When Can We Eat Chametz Again 2017

The prohibition confronting eating chametz (leavened staff of life) on Pesach (Passover) is different from all other prohibitions in the Torah. The well-nigh noticeable departure is the fact that the prohibition lasts only vii days each year. The simple question is: If chametz is "bad," for some reason, it should be prohibited all yr; and if not, why is it forbidden on Pesach? (The prohibition to eat on Yom Kippur is non the same – it clearly is not that food as such is forbidden, but that eating as an activity is non appropriate for the Mean solar day of Atonement. Information technology is a day of fasting. Just the days of Pesach are days of feasting.)

Chametz is different in other respects also. All other food prohibitions autumn into two possible categories: either eating, or all benefit, is forbidden. Indeed, chametz falls into the latter category. However, in add-on, there is a prohibition called "lo yeira'eh lekha" – chametz may non be in your possession all the days of Pesach. There is no prohibition confronting having ham in i's abode, but chametz must be gotten rid of before Pesach. That is why Pesach is the cause of massive spring cleaning in Jewish homes, every bit we conduct an obsessive search to root out any crumbs that might exist lurking somewhere. There is no other prohibition like this.

The "war" against chametz on Pesach takes on other forms as well. Commonly, most prohibitions are subject to a procedure called "bittul" – a small-scale amount of forbidden material that is mixed in with a much larger amount of permitted food is considered to be "nullified" (the ratio needed is unremarkably 1:60). Chametz, even so, is forbidden in any corporeality and is not subject to bittul. Given the nature of modern nutrient technology, the result is that any processed nutrient must have special Pesach supervision.

The issue of this complex of laws is that on Pesach, nosotros are enjoined to strike out the very existence of chametz from our lives. Chametz is not to be found anywhere "in your borders." According to the Ramban, the aim is that chametz not be found "in your heed;" it should be like grit in your eyes. What is so bad nigh chametz that we are set to destroy it, and why does our attitude change then completely seven days later?

Pesach is intimately spring up with the festival that follows it seven weeks later – Shavuot. In fact, in the Torah, the date of Shavuot is not a calendar i (the sixth mean solar day in the month of Sivan) simply a relative i – seven weeks after the second day of Pesach. The mitzva of "sefirat ha-omer," counting the days from Pesach for vii weeks (after which comes Shavuot), clearly indicates that Pesach starts a process which culminates in Shavuot. The usual (and quite correct) understanding is that Pesach, the holiday of freedom, is directed towards the goal of Shavuot, the day of the giving of the Torah. Freedom is the necessary prerequisite for responsibility and obligation, and, conversely, is meaningless without a goal to which one is committed.

Halakhically, at that place is another connection between Pesach and Shavuot, ane which unfortunately we have lost sight of. Pesach is the festival of matza (that is the official proper noun in the Torah, not my ain appellation). Shavuot, in the Torah, bated from not having a date, is besides distinguished past some other anomaly. Every other vacation is first introduced, on a given day, and then we are told what to do on that mean solar day, what are the special rituals. Shavuot is an exception. The Torah (Vayikra 23ý:15) says to count vii weeks, and on the fiftieth twenty-four hours to bring a special cede. This offering consists of ii loaves of Staff of life, "baked with leaven, the first-fruits unto God." Only afterward does the Torah add that this mean solar day, when this offer is brought, shall be a festival day.

In other words, it is non that we sacrifice a holiday offering on Shavuot; rather, we celebrate Shavuot on the 24-hour interval of the special offer, two loaves of bread. So, the 7 weeks between Pesach and Shavuot is a fourth dimension when nosotros movement from matza to chametz. Chametz is non something which is basically undesirable, permitted perhaps only because it would exist too difficult to live without it the whole yr. Chametz is specifically brought to God, as an offering of first-fruits, equally the culmination of a process that began with Pesach. How are we to sympathize this?

Without being overly symbolic, I think it is articulate that the process of leavening represents the evolution of powers inherent in something. Matza is simply flour and water, baked. Bread is made of the same ingredients, merely when y'all get out it around, unwatched and unbothered, it magically rises and grows, realizing a hidden potential and expressing it. Is this bad? Not at all! Indeed, it would not exist exaggerated to say that this is the goal of Torah life in full general. Simply the Torah is warning us near something on Pesach. This procedure of growth and development, when left to unfold of itself, wildly, tin be catastrophic. The raw powers of the human spirit, unguided and unchannelled, are anarchic precisely because they are powerful, precisely because they represent real growth and vitality. The first step, when granted freedom, is not to run and permit all the repressed inclinations and urges wing out. Fifty-fifty then – Particularly And then – one should swallow matza and beware the hidden powers bursting to be complimentary. Seven weeks must pass, counting each 24-hour interval, waiting for the giving of the Torah, with its direction and goal, learning what the infinite possibility earlier us consists of in the positive sense, and then ane bakes two loaves and brings them before God. The first fruits are the first products of man's creativity. Rather than making them in a outburst of activeness on the outset day of freedom, nosotros must kickoff find the direction to "the mountain of the Lord," first learn the purpose of freedom, and then and only so take advantage of the wild unchecked powers within.

What is the connection then between Pesach, freedom, and chametz? Freedom is the cornerstone of Judaism. Freedom is a HALAKHIC concept. Without information technology, one cannot serve God. Paradoxical as it sounds, simply free men can obey God. Pesach is the first vacation, the first of the cycle of the year. But the experience of liberty alone, by itself, is too an empty one. Freedom in its first stage is a negative concept – no domination past others, no laws, no restrictions. It does non have positive content. Many thinkers for this reason have tried to grant liberty only to those who have the "proper" perspective, who take first been "educated" what to do with their freedom. But the Torah knows that you cannot brainwash slaves. There is no alternative just to build positive meaning on the ground of negative freedom. Hence Pesach celebrates freedom itself, without the Torah. But on the other hand, the Torah dictates the food appropriate for "pure" liberty – matza, unleavened staff of life, unrisen, flat, unproductive. Matza is chosen "lechem oni," poor breadstuff. It is true that matza is the food of slaves. But it is besides the food of complimentary men if they accept not worked to impart meaning to their liberty.

And then, when the Jews left Egypt, their freedom granted to them hurriedly by the frightened Egyptians, they had no time to leaven their breadstuff. Running out of Arab republic of egypt, technically gratuitous, unrestricted in fact, they were withal slaves at heart. Their only goal was to be free, to leave Egypt. But liberty is not the goal of freedom. The food of gratuitous men who accept non yet learnt, who have not chosen to serve God, to SERVE college ideals, to employ their freedom to rise higher up servitude and not merely escape information technology, is matza. It would exist dangerous, catastrophic, for them to gustation the exhilarant flavor of leavened bread, the fruits of a process that multiplies itself in the dark, growing wildly, unchecked, raw power and potential. Indeed, chametz on Pesach is not merely a prohibited nutrient. You have to put it out of your mind completely. Information technology does non fifty-fifty exist. For these vii days, any sign of unsupervgrowth must be burnt, before the wild weeds take over the dormant world.

The cycle of Jewish living during the year is not an evenly-counterbalanced picture of quiet moderation. On the reverse, information technology offers experiences of extremes, and so that we may inculcate their meanings into our lives. Today is Pesach, and the experience is pure liberty. To make that a positive experience, we must behave an obsessive search to eliminate any weeds in the garden. Pesach, the holiday of our freedom, is the day after the plowing of the globe (symbolically; this is not agriculturally accurate). The earth is bare, but that is a beautiful sight to one who knows what he can institute there. Tomorrow, starting on the second twenty-four hour period of Pesach, nosotros begin to count, each day, seven weeks, moving towards the days of planting. On the fiftieth day, when we have learned to control the powers and harness them to space goals of value, nosotros will be able to bring a sacrifice of chametz, of development and growth.

(Jewish moral literature has used chametz equally a symbol of pride. The ascension dough symbolizes the overweening spirit of human. This complements what I accept written. Pride is not a false matter in and of itself – it is the expression of the inner value of a productive homo, a feeling for the space potential lurking in one'southward soul. But pure potential is at once space and at the aforementioned fourth dimension empty, unrealized. Pride expressed on an empty stomach is shallow, overblown, air-filled. That is chametz on Pesach, before one has washed anything other than flee the oppressor.)

Is there a need to return to Pesach each twelvemonth again? Of grade, for two inseparable reasons. Beginning, we must return to the roots of freedom because nosotros have managed to enslave ourselves anew every year. There is some truth to those who claim, or perhaps feel without giving it expression, that commitment enslaves, that responsibility limits, that service is servitude. There is a tension between Pesach and Shavuot, betwixt freedom and Torah, even equally ane cannot succeed without the other. One must affirm the two and join them, subsequently experiencing each separately. Every twelvemonth, we return to pure freedom; we actually leave Egypt again. For the same reason, we render to the prohibition of chametz each year. In order genuinely to renew our experience of freedom, we must identify aside the fruits of liberty, the powers of growth, the content of production. That will come up, in fourth dimension. Pesach, as nosotros all know, is poor in gastronomic delights, despite the all-time efforts of cookbooks and matza factories. Liberty is a poor dish, and that is the manner it should be savored, for the gustatory modality is in what is non withal there.

Halakhic Summary:

1. Chametz may not be eaten in any form on Pesach, for seven days (eight days outside of Israel).
2. Information technology is prohibited to have chametz in your possession during Pesach (outset one hour earlier noon on the day earlier Pesach). Either one just gets rid of it all, or it tin be sold to a not-Jew through the offices of your local Rabbi.
3. On the night Earlier Pesach (or two nights before, if Pesach falls on Saturday night), one searches through the entire firm to insure that in that location is no chametz around. The found chametz, and any left over, is burnt the next morning. I mentally removes any remaining chametz from ane'south mind and makes it "hefker" (free, unowned).
4. Pesach is "the festival of our liberty." That phrase is added to the prayers all seven days.
5. Beginning with the second day, we count each night, from one to forty-ix. The formal counting is in the grade, "today is the -nn- mean solar day, which is -ww- weeks and -dd- days in the omer."
6. Starting the first twenty-four hours of Pesach, nosotros stop adding the prayer for rain. The earth is expected to take absorbed all it can – now is the time to start producing.

Did I forget to mention the lesson I learned at the 1964 World's Fair? I lived within walking distance of Flushing Meadows, where the off-white was held, and students (yes, I was in high schoolhouse then) could get tickets for 25 cents. Naturally, Pesach vacation was a neat time to go and spend the whole day there. And so we packed matza sandwiches. In the matza, wanting to make this a fun mean solar day, nosotros placed salami. Subsequently 3 or iv hours of walking around, we found a shady spot, washed our hands, recited the appropriate blessings, and got ready to eat, just to discover that salami and matza make a poor couple. The fatty from the meat had soaked into the matza, rendering information technology a mealy mass of mush. You see, fatty food does not go with matza. Matza is "poor bread."

This article is reposted with permission from the
VBM—The Israel Koschitzky VirtualBeit Midrash of Yeshivat Har Etzion

vesselsfroment84.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.ou.org/holidays/the-symbolism-of-chametz/

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