# What was the point of ordering the Israelites to not leaven their bread as they prepared to depart Egypt? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2026, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274 "2026-02-01T17:30:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/41 "2026-02-03T00:22:08Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > The actual OP’s question is "What **was** the point of ordering the Israelites to not leaven their bread as they prepared to depart Egypt? It seems to me to be asking about the original point at the time. Not what that point is now mythologised to be. This is the Factual Question forum and asking about a mythological event is not an FQ topic. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/42 "2026-02-03T00:55:48Z")
Many people believe the mythological event was historical, or at least based on something historical. Asking about that is an FQ. Even if the answer is “it never happened”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/43 "2026-02-03T02:01:21Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > This is the Factual Question forum and asking about a mythological event is not an FQ topic. Sure it is- I can ask “In the Greek Myths, how many women did Zeus seduce or rape?” and get a factual answer. Not that we think Zeus was real, but what the Myths say. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/44 "2026-02-03T02:06:10Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > , possibly takes longer to go stale or bad. It is already stale and never goes bad. We are still using some matzoh we bought in a five pound lot nearly two years ago and it is indistinguishable from the fresh kind. Although we will buy some fresh for this Passover. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/45 "2026-02-03T03:39:17Z")
If there actually was such an order, it came from God. If He wanted us to know His intentions, He would have told us. If it’s just a myth, then the question is meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/46 "2026-02-03T03:48:13Z")
“When you’re a god you don’t need reasons” - Terry Pratchett ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/47 "2026-02-03T03:58:57Z")
You leave out a third option - someone who wasn’t a deity ordered the Israelites to not leaven their bread (for some reason) and that order has been mythologised into an order from a deity. If you assume the events in question have a historical basis - and I do appreciate the evidence for that is thin at best - this third option seems plausible. Religious leaders do have a propensity for insisting their orders are orders from a deity. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/48 "2026-02-03T13:29:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > When actually the Levant is lousy with many kinds of unleavened breads and they would have been the norm with fully risen loaves as more special, anyway. > > So the people who crafted these stories in the Exile did so using the common bread type that was all around them anyway, the kind that they’d make with the facilities and rations allocated to them - check out the al-Yahudu tablets and Babylonian ration tablets in general. Another possibility was that they up and left in a hurry, and the only bread practical to take with them was the unleavened kind - “we only had unleavened bread” morphing into “we only made unleavened bread” as the story repeated. And since God wanted them to leave, then God intended them to make it that way. Or they took the harvest festival bread that was always made that way for that feast day on God’s orders, except this time it became travelling rations. Plenty of roon for speculation. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/49 "2026-02-03T14:35:35Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > It is already stale and never goes bad. I’ve only had matzoh in ball form in chicken soup. I had heard it described as like a saltine cracker without the salt - is that close? A cracker will go soft if exposed to humidity, is matzoh more stable than that? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/50 "2026-02-03T14:48:18Z")
Unleavened bread does not have to be dry and stale, but if you want it to have a shelf life of decades, you need to bake it and keep it dry. Here is a 150-year-old hardtack biscuit; I’d still eat it, it’s fine (though note the comment about worms, if they get exposed to humidity and so on): [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/PensacolaWentworthAug2008Hardtack.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/PensacolaWentworthAug2008Hardtack.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/51 "2026-02-03T14:52:17Z")
Matzos seem to be impervious to humidity. They’re very dry and hard - whereas, saltines are more delicate in texture (and, BTW, saltines are leavened with yeast). ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/52 "2026-02-03T14:56:07Z")
The soft matzos only keep for about a day unless frozen ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/53 "2026-02-03T18:07:56Z")
Matzo that’s not kept dry will go stale. That being said, I’m eating some of last spring’s matzo with cheese right now, for lunch. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/54 "2026-02-03T19:16:40Z")
Did someone say “hardtack”? [![](https://gifs.cackhanded.net/tasting-history/hardtack.gif) ](https://gifs.cackhanded.net/tasting-history/hardtack.gif) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/55 "2026-02-03T19:21:35Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Another possibility was that they up and left in a hurry Left Babylon in a hurry? I guess it’s _possible_, although [all indications](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity#Chronology) are the return was a leisurely affair over nearly a century. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/56 "2026-02-04T00:22:46Z")
A matzoh is much stiffer than a saltine. I guess it might go soft in a very humid environment but with modern air conditioning that does not seem to be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/57 "2026-02-04T01:16:46Z")
Ancient matzo was soft and round, like pita. Crisp matzo is a more recent invention. The “Hillel sandwich” served at the Seder would historically have been more like a burrito. > **[Matzah | Variations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matzah#Variations)** > > There are two major forms of matzah. Prior to the late 18th century, all matzah was soft and relatively thick, but thinner, crisper matzah later became popular in parts of Europe due to its longer shelf life. With the invention of the first matzah-making machine in France in 1839, cracker-like mass-produced matzah became the most common form in Europe and North America and is now ubiquitous in all Ashkenazic and most Sephardic communities. Yemenite and Iraqi Jews continue to use a form of soft ma... > Prior to the late 18th century, all matzah was soft and relatively thick, but thinner, crisper matzah later became popular in parts of Europe due to its longer shelf life. With the invention of the first matzah-making machine in France in 1839, cracker-like mass-produced matzah became the most common form in Europe and North America and is now ubiquitous in all Ashkenazic and most Sephardic communities. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/58 "2026-02-04T01:26:54Z")
I feel short changed. A wrap would be way better. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/59 "2026-02-04T02:37:49Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Left Babylon in a hurry? I guess it’s _possible_, although [all indications](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity#Chronology) are the return was a leisurely affair over nearly a century. They modified the exodus-from-Egypt dry menu for the return from Babylon? Maybe because there they were by the waters. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2026, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274/60 "2026-02-04T02:42:11Z")
You mean the leeks. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6bWIMeanM5Q/maxresdefault.jpg "P.D.Q. Bach - The Seasonings - VI. Chorale: By the Leeks of Babylon") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bWIMeanM5Q) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-point-of-ordering-the-israelites-to-not-leaven-their-bread-as-they-prepared-to-depart-egypt/1027274.md?page=4)