Pesakh (Passover) commemorates Israel being freed from bondage in Egypt. But the 'traditional' observance dishonors the original commands. Let's look:

"And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual." Exodus 12:39

"Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life." Deuteronomy 16:3

Seems simple enough, we are to eat unleavened bread because it represents Israel fleeing in haste from Egypt. The bread is unleavened because there wasn't time for the bread to rise. But modern observance is so concerned with leaving out leaven in baking, the reason foods are left unleavened is forgotten. Many spend hours baking sponge cakes -- cakes which take more than twice the preparation time as leavened cakes! Talk about missing the whole point. Oy. Worse, these cakes contain large quantities of egg whites carefully beaten stiff to give the cake the illusion of being leavened! Imagine, pretending we are eating leaven at a time it is forbidden. This makes a mockery of the original command.

"Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel." Exodus 12:15

"Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land." Exodus 12:19

"Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters." Exodus 13:7

Clearly there is to be NO leaven found in your house during Pesakh. So is leaven removed from houses during Pesakh? Nope. It's kept in the house but considered 'sold' to a non-Jew (Mechirat Chametz). Torah doesn't say not to own leaven (shopkeepers no doubt 'owned' leaven in their stockrooms as did landowners with dampened wheat fields), the command is simply not to have any leaven in your house.

Then there is the "Bedikat Chametz" ceremony. Basically this is the practice of sweeping the house thoroughly and searching out every single crumb of leaven so it can be removed/destroyed. Not only is the entire home searched, but all pans, dishes and utensils which may have touched leaven are kashered -- whether through immersing into boiling water or by passing a blow-torch over items to 'burn off' any microscopic leaven. Remember, this is all done while a closetful of 'sold' leaven is kept safely hidden within the home! If this isn't a case of straining at a gnat but swallowing a camel, I don't know what is.

Happy Spring New Year

"This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." Exodus 12:2

"This day came ye out in the month Aviv." Exodus 13:4

Note that the month Israel left Egypt and observed Passover was the first month and it was called Aviv. If one insists in commemorating some sort of "Jewish New Year" then that 'new year' should occur in the springtime month of Aviv -- NOT the seventh month of Etanim (commonly called Tishri). And note that this first month is named Aviv, not Nisan. Nisan and Tishri are based on the Babylonian calendar month names of "Nisanu" and "Tashritu" respectively. These are not the month names G-d gave us in Torah (actually, scripturally speaking, one usually referred to months and days by number, not name anyway).

Drop the Egg

The egg (at best) represents rabbis adding to G-d's Torah by including a temple offering remembrance; and (at worst) the egg represents the goddess Ishtar and pagan fertility rituals. Drop the egg from your observance. Passover only needs to commemorate Israel leaving Egypt, not later temple destructions or pagan fertility rituals. It shocks me that Messianics often criticise Christians for mixing egg-paganess into Easter, and miss they themselves are similarly mixing in the same paganness! Forget the egg this Pesakh -- you don't need the cholesterol anyway.

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