matza is a step in breaking down the artificial divisions we have in our lives.