Reader question: Why are some teaching we are rid our homes of yeast on Passover, while others insist it's “leaven?"
Answer: Scripture commands us to rid our homes of LEAVEN. You can’t get rid of yeast because yeast is everywhere. Take a deep breath... You've just inhaled millions of yeast spores! Natural, wild yeast is all around you, including in your homes; you can't avoid it and you can't get rid of it. Please read our indepth article, Yeast or Leaven.
I have a question about the days of Unleavened Bread. I do understand that unleavened bread rather than bread with leaven in it is to be consumed during this period of time. What about days a person does not consume bread at all and therefore would not be eating unleavened bread in its place? I think I missed a day or two because I ate only vegetables, etc. I am concerned that I did not observe this correctly and I pray for forgiveness if I have sinned. (Every year just when I think I have corrected one thing, I miss something else!) Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHello Anonymous, and thanks for trusting us with an answer. You are correct to be concerned about keeping YHWH’s Feast times to the best of your knowledge and ability. The thing is, in our “lost” world which ignores Torah and doesn’t live by its rules, it’s hard to know exactly what to do and how to do it. So, here is our take on your particular issue:
DeleteWhen it comes to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, YHWH gave us very specific instructions to remember this feast and to observe it perpetually:
Exodus 13: 3 "...Remember this day, on which you left Egypt, the abode of slavery; because YHWH, by the strength of his hand, has brought you out of this place. Do not eat hametz."
He said that we are to eat matzah:
Exodus 12: 18 From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day, you are to eat matzah. 19 During those seven days, no leaven is to be found in your houses. Whoever eats food with hametz in it is to be cut off from the community of Isra'el - it doesn't matter whether he is a foreigner or a citizen of the land. 20 Eat nothing with hametz in it. Wherever you live, eat matzah."
Since you don’t eat bread of any kind, perhaps it would interest you to know that matzah can hardly be considered “bread.” Matzah squares look and taste like crackers (especially the gluten free kind). But, even if you don’t wish to eat it, we suggest you place some matzah crackers on your lunch or supper table daily, just to commemorate the week of Unleavened Bread.