Matzo Covers
At the Passover seder, the matzos are also covered. Matzo covers differ from challah covers in that they can contain three "pockets" into which the three matzos (set out at the beginning of the Seder) are inserted.
According to the Gemara, matzo is called lechem oni (poor man's bread); the Hebrew word oni (עוני) can also be construed as "answers," yielding, "bread upon which answers are spoken." Thus, the matzos are uncovered during the telling of the story of the Jews' servitude in Egypt. However, when the wine cups are raised to express praise to God for the redemption, the matzos are covered so that they will not be "shamed", as one is giving preference to the wine.
Read more about this topic: Challah Cover
Famous quotes containing the word covers:
“What art can paint or gild any object in afterlife with the glow which Nature gives to the first baubles of childhood. St. Peter’s cannot have the magical power over us that the red and gold covers of our first picture-book possessed. How the imagination cleaves to the warm glories of that tinsel even now! What entertainments make every day bright and short for the fine freshman!”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)