No Leaven Shall Be Seen and the Nullifying of the Heart

Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 13:6

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"Unleavened bread shall be eaten the seven days" (Exodus 13:7). When it says "the [seven days]," the word "the" comes to include the fourteenth day, on which one is obligated in unleavened bread. "No leaven shall be seen by you" — you may see it belonging to others. "And no leaven shall be seen by you" — you may see it belonging to the Most High [consecrated leaven]. "And no leaven shall be seen by you" — you may see it belonging to a non-Jewish dealer. Another interpretation: "And no leaven shall be seen by you" — nullify it in your heart. From here you say: one who is going to slaughter his Passover offering or to circumcise his son, and remembers that he has leaven in his house — if he is able to return and remove it and still return to his commandment, let him return; and if not, let him nullify it in his heart, and that is enough for him. "And no leaven shall be seen by you, and no leaven [se'or] shall be seen by you." This is the dispute between the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel: the House of Shammai say leaven-starter [se'or] the size of an olive and leavened bread [chametz] the size of a date; and the House of Hillel say both this and that the size of an olive.

Themes

PassoverCommandmentsLaw

Continue Reading

Mekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelWhy Does the Torah Specify You and Your Sons at AllThe Mekhilta, the tannaitic midrash on Exodus dating to the 2nd century CE, zeroes in on a single phrase from the Passover laws to clarify exactly who was obligMekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiNo Leaven Found in Your Houses but Only Your OwnThe Torah forbids leaven to be "found" in your houses, and the rabbis fasten on the word. It rules out the trick of hiding leaven away or declaring it ownerlessMekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiNothing Leavened and What Counts as the Bread of Affliction"You shall eat nothing leavened," and the rabbis spread the net wide. Into it fall the fermented stuff of many lands: Babylonian kutach, Median beer, Edomite viMekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiThis Is the Ordinance of the Passover and No Stranger Shall Eat of ItThe Torah opens the Passover laws with a sweeping word: "This is the ordinance of the Passover." The Mekhilta seizes on "ordinance" to bridge two Passovers, theYalkut Shimoni on TorahA Person's Agent Is Like the Person Who Sent HimThe verse says "let them take" the lamb, in the plural, yet obviously not every Israelite reaches out and grabs the same animal. From this small strangeness theYalkut Shimoni on TorahIf the Household Is Too Small for a LambWhat happens when a single household is simply too small to finish a whole lamb? The Torah anticipates the problem and the sages turn it into a study of timing