ביעור חמץ שבלב

(15) Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

(19) No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a citizen of the country. (20) You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread.

(7) Throughout the seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten; no leavened bread shall be found with you, and no leaven shall be found in all your territory.

Matzah and Simplicity There is another way in which matzah is related to the bread of poverty, and redemption. The poor person has nothing, so his life is simplified and he stands detached from the world of things. In this complex material world such simplicity is considered a shortcoming. In the divine realm (olam hapashut), ^*The divine and spiritual realm is called olam hapashut, the world of simplicity. The physical world is called olam harkavah, the world of complexity. simplicity is a virtue. That is why we are commanded to eat matzah, the simplest form of bread. It contains nothing but the most essential ingredients… Israel was redeemed on this night from the complex material world through the higher spiritual realm. So, too, we are commanded to eat matzah which epitomizes this simplicity of the divine realm.This ideal of simplicity is also expressed in the clothing that the high priest wore on Yom Kippur. Throughout the year he dressed in golden garments, but on Yom Kippur he wore plain white garments when entering the Holy of Holies. Since he was about to encounter the highest spiritual realm, he had to get rid of the trappings of the material world. When he entered the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur he dressed in white, which represents the qualities of holiness and simplicity. This is the meaning of the verse, "Seven days shall you eat matzot, the bread of poverty, for you came out of the land of Egypt b'hipazon, in haste.” (Deut. 16:3) The people left Egypt in haste, without tarrying, signifying that they left at the highest spiritual level. B'hipazon suggests that there was timelessness to the way they left unlike natural activities that involve the passage of time. Therefore it is fitting to eat the lechem oni which is the simplest bread without other ingredients.The Talmud says that matzah is lechem oni^*The word עוני is spelled without a vav but it is pronounced as if there were vav. The Aramaic word for it used in the Haggadah is spelled with an aleph. Hebrew words are derived from three letter root words. Oni comes from the same root as Ani, poor. But it might as easily be derived from the root oneh which means to answer or explain. The Talmud explains the expression lechem oni as the bread that explains the story of the Exodus. But if the word oni comes from this root than it should have been written correctly as aniya. That is why the Talmud offers a second explanation. In this way it suggests that lechem oni is associated with both possible interpretations of the word oni. because it is "the bread over which we recite (onim) many things." (Pesahim 115a) This means that we publicize the Exodus through matzah; through it we learn the nature of the Exodus from Egypt. Therefore it is fitting to tell the story of the Exodus with the unleavened bread. But there is a difficulty with this explanation. If this is so, it should have been עניא called lechem aniya עניה ; Why is it called lechem oni עוני then? The Talmud also interprets the word oni as coming from the word poor, " It is called the bread of (עני ani - poverty): just as a beggar generally takes a piece, so here too a piece is taken. Another interpretation: just as a poor man fires the oven while his wife bakes, so here too, he heats and she bakes." Yet if it referred to the poor it should have been written ani עני instead of Oni עוני . Therefore both interpretations of the word can be derived from Oni.

The Gemara raises a contradiction between this baraita and another: With regard to a hole in a wall that is between a house belonging to one person and a house belonging to another, this neighbor searches to the point that his hand reaches, and that neighbor searches to the point that his hand reaches. And as for leaven found in the rest of the hole, each one renders it null and void in his heart. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: A bed that divides the area inside a house, with wood and stones placed under it, and space separates the bottom of the bed from the wood and stones beneath it, does not require searching.

Fashion a pure heart for me, O God; create in me a steadfast spirit.