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I understand why we eat Matzah on Pesach. Of course it’s because thats what the Jews ate when they came out of Mitzrayim! But where does the prohibition of eating Chametz on Pesach come from? The Jews ate Chametz in Mitzrayim! Also why is there such a severity of possessing, owning, and eating Chametz that we don’t find by any other Issur?
We eat Matzah because Hashem told us to. In fact, the Mitzvah of eating Matzah came before we left Egypt and had dough that didn’t have time to rise.
Because God said “Don’t eat chometz on Pesach.”
The Wolf
its a possuk.
The restrictions on chametz are based on biblical verses.
Shemos (Numbers) 12:15 “Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; howbeit the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.”
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OF course we CAN eat hametz on Pesach. We CHOOSE not to do so since it is a mitzvah not to do so. Most of us are so attached to the mitzvah we even avoid anything that resembles hametz, such as foods made with a little grain mixed in, or even non-grains that look like and can be cooked in a manner similar to grains. But if we COULD NOT eat hametz on Pesach, where would be the zechus in refusing to do so.
I had to blink twice when I saw this topic. Wonder whether I was the only one?
mir darf vissen vus, nisht farvus.
YW fan…
(Firstly- I mistakenly called Shemot, Numbers. In English, it’s Exodus)
There are many reasons given.
The Torah itself just says…
12:39- “And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.”
Soooo… from a practical point of view, they HAD to eat matza because there was no time to wait for dough to rise to bake regular leavened bread. BUT… The eating of matza itself AND the total getting rid of chametz, are both mitzvot, – so there is a lot more to it than just the factor of lack of time. There are tons of commentaries on this subject that explain what chametz signifies, why it must be eliminated COMPLETELY, etc. and it is way to much to go into here.
Since on Passover we became a nation, we must immediately stamp out pride & Ga’avah as we embrace freedom, hence Davko on Pesach we keep away from fluffy Chometz which represents Ga’avah.
Of-course gaining of freedom by Yovel was also a serious concern, hence the Eved awaits a further 10 days from R’H thru Y’K to attain his freedom, when the fear of the Asseres Yemei Teshuvah should help him steer away from Ga’avah.
Why is everyone giving this poster a hard time?
I saw the question and I am stumped. It’s a really good question.
Of course God said so. But he gives a reason for matza. Does no one say ??? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ??? Sam, I’ve had that question since I was a kid, but it’s not a shlug up, it’s simply a kashya on the posuk AinOhdMilvado cited, which we say in the passage I mentioned. I’ve always just assumed that this is the reason for both sides of the coin – the mitzva to eat matza and the prohibition against chametz; but YW fan rightly points out that it only provides insight into the mitzva. So lemayseh, what is the reason for the no chametz?
Sure, you can still answer God said so. But everything else we have a reason for, matza, maror, and so on, and this is a chok? Come on. There’s must be a nice pshat here.
YW fan, again, really good question.
Yitay: We rarely give reasons for Mitzvos. At least, certainly not Muchrach ones.
YW Fan: Check out the Moreh Nevuchim and the Sefer Hachinuch. See what ideas they give.
Sam2 – Yeah, I know. But we like insights, especially with the Pesach mitzvos, which we seem to be busy giving reasons for.
Yw fan: you ask a very good and fundamental question. (yes tcg I did wonder where this thread would lead when I opened it). Probably the reason is along the lines that bread can either be allowed to rise or not be allowed to rise. Its either leavened or unleavened, either chametz or matza. We must commemorate the manner in which hashem brought us out of mitzraim in haste, where we show that yeshuas hashem is always kheref ayin, and we are instructed to do this by remembering their bread which was not given time to rise before they were evicted from mitzraim.
My 2 long time questions are: 1. The pasuk says they were driven out of mitzraim, implying as if they were woken up unexpectedly in the night and told to leave immediately. But we know this was not the case. Paroh asked them to leave by chatzos halayla immediately after makkas bichoros when he came looking for Moshe but Moshe said no we will not leave in the middle of the night but in the day and they waited until morning before leaving. So why did they not begin baking their bread on time; they chose their time of leaving. They were not suddenly chased out?
Question 2. The pasuk says matza zu sheanu ochlim al shum mah… Because the dough of our fathers did not have time to become leavened before hashem revealed himself to them and redeemed them. QUESTION: Had they not been ‘chased out’ and had their dough been allowed to rise, would we still have a mitzvas matzo and issur chametz? Is this the entire and only reason for chametz and matzo? Would we not have had this mitzva anyway had they been allowed to leave without pressure?
(I have a mehalach on these questions but post them to see what the learned coffeeroom can come up with).
We often look at things backwards.
HaSh-m, lechatchilah, WANTED us to eat matzah on Pesach, sooooo…
He created a scenario (the rush) where we would only be able to prepare matzah and not leavened bread.
WHY did He want, lechatchila, for us to eat matzah on Pesach?
Ahhhh… now we have to look into the really deeper kabala’dike (sod) reasons…
I always thought the reason for not eating chometz is “adam nif’al k’fi p’ulosom”, as some of the above allude to.
Let me check it out with my local get-to-the-root-of-it baal machshova.
I can’t remember where I saw an explanation why they rushed out of mitzrayim without any food, but it was something to the effect of: Originally the yidden were all packed & ready to leave right after Makkas Dam. Then it cam and went, and nothing happened. Then came Makkas Tzefardayah, they repacked and got ready to leave. Again, nothing happened. Note: they had no idea that there would be a series of makkos, let alone TEN of them. So you can iimagine after makka # 5, and #6, they started giving up with the packing, making sandwiches, etc. How many times were they expected to pack, unpack, pack, unpack, pack, unpack,…???! So when the actual time came to leave in a blink of an eye, they weren’t prepared for the real thing! They didn’t even have food!
Anyone hear of such a thought?
BaalHa… (are we allowed to say the rest of your name of Pesach?) Hi, Gut Moed! I understood what you said until makkas bichoros. From then, when Paroh wanted them to leave immediately but they voluntarily stayed until morning, they knew this time it was for real. So what DID klal yisrael do all night from when they were commanded by Paroh to leave until the morning?
hmmmm….maybe they were just very busy eating korbon pesach, matza, and maror, loading their donkeys with bizui mitzrayim, and singing Hallel……
y’think?
A holy Jew asks a sincere question, he must receive a warm and sincere answer.
YW fan: Your question is one that got me thinking this year’s Pesach Seder, and honestly I couldn’t answer it very well. I announced by the seder this year to the kids to be smart, be alert and to ask ask ask. Tonight we ask many questions about anything by the Seder, anything about Pesach. So I could see my 5 1/2 yr old thinking really hard and after about a minute he sheepishly asks, “why can’t we eat chometz?”. I told him because the Torah instruts us yidden not to eat chometz on Pesach. Then, my 10 year old neice pipes up and asks, “yeah, but what’s the REASON?”
stumped.
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