What is Chometz?

The Torah defines chometz as any mixture that contains flour and water that has been allowed to rise.

When dough rises, it undergoes a process called “leavening.” Whenever bread is baked, the dough is allowed to rise for at least an hour or two, to improve the taste, texture and volume. Once it has begun to change, it becomes leavened bread. In Hebrew, this is called “chometz.”

If you mix such with water, and leave it undisturbed, under optimum conditions it will become chometz in eighteen minutes. If, however, the flour touched hot water, or salted water, it becomes chometz INSTANTLY. And adding yeast to the dough makes it rise immediately, and more efficiently. (Yeast is one of several substances that are called “leavening agents.”)

Also, if flour touches water that is mixed with another type of liquid, it becomes chometz instantly. Ironically, things like apple juice cannot cause flour to ferment, but apple juice mixed with water causes the mixture to ferment and become chometz instantly.

However, if the dough is completely baked before it begins to rise, it is called “matzah.”

Not all grains can actually rise that way. The Torah defines five types of grain that can become chometz when mixed with liquid: grain: wheat, spelt, oats, barley, and rye, or any of their derivatives. (Those are also the only five types of grain from which we may make Passover matzah to eat the first two nights of Passover.)

During the entire Holiday of Passover, it is forbidden to own, eat or handle chometz in any way. It is even forbidden to drive any benefit from chometz during Passover, such as making profiit from it, using it for fuel, or feeding it to your animals. Any benefit whatsoever is forbidden during Passover.

Instead, throughout the entire Holiday of Passover, we eat matzah. However, it is impossible to bake matzah that is kosher for Passover on your own.

You cannot simply buy flour from the store and make matzah with it. In the first place, flour today is processed. It is often washed, which makes it chometz. Grain is usually tempered, which means it is soaked in water to soften it. Many flours are bleached. Any one of these processes make the grain chometz. There are other problems as well.

What about special flour from health food stores? Well, the Torah says “And you shall guard the matzos…” (Exodus 12:17). In other words, you must guard them carefully so that they do not become chometz. Also, we are supposed to guard it during the entire process, even stating out loud that it is being processed for the purpose of making matzah for Passover use.

So even if you buy flour that the miller claims has never been processed with water, you are nevertheless buying flour that has not been guarded by the Torah’s standards.

In point of fact, the flour used for proper Passover Matzos is usualy guarded even before it has been ground into flour. It is guarded from water from the very moment the stalks of wheat are harvested. If they touch water at any time after that, they are not used for Passover. Throughout every step of the process, the flour and the water are carefully (and separately) guarded. They are transported and stored with the same exacting measure of care. They are kept from any warmth until the actual baking takes place, because heat can speed up the chometz process, which we want to avoid.

Every utensil used in baking the matzah, the table, the kneading bowl, the cup that pours the water, the rolling pins, from beginning to end, absolutely every tool is carefully made kosher for Passover each and every eighteen minutes while the matzah bakery is being used. You can read about this process in greater detail at an article called “More on Chametz,” and also in my article “Baking The Passover Matzah.”

Extracts from chometz are also forbidden. Alcoholic fermentation from chometz is forbidden. Many of the foods and snacks you eat all year are chometz. The obvious ones are bread, cake, crackers, pretzels, cereal, noodles (except pure egg noodles prepared entirely with Passover utensils), beer, malt, whiskey, and so forth. Even a food in which chometz has been very diluted on Passover is forbidden. Even non-chometz food prepared in utensils that have been used for chometz are chometz (because some of the taste of food previously cooked in that utensil may get into new food cooked in that utensil) and may not be eaten on Passover, even if you wash the pots first.

During Passover, we may not use any items that have chometz in them. Even a mixture of chometz and permissible products is forbidden. Moreover, it is forbidden to derive any benefit whatsoever from chometz, and even from chometz derivatives. Lists of permissible and forbidden items are available in an number of publications, including Rabbi Blumenkrantz’s Digest of the Laws of Pesach. This book is updated every year, based on careful research, or so I am told. To purchase this guide, call (718) 337-6056, or (718) 337-6144.

However, some things may be made usable for Passover, even though they have been used for chometz during the year. The process is complicated, and that is a subject for another article.

The History of the Exodus

This article has been expanded and improved in my new book, now at the publishers:

The Beginner’s Guide to Making the Seder

The first man, Adam, knew G-d, and prayed to G-d. But as time went on, most of his descendants began to forget G-d, and worshipped idols and stars instead. Some kept the proper Tradition, however, and passed it along to their children. Fifteen hundred years later, Noah was faithful to G-d. When G-d sent the Flood, He saved Noah and his family.

After the Flood, Noah divided up all the land between his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Canaan, son of Ham, along with other descendants of Ham, stole from Shem the choice land that came to be known as Canaan.

Two hundred ninety-two years after the Flood, Abraham was born. Abraham was a descendant of Shem, and was also righteous.

Abraham’s father was also an idol worshipper, and he tried to teach Abraham to follow in his footsteps, but Abraham knew better. Abraham realized that there is a Creator Who directs the entire universe. Abraham set about teaching the world about the Creator, and that the Creator wants everyone to do acts of charity and loving-kindness to everyone else in the world. Abraham dedicated himself entirely to the service of G-d, and he elevated himself to an unprecedented level of holiness. G-d therefore granted Abraham divine experiences and prophecy.

On the fifteenth day of the month that was later to be called Nisan, in the year 2018 after Creation, G-d made a covenant, an agreement, with Abraham, called the Covenant Between the Parts (see Genesis 15:1-19). In this agreement G-d promised Abraham that he would father a new nation that would continue Abraham’s work, and that eventually he would have so many descendants they would be uncountable. However, they would have to undergo many hardships, including exile, slavery, and oppression. Eventually, his descendants would be rescued from slavery, on that very same day of the year—the fifteenth of Nisan—and G-d would bring them to the Land of Canaan.

Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Only Isaac obeyed G-d, and so G-d chose Isaac to continue Abraham’s Tradition. Isaac also had two sons: Jacob (also called Israel) and Esau. Only Jacob obeyed G-d, and so Jacob was chosen. All of Jacob’s children were righteous, and they obeyed G-d.

G-d caused a famine in the land they were occupying (Canaan), so that they would move down to Egypt. They settled in the district known as Goshen. Being descended from Jacob, who was also called Israel, they called themselves the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel numbered only seventy men and women at the time they entered Egypt. In just a few generations they increased until they became a vast nation.

They were recognizably a different nation because they lived a distinctly different life. They labored hard to retain their national identity so that they would not assimilate. They did this in three primary ways: They spoke their own language, they wore distinctively Jewish clothing, and they gave their children only Jewish names. And of course, they never married a non-Jew.

The Children of Israel had not intended to stay in Egypt very long, but before long the Egyptians enslaved most of them.

The Egyptians forced upon the Israelites cruel and demeaning work. They were determined to decimate the Israelites, and they arranged it so that the men would be forced to stay away from their homes for long periods of time. But the Israelite women were righteous, and they secretly visited their husbands at night, despite the hardships this caused the women. And so, the more the Egyptians attempted to reduce the Israelites, the more the Israelites multiplied.

Many harsh and horrible decrees were passed against the Children of Israel during their long slavery.

Astrologers told the Pharaoh that an Israelite male child born at that time would grow up to overthrow Pharaoh, so Pharaoh decided to kill all the male children born to the Israelites. He ordered them thrown into the Nile River.

Pharaoh was stricken with a skin disease. His doctors told him that only baths of blood could cure his disease. So Pharaoh bathed in the blood of Israelite babies.

When the subjugation was at its worst, the Egyptians forced upon the Israelites an unreasonable quota of bricks. If the Israelites failed to fill the quota of bricks, their children were killed in front of them, and the bodies were mixed into the brick-mortar.

This is but a small sampling of the horrors perpetrated against the Israelites in Egypt. That is the reason we eat bitter herbs at the Seder—to recall the bitter torments we suffered at the hands of the Egyptians, and thus better appreciate G-d’s rescuing us from Egypt.

Finally, G-d spoke to Moses and told him to tell the Children of Israel that G-d was ready to take them out of Egypt. «I am G-d, and I will take you away from the oppression of Egypt, I will free you from their slavery…» (See The Four Cups of Wine.) G-d referred to the Children of Israel as «My son, My firstborn, Israel.» G-d told Moses to tell Pharaoh to allow the Children of Israel to leave Egypt. If Pharaoh refused, G-d would punish him and all recalcitrant Egyptians.

Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses’ warnings, and so G-d sent the Plague of Blood. All the water belonging to Egyptians turned into blood, and the Egyptians had to buy water from the Israelites if they did not want to die of thirst. The plague lasted for seven days. Pharaoh still refused to release the Israelites.

Moses warned Pharaoh that there would be more plagues, if he refused to release the Israelites. For three weeks, Moses warned Pharaoh about the Plague of Frogs, but Pharaoh refused to listen. So G-d sent the Plague of Frogs. Frogs overran Egypt, and their incessant, deafening croaking drove the Egyptians mad. They were everywhere, in their houses, on their tables, in their beds, even in their food. In revulsion and despair, Pharaoh promised to release the Children of Israel, and begged Moses to pray to G-d to stop the plague. But after G-d stopped the plague, Pharaoh still refused to release the Israelites. So G-d sent more plagues.

After the ninth plague, the Plague of Darkness, G-d gave the Israelites two Commandments: Circumcision, and the Passover Sacrifice. Both symbolized complete loyalty to G-d. Circumcision signifies that a man will so devote himself to G-d that he holds even his strongest physical desires in check (though does not deny its needs). Circumcision is a sign one makes on one’s body, signifying that one will use one’s body only in such a manner as G-d allows.

The Passover Sacrifice was also a great act of devotion. The Passover Sacrifice was brought from lambs or goats, animals worshipped by the Egyptians. The lamb was one of the Egyptian deities. To kill and eat the oppressor’s G-d was the greatest act of devotion to the True G-d, the Creator of heaven and earth. It showed that the Israelites repudiated any association with false G-ds. It showed that they were willing to risk their lives to obey G-d, despite the fear that the Egyptians might get angry and take revenge.

To highlight this, the Children of Israel were commanded to keep the body of the Passover lamb intact. They were forbidden to break any of the bones. The next morning they were required to place their lamb skeletons—intact—on display in the public marketplace, so the Egyptians would see what they had done.

Some of the Egyptians did indeed get angry, but they were afraid to take revenge against the Israelites.

G-d commanded the Children of Israel to eat the Passover Sacrifice on the fifteenth night of the month of Nisan. (Since in Judaism the night precedes the day, this is the night before the fifteenth day of Nisan. The fifteenth of Nisan therefore starts at the beginning of the night, and ends at nightfall around twenty-four hours later.) The Children of Israel were commanded to do a number of things that night: to eat the Passover sacrifice, to eat matzah, to eat bitter herbs, and to tell their children the miracles G-d had performed for them. This was the Passover Seder—the same Seder
Jews have performed every year since then. In addition, the Israelites were forbidden to have any leavened bread in their possession or on their property from the day before Passover throughout the entire Holiday of Passover.

Just before the tenth plague, the Plague of the Firstborn, many firstborn Egyptians rose up in rebellion, insisting that Pharaoh release the Israelites. They had heard Moses warn Pharaoh and the Egyptians of the Plague that was to come, the Slaying of the Firstborn, and they were frightened. Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites, and the firstborn took their swords and began to kill everyone they met. Eventually, Pharaoh put down the rebellion with his army.

At exactly midnight, on the night of the fifteenth of Nisan, G-d passed through Egypt, killing all the firstborn and oldest in each and every household, except those of the Israelites who had prepared and eaten the Passover Sacrifice. G-d «passed over» the houses of the Israelites, and thus we call this Holiday «Passover.» The Holiday Sacrifice which was eaten during the Seder when there was a Holy Temple was called the Passover Sacrifice, so that we would remember and thank Hashem for passing over our houses during the Plague of the Firstborn.

Not only the firstborn were struck. Every idol in Egypt was disintegrated as well. Not a single idol remained intact, with the exception of the idol known as Ba’al Tzefon, because it stood just outside the borders of Egypt. This idol was allowed to continue to exist so that the Egyptians would have the free choice to choose between G-d and an idol.

Only after the Plague of the Firstborn began did Pharaoh agree to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Pharaoh was also a firstborn, and he suddenly feared death. Pharaoh begged the Israelites to leave immediately, during the night, while the firstborn were still dying.

Moses told him that they refused to leave in the dead of night, like thieves, or like escaped slaves. The Children of Israel would leave during the day, and everyone would know they were being released.

The next morning, on the fifteenth day of Nisan, Pharaoh ordered the Israelites to immediately leave Egypt. Moses told the Children of Israel to visit all the Egyptians they knew and ask them for their gold and jewelry. The Children of Israel obeyed, and the Egyptians hurriedly gave them their valuables.

Rushed as they were, the Israelites did not have time to bake their bread, nor prepare any food, and the dough they kneaded did not have time to rise. The Children of Israel wrapped up their dough and their leftover matzah and bitter herbs in their clothing, placed the bundles over their shoulders, and walked joyfully out of the land of Egypt.

They trusted in G-d, and they obeyed G-d’s orders and walked into the desert without sufficient provisions. Though they took along with them many animals, they carried the matzah on their own shoulders; they cherished G-d’s Commandment so much that they would not allow their donkeys to carry the matzah.

G-d performed a miracle for the Children of Israel, and they traveled a great distance in a very short time. When they arrived, their dough had still not risen, so they baked the dough as matzos—unleavened (i.e. unrisen) bread. This is the reason we eat matzah during the Passover Seder—to remember that when the time came to leave Egypt Hashem took us out so quickly that there was no time to let the dough rise for proper bread.

The little bit of matzah each Israelite took out of Egypt miraculously lasted them thirty-one days.

The Exodus took place on the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan—the first day of Passover. It was precisely four-hundred-thirty years to the day since G-d had promised Abraham his children would be released from Egypt. G-d had said that the descendants of Abraham would be in exile for four hundred years. G-d had mercy and counted the exile from the birth of Isaac, the son of Abraham, who lived in exile all his life. The Israelites were in the Land of Egypt for only two hundred ten years.

The next day, on the sixteenth of Nisan, G-d told Moses to inform the Israelites that they would soon be receiving the Torah: G-d’s Commandments and the wisdom with which they would live their lives. In excitement, they began counting the days until they would be at Mount Sinai and receive the Torah from G-d. Because of that reaction, G-d granted the Children of Israel yet another Commandment: each year we count from the second day of Passover until Shavuos, the time we received the Torah. This counting later came to be called Sefiras Ha’Omer.

Very soon thereafter, Pharaoh regretted his decision to release the Israelites. He gathered his army and they began chasing the Israelites through the desert. They chased them until the Sea of Suf, the Sea of Reeds. On the seventh day after the Children of Israel left Egypt, the twenty-first of Nisan, G-d split and dried the Reed Sea so that the Israelites could walk through it on dry land. The Israelites did not cross to the other side, but circled around and came back to the same side further along the shore. When the Egyptians attempted to follow, G-d sent the sea back to drown them. This took place on the seventh day of Passover.

The death of the Egyptians was not a simple drowning. The Egyptians were paid back in full for all the horrors they had perpetrated upon the Children of Israel. The worst Egyptians were tossed up and down like straw, and suffered many punishments while drowning. Some sank like stones, and experienced some extra punishments. The best of the Egyptians, those that inflicted less pain on the Israelites, sank like lead and were drowned almost immediately.

The Egyptians were punished with many more plagues at the sea than they received in Egypt.

When the Israelites saw the magnitude of their rescue, they were catapulted into an elevated state of holiness, and each and every one of them began to prophesy. Together they sang the «Song at the Sea,» in which they praised G-d for all the might and power He had shown them.

The Exodus therefore did more than simply release the Israelites from slavery. It also brought them into an exalted level of holiness. To be sure, they did not remain at that extremely high state of prophecy, but the Exodus gave to the Children of Israel of all generations the special status of G-d’s Chosen People and G-d’s holy nation of priests. From then on the Children of Israel have been a people with a holy mission, and special to G-d.

Why were the Israelites chosen by G-d? Because of the great merit of the three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This merit, the Torah declares, will last us forever.

G-d promised us that we would always be the Chosen People, and that no matter how badly we sinned, no matter how badly we would be punished, we would never be rejected or forsaken by G-d. After all, we were not chosen in our own merit, so our sins cannot lose us that status.

G-d warned us that we might have to undergo many exiles, and many troubles, but we would always be G-d’s People.

Other nations have been freed from slavery. None have been freed from slavery with overt miracles, signs and wonders performed by visitations of G-d. No other nation has ever witnessed en masse miracles that declared them the chosen of G-d. This has happened only for the Children of Israel.

It was necessary, however, for the Children of Israel to raise themselves up by their own efforts, so that they could receive the ultimate treasure—the Torah. They used the counting of the Omer to lift themselves up step by step until they were ready to receive the Torah.

The Israelites did not travel immediately to the Sinai Desert. From the Reed Sea they traveled to the Shur Desert, where they stopped at a region called Marah There G-d taught them some of the Commandments, such as the Sabbath, the honoring of one’s parents, and various civil laws, including the humane treatment of slaves. G-d promised the Children of Israel, «If you observe My Commandments, you will be spared from the diseases I visited upon the Egyptians.»

They left Marah, and traveled to Ailam, where they stayed a while. From Ailam, they traveled to the Seen Desert, and arrived there on the fifteenth of Iyar, exactly one month after they had left Egypt. At that time, the matzah and bitter herbs they had brought with them from Egypt, which had miraculously lasted them until then, came to an end. The next day, G-d gave them Manna to eat. The Manna fell from heaven every day except on the Sabbath. On Friday, twice as much Manna fell. The people would then collect twice as much Manna, so that they would not have to violate the Sabbath by collecting the Manna during the Sabbath. The Children of Israel ate Manna for all the forty years they were in the Sinai Desert, no matter where they traveled in the desert.

From the Seen Desert traveled to Refidim, where Amalek ambushed them. The Children of Israel strengthened their trust in G-d, and G-d helped them win the battle. After the battle, they traveled to the Sinai Desert, and camped at the foot of Mount Sinai.

Meanwhile, the Children of Israel continued to count the days until the receiving of the Torah. On the fiftieth day after they began counting the Omer—that is, fifty-one days after the Exodus, all of the Children of Israel: men, women and children, over two million people, stood at Mount Sinai and received the Torah amidst great miracles and heavenly fire.

They saw no form or picture of G-d, but they saw many miracles that proved that G-d is the Creator of heaven and earth. They heard G-d’s voice as He spoke and commanded Moses to instruct the Children of Israel on how to prepare to receive the Torah. Then they heard G-d speaking directly to them, the Children of Israel, and commanding them to keep the Torah. The Children of Israel accepted the Torah and all its Commandments, and they said: «We agree to obey, even before we hear the actual Commandments.»

At Mount Sinai, G-d gave us all of the Torah, with six hundred thirteen Commandments. Ten of them, the basic ten categories of the Commandments, were written on the Two Tablets. (These «Ten Statements» are often mistakenly called the «Ten Commandments.»)

G-d also commanded the Children of Israel to build the Tabernacle. That was the Sanctuary, the place where G-d showed His Holy Presence daily, and to where everyone had to bring all their sacrifices. There were also daily sacrifices brought there by the priests on behalf of the Children of Israel. The Tabernacle was a sort of mobile Sanctuary, which the Levites took apart whenever Israel traveled, and reassembled whenever the people camped.

The Children of Israel were in the Sinai Desert for forty years. At the end of the forty years, Moses and most of that generation passed away. Joshua the son of Nun was now the leader, and he took them into the land of Canaan and took back the land from the descendants of Ham. They renamed the land «Israel.»

Almost five hundred years later, they built the Holy Temple, the stationary Sanctuary.
Unfortunately, it was destroyed by the Babylonians when the Israelites sinned four hundred ten years later. The Children of Israel went into exile in Babylon for seventy years. Afterwards, many returned and rebuilt the Holy Temple. This one stood for four hundred twenty years, until it was again destroyed, this time by the Romans, when the Israelites sinned.

Now that we have no Holy Temple in Jerusalem, we are forbidden to make a Passover Sacrifice. Yet G-d has promised us that though we would experience many exiles we would always be

G-d’s Chosen People, and we would never be rejected or forsaken by G-d. G-d has promised us the Messiah, who will come and reinstate the Kingdom of Israel. Then we will all go to the rebuilt Jerusalem and offer the Passover Sacrifice and hold the Seder as we really should.

Thus, in past, present, and future, the story of the Exodus is one of special relationship between G-d and His people. Throghout the Hagadah, no mention is made of the role of any individual human being on behalf of the Children of Israel. Therefore, it is a mistake to place any importance on any personalities during the Seder, as important as they were. The Redemption was G-d’s doing, and solely G-d’s doing.

The Month of Nisan

The Torah tells us, “And you must do this service in this month….”

The month of Nissan is a special month for the Jews, because of Passover and the several Commandments that Hashem gave us during that month. We received the Commandment of Bris Milah (Circumcision), which is a pivotal Covenant, our mutual agreement with Hashem. Those few Commandments that are called “Bris,” define us as Hashem’s Chosen.

Some of those are: keeping Shabbos, Milah, worshiping only Hashem and not one or more false gods, marrying only another Jew (whether born Jewish or properly converted to Judaism), and possibly some others.

We did not receive those last two in Egypt. However, during all the time we lived in Egypt no Jew ever married a non-Jew without a complete conversion. And while many of the Jews did worship idols for a while in Egypt, only those who made an effort to stop doing so were allowed to leave Egypt. The rest died secretly, during the Plague of Darkness.

We also received the Commandment of Shabbos during the month of Nissan, after we left Egypt, and also the Commandment of purification through the Ashes of a Red Calf (Rashi, Shemos 15:225, s.v. Shom Som Lo).

The Month of Nissan is sort of a minor Holiday. and there are several Laws and Customs that we keep during that month. There are some minor deletions in the Prayers, and one or two extra things we say.

If there is, Heaven forbid, a funeral during the month of Nissan, we may not say a eulogy, except for a great Torah Scholar. We do not establish a fast day or a day of mourning for the month of Nissan.

There are some exceptions to this. For example, all first born Jewish males must fast on the day before Passover.

Also, a bride and groom fast on the day of their wedding, as usual.

There used to be a Custom to fast on the day of a yartzeit (anniversary of a death) of one’s parent, and some people still do this, but this is not done during Nisan.

During the month of Nissan we should also visit blossoming fruit trees, and recite the special Blessing for such a sight.

And, perhaps most importantly, we are required to provide the poor with their Passover needs.

Each Jewish community is obligated to organize a charity drive for this purpose. It is called “Ma’os Chittim,” which literally means “wheat money.” In the Jerusalem Talmud it is called “kimche d’Pischa,” Passover flour. In other words, money for matzah. But the money is not limited to such purposes; it should help the poor buy whatever they need for Passover.

Some 100 years ago or more, someone once came to a Rabbi (I think it was Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, but I’m not sure), and asked him a Halachic question. If he can’t afford to buy wine for Passover, may he use milk for the Four Cups? (During the Seder the first two nights of Passover we must drink four cups of wine scattered throughout the proceedings. One at the beginning, one after explaining the Story of the Exodus, one after the Holiday Meal, and one after reciting the Hallel — Psalms of praises.)

Rabbi Salanter gave the man twenty-five rubles (Russian money of the time).

After the man had left, the Rabbi’s wife asked the Rabbi, “Since when does wine cost twenty-five rubles? Five rubles wouldn’t have been enough?”

The Rabbi answered, “If he wanted to drink milk, that means he didn’t have enough money for chicken or meat for the Holiday Meal either!”

Eating chicken or meat at the Holiday Meals are also a required part of the Holiday (unless it makes one sick). And we are required to do what we can to help the poor with ALL their needs.

Therefore, the Halachah says that the community must organize a Ma’os Chittim drive, and each person who lives in that town must contibute to it. That money may come out of one’s regular tithing (charity consisting of a tenth of one’s income).

One cannot be said to have truly and properly prepared for Passover unless one has also helped prepare for someone ELSE’S Passover as well, one way or another.

An Introduction to Passover

The word Passover is a translation of the Hebrew word «Pesach.» Hashem PASSED OVER our homes and punished the Egyptians with the plague of the death of the firstborn. Hashem punished the Egyptians for enslaving us, for committing mass murder against us, for torturing us, and for everything else they had done to us.

Hashem did not punish us for our one sin committed while we were in Egypt: many of us had worshiped idols. Hashem passed over us and spared us because we had repudiated the idols and repented from our sin. In fact, we were, at the time of the Plague of the Firstborn, performing the quintessential rejection of our former idol: we were eating it!

The Egyptians worshiped many things: primary among them were certain animals. The Torah tells us in several places that the Egyptians found disgusting the fact that we raised sheep and goats for food. This was because the Egyptians worshiped sheep and goats. Our act of eating the sheep for the Passover Sacrifice, and especially the fact that we made it public by displaying the sheep and goats both before and after eating them, was, to say the least, a slap in the face of our former masters, who had not only enslaved and tortured us, but had also attempted to make us assimilate. Now they were completely helpless to even protest, both when we tied the sheep and goats to our bedposts four days before Passover, and when we hung in the streets and market places the complete skeletons of the animals after we had finished eating them.

And by offering this sacrifice on the 14th day the month of Nissan, and eating part of it that night, we demonstrated our new-found whole-hearted commitment to Hashem.

And the next day Hashem took us out of Egypt. Hashem also displayed our exodus publicly. It took place during the daytime, when all could see. Not only did the Egyptians all see it, so did the many people from other nations whom the Egyptians had enslaved.

Our ancestors came to Egypt as friends and good neighbors. First Joseph the son of Jacob came. He came as a kidnaped slave, was not long afterwards falsely accused and put in prison, and because of the wisdom that Hashem granted him he eventually rose to the second highest post in Egypt, the viceroy to the Pharaoh himself! (Which goes to show that Hashem always knows what He is doing, even if we find it impossible to understand why we suffer so much.)

Joseph helped Egypt through the worst of its times. He predicted a terrible famine, and he showed them how to get through the hard times. Eventually, Joseph’s entire family came down to Egypt, and brought with them tremendous prosperity.

They settled in the nearby land of Goshen, and did nothing to offend the Egyptians. They tended their sheep and goats far away from the Egyptians, and they did not encroach on any Egyptian land. Nevertheless, the Egyptians began to mistreat them.

The Egyptians were afraid that at some point the Children of Israel would rise up to wage war against them, so they enslaved us. Their mistreatment of us knew no bounds.

Hashem gave Pharoah many warnings, but he refused to let us go. So Hashem proved to the universe that He was in control. Indeed, at the time, many Gentiles acknowledged the truth, and some even joined the Children of Israel when we left Egypt.

Hashem proved His power through many public miracles. He also proved thereby that He had chosen us to be those who must fulfill His Commandments and live His Torah.

Fifty-one days later we stood at Mount Sinai and joyfully accepted that responsibility.

Therefore the story and meaning of Pesach (Passover) is our relationship with Hashem. Hashem is our G-d, our personal Savior from all troubles and from sin, our Father, our Guide, our King, our Teacher, our Shepherd, our Rock, and much more besides. And we are His people, His chosen, His followers, His subjects, and much more besides. And the love flows both ways.

Every single act that we are Commanded to do for and during Pesach is a demonstration of that relationship, and highlights a pivotal event or aspect of Pesach. It is all deep with meaning, and therefore it is important for us to study what it all means, and how to do it as Hashem has asked of us.

The Book of Esther: Chapter 10

Translated by Mordecai Housman

© Copyright 2011

Chapter 10

Epilogue

1 King Achashvairosh imposed a tax on the land and on the islands.

2 The details of Mordechai’s might, power and how the king appointed him to an influential position, are all written in the book of chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia.

3 Mordechai the Jew was viceroy to King Achashvairosh, great among Jews, and popular among many of his brothers; he worked constantly to better his people’s circumstances, and was concerned for the welfare of future generations.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

The Book of Esther: Chapter 9

Translated by Mordecai Housman

© Copyright 2011

Chapter 9

The Day of the Battle

1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, the king’s decree was supposed to be executed. The enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower the Jews that day, but the plot was overturned, and the Jews overpowered their enemies.

2 Throughout King Achashvairosh’s provinces the Jews gathered in their cities to defend themselves against those who tried to hurt them. No one could withstand them, because everyone was afraid of them.

3 Even the provincial ministers, the satraps, the governors, and the king’s pages, supported the Jews, because they were afraid of Mordechai.

4 You see, Mordechai had become very influential in the king’s household, and his reputation was known throughout the empire; as a result, Mordechai was becoming more and more powerful.

5 The Jews struck at all their opponents with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they defeated all their enemies.

6 In Shushan Capital the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.

7 They also killed Parshandasa, Dalfon, Aspasa,

8 Porasa, Adalya, Aridasa,

9 Parmashta, Arisei, Aridei, and Vayizoso,

10 the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hamdoso, persecutor of the Jews. But they did not pillage their property.

11 They notified the king of the death toll in Shushan Capital the same day it occurred.

12 The king said to Queen Esther, «In Shushan Capital the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, as well as the ten sons of Haman. Who knows what they did in the more distant provinces of the empire? Whatever you want, you will be given; whatever your request, it will be done.»

13 Esther replied, «If it pleases the king, may the Jews of Shushan have tomorrow also, with the same rules as today? And also, could the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows?»

14 The king ordered these things to be done. The decree was announced in Shushan, and also the ten sons of Haman were hanged on the gallows.

15 So the Jews of Shushan gathered again on the fourteenth day of Adar, and they killed another three hundred men in Shushan, but they did not pillage their property.

16 The Jews in the rest of the empire also gathered to defend themselves and get peace from their enemies, and they killed a total of seventy-five thousand, but they did not pillage their property.

17 They fought their battle on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and they rested on the fourteenth. So they made the fourteenth day of Adar a day of feasting and celebration.

18 But the Jews of Shushan gathered together on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of Adar, and rested on the fifteenth day, so they made the fifteenth day of Adar a day of feasting and celebration.

19 That’s why the Jews who live in villages and cities without walls around them observe the fourteenth day of Adar as the celebration, feasting, and a holy day, sending portions of food to each other.

20 Mordechai wrote down the details of all these events, and sent copies to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Achashvairosh’s empire, whether nearby or distant.

21 Telling them to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, each and every year,

22 as the days that the Jews rested from their opponents, and the month that was reversed from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to holy celebration. These days should be observed as days of feasting and rejoicing, the sending of portions of food to a friend, and gifts to poor people.

23 The Jews all agreed to continue observing what they had already begun to observe, and everything that Mordechai had written to them.

24 For Haman the son of Hamodoso, the Agagite, persecutor of the Jews, had planned to destroy the Jews. He drew a pur, a lottery, to terrify and destroy them.

25 But when Esther came to the king, the king ordered decrees that the evil plans he had plotted against the Jews be visited upon him instead, and he and his sons were hanged on the gallows.

26 That’s why these days are called Purim, because of the pur. Now, because of everything told in this letter, and because of everyone’s personal experiences in these events, and because they finally understood the reason for everything that had taken place,

27 the Jews established and firmly accepted on themselves and on their descendants, and on anyone who might convert to Judaism, to faithfully observe these two days, as written, and at the right times, each and every year.

28 These days must be remembered and observed for every generation, every family, in every part of the world, in every city. The Holiday of Purim will never be abolished among the Jews, and their descendants will never cease to observe them.

Purim is Ratified

29 The next year, Queen Esther, the daughter of Avichayil, and Mordechai the Jew, used their authority to write a command that the Jews should obey this second Purim letter.

30 They sent copies of the letter to all the Jews throughout the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of Achashvairosh’s empire, and the letter offered words of peace and truth.

31 The purpose of the second letter was to ensure that the days of Purim be kept at their proper times, as established by Mordechai the Jew and Queen Esther, and as accepted by all Jews on themselves and their descendants, the fasts and the prayers as well.

32 Esther’s statements confirmed the Holiday of Purim, and this Book was also included in the Tanach.

Chapter 10

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

The Book of Esther: Chapter 8

Translated by Mordecai Housman

© Copyright 2011

Chapter 8

The Circle is Complete

1 That day, King Achashvairosh gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the persecutor of the Jews. Mordechai came before the king, because Esther had revealed their relationship.

2 The king removed the ring he had given Haman and gave it to Mordechai, and Esther put Mordechai in charge of Haman’s house.

Esther Pleads for Full Mercy

3 Once again, Esther spoke to the king, falling at his feet. She cried and pleaded with him to overturn the evil of Haman the Agagite and his plan against the Jews.

4 The king extended his golden scepter to Esther, and she stood up before the king.

5 She said, «If it pleases the king, and if the king likes me, and if he thinks this is a good idea, and if he approves of me, let a decree be written to repeal the decree of the plot of Haman, son of Hamdoso the Agagite, which was to kill the Jews throughout the empire.

6 «How can I stand to watch this evil happen to my nation? How can I stand to see the destruction of my people?»

A New Decree Is Issued

7 King Achashvairosh said to Queen Esther and Mordechai the Jew, «See, I have given Haman’s house to Esther, and Haman has been hanged on the gallows because he tried to harm the Jews.

8 «Now, write up a new decree concerning the Jews as you see fit, and sign it with the royal signet ring. Since the first decree was written in the name of the king, and signed with the royal signet ring, it cannot be repealed.»

9 The king’s scribes were summoned immediately, on the thirteenth day of the third month, Sivan. Everything that Mordechai commanded was written to the Jews, to the officers, governors and ministers of the provinces from Hodu to Cush, all one hundred twenty seven, each province in its alphabet, and each nation in its language, and to the Jews in their alphabet and language.

10 It was written in the name of King Achashvairosh, and signed with the royal signet ring. The scrolls were sent out with the swift horse-riding couriers, riders of the royal camel-mules, dromedaries bred from mares.

11 The decree stated that the king permits the Jews of each city to gather and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and eradicate all the armies menacing them, children and women, and to pillage their property,

12 For one day, throughout all the provinces of King Achashvairosh, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar.

13 Copies of the letter were to be publicly distributed in each province, that the Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge against their enemies.

14 The couriers, who were riding the valuable dromedaries, left in a hurry, urged by the king’s command. The decree was posted in Shushan Capital.

The Triumphal Celebration

15 Mordechai left the king’s presence wearing royal clothing of blue and white, with a large golden crown, and a robe of fine, purple linen; then the city of Shushan was lighthearted and joyful.

16 The Jews were now able to enjoy the light of Torah, the delight of the Jewish Holidays, the joy of performing the Commandment of Circumcision, and the precious honor of the Commandment of tefillin.

17 Similarly, in every province and city to which the king’s decree and authority reached there was joy and gladness for the Jews, as well as feasting and holiday. Many of the non-Jews claimed to be Jewish, because they had become afraid of the Jews.

Chapter 9

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

The Book of Esther: Chapter 7

Translated by Mordecai Housman

© Copyright 2011

Chapter 7

Esther’s Plea

1 The king and Haman came to drink with Queen Esther.

2 On the second day, the king said again to Esther, over the wine, «Whatever your desire, Queen Esther, you shall have. And whatever you request, up until half the empire, will be done.»

3 Queen Esther answered, «If the king likes me, and if it please the king, grant me my life as my desire, and my people as my request.

4 «My people and I have been sold to be destroyed, killed, and eradicated. Had we been sold as slaves I would have stayed silent, but this enemy is not concerned about the king’s financial loss.»

The Plot Is Overthrown

5 King Achashvairosh said to Queen Esther, «Who is this? Who would dare do this?»

6 Esther said, «That man, the persecutor, the enemy, is that evil Haman there!» And Haman became terrified of the king and queen.

7 In his anger, the king stood up and went to the palace garden. Haman began pleading with Queen Esther for his life, because he saw that the king was determined to do him harm.

8 As the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet room, Haman fell on Esther’s couch. The king exclaimed, «Would he attack the queen even when I’m in the house?!» When the king said that, they covered up Haman’s face.

9 Charvonah, one of the king’s attendants, said to the king, «There’s also a fifty-cubit-high gallows in Haman’s house that Haman made for Mordechai, who saved the king.» Said the king, «Hang him on it.»

10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordechai, and the king’s anger subsided.

Chapter 8

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

The Book of Esther: Chapter 6

Translated by Mordecai Housman

© Copyright 2011

Chapter 6

The Wheel Turns

1 That night the king couldn’t sleep, so he told them to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and to read them to the king.

2 They found an entry in the book describing how Mordechai had reported that Bigsan and Seresh, two officers of the king’s night guards, had attempted to harm King Achashvairosh.

3 The king asked, «What reward was given to Mordechai for this?» The king’s attendants
answered, «Nothing was done at all.»

4 The king asked, «Who is in the courtyard?» Haman had arrived at the king’s outer courtyard to tell the king to hang Mordechai on the gallows he had made for him.

5 The king’s attendants said, «Haman has suddenly shown up in the courtyard.» Said the king, «Enter!»

6 Haman entered, and the king said to him, «What should be done with a man that the king wants to honor?» Haman said to himself, «Who would the king want to honor more than me?»

7 So Haman said to the king, «For the man that the king wants to honor,

8 «They should bring the royal clothing that only the king wears, and the royal horse that only the king rides, which is the horse that wears a royal crown.

9 «The clothes and horse should be given to one of the king’s ministers, a nobleman, who should dress the man the king wants to honor, and lead him through the streets on the royal horse. He should call out, ‘This is what is done to the man the king wishes to honor!’»

10 The king said to Haman, «Hurry up, take the clothes and horse just like you said, and do all that to the Jew Mordechai who sits at the king’s gate. Do not leave out a single thing you mentioned!»

11 Haman took the clothes and horse, he dressed Mordechai, and he led him through the streets of the city, and he called out, «This is what is done to the man the king wishes to honor!»

12 Mordechai returned to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried home, depressed, and with his head covered.

13 Haman told his wife Zeresh and his friends what had happened. His advisors and his wife responded to him, «Since Mordechai is a Jew, now that you have begun to lose to him you will never get the upper hand. You will lose to him entirely.»

14 While they were still speaking with him, the king’s attendants arrived, and they rushed to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther was making.

Chapter 7

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

The Book of Esther: Chapter 5

Translated by Mordecai Housman

© Copyright 2011

Chapter 5

Esther Approaches the King

1 On the third day of the fast, Esther dressed in her royal clothes, and she stood at the king’s inner court, facing the king’s apartment. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the palace, facing the entrance.

2 When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased, and he extended to Esther the golden scepter he was holding. Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

3 The king said to her, «What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? I would give you up to half the empire.»

4 Esther said, «If it please the king, could the king and Haman come today to a banquet I am making for him?»

5 The king said «Hurry Haman up to do as Esther said.» So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had made.

6 At the banquet, over drinks, the king asked Esther, «Whatever your request, you will receive it. Whatever you desire, up until half the empire, it shall be done!»

7 Esther answered, «About my request and desire:

8 If the king likes me, and if it pleases the king to grant me my request and desire, could the king and Haman come to the banquet I shall make for them tomorrow? Tomorrow I will do as the king has said [and I will reveal my request and my desire].»

9 Haman left that day happy, and feeling good, but when he saw Mordechai at the king’s gate refuse to even stand or move at all for him, Haman got very angry at Mordechai.

10 Haman controlled himself until he got home, where he called for his wife and friends.

11 Haman talked with them about his glorious wealth and his many children, and how the king had promoted and elevated him above all the other ministers and servants of the king.

12 Haman said, «In fact, Queen Esther invited no one else to the banquet she made for the king, except me! And tomorrow, too, she has invited me to be there with the king.

13 «But none of this means anything to me as long as I see that Jew Mordechai sitting at the king’s gate.»

14 His wife Zeresh, along with all his friends, advised him, «Make a fifty-cubit high gallows. In the morning tell the king to hang Mordechai on it. Then you can go with the king to the banquet, happy.» Haman liked the idea, so he made the gallows.

Chapter 6

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10