Religion & Beliefs
Bread of Hope
By Amichai Lau-Lavie / March 30, 2007
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Last week, we ventured into the mysterious terrain of the Leviticus sacrificial cult and its possible modern application. This week, we are delving deeper into the small print of the priestly procedures, focusing on one element that has a lot to do with the upcoming holiday of Passover: the mysterious matzah. Passover is a product of an elegant evolution. Today it is an elaborate feast, but Passover started around 2,000 years ago as a ceremonial BBQ conducted outdoors under a full moon, with greasy hands, freshly slaughtered lamb and quick words of praise. 
We may have lost the BBQ but we did retain some of the key ingredients, including a carbohydrate much loved, loathed, and possibly lost in translation. What is interesting about this week's Torah episode, Tzav, is that it shows us how matzah was not exclusively reserved for Passover. Rather, matzah was a sacred food associated with priestly privilege and with the boundaries of what is “kosher” or “holy” all year round.
Chapter Six in Leviticus describes the procedure of the “gift offering,” a donation of flour or grain handled by the sons of Aaron, the high priest. Verses Seven and Eight describe what they did with the leftovers:
“What is left of the offering shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons; it shall be eaten as unleavened cakes in the sacred precinct, they shall eat it in the enclosure of the tent of meeting… It shall not be baked with leaven."
The Hebrew word for “unleavened cakes” is “matzot,” translated elsewhere as “bread without yeast,” “unleavened bread,” “flat baked goods” or “holy things.” Basically, it refers to a type of bread that does not undergo the natural process of “rising.” Matzot appear throughout Leviticus – a familiar item for several other sacrificial procedures that have nothing to do with Passover. So how did it become the food that is most strongly associated with this holiday? We know matzah from the story of the hurried escape from Egypt: it was the original fast food on the run. While this story may be true history or Judeo gastronomic mythology, it is also possible that the practice of eating this symbolic bread existed separately, as a way to honor life's sanctity and promote nutrition. The priests had to eat the leftover matzot at a specific time and place, much like our modern obligation regarding Passover. Symbolic and still unleavened, this is one tough cracker that made it into history and rose to the top of the Jewish food list – yeast or no yeast. Ultimately, matzah became an icon of potential, of hopeful possibilities yet to come.
It is the bread of hope. This Passover, as you take your first bite of this biblical bread, we invite you to take your time, appreciate the sacredness of the moment, the amazing history of what you are about to ingest, and the transmitted half-baked mystery that helps keep some nights more exciting and special than all others. Have a delicious and meaningful Passover!
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The Weight Watchers plan is simple: all foods are assigned a "point" value. To compute points, start with the calorie count; add a bit for every gram of fat, and subtract a bit for every gram of fiber, to get what I will call "adjusted calories". Fifty adjusted calories equals one point. (The point calculation is not presented as such, but rather as a mystical black box which takes three inputs–calories, fat grams, and fiber grams–and then runs them through a slide-rule-like gizmo, or a Weight Watchers calculator, to produce the point value.) Weight Watchers publishes books listing the point values for many common foods, as well as for common dishes at well-known restaurants. (Weight Watchers used to use a more complicated formula in which foods were classified in a manner similar to the American Diabetes Association’s Dietary Exchange Lists. This system was more precise, but also harder to follow; the result was more like being on the Zone Diet, which advocates a 40-30-30 percent balance between carbohydrates, protein, and fat.)
Following the Weight Watchers plan involves determining the proper number of points that you should consume each day (actually a range of values, based on your current weight), and then tracking all the food you consume to ensure that you keep to that number. The exact number of calories you are allowed to consume will depend on how much fat and fiber you include in your diet, but it will very likely be less than you burn simply keeping your body running (the 167-pound man who burns 2000 calories at rest will likely eat fewer than 1500 calories on Weight Watchers).
To encourage exercise, Weight Watchers plan gives you credit, in the form of extra points that are earned based on the duration and intensity of the exercise. This lets you eat a bit more, while avoiding the problem of overcompensating ("I ran for 15 minutes, so here goes a banana cream pie").
By contrast, the Atkins Diet does not worry about all calories, but instead only about carbohydrates. It’s simpler to calculate, since carbohydrate information is generally known, and there is no need to do any conversion to points.
Initially, participants are restricted to 20 grams of carbohydrates a day. That is a very low amount: 1/4 cup of flour, or a single slice of typical bread. Eventually, this amount can be raised to 40 to 60 grams a day, depending on how much an individual can eat and still lose weight. Since many carbohydrate-rich foods (especially starchy vegetables) have important vitamins, participants in the Atkins Diet also take a multivitamin every day.
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