What is chametz

What is chametz?

Welcome to Chabad Passover website.

The website provides comprehensive information on the laws and customs of Passover, the preparations for the holiday, the preparation of the home and the kitchen, information on the kosherness of food for Passover and more.

In addition, you can sell chametz online easily via our website.

And even observe the mitzva of Kimcha D’Pischa and support needy families before Passover.

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תוכן עניינים

What is chametz?

Any food product made from wheat, barley, spelt, rye, or oats that came into contact with water for more than 18 minutes and been allowed to ferment and rise is considered chametz.

For example, bread, pita rolls, various types of pastries, cakes, pasta, pretzels, some snacks, and many other foods which contain flour.

The prohibition of the Torah

The Torah commands not to use chametz during the seven days of Passover, and there are three prohibitions:

  1. Prohibition of eating.
  2. Prohibition of pleasure.
  3. Prohibition on the possession of chametz in the house even without making any use of it.

Why does the prohibition start before Passover begins?

According to Halacha, the prohibition of chametz begins on the day right before Passover – the 14th of Nisan.

Eating chametz is forbidden after the end of the fourth hour from the beginning of the day (around 10:30 am, depending on your geographic location)

In addition, it is forbidden to enjoy and derive any benefit from chametz after the fifth hour (around 11:30, depending on your location). There is a mitzvah to burn the chametz.

Read in detail about the mitzva of burning chametz.

The custom of selling chametz

Since there is also a prohibition on Passover for possessing chametz, Am Israel used to sell chametz to gentiles before Passover, thereby not violating the Torah prohibition.

Kosher stamp for Passover

It is crucial to buy kosher foods for Passover; for this purpose, many kosher offices supervise the food products and give them a kosher certificate/stamp.

Matzah

Matzah is made of dough, flour and water without yeast and additives; it is placed and baked quickly, so it doesn’t rise.

During Passover, matzah is the substitute for bread that is not eaten.

It is important to note that on the night of the first holiday – Seder night, unlike the other days of Passover, there is a mitzvah to eat matzah. The mitzvah is fulfilled only by eating preserved handmade matzah.

The spiritual meaning

The chametz, made of dough that rose, filled with hot air, symbolizes pride and arrogance, while the matzah, which doesn’t rise, symbolizes humility and selflessness.

The matzah is eaten as a reminder of the haste with which the people of Israel left Egypt, and it is said in the Torah that the dough that the people of Israel prepared did not have time to rise.

The Torah instructs us to consume unleavened bread during Passover to commemorate our liberation from slavery in Egypt. The underlying significance of this act is to symbolize our rejection of pride and arrogance and our embrace of humility. It represents our desire to eliminate internal evils and become pure and free from sin.

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It is a good opportunity to remind you of the custom of donating Kimcha D’Pischa in the days before Passover so that needy families have the holiday’s needs. You can donate now online.

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