CHAPTER 3.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
The Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Hag HaMatzah (khag ha-MAH-tza) lasts from the fifteenth through the twenty-first days of the first month. (Lev. 23:6) But there are several prerequisite events leading up to it.
YHWH commanded us to select a lamb on the tenth of the month of the Aviv, and guard it until late in the afternoon of the fourteenth of the month, then slaughter the lamb and put its blood on the doorposts, and roast the whole lamb--head, innards and all--over fire. One household--or possibly two or three neighboring households if they are small--is to eat it together, and not leave any of it until morning; whatever is leftover is burnt. At least in Egypt, it was to be eaten in a hurry, with the whole household dressed and ready to travel. (Ex. 12:3-20) This is called the Passover, or Pesakh ("PAY-sock").
Pesakh is not just another name for Hag HaMatzah, though the term has been popularly used that way even since Yahshua's time. Pesakh is specifically the offering of the lamb to be eaten in commemoration of the Exodus. The word Pesakh comes from a word meaning to limp or to "skip", which is exactly what the messenger of death did to those who obediently placed the blood on the doorposts, forming there the letter "kheth", which is the first letter of the word for "life".
Pesakh is on the fourteenth, but since the Hebrew day begins at evening, some people think it is done as the fourteenth begins. But "evening" means "mixture" or "transition" in Hebrew, and other parts of the commandment clarify that it means "as the fourteenth is ‘bleeding' into the fifteenth"--i.e., not at the evening that begins the fourteenth, but the evening that ends it:
‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening.
‘For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, that same being shall be cut off from the congregation of Yisra'ĕl, whether sojourner or native of the land. (Ex. 12:18-19)
"Seven days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day is a festival to YHWH. (Ex. 13:6)
Since unleavened bread is already to be eaten at the Passover, thus beginning Hag haMatzah, if the Passover was at the beginning of the fourteenth, we would actually be eating unleavened bread for eight, not seven days.
But anyone who eats anything leavened during those seven days is to be cut off from the community of Israel. (Ex. 12:15)
We are also commanded to continue celebrating this festival throughout our generations, having no leaven in our homes (or any place we meet or inhabit) from the time of the Pesakh offering until the end of the seventh day thereafter, and treating the first and last day of the festival like a Sabbath, except that we can cook food. We are to pass on to our children the story of what YHWH did so it will not be forgotten. (Ex. 13:5-10)
All males are to appear before YHWH three times per year, and this is one of those times. (Ex. 23:14-18) We are told here also to guard the appointed time--that is, do not lose track of when it is, so that we can be sure to proclaim it on schedule and observe it at the right time--the appointment when YHWH Himself will show up.
We are commanded not just to eat no khametz (KHAH-mets)--that is, nothing leavened--but also, on the positive side, eat unleavened bread on each of the seven days. (Ex. 34:18)
No servile work is to be done on the first or last day of the Feast, and when the Temple is in existence we are to bring an offering by fire to YHWH on each of the seven days. (Lev. 23:4-8) Specifically, two young bulls and one ram, and seven lambs a year old, with their grain offering, three-tenths [of an ephah] of fine flour per bull, and two-tenths per ram, and one-tenth for each lamb. (Num. 28:16-25)
We are not to slaughter it at home or in our own cities, but at the place YHWH designates (which ended up being the Temple in Jerusalem). We are told to celebrate there all night, then return to our tents in the morning. (Deut. 16:1-8)
No one who is uncircumcised is permitted to eat of the Passover lamb, nor may anyone who has alienated or estranged himself from the community of Israel. (Ex. 12:43-48)
Unlike all the other feasts, the Passover is a slaughter that has an alternate time in which someone who is ritually unclean due to touching a dead body or unavoidably detained while abroad on a journey may bring the offering exactly one month later than the prescribed time. (Numbers 9:6-13) This is called Pesakh haSheyni (secondary Passover).
The Renewed Covenant tells us that the purpose of the observance is that we might clean out the old leaven. But it also reiterates that we should observe the festival, not with old leaven of evil and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Cor. 5:6-8)--just in case someone might erroneously think (as many have) that the fact that the covenant was renewed meant that such commands were done away with. Themes of the Festival:
Deliverance and Freedom
The firstborn (death of firstborn in Egypt, "Israel is My firstborn", Levites substitute for the firstborn in Israel as priestly assistants)
Being real (no leaven, which makes it look like more is there than really is)
Purging the old and making room for the new
Clearing out the wrong things that have permeated so there's room for the right
Never forget what YHWH did to set us free
Passing on to our children what YHWH has done
Leaving Egypt (picture of the world at large or the pagan church) behind
Other Names for the festival include "YHWH's Passover" (Exodus 12:27), "Z'man Kheruteynu" (The Time of our Freedom, Exodus 13:14), and "Hag haAviv" (Feast of the Ripening Barley)–since it falls during the month of Aviv.
In Jewish Tradition, Matzah (essentially a large unleavened cracker) must be made in under 18 minutes. A 15-step seder ("order") follows, including four questions from the children ("Why is this night different from all other nights?", etc., and answers from the parents or in songs)
Ten small pieces of leavened bread are hidden around the house, then the children go find them, and sweep them onto a wooden spoon with a dove's feather and put them in a bag which is then burned at the synagogue.
A special seder plate, sometimes with indentations cut into it for the separate components, is used to ensure that every commandment regarding what is to be eaten is kept. The bitter herbs are dipped in salt water to recall our tears while enslaved in Egypt, and ten drops of wine are spattered onto the seder plate to memorialize the blood of the firstborn of Egypt who had to die before we could be freed. In lieu of lamb (since the Temple is no longer present), a lamb's shankbone is included on the plate as a reminder. The meal is eaten while reclining at table (as free men did in ancient times). Matzah-ball soup and the "Hillel sandwich"--horseradish mixed with kharoseth (khah-RO-set) made from apples and wine) between two pieces of matzah--are favorite traditional parts of the meal.
During the seder , the Afikomen (the middle of three matzoth wrapped between napkins) is hidden away during three of the four cups of wine drunk throughout the seder, and the children hunt for it. The one who finds it gets a prize, usually monetary.
A cup is set for Eliyahu (Elijah) the prophet and the door is left open so that he might enter in when he returns to usher in the Messiah--which he will by tradition do at Passover. (Interestingly, John the Immerser, whose father was told he would come "in the spirit and power of Eliyahu", was born at Passover.)
Here are some other traditions that Congregation Beth Lechem has developed:
Sometimes we follow the Jewish seder very closely. At other times we use something more original, and still other times we use a combination of the two. No two seder s are the same!
We start several weeks before Pesakh to identify products in our homes that contain leaven, and start separating it into a designated place in the house so it can be used up or removed form the house.
We don't buy anything leavened after a certain point, then during the last few days we begin the search in earnest. We clean places in the house that don't get cleaned the rest of the year--air conditioning ducts, inside the toaster, under the kids' beds, inside the fold-out sofa, etc.!
While some consider things like beans or rice, which swell when put in water, as off limits during this feast, we only consider leavening to be anything that actually makes something rise, like yeast, baking soda, baking powder, etc. Even some yeast extracts, like torula yeast, may be eaten, because these by-products do not make other foods rise.
Consistently we all gather at a campfire site in our community and burn the last of the leaven found in our houses before entering into the seder.
Sometimes we camp out for at least one night to remember the pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
We do not invite anyone from outside our congregation because the Scriptural command speaks of each household celebrating the feast together, and sharing it with neighbors only if the household is too small to eat a whole lamb. (Ex. 12:3-4)
We use our fanciest dishes and silverware in honor of YHWH's presence.
We have additional teaching sessions on the first day of the feast.
Sometimes we recline at table; on other occasions we eat quickly with sandals on our feet and staff in hand as at the first Pesakh. We always dress with clothing that looks as ancient in style as possible.
We make homemade matzah baked in an earthen oven with a variety of flavorings.
We have a barbecue with roast lamb (occasionally even slaughtering it ourselves as a memorial of the real Passover, since there is no Temple at present).
We try to make it as visual and memorable as possible for the children, so we often have toy frogs, flies, etc. for them to throw at the right time in the recounting of the story of the Exodus. We may make a piñata in the shape of a lamb--or of Pharaoh!
We sometimes have competitions for writings songs about the festival, cooking a dish using matzah in the most creative way, etc. Chocolate-and-almond-covered matzah ("almond bark") is a favorite!
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11. The Added Fasts
An Introduction to the Hebrew Calendar
