Hametz
(Leavened Food)
One of the
basic Pesah observances is, of course, the prohibition of leaven
(hametz), which is enunciated at Exodus l2:20
("You shall eat nothing unleavened, in all your settlements you
shall eat unleavened bread") and elsewhere in the Torah. The avoidance
of leavened bread itself is a recollection of the experience of the
Exodus. However, hametz has been taken by Judaism as a symbol of the
yetzer hara (the evil inclination in people), the source of moral and
spiritual servitude. In the Talmud (Berakhot 17a), we read, “What
prevents us from doing God’s will? The leaven in the dough …” This
association is perhaps connected with the extraordinary stringency
of the prohibition of hametz in Jewish law.
Hametz is
defined as food made from one of the "five species of
grain": wheat, barley, rye, oats, and spelt, in which leavening
or fermentation induced by the presence of water has taken place.
Hametz
b'ayin, "perceptible" hametz (such as bread or cake) is prohibited for consumption by Torah law
from approximately noon
(the actual time, like all times which figure in Jewish law, is based
on the movement of the sun, and therefore varies slightly from place
to place and year to year) on the day before Pesah, until the end of
Pesah. By rabbinic law, the consumption of hametz is prohibited from
about l0 a.m. on the morning before Pesah. (The exact time that this
prohibition and the prohibition of possessing hametz begin varies from
year to year, and it is posted in the synagogue bulletin.). Not only
is it forbidden to eat or drink hametz, but we are not permitted to
benefit from hametz in any way. To eat hametz on Pesah itself is the
most serious offense in Jewish law; it is considered like eating on
Yom Kippur.
It is also forbidden to keep such hametz in our possession
during Pesah, and, if we do keep it, such hametz (called hametz
she-avar alav hapesah)
is forbidden for use after Pesah. By rabbinic law, the prohibition
of the possession of hametz begins at about ll a.m. on the day before
Pesah , and this prohibition is the basis of the positive obligation
to remove all hametz from our possession before Pesah.
Taarovet
hametz (a mixture containing hametz) is also
forbidden on Pesah. The principle of bittul, according to which a very
small amount
of a forbidden substance mixed into a permitted food may sometimes
be ignored, does not apply to hametz on Pesah.
Hametz nuksheh (hametz which is inedible by man or beast),
if it is intrinsically inedible (like shoe polish) may be kept during
Pesah.
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