A question about Matzah, Chametz and Sefer Shemot

BeershevaBubby

Fri, Apr 25 2008, 3:00 am

Most of us are taught that the reason we eat Matzah on Pesach is because the Am Yisrael didn't have time to prepare their bread for rising and baking. Heck, it even says as much:

Exodus 12:39: They baked the dough that they took out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, for they could not be leavened for they were driven from Egypt for they could not delay nor had they made provisions for themselves.

Yet at the beginning of this chapter, Hashem clearly states numerous times that one of the laws of Pesach is no leaven shall be eaten nor be in one's home.

Exodus 12:15: For a seven day period shall you eat matzot but on the previous day you shall nullify the leaven from your homes; for anyone who eats leavened food - that soul shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day to the seventh day."

Exodus 12:17-20: Keep, then, this custom of the unleavened bread. Since it was on this very day that I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt, you must celebrate this day throughout your generations as a perpetual institution. From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of this month you shall eat unleavened bread. For seven days no leaven may be found in your houses. Anyone, be he a resident alien or a native, who eats leavened food shall be cut off from the community of Israel. Nothing leavened may you eat; wherever you dwell you may eat only unleavened bread.

So why is this point - the point that Hashem simply commanded us to do this usually lost in favor of 'we didn't have enough time to let the dough rise' when teaching why we eat matzah on Pesach? And why is it presented this way in the Torah? Why does 12:39 say they didn't have time to let the dough rise when clearly it would have been a violation of Hashem's command?

Motek

Fri, Apr 25 2008, 10:32 am

YESHASettler wrote:

Most of us are taught that the reason we eat Matzah on Pesach is because the Am Yisrael didn't have time to prepare their bread for rising and baking.

Yes, that is the reason we cite in the Hagada in the part that explains Pesach, Matza, and Maror (so it's all of us, not "most," I hope!)

Quote:

So why is this point - the point that Hashem simply commanded us to do this usually lost in favor of 'we didn't have enough time to let the dough rise' when teaching why we eat matzah on Pesach? And why is it presented this way in the Torah? Why does 12:39 say they didn't have time to let the dough rise when clearly it would have been a violation of Hashem's command?

I'm not sure what you're asking. The reason why Hashem commanded us to eat matza for 7 days in future generations is because when the Jewish people left Egypt they did not eat chometz for 7 days because their dough did not rise (they had only been commanded not to eat chometz for one day in Egypt).