Questions & Commentary on Shabbat Pesach
1. Why are we commanded to eat matza (unleavened bread) on Pesach? What is so bad about chametz (leaven or yeast) anyway?
Nick Amic
The one custom that
Pesach is almost universally known for is eating matza. More than a
quaint dietary custom, the Torah goes so far as to command us to eat it. The
two commandments include: 1) to eat matza (Exodus 34:18), and 2) not to
eat leaven (Exodus 34:25). We will explore the symbolism behind these commandments.
Last week's portion, Tsav,
notes that two times the Torah prohibits offering chametz on the altar (Leviticus
2:11 and 6:9-10). Maimonides points
out in his famous Guide to the Perplexed (3:46)
that chametz is associated with paganism since idolaters would offer up
only leavened bread in their sacrifices. Similarly, the Talmud relates that chametz
symbolizes our evil inclination:
Rabbi Alexandri would end his daily prayers with the
following supplication: ‘Master of the Universe, you know full well that it is our
desire to act according to your will; but what prevents us from doing so? - the chametz in the dough. . .'
b. Berakhot 17a
This symbolism was
apparently widely accepted since the Brit Chadasha, speaking of sin,
uses the established aphorism "a little leaven leavens the whole lump"
(Galatians 5:9, 1 Corinthians 5:6).
Given that chametz
symbolizes both idolatry and personal sin, what does matza symbolize?
Why are we command to eat it during Pesach? The Netziv - Rabbi Naftali
Tzvi Berlin - writes in his
commentary Ha'amek Davar that chametz is the "epitome of
human involvement in nature." He expounds that matza - the simple
combination of flour and water - are created by God. It is humans that bring in
the technological ingenuity necessary to create chametz. Thus chametz
is "an exercise in human machination," whereas matza symbolizes a world
uninterrupted and exclusively controlled by God.
On Pesach we commemorate
the fact that an entire nation was supernaturally delivered from a world super
power. Indeed the Torah's account of the Red Sea underscores this: "Stand by
and witness the deliverance which the Lord will work for you this day; for the
Egyptians that you see today you will never see again. The Lord will battle for
you; you hold your peace" (Exodus 14:13-14).
God's yeshu‘ah
(deliverance) freed us from spiritual and physical enslavement. Our part this
season is to fight the urge to return to the familiarity of the shackles that
once bound us. Shaul implores us in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8:
Purge out the old chametz
so that you may be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened.
For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed. So let us celebrate the seder, not with leftover chametz, the chametz of wickedness and evil, but with the matza of purity and truth.
At Pesach we begin again
liberating our souls of the shackles of the cares of this world and the pride
and lust of life, in order to realize our true potential. For it is only in a
life that is yielded completely to God through the Messiah Yeshua and without
the machinations of our own wills, that we find true freedom. That we should
all grow a little closer towards this goal this Pesach season.
2. What is the connection between this week's Haftara reading and Passover?
Joshua Brumbach
Readers of Ezekiel's
vision rarely associate it with Passover. Yet, this portion was specifically
chosen by the rabbis to be the Haftara reading for Shabbat Pesach. With
other more direct allusions to Passover existent in the Biblical text, the
choice of this specific portion does seem to be a bit odd. What is its
association with Passover.
However, with a careful
re-reading of the text one quickly notices familiar themes of Redemption,
Renewal, and the ultimate promise to bring the Jewish people back to our
Promised Land. These themes are echoed in numerous passages from the Torah in
relation to the Exodus from Egypt.
Therefore, say to the people of Israel:
"I am LORD. I will free you from the forced labor of the Egyptians, rescue you
from their oppression, and redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great
judgments. I will take you as my people,
and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD, who freed you
from the forced labor of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land which I
swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Exodus 6:6-8a
While in Egypt,
the people of Israel
were like the dry bones mentioned in Ezekiel - dried up, without hope, and
feeling cut off - slaves to Pharaoh - and slaves to death. But God spoke to
Moses, like he did through Ezekiel and reassured Israel
that he would remember us and restore us. The Lord commanded both Moses and
Ezekiel to prophesy hope and redemption, that he would bring us out of
captivity and death, and into the Promised Land. For by thus doing so, we would
know as a people that he is the LORD, our God.
Like the Exodus from Egypt, the Dry Bones will experience an Exodus from
despair and the valley of death, which is
Galut
- Exile. We are still in Exile. We are still often enslaved to a different sort
of pharaoh. It is not difficult to look at the state of many of our Jewish
people and see dry bones, like Ezekiel's vision, dried up, without hope, and
completely cut off. Many of us have opted for other spiritual avenues or no
spiritual connection at all, but God promises that will not always be the
case. Let this year be the beginning of
our own personal redemptions. Every year we are supposed to celebrate Passover
as though we ourselves are personally being delivered from slavery. And
although we may not be literally slaves, we are all physically or spiritually
bound and enslaved to something. So let us take "our staff in hand" as the
Torah tells us, eat the Passover meal, and experience a new hope of redemption,
a redemption that has been brought about through the atoning work of the
ultimate Passover sacrifice - Yeshua the Messiah.
Scott Nassau
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 - Making Yourself Kosher for
Passover
During Passover, we
refrain from eating leaven, because our ancestors fled Egypt
in haste. They did not have time for the bread to rise and allowed the bread to
bake upon their backs. As the Jewish community prepares for Passover, each
family cleans out the leaven from the home. We have a ceremony called Bedikat
Chametz in which we search for leaven throughout the house before we gather
it together and burn it, symbolizing we have made the house kosher for
Passover.
Paul uses this Jewish
practice as the background to his discussion in 1 Corinthians. The community of
Corinth demonstrated tolerance to
gross immorality in the midst of their congregation. Paul compares sin to
leaven and commands the congregation at Corinth
to clean out the sin from their midst in the same way that the Jewish community
removes leaven from their homes during Passover. Just as leaven permeates an
entire lump of dough, sinful behavior will affect the entire life of a person
and congregation. If the congregation at Corinth
does not deal with the wicked behavior in their midst, then this behavior will
defile the community.
When my wife makes challa,
she puts a packet of yeast into the dough. This small amount of yeast makes the
entire loaf of challa leavened. In the same way, sin will affect the
entire life of a person. We cannot compartmentalize our lives and isolate sin
to a particular area, so that it does not affect the other areas of our lives.
God created us as holistic people. We deceive ourselves when we think the small
or hidden sins in our lives will not affect the other areas of our soul. Even
the small and hidden sins in our lives will permeate and corrode our entire
being. Paul says the reason we must remove the wicked behavior from our lives
is that our Messiah was sacrificed, like a Passover lamb, to remove our unrighteousness.
Therefore, when we celebrate Passover, we should
celebrate it in righteousness, since our Messiah has removed the
chametz, leaven, from our lives. Paul
describes those with leaven as those who are depraved and wicked, but those who
are without leaven are pure in motives and upright in character. The person
free from leaven does not have a hidden or secret life. As we prepare to
celebrate Passover, we must think about what unrighteous behaviors we tolerate
in our lives. If we continue to tolerate
immoral thoughts or actions, they will begin to affect our spiritual lives and
ultimately destroy our soul. We deceive ourselves if we think that what we look
at on the Internet, watch on television or do when others are not watching will
not have any affect upon our spiritual life. If we are serious about honoring
God and having a healthy spiritual life, then we cannot tolerate the hidden and
secret sins. As we prepare for Passover, let us remove the sin from our lives,
so that we are kosher for Passover.
Shabbat Pesach
1. Why are we specifically
commanded to eat matza (unleavened bread) on Pesach? What is so bad
about chametz (leaven or yeast) anyway?
2. What is the connection between this week's Haftara
reading and Passover?
NEXT WEEK'S READINGS
- SHABBAT SHEMINI
Leviticus
9:1-11:47
2
Samuel 6:1-7:17
Matthew
19:16-30
UPCOMING YACHAD NETWORK EVENTS
3rd Annual Young Leaders Shabbaton
Beverly
Hills, CA ● June 8-9, 2007
6th Annual Young Messianic Jewish
Scholars Conference
Beverly
Hills, CA ● June 10-11, 2007
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