Chametz

Food

Chametz refers to leavened bread, understood by the rabbis to be any food containing one of five species of grain — wheat, barley, oat, spelt and rye — that has been allowed to rise. Several biblical verses command that one abstain from consuming chametz on the Passover holiday and to avoid encountering it in other ways.

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A symbolic re-enactment

TANAKH

Why is chametz forbidden on Passover? The Book of Exodus mentions that the people of Israel brought their unrisen dough as they made their escape from Egypt.

So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks upon their shoulders.

Exodus 12:34

Kosher for Passover All Year Long

MISHNAH

While bread was used ritually in the Temple, there was a prohibition against putting leavened food on the altar. The Mishnah explains how to keep kosher for Passover throughout the year.

All the meal-offerings that come as matza are to be kneaded with lukewarm water so that the dough will bake well, as only a small amount of oil is added. And one must watch over them to ensure that they do not become leaven while kneading and shaping them, and if a meal offering or even only its remainder becomes leaven, one violates a prohibition, as it is stated: “No meal offering that you shall bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven…

Mishnah Menachot 5:2

How did that get there?

HALAKHAH

The prohibition on leavened food starts several hours before Passover, but some details change once Passover begins. This 19th century summary of the Shulchan Arukh (16th century) explains what to do if someone inadvertently finds even the smallest amount of leavened foods accidentally mixed in with unleavened foods.

If you find any chametz in food on erev Pesach, anytime before nightfall, it is like any other forbidden substance, which is nullified if it becomes mixed (into a permitted subtance), sixty times its volume. Therefore, if you find a grain of seed in poultry or in cooked food, you should throw away the seed, and you may eat the rest, even on Pesach. But during Pesach, itself, even the smallest bit of chametz makes food forbidden (to eat) and to derive benefit from it…

Kitzur Shulchan Arukh 117:1

A Different Kind of Worship

JEWISH THOUGHT

The rule that leavened bread was not allowed on the altar in the Temple was not just an arbitrary decision. According to Rambam (12th-century, Egypt) in his philosophical treatise, this was a direct reaction to the idol worshippers of the ancient world.

The idolaters did not offer any other bread but leavened, and chose sweet things for their sacrifices, which they seasoned with honey, as is fully described in the books which I named before: but salt is not mentioned in any of their sacrifices. Our Law therefore forbade us to offer leaven or honey, and commanded us to have salt in every sacrifice: “With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt” (Lev. 2:13).

Guide for the Perplexed, Part 3 46:6

The Search is On

MISHNAH

Has the practice of searching for and destroying chametz evolved in the modern world? The Mishnah, a legal code compiled in the land of Israel around the third century, records practices that are very similar to the way many communities treat chametz today.

On the evening [or] of the fourteenth of the month of Nisan, one searches for leavened bread in his home by candlelight. Any place into which one does not typically take leavened bread does not require a search, as it is unlikely that there is any leavened bread there. And with regard to what the Sages of previous generations meant when they said that one must search two rows of wine barrels in a cellar, i.e., a place into which one typically takes some leavened bread, the early tanna’im are in dispute…

Mishnah Pesachim 1:1

Right on time

TALMUD

When exactly does one stop eating chametz? A discussion about the precise timing of when chametz becomes forbidden for Passover is found in the Talmud.

We learned in a mishna there, that Rabbi Meir says: One may eat leaven on the fourteenth day during the entire first five hours of the day, and he burns the leaven at the beginning of the sixth hour. Rabbi Yehuda says: One may eat leaven for the entire first four hours of the day, and one leaves it in abeyance during the fifth hour, at which point eating leaven is prohibited but it need not be burned yet, and one burns the leaven at the beginning of the sixth hour…

Pesachim 4b:8

Every little bit counts

HALAKHAH

It would be easy to think that just a little bit of chametz might be considered insignificant . But as codified in this legal code of the Rambam (12th century, Egypt), you would be wrong if you thought that crumbs don’t count!

Although chametz on Pesach is forbidden by Scriptural Law, it is not governed by these general principles, for this mixture is not forbidden forever. For after Pesach, the entire mixture will be permitted, as we explained. Therefore the slightest amount [of chametz] causes [a mixture] to become forbidden, whether [it becomes mixed] with a substance of its own type or of another type.

Mishneh Torah, Forbidden Foods 15:9

Human Nature

COMMENTARY

More than just the food we eat, chametz has a deeper spiritual meaning. According to Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz (16th century, Prague), the prohibition against chametz teaches us about the evil inclination.

And there was chametz in the two breads, which is compared to the evil impulse. For in the wording of our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, [this impulse] is called the leavening in the dough (Berakhot 17a:2). For when the Torah is present, the evil impulse is not able to cause damage - as the Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Kiddushin 30b), "The Holy One, blessed be He, said, 'I have created the evil impulse, I have created an antidote for it" which is the Torah. And were it not for the evil impulse, the Holy One, blessed be He…

Kli Yakar on Leviticus 23:16:2

Chametz and Idolatry

COMMENTARY

What is the significance of eating leavened food on Passover? Among other ramifications mentioned in the Torah, 20th century kabbalist and translator of the Zohar into Hebrew, Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, notes the connection between chametz and idolatry.

It is written (Exodus 34:17), "You must not make molten gods for yourselves": And it is written after it (Exodus 34:18), "You shall observe the Feast of Matzot." [The Zohar] asks, "Why is this next to this?" And it answers, "Rather, this is why He positioned it [so] - one who eats chametz is like one who worships idolatry.

Sulam on Zohar, Tetzaveh 49:1

First Fruits

COMMENTARY

The same leavened food that is forbidden on Passover is required in order to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, just seven weeks later. Rashi (11th century, France) explains in his commentary on the Talmud why leavened bread is connected to Shavuot.

The two loaves: They [meant] about the fruits of the trees, since [the loaves] allow the first fruits to be brought. For we may not bring the first fruits before [Shavuot], as it is written (Exodus 34:22), "the first fruits of the wheat harvest." And I heard that Rabbi Yehudah [here] is according to his reasoning. As Rabbi Yehudah goes according to the one that said in Sanhedrin (70b) [that] the tree from which Adam ate was wheat.

Rashi on Rosh Hashanah 16a:14:2

Hidden from Sight

TANAKH

The Torah specifies that not only should chametz not be eaten during Passover, it should not even be seen. Questions arising from the various details mentioned in this verse from the Book of Exodus have inspired many different interpretations.

Throughout the seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten; no leavened bread shall be found with you, and no leaven shall be found in all your territory.

Exodus 13:7

Chametz cleaning, The Golden Haggadah, circa 1320. {PD-US}

Relatedראו גם

Bedikat Chametz, Biur Chametz

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