"to eat the bread of affliction"

[NuclearFace]

I've recieved an email from a Russian penpal asking the meaning of the phrase "to eat the bread of affliction". I've never used this phrase, but I did do a quick search on the internet and it seems to have some connection with Passover, when the Jews ate unleavened bread when being forced out of Israel.

Can anyone explain what it means if used in a modern context?

[tetherend]

Is this something to do with the Jewish custom of someone buying all the unleavened bread from them on one of the high holy days? 

[Clanad]

The origin of the phrase is Book of Deuteronomy of the Old Testament, Chapter 16, Verse 3. It continues as a reminder to the Jews to remember the night they were led from Egyptian captivity.  The bread, here, is unleavened bread, that is, without leaven or yeast to make it rise.  Leaven was a synonym for sin, and so the admonition for today is to remember what sin does in and to ones life... (this BTW is the celebration of Passover (Pesach in Hebrew)...

[stream]

The bread of affliction is called matzah in hebrew. as clanad explains not eating normal bread is derived from the fact that g-d commanded it and the spiritual connection the bread has with pride haughtyness and other character traits that jews think are often used negatively. Jews cannot eat normal bread for 8 days of the year and have to make reasonable efforts to ensure that no food they eat in this time contains traces of ingredients that are leaven or are grown using leavened substrate (e.g. mushrooms). jews must also clean their homes of leaven cover surfaces that leavened food has come into contact with (usually jews will have antire sets of cutlery, crockery, cookware and even toothbrushes for this 8 day period) and generally give the house a thorough clean. To avoid having to throw out leavened products such as whisky, or entire freezers full of food jews sell the leavened products to a non-jew and then buy it back after passover. businesses such as chemists and food shops are also sold. Usually one non-jew buys the leavened products for an entire community for a deposit of say �10. this means that for the 8 day period the non-jew becomes a multi multi millionare, poss even billionare.