Chapter 1

This first chapter in Mesechet Pesachim deals with the mitzvah of searching (bedikat) for chametz (leaven) on the evening of the fourteenth of Nisan. The Torah (Shemot 12:15) states: "…on the first day shall you eliminate leaven from your premises." The Sages, in the gemara, deduce that this verse refers to the day before the festival. It also discusses the time element when chametz must be removed and nullified. The basis for these discussions come from the Torah, which states that no chametz is to be seen by a Jew during Pesach and no chametz is to remain in a Jew’s possession during the festival. Specifically, the Torah states in Shemot 12:1: " …for seven days leaven shall not be found in your houses" and in Shemot 13:7: " chametz shall not be seen with you…"

It is interesting that the opening mishnah in the chapter and tractate deals with a specific mitzvah, the ritual of bedikat chametz instead of the mitzvah to recall the Exodus from Egypt (Yetziat Mitzraim). This should not be a surprise, since the first mitzvah associated with the festival is to search our and destroy the chametz.

Various interpretations about the meaning of the ritual have been put forth over the years. To the Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan), chametz is an allusion to the yetzer hara, the evil inclination. It corresponds to the haughtiness of pride and vanity. The same yetzer ahra that leads one to commit the sin of loshen hara (evil speech) is also responsible for the sin of pride, vanity, and lust. It is no wonder, writes the Chofetz Chaim that we must search out the chametz in every small space, crawling on our hands and knees, in an effort to root out the last trace of materialistic influence.

On Yom Kippur, we afflict our souls through fasting and prayer. On pesach, we afflict our souls with something that is even more difficult. Abstaining from all food and water for one day is hard enough, but abstaining from selected foods, demonstrating our power to control our physical instincts and link with our spiritual being, for seven days is extremely difficult. By discarding our bread, cereals, cookies, and tasty treats, we say tourselves that we can control the yetzer hara . The yeast in the dough, the Sages write, rises within use like the puffiness of pride and vanity. It clogs not only our physical arteries, but our spiritual ones too. Through the mitzvah of eating matzah, the lechem oni ( the poor, flat, unleavened bread), give food to our hungry souls.

Mishnayot that seem to have a logical connection are grouped together instead of writing each mishnah separately and then commenting on it.

Mishnah 1:

On the evening ("Or") of the fourteenth of Nisan we must search for the chametz by the light of a candle. Any place into which chametz is not brought does not require a search.

So why have the Sages said,"Two rows of a (wine) cellar must be searched?" The sages were referring to a place into which we bring chametz.

Beth Shammai say:Two rows over the entire front of the wine cellar must be searched. But Beth Hillel say: The two outer rows which are the uppermost.

Mishnah 2:

We need not be concerned that a weasel may have dragged chametz from house to house or from place to place. For if so, then we would have to be concerned from courtyard to courtyard and from town to town and there would be no end to the matter.

Mishnah 3:

Rabbi Yehudah says: We must search on the evening of the fourteenth, or on the morning of the fourteenth, or at the time of removal (ha-be’or).

But the Sages say: If one did not search on the evening of the fourteenth, he must search on the day of the fourteenth; if he did not search on the day of the fourteenth, he must search during the festival; if he did not search during the festival, he must search after the festival.

That which he leaves over, he should place in hiding, so that it will not be necessary to search for it again.

Commentary:

The concept of mussar embodies the ideal that we must strive to perfect our character traits and behaviors in order to live a wholesome life and fight off the yetzer hara. The modern mussar movement was founded in eastern Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century by Rabbi Yisroel Salanter. He felt that the Torah prescribes that a person constantly examine their deeds and actions. The Chofetz Chaim made the fight against loshen hara the cornerstone of his life. As we alluded to in the introduction to this chapter, chametz represents the materialistic evils of pride, greed, lust, and vanity. Eliminating chametz on Pesach, we cleanse our souls in the same way that our ancestors cleansed themselves during the exodus from Egypt.

The use of the lamp (or candle) is not only a practical tool (see our comments on the Rambam below) but a symbolic one as well. Just as the light of the flame needs a physical carrier (the lamp) so too the performance of mitzvot are the practical and tangible means by which the light of Torah is brought into the world. What better way to start the festival celebrating our freedom from bondage than with the performance of a mitzvah!

The rest of the first mishnah concerns searching a wine cellar. There is a disagreement between the schools of Hillel and Shammai regarding what part of the wine cellar needs to be searched. The assumption here is that food may have been brought down during a meal while wine is being retrieved.

The School of Shammai that when you walk in, the two front rows over the entire from of the cellar needs to be checked. There are two interpretations of this opinion. In the gemara, Rabbi Yehudah states that if you picture a series of containers stacked on one top of the other in rows (let’s say a row of five containers stacked three high), then according to the Schoo of Shammai, you would have to check the front series and the one immediately behind it.

According to the School of Hillel, only the two outer rows which are uppermost need to be checked. The Sage Rav maintains in the gemara that what the school of Hillel mean is just the top two rows along the front series of containers facing you as you enter the cellar. The Sage Shmuel, however, maintains that we check only the top row across the front and the next top row immediately behind it.

The Rambam (Rabbi Moses Maimonides) in his Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Chametz U’Matzah chapter 2) can help us with some additional commentary here:

"It is a positive commandment from the Torah to destroy chametz before the time it becomes forbidden to be eaten as it states (Exodus 12:15):’On the first day, destroy leaven from your homes…’ On the basis of the oral tradition, it is derived that the ‘first day’, refers to the day of the fourteenth (of Nisan)…"

" What is the destruction to which the Torah refers? It is to nullify chametz within your heart and to consider it as dust, and to resolve within your heart that you possess no chametz at all; all the chametz in your possession being as dust and a thing that has no value whatsoever."

"According to the Sages’ decree, the mitzvah involves searching for chametz in hidden places and in any holes within one’s house, seeking it and removing it from one’s domain."

"Similarly, according to the Sages’ decree, we must search with the intent to destroy chametz by candlelight, at night, at the beginning of the night of the fourteenth of Nisan. They instituted the search at that time because all peaople are home at night, and that the light of a candle is good for searching…"

"We do not search for chametz by the light of the moon, the light of the sun, or the light of a torch; only by the light of a candle…"

"We do not suspect that a weasel dragged chametz into a place where it is not usually brought. Were we to suspect that chametz would be taken from house to house, we would also have to suspect that chametz might be taken from city to city. There is no end to the matter…"

(end of the Rambam’s commentary)

We see in the Rambam’s commentary, a practical reason for using candlelight and beginning the search on the night of the fourteenth. You should note that the paschal sacrifice (korban) brought to the Temple in Jerusalem, had to be performed on the fourteenth before midday. Pesach was one of the shalosh regalim, in which a pilgramage to the Temple was required by all Jewish males. We will soon have need to consider how the Sages’ in the Talmud reckon time since it is not always consistent with our modern division of time into seconds, minutes, and hours.

In mishnah 3, we see that since no chametz is to be seen by a Jew throughout the festival and they cannot derive any benefit from it after the festival (unless certain prescriptions have been applied beforehand), the Sages required a person to continue the search throughout the festival and even after it! Rashi, has an interesting comment on mishnah 3. In Hebrew, the word moed is used and our translation (like most) chooses to interpret the word as meaning "festival". Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak, the foremost commentator on the Torah and Talmud in the twelfth century CE) interprets moed to mean literally "appointed time." In this way, the idea of continuing a search after the festival is replaced by a search after the appointed time when chametz is to be removed from one’s premises.

Mishnah 4:

Rabbi Meir says: We may eat chametz the entire fifth hour, and we must burn it at the onset of the sixth hour. But Rabbi Yehudah says: We may eat chametz the entire fourth hour, but we suspend it the entire fifth hour, and we must burn it at the onset of the sixth hour.

Mishnah 5:

Rabbi Yehudah also said: Two loaves of a thanksgiving offering, which had become unfit, were placed on the roof of the portico(in the Temple). As long as they lay there, all the people would eat chametz. When one was removed, they suspended; they would neither eat nor burn the chametz. When both were removed, all the people would begin to burn the chametz.

Rabban Gamliel says: Unconsecrated(chullin) chametz may be eaten the entire fourth hour; terumah, which is chametz, may be eaten the entire fifth hour; and we must burn all the chametz at the onset of the sixth hour.

Commentary:

In mishnah 4, we see several implicit ideas that must be clarified. First, the concept of the "hour" as used in the mishnah and second, that the chametz is to be destroyed through burning. Mishnah 5 deals with aspects of tithes (terumah) given to the Kohanim and whether the ritual status of the terumah (being consecrated and thus Holy) effects its status as chametz (which must be burned and hence destroyed).

The Rambam, in his commentary to the Mishnah (Tractate Berachot) informs us that the Sages employed a "seasonal hour". Hence, one hour is defined to be equal to one twelfth the amount of daylight regardless of the length of daylight. Thus, one hour in the summer is longer than one hour in the winter. This differes dramatically from our modern uniform definition of one hour as one twenty-fourth of a standard day (regardless of the season). Thus, when the Sages discuss the fourth, fifth, or sixth hour of the day, they do not mean 4 AM, 5 AM, or 6 AM! Likewise, in tractate Berachot, the time to recite the evening shema is discussed with reference to "watches" and "midnight". In the Talmud, "midnight" does not mean 12 AM, but literally the "middle of the night" (which is again seasonal).

The Rambam elucidates the ideas in mishnah 4 more clearly:

"It is forbidden to eat chametz on the day of the fourteenth of Nisan from noon onwards; that is from the beginning of the seventh hour of the day…Based on oral tradition, we received the interpretation of the statement in the Torah, ‘Do not eat any leaven with it (the paschal sacrifice)’, to mean , Do not eat any chametz during the time which is fit to slaughter the paschal sacrifice, that being the afternoon; after midday."

"The Sages forbade the eating of chametz from the beginning of the sixth hour in order to prevent infringement upon a Torah commandment. Thus, from the beginning of the sixth hour, it is forbidden to eat or benefit from chametz, based on Rabbinic law. During the rest of the day, from the seventh hour on, eating chametz is forbidden because of Torah law."

"During the fifth hour of the day, we do not eat chametz. Lest the day be cloudy and we err between the fifth and sixth hours. However, there is no prohibition against benefiting from chametz during the fifth hour."

"Therefore, Terumah and the breads of the thanksgiving offering (there were forty of them; ten of which are chametz) which are chametz are left in a tentative status because of their holiness. They are neither eaten nor burned until the beginning of the sixth hour. Then the entire quantity of chametz is burned."

"Thus you have learned that it is permitted to eat chametz on the day of the fourteenth of Nisan until the end of the fourth hour. During the fifth hour, chametz is not eaten, but benefit may be derived from it…"

"A person who either inadvertently or intentionally did not search on the night of the fourteenth should search on the fourteenth in the morning. If he did not search on the fourteenth in the morning, he should search at the time for destroying the chametz. If he did not search at the time for destroying the chametz, he should search in the midst of the festival. If the festival passed without his having searched, he should search after the festival to destroy whatever chametz he might find which he possessed during Pesach, since we are prohibited against benefiting from such chametz."

"When a person checks for chametz on the night of the fourteenth, on the day of the fourteenth, and during the festival, he should recite the following blessing before he begins to search:

Blessed are You, God, our Lord, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the destruction of chametz…"

"When he concludes searching, if he searched on the fourteenth at night, or on the fourteenth during the day before the sixth hour, he should nullify all the chametz that remains in his possession that he did not see. He should say:

All chametz which is in my possession that I have not seen, behold, it is nullified and must be considered as dust…"

(end of the Rambam’s commentary)

Mishnah 5 deals with the thanksgiving offering, part of which is chametz.

The Torah in Vayikra (7:11-15) states that an offering may be brought by someone who has been delivered from misfortune. This can include recovering from an illness, returning from a voyage, or surviving an accident. This is called a Todah or "Thanksgiving Offering". Accompanying the animal sacrifice specified by the Torah, forty loaves were brought to the Temple. Four of them were given to the kohanim and the rest were to be eaten by the person offering thanks and their gusts. Ten of these loaves were chametz and the rest unleavened. According to the Mishnah inTractate Zevachim (5:6), a thanksgiving offering may be eaten until midnight after its sacrifice.

In our mishnah, there are a variety of reasons why the offering became unfit. Most probably, the two loaves in question were kept overnight and thus rendered unfit for consumption. This mishnah shows how in temple times the people were made aware of when they could eat chametz, when the status of chametz was suspended, and when it should be destroyed (typically by burning it).

The concept of chullin, unconsecrated offerings, is detailed and complex. The Talmud devotes and entire tracte to the subject in the order Kodashin (Holy Things). We may simply say that the tithes offered had various degrees of sanctity and must be separated from each other. The tithes in question typically refer to produce grown in Eretz Yisroel as specified in the Torah. As long as any tithe has not been separated, the produce may not be consumed and is called tevel. After the tithes have been separated, the remaining produce is called chullin.

The difficulty with terumah is that because of its holy status, it is forbidden to destroy it unless absolutely necessary. If the terumah from the offering is chametz, then it must be consumed before the appointed hour beyond which a Jew can longer eat or possess chametz. If it is destroyed, it might be burned along with unconsecrated food which might add a degree of ritual impurity (tumah) to it. This question is addressed in the last two mishnayot of chapter 1.

Mishnah 6:

Rabbi Chanina, administrator of the Kohanim says: In all the days of the Kohanim, never did they refrain from burning sacrificial meat that had been contaminated by a secondary tumah together with sacrificial meat that had been contaminated by a primary tumah, although by so doing they added contamination to its contamination.

Rabbi Akiva added, saying: In all the days of the Kohanim, never did they refrain from lighting oil that had become unfit through contact with a tuval yom, in a lamp that had been contaminated by one contaminated by a corpse, although by so doing they added contamination to its contamination.

Mishnah 7:

Said Rabbi Meir: From their words we infer that we may burn uncontaminated terumah (which is chametz) with contaminated terumah on pesach

Rabbi Yose said to him: This is not analogous. Even Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua concur that each is burned separately. Concerning what do they differ? Concerning suspended and contaminated terumah. Rabbi Eliezer says that each must be burned separately, but Rabbi Yehoshua says that both may be burned together.

Commentary:

It is worth while, at this time, to briefly discuss some of the concepts of tumah or ritual impurity. The strongest level of tumah is called av avot hatumah which means the father of fathers of tumah. This occurs through direct contact with a corpse. The next, more common, level of contamination is called av hatumah (father of tumah). This includes one who touched a human corpse, the carcass of one of the eight species of sheretz (creeping things), the carcass of an animal that died by means other than ritual slaughtering, or someone who is a zav (suffering from a venereal disease) or niddah (a menstruating woman).

A vessel or food that is contaminated by a primary tumah becomes a rishon l’tumah (first degree contamination). This degree of contamination is also called a vlad hatumah (child of tumah). An object contracting tumah from a rishon is a sheni l’tumah (second degree contamination). In the case of chullin,

Which is unsanctified food, contamination can go no further than a sheni. If a sheni touches chullin, the chullin does not acquire any contamination.

Terumah and sacrifices have a higher level of stringency because of their holiness. If a sheni touches terumah, it becomes a shlishi l’tumah (third degree contamination). That is the final level for terumah but sacrifices can proceed to a fourth degree of contamination. Contaminated terumah cannot be consumed.

The questions in our mishnah concern:

1.the destroying of terumah which is chametz

2.the destroying of terumah which is uncontaminated together with

contaminated terumah.

Mishnah 6 states that in the days of the Temple, the Kohanim burned sacrificial meat that had been contaminated by secondary tumah together with sacrificial meat that had been contaminated by primary (av) tumah. Hence a rishon l’ tumah was burned with a shlishi l’ tumah. The part added by Rabbi Akiva involves a tuval yom. A person who had become impure for aperiod of time. At the end of this period, he must immerse himself in a mikveh. The status of the person during the interim (before immersion) labels him a tuval yom. It is equivalent to being a second degree tumah and thus if he touches terumah, it becomes a third degree tumah.

Rabbi Meir seems to be concluding that it is okay to burn uncontaminated terumah (chametz) with contaminated terumah on pesach (at the appointed time for burning; at the start of the sixth hour). Rabbi Yose, on the other hand, refutes this inference and states that one cannot make the analogy based on these words. He supports this refutation with statements by Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua that each is burned separately. Further disagreements by Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua focus on suspended versus contaminated terumah. Rabbi Eliezer says that each must be burned separately while Rabbi Yehoshua maintains that they may be burned together.