Evil Bread
by tillerofthesoil
“And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? From the tree [I commanded you not to eat have you eaten?’] (Genesis 3:11). Rabbi Levi said: [A parable: To what can the matter be compared?] A woman borrowing חָמֵץ (ḥamets), yeast [alt., חֹמֶץ (ḥomets), vinegar], who went in to the wife of a snake-charmer and asked her, ‘How does your husband treat you?’ She said, ‘He treats me with every kindness, only he does not permit me to approach this jar which is full of serpents and scorpions. She said, ‘It contains all his finery. He wishes to marry another woman and give it to her.’ What did she do? She reached her hand into it, and they began biting her. When her husband came he heard her crying out. He said, ‘Have you touched that jar?’ Similarly, ‘From the tree I commanded you not to eat have you eaten?’” (Bereshit Rabbah 19:10).
“[Rabbi Tanḥum said:] May it be Your will, YHWH my God and God of my fathers, that You break and destroy the yoke of the evil impulse from our heart. For You created us to do Your will, and we must do Your will; You desire it and we desire it. So who prevents it? The leaven in the dough [i.e., the עֵרֶב רַב (erev rav), mixed multitude, motley throng, cf. BT Qiddushin 71b: ‘Rabbi El’azar said: Ezra did not go up from Babylon until he made it like pure sifted flour: then he went up (to the land of Israel)’]” (JT Berakhot 4:2, 7d).
“When Israel went out of Egypt, they left their domain—alien domain, the domain called חָמֵץ (ḥamets), evil bread. That is why idolatry is called so, and that is mystery of the evil impulse, alien worship, also called שְׂאוֹר (se’or), leaven. This is the evil impulse, for so it functions in the person, like leaven in dough: entering ones innards little by little and then increasing, until the whole body is permeated by it. This is idolatry, of which it is written there shall be no alien god in you (Psalms 81:10)—literally!” (Zohar 2:182a).
“Come and see: In Egypt [Lilit, that beast of the reed (Psalms 68:31)] reigned, and from her issued many kinds of dominion, all in the mystery of חָמֵץ (ḥamets), leavened stuff. Once the blessed Holy One broke her, He removed חָמֵץ (ḥamets) and brought in מַצָּה (matsah). How? By the thinnest thread of all, He broke the ח (ḥet) of this חַיָּה (ḥayyah), beast, and those letters turned into מַצָּה (matsah). Actually, He broke the ח (ḥet) of this חַיָּה (ḥayyah), beast, who is called חָמֵץ (ḥamets). So she is called חַיַּת (ḥayyat), beast, of the reed, for she is easy to break as a reed. How was she broken? By a thread as thin as a hair, He broke the ח (ḥet); it was displaced becoming מַצָּה (matsah). Thus it is written Rebuke חַיַּת (ḥayyat), the beast of, the reed—the blessed Holy One rebuked her, and the ח (ḥet) was broken, turning into ה (he)” (Zohar 3:252a).
“If a man takes a bunch of reeds, he cannot break them, but if he takes them one at a time, even a child can break them; and thus we find that Israel is not redeemed until they form a single whole” (Tanḥuma, Nitsavim 1).
“At first the evil impulse is like the thread of a spider’s web; in the end it is as thick as a wagon rope, as is written, Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and offence as if it were with a cart rope (Isaiah 5:18)….
The evil impulse is first a wayfarer in the street, a beggar at your door, then a guest in your house, and finally your master” (BT Sukkah 52a–b).
“How did the physicians heal Rabbi Tsadoq? The first day they let him drink water in which bran had been soaked; on the next day water in which there had been coarse meal; on the next day water in which there had been flour, so that his stomach expanded little by little” (BT Gittin 56b).
“This may be compared to a king who had an only son who became ill. One day he craved food. [The royal advisors] said, ‘Let the king’s son eat this healing food, and until he eats it, no other food or nourishment should be found in the house.’ So it was done. Once he had eaten that remedy, they said, ‘From now on, he may eat whatever he desires and it cannot harm him.’
Similarly, when Israel went out of Egypt, they did not know the essence and mystery of faith. The blessed Holy One said, ‘Let Israel taste a remedy, and until they eat this remedy, no other food should be visible to them.’ Once they had eaten matsah, which is a remedy for entering and knowing the mystery of faith, the blessed Holy One said, ‘From now on, ḥamets is suitable for them and they may eat it, because it cannot harm them’—especially since on the day of Shavu’ot supernal bread [i.e., manna] is available, a cure for all!” (Zohar 2:183b).
“This can be compared to a king who appointed a person as a royal official. All those days that he ascended to this rank, he rejoiced and wore glorious garments; afterward, he did not need to. The following year, he observed those days on which he rose to this honor and he wore those clothes, and likewise each and every year. Similarly with Israel, it is written: Seven days no leaven shall be found—for those are days of joy, days on which they rose to glory and went forth from alien bondage, entering a holy domain. Therefore each and every year they observe those days on which they ascended to this honor; so it is written: Seven days shall you eat מַצּוֹת (matsot), unleavened bread (Exodus 12:15)” (Zohar 2:40a).
“Sixth adornment: הַלְלוּיָהּ (Halleluyah).
הַלְלוּהוּ (Halleluhu)—ה ו (he, vav), of this is said, It is a night of watch for YHWH, [for His taking them out from the land of Egypt] (Exodus 12:42), and this is the middle pillar. The mystery of the matter: [For thus says YHWH; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the head of the nations:] proclaim, give praise, and say, O YHWH, rescue Your people, the remnant of Israel (Jeremiah 31:6), to fulfill the verse, As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt will I show to them wondrous things (Micah 7:15).
And the mystery of the matter, מַה שֶּׁהָיָה הוּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶה (mah-she-hayah hu sheyyihyeh), That which was is that which will be (Ecclesiastes 1:9), and in it, מִמְּכוֹן שִׁבְתּוֹ הִשְׁגִּיחַ (mimmekhon-shivto hishegiaḥ), From His firm throne He surveyed (Psalms 33:14), because he [מֹשֶׁה (Moshe), Moses] is in the form of the middle pillar [Ze’eir Anpin]. In that time [the end of days] the secret of the Mishnah will be fulfilled: ‘One may eat [leaven bread] throughout the fourth, hold in suspense throughout the fifth’ (M Pesaḥim 1:1)—the fifth millennium. ‘And burn it at the beginning of the sixth’ (ibid.)—the sixth millennium.
In order not to separate between the sixth [sefirah], the middle pillar, and the seventh [sefirah], which is His mate, one must burn all the שְׂאוֹר וְחָמֵץ (se’or ve-ḥamets), yeast and leaven stuff, which is the motley throng, in order not to see it between the sixth, ו (vav), and the seventh, as it says, seven times daily I praised You (Psalms 119:164). Because the motley throng separated between the sixth and the seventh [sefirot] at the giving of the Torah, as we have said, And the people saw that Moses בֹשֵׁשׁ (vo-shesh), lagged [in coming down from the mountain] (Exodus 32:1), and we have explained: ‘בַשֵּׁשׁ (va-shesh), in six [i.e., in the sixth hour]’ (Zohar 2:191b), they made the calf and they separated between ו ה (vav, he), between the sixth and seventh, so too the blessed Holy One will separate them between the sixth and the seventh [millennium].
Because of them, there is broken matsah [or: a sliver of matsah], poor man’s bread, certainly it is poor, but in that time it will be whole just like its partner which is whole matsah, as is written, Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, [… in the day that YHWH binds up the hurt of His people, and heals the stroke of their wound] (Isaiah 30:26). And why is it broken matsah? Because the ו (vav), Her leg, has left to be a מִצְוָה (mitsvah), command. Broken matsah is left with ד (dalet), because of this broken matsah is ד (dalet); whole matsah is ה (he), and because of this we say the complete Hallel and the incomplete Hallel on Passover in order to represent the complete matsah and the split matsah [cf. BT Arakhin 10b].
And we say מָרוֹר (maror), bitter, because the ו (vav) has separated from the ה (he) and this caused וַיְמָרְרוּ (va-yemarru), and they made bitter, their lives (Exodus 1:14), there is מָרוֹר (maror), bitter, and there is מָרָה (marah), bitterness, as is written, [Do not call me Naomi.] Call me מָרָא (mara), for Shaddai has dealt great מַר (mar), bitterness, to me (Ruth 1:20). In קָשָׁה (qasha), hard, work in קֻשְׁיָא (qushya), contradictions, with חֹמֶר (ḥomer), mortar, in קַל וָחֹמֶר (qal va-ḥomer [the exegetical principle of inference from minor to major]), between the nations of the world.
And who caused this? י (Yod) from the name שַׁדַּי (Shaddai) which is the mark of the covenant that Moses gave to the motley throng, because of this Moses fell from his rung, as is written, Quick, go down, for your people that I brought up from Egypt has acted ruinously (Exodus 32:7), and it says your people not My people. Through his hands in the future the Shekhinah will be united with the blessed Holy One. Since he separated them he must unify them, to mend his sin, all the Companions arose and kissed him, and said, ‘If we had not come to the world except to hear these words it would have been enough!’” (Tiqqunei ha-Zohar 28b).
“Rav Huna, Rabbi Yirmeyahu in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya son of Abba: ‘It is written, Me have they forsaken (Jeremiah 16:11).’ Is it possible that they have kept My Torah? Would that they would forsake Me and keep My Torah. For if they had forsaken Me but kept My Torah, then in the course of their Torah study, the yeast that is in it would have brought them back to Me’” (Pesiqta de-Rav Kahana 15:5).
“When the Children of Israel are in exile it is said about them: What prevents [their redemption]? The yeast in the dough, for Masters of Mishnah have taught: When the mixed multitude [or: motley throng] are the chiefs over Israel it is as though the rule of the blessed Holy One was removed and they had come under the rule of the jurisdiction of the stars and planets. This is why they cry out, saying, O YHWH our God, other lords besides You have had dominion over us: but by You only will we make mention of Your name (Isaiah 26:13)” (Zohar 3:237b, Ra’aya Meheimna Pineḥas).