In the tractate of Masechet Berachot, on page 39b, the commentary of Tosafot addresses a specific heading regarding the laws of Pesach. The discussion centers on the requirement that all agree that on the night of the Seder, one must place a broken piece of matzah within a whole one before breaking them. The reasoning for this practice is rooted in the biblical description of matzah as the "bread of poverty." Since a poor man typically eats broken pieces of bread rather than whole loaves, the ritual must reflect this state of poverty.
Tosafot explains that because of this scriptural designation, one should place the broken piece beneath the whole one. This arrangement ensures that when the individual performs the act of breaking, it appears as though he is breaking the broken piece itself. However, a distinction is made regarding the actual execution: despite this appearance, the initial breaking of the bread should technically be performed on the whole matzah. When one recites the blessing of Hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz, the breaking is done on the complete matzah. Subsequently, the blessing of Al achilat matzah is recited over the broken piece. To satisfy the requirement of the "bread of poverty," the custom is to wrap pieces from both the whole and the broken matzah together and eat them simultaneously. This ensures that the act of eating clearly involves the broken piece, fulfilling the visual and symbolic requirements of the law.
The commentary then explores a potential halachic concern: whether reciting two distinct blessings over the broken piece constitutes "performing commandments in bundles." Generally, Jewish law discourages grouping multiple commandments together in a way that might diminish the importance of each individual act. At first, it might seem that reciting both the blessing for bread and the specific blessing for the commandment of matzah on a single piece would violate this principle. However, Tosafot argues that this is not the case. He distinguishes between a blessing of enjoyment, such as the one said before eating bread, and a blessing of a commandment, such as the one said for the obligation to eat matzah. These two categories do not conflict when performed together.
This distinction is supported by the procedure for Kiddush. During that ritual, one recites Borei pri hagafen, which is a blessing of enjoyment over the wine, followed immediately by Mekadesh hashabbat, which is a blessing of the commandment of the day. Since this sequence is universally accepted and not considered an improper bundling of commandments, the same logic applies to the blessings over the matzah. Therefore, there is no inherent prohibition against reciting both blessings in close proximity over the same items.
The discussion also brings various customs from leading scholars. Rabbenu Menachem of Vienna was accustomed to performing all the requirements—both the blessing for the bread and the blessing for the commandment—specifically on the broken piece. In his view, the only reason to even have a whole matzah present was to fulfill the separate obligation of having a double portion of bread for the holiday. Conversely, the Ri followed a different practice. He would first recite the blessing of the bread over both the whole and broken pieces before breaking either of them. He would then recite the blessing for the commandment of matzah and only then break and eat from both together. This method was also not considered an improper bundling of commandments because the blessings were applied to two separate pieces of matzah.
At times, the Ri sought a way to navigate the different opinions in this dispute without deviating from the established custom. The common practice was to break the whole matzah immediately after the first blessing. To balance this with the requirement to emphasize the broken piece, he would recite the first blessing over the whole matzah and begin to break it slightly, but he would not fully separate the piece. He would wait to complete the break until after he had recited the second blessing over the broken piece. Finally, he would break both together. This careful procedure allowed him to respect the traditional custom while ensuring the legal requirements of the "bread of poverty" were meticulously upheld.